Ritual Chocolate - Honeycomb Toffee 75% Cacao (bar) - Apr. 13, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Ritual Chocolate
Honeycomb Toffee in Dark Chocolate 75% Cacao (bar)
Good +
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar 
Calories: 162 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week. Once again we pay homage to bees and honey this week, in the form of honeycomb toffee.

Today's Honeycomb Toffee in Dark Chocolate 75% Cacao (bar) was from Ritual Chocolate in Park City, Utah--also known as the beehive state.

Are you a dark chocolate fan who is not fond of sugar, much less toffee? Fear not. This 75% cacao (Belize) dark chocolate had a rich, ultra-dark, roasted, chocolate flavor. Its balanced bitterness off-set flecks of house-made, sweet, honeycomb toffee. 

Rather than the traditional, three-dimensional chunks of airy, crunchy sugary, honeycomb toffee, there was a thin projection of toffee pieces onto the back of this ebony-colored bar, that winked at us like shining sugar stars in the night.

Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic cane sugar, honeycomb toffee (organic cane sugar, raw honey, baking soda)

Allergen-related information: May contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat

Ritual Chocolate - Juniper Lavender Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) - Apr. 12, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Ritual Chocolate

Juniper Lavender Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar)

Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories: 162 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week. We can thank, in part, juniper trees (berries), for today's featured bar.

Today's Juniper Lavender Chocolate 70% Cacao (bar) was from Ritual Chocolate (Park City, UT).

The aroma of this bar--redolent of lavender flower buds and juniper berry--could be bottled and sold. It was heavenly. 

The flavor of these two powerfully aromatic botanical inclusions were skillfully blended with a relatively bold, dark cacao. There was a slight astringency that brought me back down to earth (often a natural component of juniper berries). Still an amazing bar though. I enjoyed the touch of unexpected red berry fruitiness and nicely balanced tart acidity and faint pine/evergreen/citrus (similar to edible Douglas Fir tree branch/needle tips).

A big thumbs up to the makers for orchestrating all these powerful flavors together so successfully.

For a super luxe tasting experience I look forward to buying this special bar again (if, fingers crossed, it is available); and using pieces or shavings to add to/garnish high-end desserts (or as a surprise guest square on fruit and cheese platters, small food plates).

Ingredients: Cacao, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, dried juniper berries, culinary lavender.

Ritual Chocolate - Pine Nut Chocolate 55% Cacao (bar) - Apr. 11, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Ritual Chocolate

Pine Nut Chocolate 55% Cacao (bar) 

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total bar

Calories: 165 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar

Cost: $13.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week.

Today's Pine Nut Chocolate (Ground Pine Nuts and Dark Chocolate) 55% Cacao (bar) was made by Ritual Chocolate (Park City, UT). The company crafts a variety of chocolate bars high in the mountains (7,000 feet/2,134 meters altitude).

Pinyon pine trees in pine and juniper forests in Utah and the Great Basin area of the U.S. are wonderful to look at and offer many benefits. They're also a source of pine nuts.* These ivory-colored seeds are delicate and buttery and have served as a food source for many animals, including humans for a very long time.

Ritual makers have created a great blend of pine nuts and dark chocolate. This bar had a relatively subtle dark chocolate aroma with chocolate cookie and faint nut (cashew shortbread cookie) notes. If you really focus, you can sense a bit of woodsy, pine/oak forest.

The texture was heavenly, with a rapid creamy, velvety melt and mouthfeel, made possible by finely ground pine nuts, added cocoa butter, and what seemed like the perfect amount of conching (cocoa mass grinding) time.

This 55% chocolate tasted bolder, richer and less sweet (thank you!) than most other 55% bars. And yet, the more delicate (and easily eclipsed) pine nuts still contributed an important role in texture and flavor. 

This ebony-colored bar had some deep dark, grounded, forest flavor--that in less skilled hands (and without finely ground pine nuts) might have headed more toward earthy/tannic or very slightly bitter.

Instead, this result was almost perfectly balanced smooth, rich, luxurious chocolate flavor (with faint forest, nut and fruit acidity); a suave, dark, roasted green nut and cocoa finish; and an almost undetectable, fleeting, astringency tickle at the back of the throat after the first few bites.

This pine nut chocolate was wonderful by itself. I'm guessing it would also make a great addition to a chocolate tasting flight or dessert plate; and/or the basis for a dark chocolate pot de creme or dark chocolate gelato. 

Ritual Chocolate tasting notes read as follows: "Nutty, pine-y, earthy"

Ingredients: Cacao, pine nuts, organic cane sugar, organic cocoa butter

Allergy-related information: "Contains pine nuts, may contain traces of peanuts, tree nuts, and wheat"

*Plant seeds come in a remarkable variety of shapes and sizes. Some are edible; most are not. Technically edible pine "nuts" are seeds (of several species of pine trees worldwide). And cacao beans are actually cacao seeds. I'm grateful for both of these seeds; and today's Pine Nut Chocolate bar shows they can be lovely together.

