Dick Taylor - Single Origin Milk Chocolate Fish with Fleur de Sel - May 19, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
Single Origin Milk Chocolate Fish with Fleur de Sel - 55% Brazil Milk Chocolate
Good ++
Weight: .9 oz. (12.75 g.) / 1.8 oz. (25.5 g.) in total package
Calories: 142 calories (estimate) in 2 fish
Cost: $10.00 for 1 package of 4 dark chocolate fish
Purchased from: Dick Taylor, online order

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and The Sea Theme Week.

Today's catch: Single Origin Milk Chocolate Fish with Fleur de Sel from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate were handcrafted in Eureka, California.

Aroma notes for these 55% milk chocolate fish included: bold dark chocolate and faint salty chocolate and vanilla cookie.

The balanced, bold, very slightly earthy, creamy 55% cacao dark chocolate had a thick rich melt--and tasted refreshingly un-sweet for even a darker milk bar. A judicious amount of vanilla bean and a light sprinkle of sea salt (flecks of fleur de sel on the back of the fish) rounded out the cacao flavor(s).

The maker's description of today's sea-inspired chocolate (below) mentions their proximity to the Pacific Ocean in Northern California.

"Using our Single Origin 55% Milk Chocolate made with organic A2/A2 whole milk by Alexandre Family Farm, we have created a delicious Chocolate Fish confection in honor of our coastal home on the Humboldt Bay. Each fish has been delicately topped with a light sprinkling of Fleur de Sel."

Ingredients: Organic cacao (cocoa solids 55% minimum), Organic cane sugar, Organic A2/A2 whole milk powder, Organic cocoa butter, Fleur de Sel, Organic vanilla bean

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that also processes milk, tree nuts, wheat, and peanuts."

*Dick Taylor's operation in Eureka is close to the Pacific Ocean in northern California.

Dick Taylor - 72% Belize Dark Chocolate Fish with Fleur de Sel - May 18, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
72% Belize Dark Chocolate Fish with Fleur de Sel
Good ++
Weight: .9 oz. (12.75 g.) / 1.8 oz. (25.5 g.) in total package
Calories: 140 calories (estimate) in 2 fish
Cost: $10.00 for 1 package of 4 dark chocolate fish
Purchased from: Dick Taylor, online order

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and The Sea Theme Week.

Today's catch: 72% Belize Dark Chocolate with Fleur de Sel fish-shaped chocolates from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate were handcrafted in Eureka, California.

Aroma notes for these tasty "fish" included: bold dark chocolate, faint molasses/maple syrup, and very faint tart green herb (oxalis, sorrel), salty chocolate cookie, and floral.

Unlike the last (ocean-caught) salmon fish I tasted, these high-end dark chocolate novelty (species unknown) fish broke with a well-tempered snap. 

The taste was a blend of balanced bold chocolate with faint diffuse fruit (citrus), molasses and barely there green botanical notes. The Belize dark chocolate tasted darker than 72% cacao (closer to 76% - 80% cacao) and was refreshingly un-sweet.

A judicious sprinkle of sea salt (flecks of fleur de sel on the back of the fish) rounded out the flavors. 

The maker's description of today's marine-inspired chocolate (below) reveals their close connection to the sea.*

"Our Single Origin Chocolate Fish are made in celebration of our coastal home on the historic Humboldt Bay. 72% Belize chocolate is topped with a light sprinkling of Fleur De Sel sea salt, creating the perfect blend of rich dark chocolate and the subtle sharpness of the salty sea air."

Ingredients: Organic cacao (Cacao solids 72% minimum), Organic cane sugar, sea salt

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that also processes milk, tree nuts, wheat, and peanuts."

*Dick Taylor's multi-talented founders (Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor) have impressive skills that include boat building and being musicians.

Simply Super Organic Superfoods - Organic Cacao Nibs - May 17, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Simply Super Organic Superfoods
Organic Cacao Nibs
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 6 oz. (170 g.) in total package 
Calories: 180 calories in 3 Tablespoons (28 g.)
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #12 of Chocolate, Nuts and Nibs Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and the Sea Theme Week. Ahoy! The Research Vessel "Chocolate Banquet" is now underway with some nuts, nibs and galley-assembled cacao treasures.

Today's Simply Super Organic Superfoods, Organic Cacao Nibs were distributed by OMG! Food Company LLC (Rancho Dominguez, CA).

