Next by Nature - Dark Chocolate Blueberries - May 31, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Next by Nature 

Dark Chocolate Blueberries 

Good + - Good ++

Weight: 3 oz. (85 g.) in total package

Calories: 380 calories in 1 package

Cost: $5.10 for 1 package ($6.00 less member discount)

Purchased from: Land's End Gift Shop, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate and Fruit Theme Week, featuring a variety of chocolate and fruit flavor blends.

Today's Next by Nature Dark Chocolate Blueberries were produced by Tropical Valley Foods (Plattsburgh, NY).

These ebony-colored pearls had a dark milk chocolate, hot cocoa, and faint/diffuse fruit aroma. I enjoyed the darker 58% dark chocolate and slightly "darker" berry (blueberry) flavor choices with this offering. The pieces may still have been sweet--by single origin dark bar standards--but had richer, deeper flavors than many chocolate covered items.

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (unsweetened cocoa liquor processed with alkali; sugar; cocoa butter; cocoa powder; milk fat; non-GMO soy lecithin (an emulsifier); vanilla extract), dried blueberries (cultivated blueberries, cane sugar, sunflower oil), dextrin (non-GMO), confectioners glaze (regular lac resin)

Allergen-related information: "Contains milk, soy."

Crunchies Natural Foods - Freeze-Dried Bananas in Milk Chocolate - May 30, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Distributed by Crunchies Natural Food Company, LLC

Freeze-Dried Bananas in Milk Chocolate

Good +

Weight: 2.12 oz. (60 g.) / 5 oz. (142 g.) in total package

Calories: 280 calories in 2 servings

Cost: $3.99 for 1 package

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

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Fruits Theme Week.

Today's Freeze-Dried Bananas in Milk Chocolate were distributed by Crunchies Natural Food Company, LLC (Calabasas, CA).

These glossy, milk chocolate covered pieces had an aroma with mild milk chocolate and faint fruit (banana milkshake) notes.

The authentic, light (almost airy) and crunchy banana slices that lay at the center of these chocolate confections were a cause for celebration. The company offers a line of crunchy freeze-dried fruits, including some that are chocolate-coated (strawberry, banana and blueberry).

The smooth creamy and fairly sweet milk chocolate (coating) was the metaphorical "icing on the cake." These pieces also had an addictive snack quality (real milk chocolate with whole milk powder will do that to me sometimes). So if you're overly hungry or craving something sweet, you may eat more than you planned.

Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, whole milk powder, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin (emulsifier), natural vanilla extract), freeze-dried banana, confectioners glaze, gum arabic.

Allergen-related information: "Contains milk, soy" "May contain eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat"

Exquisito Chocolates - Apeeling Chocolate (Plantain Clusters) - May 29, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Exquisito Chocolates
"Apeeling Chocolate" - Chocolate Covered Plantain Clusters
Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.45 g.) / 6.88 oz. (195 g.) in total package
Calories: 225 calories (estimate) in 1.5 oz. (42.45 g.) serving/piece
Cost: $12.00 for 1 package
Purchased from: Exquisito Chocolates, online order

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate and Fruit Theme Week, featuring a variety of chocolate and fruit items. 

Today's "Apeeling Chocolate" Chocolate Covered Plantain Clusters were from Exquisito Chocolates (Little Havana, Miami, FL).

The package of generously-sized, bark-like pieces had an aroma of rich milk chocolate and faint plantain/banana chips. The smooth and flavorful dark milk chocolate paired well with the embedded crunchy pieces of authentic plantain (chips).

Maker's description: "...crispy milk chocolate-covered plantain chips which bring the perfect balance of Miami sweet and salty."

Ingredients: "Cacao, cocoa butter, unrefined cane sugar, milk, plantain. Contains cow's milk. Processed in a facility that also processes milk, peanuts, tree nuts and wheat."

Miette et Chocolat - Third Culture Ube Bar With Coconut - May 28, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Miette et Chocolat

Third Culture Ube Bar With Coconut 

Good +

Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) (estimate) / (total weight not listed on packaging)

Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1 oz. (28.3 g.) of bar

Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar

Purchased from: Third Culture, Berkeley, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Fruit Theme Week.

Today's Third Culture Ube Bar with Coconut was from French patisserie and chocolate shop Miette et Chocolat (Aurora, CO). 

As one might expect from the name (and the subtle, beautiful purple color), this bar had an aroma with chocolate, coconut and fruit (ube, sweet purple yam and sweet black/blue berry) notes.

Ube, a starchy tuber that looks like a purple yam or sweet potato, is popular in Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Hawaii, California and elsewhere as a dessert (Ube Halaya) and ice cream flavor, often paired with coconut or coconut milk. (Ube is also the name of the African pear, a purple fruit in West Africa.*)

I'm guessing today's bar was an homage to beautifully bright purple-pink ube glazed and coconut sprinkled (gluten-free) doughnuts I thought I spotted at Third Culture in Berkeley, CA---a bakery known in the San Francisco Bay Area for their mochi muffins. 

The percentage of cocoa solids in this bar may have been relatively low; but the thick and creamy, almost fluffy, melt and texture was likely due to a generous amount of cocoa butter. It had the mouthfeel and sweetness level of a white chocolate. (I'm guessing here as there was no detailed ingredients list on the packaging.)

Flavors detected were similar to the aroma notes mentioned above. These flavors included: cocoa butter, sugar, purple sweet potato, very faint tropical fruit and coconut--and a milky, plant-based (coconut milk) chocolate.

This was a fun bar to try. (I pair this Ube bar with an unflavored dark chocolate--a single origin filled dark chocolate from Exquisito Chocolates.)