Theo Chocolate - Honey Bee Confection Collection, part 2 - Apr. 10, 2021

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Theo Chocolate
Honey Bee Confection Collection
1.) Honey Saffron Caramel - Good +
2.) Orange Blossom Nougat - Good +
Weight: 1.41 oz. (40 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total box of 7 pieces
Calories: 226 calories (estimate) in 3 pieces
Cost: $13.99 for 1 box of 7 pieces
Purchased from: Farm Fresh to You, CSA box delivery service, add-in item

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week. Bees create honey; and we are reaping the rewards of the bees' hard work again today.

Today's 7-piece, "Honey Bee Confection Collection" was from Theo Chocolate (Seattle, WA). The company offers a wide variety of fairly traded chocolate bars and confections. 

I tasted two different chocolates (out of four) from Theo's Honey Bee assortment today. (The other two were featured yesterday.) 

The first piece was a Honey Saffron Caramel: A fragrant nucleus of "Organic Moroccon saffron* infused honey in buttery sweet caramel," was enrobed in smooth dark chocolate, and dusted with bee pollen sugar. Yes, this soft caramel was sweet. But there was no stinting on the ingredients. The saffron's aroma and flavor were authentic and wonderful. 

The last piece was the generously-sized, "Orange Blossom Nougat." This confection was filled with a soft honey nougat infused with a delicious amount of authentic orange blossom (think neroli), covered in a generous coating of flavorful dark chocolate (that helped balanced the sweetness), and garnished with a micro strip of candied citrus peel. 

Bees and other pollinators make our culinary lives much richer. Theo Chocolate's packaging reminded us to "give a buzz" about bees, and suggested checking out two bee-related organizations: pollinator.org (San Francisco, CA) and survivorbee.com (Seattle, WA). The latter is dedicated to improving the health of bees through local community education.

Ingredients (listed for all four confections): Organic, fair trade cane sugar; organic, fair trade cocoa beans; organic cream; honey; organic cashews; organic, fair trade cocoa butter; organic corn syrup; glucose; organic milk powder; organic orange zest; water; organic butter; organic egg whites; orange blossom water (distilled water, orange blossom); baking soda; salt; bee pollen; gelatin; saffron.

Allergen-related information: "Contains tree nuts (cashews), milk, and eggs. Made on equipment that also processes peanuts, other tree nuts, wheat and sesame."

*I am biased here. I do love this spice, made of the orange-yellow stamens of the purple, saffron crocus (Crocus sativus). Saffron infused honey over vanilla ice cream, topped with lavender buds, used to be one of my favorite desserts. Happiness in a bowl.

Theo Chocolate - Honey Bee Confection Collection - part 1 - Apr. 9, 2021

Chocolate(s) of the Day

Theo Chocolate
Honey Bee Confection Collection
1.) Honeycomb Chocolate - Good - Good +
2.) Honey Cashew Praline - Good +
Weight: 1.51 oz. (42.8 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total box of 7 pieces
Calories: 226 calories (estimate) in 3 pieces
Cost: $13.99 for 1 box of 7 pieces
Purchased from: Farm Fresh to You, CSA box delivery service, add-in item

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week. Bees create honey, and that is a good thing.

Today's 7-piece, "Honey Bee Confection Collection" was from Theo Chocolate (Seattle, WA). The company offers a wide variety of fairly traded chocolate bars and confections. 

Confections can be very sweet. Nuts, salt and savory items, and unsweetened chocolate can help balance pure sugar sweetness. Happily, Theo and many other chocolatiers understand this.

I tasted two chocolates (of four) from Theo's Honey Bee assortment today. (The other two will be featured tomorrow.) 

The first "Honeycomb Chocolate" piece was a long rectangle of sweet, crunchy honeycomb candy, blanketed in a thick layer of rich, flavorful dark chocolate--darker and more flavorful than most candy-quality chocolate. This darker, velvety chocolate saved me from sugar overload. Thank you Theo Chocolate meisters.

The second piece was a "Honey Cashew Praline," molded in a honeycomb shape. Multiple steps in the making process insured a tasty treat. "Cashews (were) candied in honey, whipped into decadent praline, (and) enrobed in creamy milk chocolate." Nuts and milk, and likely a little salt, helped balance this second tasty sweet.

Bees and other pollinators offer many benefits to all of us. Theo Chocolate's packaging reminded us to "give a buzz" about bees, and suggested checking out two bee-related organizations: pollinator.org (San Francisco, CA) and survivorbee.com (Seattle, WA). The latter is dedicated to improving the health of bees through local community education.