I tried some of these organic cacao nibs, by themselves, first. 

Most, however, were used to make four small dark chocolate sea stars (one with cacao nibs, two with nibs and sea salt, one with nibs and kelp seasoning*), to kick off Chocolate and The Sea Theme Week. These chocolates were floating on a frozen "sea" of Tillamook Salted Caramel Frozen Custard, topped with a trail of roasted nut flotsam and jetsam.

First, the nibs...

These nibs had a complex, intriguing aroma and flavor with sweet tree sap (maple), green (tea), coffee, vaguely fruit-floral (light citrus, orange blossom) and chocolate (brownie) notes. The nibs had a satisfying crunchy texture.

The chocolate sea stars that incorporated these nibs as well as some sea salt (and one with kelp seasoning and sea salt) were enjoyable as well.

Ingredients for Cacao Nibs: Organic cacao nibs

Allergen-related information: (None listed on package.)

*Barnacle Foods Alaskan "Everything" Kelp Seasoning blend ingredients: Onion, garlic,  sesame seed, Alaskan kelp, and Kosher salt, poppy seed. 

Truffettes de France - Keto Bites With Cocoa Nibs - May 16, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Truffettes de France
Keto Bites With Cocoa Nibs
Good + - Good ++
Weight: 1.58 oz. (45 g.) / 6.35 oz. (180 g.) in total box of 4 bags

Calories: 240 calories for 1 bag (9 pieces)

Cost: $5.99 for 1 box

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #11 of Chocolate, Nuts and Nibs Theme Week, featuring chocolate items with nuts and/or cocoa nibs.

Today's Truffettes de France Keto Bites With Cocoa Nibs were a product of Canada and were imported by ChocMod USA (Fort Lee, NJ). 

These cocoa-dusted truffles had a true dark chocolate (fudge brownie) aroma.

The texture was a pleasing contrast: a buttercream melt and crunchy cocoa nibs. The smooth, bitter-sweet dark chocolate flavor was refreshingly un-sweet and had a faintly earthy finish.

Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, vegetable oil (coconut oil, mixed tocopherols), dietary fiber (inulin), erythritol, cocoa nibs, cocoa powder processed with alkali, natural flavor, soy lecithin, stevia leaf extract, milk (less than 1 percent of milk).

Allergen-related information: "Contains: Soy and Milk. May contain: Tree nuts."

Betterland Foods, Inc. - Woo bar - May 15, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Betterland Foods, Inc. 

Woo bar

Good +

Weight: 1.6 oz. (45 g.) in total bar

Calories: 200 calories in 1 bar

Cost: $ N/A - gift from a friend (Thank you Don and Wendy!)

Purchased from: N/A - gift

Welcome to Day #10 of Chocolate, Nuts and Nibs Theme Week.

Today's "Woo" bar was manufactured for and distributed by Betterland Foods, Inc. (Napa, CA). The company was founded in 2021 by Lizanne Falsetto (creator of thinkThin bars).

This bar's aroma had slightly sweet, slightly salty, subtle cocoa and caramel candy bar, nut and faint plant protein notes.

This chocolate-covered bar had a caramel-y, light nougat-y and nutty, sweet center with a soft chew. Flavor notes included: light caramel, a maple-like sweetness, vanilla, subtle chocolate and nuts.

The limited edition Woo bar was formulated to have "half the sugar and 2x the protein" (of a more traditional, popular candy bar). The bar had 22 total carbs. (8 grams fiber, 9 grams of sugar(s)). The 8 grams of protein was achieved using peanuts and "cow-free whey protein" (Perfect Day's "animal-free dairy").* 

Normally I prefer chocolates with a shorter ingredient list. But I also appreciated my teeth feeling slightly less sugar-coated after eating this Woo bar than after sampling other candy bar-like confections. Any chocolate (or nuanced cacao flavors) were not distinguishable in this bar, relegating the chocolate to a pleasant background flavor. Although there was added cocoa butter in the filling and the chocolate coating (which is not always the case with candy bars).

The Woo bar was comparable to a candy bar in taste, but had a more appealing nutritional story.