Ingredients: (Not listed on package)

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

*The ube tuber (Dioscorea alata) here is not the same species as the African Pear aka Safou fruit (Dacryodes edulis) (an edible drupe) that grows in West Africa and also has a purple (skin) color. In Nigeria it is called "ube."

TCHO - Organic, fair trade "Born Fruity" (filled bar) - May 26, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

TCHO 
Organic "Born Fruity" (filled bar)
Good ++
Weight: .83 oz. (23 g.) / 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total package of 3 bars
Calories: 120 calories in 1 small bar
Cost: $ N/A - sample from TCHO (from a factory tour; thank you Toni, Alana, Brad)
Purchased from: N/A - sample from TCHO

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Fruit Theme Week, featuring chocolates with fruit inclusions as well as chocolate(s) with naturally occurring fruit flavors. 

Today's Organic "Born Fruity" bar was created by TCHO Ventures Inc. (Berkeley, CA), using fair trade certified cacao from Peru.

This package of three filled bars was part of a line of new "fair and square" bars with new packaging. Each square package that once housed 1 larger square bar, is now occupied by three, individually wrapped, rectangular bars. The bars are made with, you guessed it, fair trade certified cacao.

The aroma and flavor of this bold, dense dark chocolate (72% cacao external shell) had a slight earthiness, that gave it a slightly darker taste. 

The inside filling (just a little softer than the outer dark shell) was, by contrast, slightly sweeter, brighter, fruitier (sweet red berry, hibiscus), and a bit "juicier"-- with a very faint hint of coconut. 

I liked the subtle flavor shifts, and not having an ultra-sweet filling (or shell). These qualities may even cue people to slow down and consume this chocolate more mindfully. 

I enjoyed the layered flavors, that mirrored natural cacao notes, and the balanced hint of fruit acidity amidst deep cocoa taste. It was one of my favorite TCHO filled bars from the company's new, re-engineered, organic, all plant-based family.

Maker's tasting notes: "From Peru. The birthplace of cacao. Deep fruit notes; sweet and crisp finish."

Ingredients: Organic and fair trade certified cacao beans, organic cane sugar, organic and fair trade certified cacao butter, organic coconut oil, organic sunflower lecithin.

Allergen-related information: "May contain soy, milk, and other tree nuts."

Dick Taylor - Microbatch No. 42 - 70% Dark Chocolate Black Currant & Orange (bar) - May 26, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate
Microbatch No. 42 - 70% Dark Chocolate Black Currant and Orange
Good +++ - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $10.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Dick Taylor, online order 

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and  Fruit Theme Week.

Today's Microbatch No. 42 - 70% Dark Chocolate Black Currant and Orange bar was created by Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate (Eureka, CA).

Tasting this bar was a refreshing deep dive into the chocolate flavor pool. The opposite of a bland, chocolate and sugar bar. It began with the aroma. This 70% cacao dark chocolate had a rich aroma of dried fruit (prunes, dark berries with faint citrus) notes.

The dark chocolate (tasted slightly darker than 70% cacao and) had rich fruity dark chocolate, sweet-tart, dried dark berry/currant and (balanced, undulating, authentic, fresh orange) citrus tones. 

These notes were amplified by (or at least harmonized with) the naturally occurring cacao flavors in the Madagascar and Belize cacao blend used to make the chocolate. (Madagascar cacao is known for berry and citrus notes.)

The best chocolate and fruit blends I've tasted use fruits that complement naturally occurring cacao notes, high-quality, often single origin cacao beans, and high-end, specialty fruit. The quality of the "...generous sprinkling of tart, chewy black currants from Washington" (and orange essential oil) included in this four-ingredient bar were exceptional. 

The wake-me-up, tart sweet chocolate flavors lingered a bit into a pleasing finish.

If there is a heaven where we're still allowed to experience earthly pleasures (like great chocolate), I'm hoping today's Dick Taylor bar (and other bars from this maker) will be on the menu. (Note: If you like the bolder fruit flavors in this bar, do try the Dick Taylor Black Fig bar as well.)

Sad to say, this small batch (monthly microbatch flavor) chocolate bar is already sold out. I'm hoping it will return soon.

Ingredients: Organic cacao, organic cane sugar, organic black currant, organic orange essential oil.

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

Exquisito Chocolates - Guava chocolate - May 25, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Exquisito Chocolates

Guava (filled chocolate)

Good +

Weight: .5 oz. (14.1 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) (estimate) in 6-piece assortment box

Calories: 77 calories (estimate) in 1 piece

Cost: $21.00 for a 6-piece assortment box 

Purchased from: Exquisito Chocolates, online order

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and Fruit Theme Week. 

Today's Guava chocolate was from Exquisito Chocolates (Little Havana, Miami, FL). It was one flavor in a 6-piece Artisan Collection assortment box.

The filling in this festively-painted (red) dark chocolate was smooth, almost velvety. This flavorful dark chocolate center was infused with fully incorporated fruit--Florida-grown guava--that contributed a very subtle, diffuse bright fruitiness.

Guavas likely originated in Central and South America--where cacao trees first developed. Today, guava fruit is commercially grown primarily in Florida, Hawaii and California in the U.S. 

I'm hoping to (one day) enjoy guavas from the two small guava trees in my back yard in Northern California. 

In the meantime, I enjoyed this chocolate and the highly edible fuschia and pale pink flowers on my pineapple guava species. (Most other guava flowers are white.) Pineapple guava flowers have a mild, sweet tropical fruit punch flavor. 

Ingredients: (Not listed on box)

Allergen-related information: (Not listed on box)