Milk chocolate without the milk...

"Organic", "Beyond Fair Trade", "Kosher certified", plus "No pesticides, No artificial colors, No preservatives, No hormones, No antibiotics, No GMO's"...that's a lot of statements to make on one chocolate bar package!

However, more important than any of the features listed above, the chocolate that I am tasting today is "milk" chocolate but has no milk! The chocolate is TerraNostra's Ricemilk Choco(TM) - a 100 gram chocolate bar that uses rice powder instead of milk powder to mimic the flavour of milk chocolate. So this blog post is a call-out to anyone who is allergic to milk, or vegan, but still wants the flavour of milk chocolate.

I believe I tasted this same chocolate bar a few years ago and liked it a lot, and today I like it again.  The only problem was that the chocolate was a bit hard, and not in the 'cold room' kind of way. If you taste chocolate often, I think you will know what I mean by that.  Sometimes chocolate has been sitting in a room that is too cold and therefore does not melt quickly in your mouth.  That's not the case with this bar, it's more like it is old or has been affected by sunlight, so it does not melt in your mouth and is just a bit too hard.  Since there is no bloom or powder on the bar, and the expiry date is completely nonsense to me, then I am assuming the chocolate is just a bit too old. I bought it in a small shop in a rural area that does not get a lot of traffic, so it's possible it sat on the shelf for a bit too long. However, all that did not stop me from eating half the bar in one sitting! So clearly the taste was just fine, even if the texture was a bit hard.  Ground hazelnuts have also enhanced the flavour of this chocolate, as they often do when added subtly to milk chocolate bars.

It did not taste differently than a milk chocolate bar, and it did not have any strong organic, earthy flavours to it, so it didn't have a "too-healthy" taste to it either. So for anyone who is allergic to milk or avoiding it, I am happy to recommend this chocolate to you!

As for the Terra Nostra Organic chocolate brand, I like and respect them. They have a whole line-up of flavours, including an intense dark 73% and a dark truffle bar, plus new snack-size ones with interesting flavours that include Pink Himalayan Mineral Salt. What's more, if you are looking for milk-free chocolate, Terra Nostra has two other flavours of their ricemilk chocolate bar: Ricemilk Choco bar with Dark Truffle Centre and Ricemilk Choco bar with Almonds. But just a warning though: there seems to be a lot of "out-of-stock" notices on their website right now.  It seems that all the bars that I wanted to order are out of stock, so I'll have to try back another day.  However, their website has a Store Locator so you can find out where Terra Nostra is sold in your area.  See below for their website and product information, as well as package details from the chocolate bar that I tasted today.

Terra Nostra Organic Ricemillk Choco(TM), 100 g (3.5 oz)
KFM Foods International, Inc.
Vancouver, B.C.
Chocolate is "Product of Switzerland"
http://www.terranostrachocolate.com/
Ingredients: organic raw cane sugar, organic cocoa butter, organic rice powder, organic cocoa mass, organic hazelnuts, vanilla, salt. May contain traces of dairy products, peanuts, soy and almonds. Cocoa solids Min 41%.