"Bourn" to Eat Chocolate

I picked up a few UK imports the other day at the Bulk Barn just to give them a try. So today I am tasting the Bournville "Classic Dark Chocolate" bar by Cadbury.  Of course, I am not suggesting in any way that this is a high-end gourmet chocolate bar.  It is just your average "Chocolaty Candy Bar" as it says on the sticky label that was added to comply with the Canadian labelling regulations.

Well, what can I say about this chocolate bar?  It tastes like a giant chocolate chip.  So if you really like classic chocolate chips and want to eat more of them in one solid chunk, then buy a Bournville. 

There are only two things missing.  The first is the flavour.  And by that I don't mean that this doesn't taste good.  There is no vanilla or artificial flavour listed in the ingredients, which is unusual.  I am fine with that, actually, because it means that they have left out the artificial flavour ingredients. A commercial candy bar would usually use the unnatural stuff, so I prefer that there is no vanilla rather than artificial vanilla.  Besides, it tastes great without it.

The other thing missing is a larger print size on the label for people with normal, not-so-superhero, eyes.  Seriously, I don't know what the labelling standards are in the UK, but from my packaging experience, I know that this is smaller than our Canadian minimum.  Unfortunately the print on the Bournville packaging is so small that it is nearly unreadable, plus the packaging is shiny and red, so it is really difficult to see if you are not in the correct light or at the correct angle.

After much re-angling of the package and a lot of squinting, I have managed to learn that this chocolate bar was made in France for CadburyTrebor Bassett in Birmingham, U.K.  So there you are, true British chocolate made in France.  I've also learned that you should not always believe the stick-on labels that are added for imported chocolate, because they do not always match what is actually written on the package under the label.  So the original label says the ingredients are: sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, Milk Fat, Emulsifier (soya lecithin). Cocoa solids 39% minimum.  HOWEVER, the Canadian label says the ingredients are: sugar, cocoa mass, palm oil, cocoa butter, soya lecithin., traces of nut, cocoa solids (37%).  Huh?!  What?!  How did the cocoa solids change by 2%?  Did some get lost at sea during transport?  Also, palm oil is extracted from the fruit of palm trees and is NOT milkfat (which, if you care, is also called Butterfat, according to Wikipedia, and is the fatty portion of milk, obviously).  So my question for Cadbury is, which fat is in this chocolate bar?!?  I am assuming it is milkfat since that is what is listed on the original label.  And, this is not Cadbury's fault since they are not the one who imported this chocolate bar to Canada.

Either way, added fat is one of the reasons that this chocolate can be considered a "candy bar" rather than chocolate.  It does add a nice soft melt-in-your-mouth texture to the chocolate, which can lead to eating the whole bar in one minute or less, but it reduces the actual amount of cocoa solids that you are consuming.  Whether it has 37% or 39% cocoa solids, that is hardly "classic dark chocolate".

So my verdict on this chocolate bar?  Tastes great for a sweet treat with your afternoon tea, but don't be fooled by the name on the package...and don't believe what you read on stick-on import labels! Other lessons learned:  #1. Have a magnifying glass handy when reading UK candy bar packaging, and #2. I am still "Bourn" to eat chocolate.

Other details from the package (that are not already listed above):  Oh wait, I can't see them...

Stay tuned because tomorrow I taste another British chocolate candy bar that is "out of this world"... I'd tell you more about it, but I need another 24 hours to decipher the tiny font on the package!

Scarfin`a Scharffen

Got a recipe that calls for only the best baking chocolate?  Well, Scharffen Berger has packaged up their 62% dark chocolate just for home bakers like you. There is 275 grams in the package, which will probably only get you through one flourless chocolate cake or cheesecake recipe, but it is better than buying three 100 gram chocolate bars.

The package says it has `soft notes of citrus and honey overtones`.  They also claim to make their chocolate using the best cacao beans in small batches on `vintage European equipment`.  My question is: should vintage equipment make the chocolate better or worse?  Well, whatever the method of making chocolate, they seem to be doing something right because this chocolate tastes great to me. It is smooth and dark, but not too bitter.  So if you don't care to bake with it, I say just eat it!