Ingredients (listed for all four confections): Organic, fair trade cane sugar; organic, fair trade cocoa beans; organic cream; honey; organic cashews; organic, fair trade cocoa butter; organic corn syrup; glucose; organic milk powder; organic orange zest; water; organic butter; organic egg whites; orange blossom water (distilled water, orange blossom); baking soda; salt; bee pollen; gelatin; saffron.

Allergen-related information: "Contains tree nuts (cashews), milk, and eggs. Made on equipment that also processes peanuts, other tree nuts, wheat and sesame."

Rick Jordan Chocolatier - Honey Foam chocolate - Apr. 8, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Rick Jordan Chocolatier
Honey Foam chocolate
Good 
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total package
Calories: 275 calories (estimate) in 1 piece
Cost: $6.50 + shipping
Purchased from: Rick Jordan Chocolatier, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week, featuring a professional, honey-forward version of a traditional sponge toffee (aka molasses puffs, sea foam, honeycomb candy).

Today's Honey Foam chocolate confection was from Rick Jordan Chocolatier (Creve Coeur, MO).

At the heart of this dark chocolate covered confection was a generous and precise slab of light, airy and crunchy honey candy. The air spaces in this "honey foam" were very uniform (not always true for first time attempts in a home kitchen). And a re-sealable package helped it keep its shape and texture.

Traditional "honeycomb" confections are made with hot caramelized sugar (sugar, or brown sugar, corn syrup and/or honey) and baking soda. The more acidic (lower pH) sugar content foams up when the more basic (higher pH) baking soda is whisked into this sugar/honey mixture.**

Rick Jordan's use of honey as the primary ingredient* was a novel treat. His Honey Foam had  light, uniform, rigid, sponge-like texture and very sweet flavor. 

While the sugar level was undeniable, the light, even texture helped cushion the sweetness, as did the smooth, 70% cacao chocolate, and sodium content from the baking soda.

I could not make out the flavor nuances of the honey in today's chocolate. However, it might be more obvious in a side-by-side tasting with traditional "honeycomb" chocolate (with more sugar, and less honey content).

*Ingredients: honey, sugar, glucose, baking soda, 70% dark chocolate

**On the pH scale a food or beverage with a score that is under 7 is considered acidic, and any item scoring higher than 7 is considered basic. (The average score for honey is 3.9 and baking soda is an 8.)

Puchero - 70% Nicaragua El Castillero (bar) - Apr. 7, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Puchero 
70% Nicaragua El Castillero (bar)
Good ++
Weight: 1.23 oz. (35 g.) / 2.47 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 204 calories (per label) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.50 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Nicaragua Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate, Trees and Bees Theme Week--an opportunity to celebrate trees, bees and honey, and their contributions to chocolate.

Today's 70% Nicaragua El Castillero (bar) was made from bean-to-bar by Puchero (Valladolid, Spain). The company offers a line of single origin bars. (Co-founders, Paloma and Marco, have honed their roasting skills via their involvement in both coffee and cacao.)

The Puchero bars (packaging) I've seen have been graced with a striking image of a cross-section of a large tree. Cacao does grow on trees. This image may not be of a cacao tree, but it was lovely all the same. Tree-grown fruit, nut and sweeteners are common inclusions in artisan bars. However, Puchero, like other craft chocolate makers/magicians, summon these flavors solely via carefully roasted and ground cacao beans and a bit of sugar.

The cacao used to make this single origin bar was "grown by smallholder farmers in agroforestry." (El Castillero is associated with Indio Maiz biological reserve where cacao grows in southern Nicaragua.)

This 70% single origin bar was versatile and balanced. Subtle, sophisticated notes were spun together: faint, fleeting earth, umami, wood, and nut; a flicker of green. It had a natural sweetness to it. The "main course" was a small plate of fruit (light stone fruit, gentle white wine grape, pear), floral (light blossom honey), sweet herb (licorice) and true chocolate (brownie) notes. It was a deceptively simple, and satisfying, dark bar. 

Pay careful attention as this exquisite tiny symphony plays out on your palette. And, as with all fine, single origin chocolate, please do take time to savor, and re-taste, this over a period of minutes. Different aroma and flavor notes appear and disappear.

The finish was delicate. There was a fleeting, very light astringency. The faint honey-floral sweetness, faint licorice* and cocoa notes lingered a bit and then gradually tailed off.

Puchero tasting notes read as follows: "Medium intensity and low acidity. Honey sweetness with pear, licorice and floral notes."

Ingredients: cacao, sugar, cocoa butter.

Allergen-related information: "May contain traces of nuts, milk and gluten"

*Please note: The aroma and flavor notes mentioned were conjured skillfully from just three ingredients. There was no licorice in this bar, or honey, or nuts. These adjectives were merely the perceptions of a grateful reviewer.