Ingredients: Caramel (inulin, soluble corn fiber, agave syrup, cocoa butter, caramel color, sunflower lecithin, tapioca starch, natural flavors, gum arabic, salt, beta carotene), chocolate (cane sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, vanilla powder), peanuts, cow-free whey protein, agave syrup, rice syrup solids, glycerine, water, agave inulin, cocoa butter, peanut oil, sunflower oil, sunflower lecithin, sea salt, guar gum, natural flavor, vanilla extract.

Allergen-related information: "Contains milk, peanuts. Manufactured in a facility that also processes other tree nuts, soy, egg, peanuts, milk."

*Perfect Day is a food technology startup, based in Berkeley, CA. The company uses fungi to make protein that is "molecularly identical" to (whey) protein found in cow's milk and is part of a new wave of companies creating lab-grown proteins.

The fermented alternative protein Perfect Day produces has a much lower carbon footprint than whey produced from a traditional dairy farm; and the end product can be used to make "cow-free" dairy products like cheese, yogurt or ice cream. However, while it does not contain lactose (the sugar in dairy milk that can upset stomachs), it may not be suitable for those with a sensitivity to whey protein (one of two types of protein found in cow's milk).

NibMor - Organic Dark Chocolate Extreme with cacao nibs - May 12, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

NibMor
Organic Dark Chocolate Extreme with cacao nibs
Good +
Weight: .918 oz. (26 g.) / 3.55 oz. (101 g.) in total package
Calories: 130 calories in 1 serving (3 pieces)
Cost: $4.99 (sale) for 1 package
Purchased from: Piazza's, Palo Alto, CA 

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate, Nuts and Nibs Theme Week.

Today's Organic Dark Chocolate Extreme (80% cacao) with cacao nibs snack size pieces were manufactured for Nib Mor, Inc. (Kennebunk, ME).

These certified gluten free, organic, "snack size" (small rectangular bar-shaped) pieces were made with Rainforest Alliance Certified cacao.

These 80% cacao chocolates (tiny, rectangular "bars") had a dark chocolate aroma and flavor (dark chocolate cake, mousse), with a very, very faint mint note. Smooth texture was accented with crunchy cacao nibs (bits of cacao beans). 

Note: These smaller pieces were similar to a large NibMor 80% cacao bar, but these did not contain sea salt.

Ingredients: *Organic chocolate liquor, *organic cane sugar, *organic cacao butter, organic cacao nibs, organic soy lecithin (an emulsifier), organic vanilla.

*Rainforest Alliance Certified Cocoa, "helping to protect the environment and farm families."

Allergen-related information: "Made in a facility that also processes peanuts, tree nuts, milk (and) soy."

Oodaalolly - Roasted Cacao Nibs (Philippines) - May 13, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Oodaalolly Chocolate
Roasted Cacao Nibs - Philippines
Good + - Good ++
Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 8.81 oz. (250 g.) in total package
Calories: 90 calories in 1.5 TB (1/2 serving)
Cost: $14.00 (sale) for 1 package 
Purchased from: Oodaalolly, LLC, online order

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate, Nuts and Nibs Theme Week, featuring items with chocolate and nuts, cacao nibs and/or combinations of these elements.

Today's Oodaalolly Roasted Cacao Nibs were a product of the Philippines, but roasted and packaged by Oodaalolly, LLC (El Cerrito, CA) for sale in the U.S. 

Oodaalolly founder and chocolate maker, Hernan Lauber, also offers a line of chocolates (bars) that feature cacao from the Philippines (and sometimes flavor inclusions from this island nation as well). We paired these nibs with a small bowl of pili nuts, but they also would have worked in oatmeal, ice cream, infused in whiskey, tea or coffee, or in a spice blend/rub.

Today's single origin nibs (pieces of Trinitario* variety of cacao beans) were from Davao (in the southern Philippines).

Aroma and flavor notes for these nibs included: cacao, slightly green (seed, nut), faint earth, roasted nut, roasted coffee, toast, and chocolate cookie notes. (There may have been a very faint, slightly acidic, diffuse fruit in this taste bouquet.)

The nibs had uniform, balanced, roasted cacao flavor(s), while retaining the fairly complex essence of the cacao bean(s). They were well-suited to both sweet and savory applications.

Ingredients: Cacao nibs (Theobroma cacao)

Allergen-related information: "Non-GMO, gluten free, vegan"

*Trinitario variety cacao often has some of the true chocolate-y flavors often associated with bolder (forastero) varieties, but is less subtle than some milder heritage (criollo) varieties.