I tried it out in my usual ganache recipe and it was wonderful.  Bring 2/3 cup of whipping cream to a boil and pour over 9 oz of chopped Scharffen Berger Semisweet 62% (the package has 9.7 oz, so if you don't have a scale just break off one of the scored pieces, which is just under 2oz in size, and use the rest of the package). Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Let set for 8 hours and then form truffle balls or immediately pour over a cake for a lovely chocolatey finishing coat.
Here are the details on this chocolate:
Scharffen Berger(R)  Semisweet Fine Artisan Dark Chocolate, 9.7 oz (225g)
Scharffen Berger(R) Chocolate Maker, Robinsonn, IL, USA
http://www.scharffenberger.com/
Ingredients: cacao beans, sugar, cocoa butter, non-GMO soy lecithin, whole vanilla beans.

More Mint and it's Divine!

Looking for some divine mint chocolate?  Well, Divine Chocolate Inc. has just the chocolate bar for you.  I've been trying to work through all the mint-flavoured chocolate in my tasting cabinet lately, and I am so happy that I pulled out this Divine chocolate bar.  On the package, they claim to make "Heavenly Chocolate with a heart", which just means that the chocolate is Fair Trade Certified, and on their website they are more specific in saying that they are 45% farmer owned. 
The Mint Dark Chocolate bar was very easy to eat (or should I say, very easy to eat quickly!).   It is a 70% dark chocolate bar that does not taste as bitter as many 70% bars do.  Plus it has nice little crunchy peppermint crisps in it.  The ingredients are natural, with no artificial flavouring.  It is reminiscent of Camino's Mint Dark Chocolate bar (http://www.lasiembra.com/camino/en/chocolate-bars/mint), which I also like very much, and because it is not only Fair Trade Certified, but also made with Organic ingredients.  If you really like crisps in your peppermint chocolate, you can also try 36 Chocola's Mint Dark Chocolate Thins that are shaped like Pringles and eat like a chip.  They are not organic or Fair Trade, but they are certainly fun to eat.  But watch out, it is also too easy to eat too many of them!

Back to Divine chocolate, it is worth taking some time to visit to their web site. Check out the tasting guide web page - you can learn how to pair Divine chocolate bars with tea, with wine or with beer.  With this information, you can throw one awesome tasting party for your chocolate-loving friends.

Well, another great day satisfying my mint chocolate cravings! 

Here are the pacakge details from the Divine Mint package:

Divine Mint Dark Chocolate, 3.5 oz (100 g)
Imported from Germany & distributed by Divine Chocolate Inc.
http://www.divinechocolateusa.com/
Ingredients: cocoa mass*, sugar*, cocoa butter*, peppermint crisp 5% (sugar, peppermint oil), emulsifier: soya lecithin (non GM), peppermint oil, vanilla*. Chocolate contains: Cocoa solids 70% min. *Fair Trade Certified(TM).  Fair Trade Ingredients 94%. Contains Soya.  May contain trces of tree nuts, milk and wheat.

DAGOBA Mint Dark Chocolate with Rosemary: Subtle yet Smooth

Last night I tasted the DAGOBA Organic Chocolate "mint" with dark chocolate, mint & rosemary essence.  It had a nice flavour overall, however the mint was so subtle, I initially had trouble tasting it at all.  The same goes for the rosemary essence - well, I guess that's it, it is just the "essence" of rosemary.  The texture is nice and smooth and a 59% cacao offered a nice balance of sweetness.  Despite the mildness of the flavours, it is a really nice chocolate bar and the perfect size for a snack (2 oz/56 g).

What I also like about this chocolate bar is that it is made from organic ingredients and certified by International Certification Services, Inc. The manufacturers also claim that they "honor" Full Circle Sustainability(TM) principles, which according to them are "quality, ecology, equity and community." If you are curious about what all that means, the next time you buy a Dagoba chocolate bar, open the wrapper and turn it over, you'll learn more about the company than you might care to know. They certainly have found a unique way to fit everything they want to say on one tiny package. 

Here are the details from the package of this chocolate bar:
DAGOBA Organic Chocolate mint (dark chocolate, mint & rosemary essence), 59% cacao, 2 oz/56 g
Dagoba Organic Chocolate (a division of Artisan Confections Company), Ashland, OR, U.S.A.
http://www.dagobachocolate.com/
Ingredients: Organic Dark Chocolate (cacao beans*, cane sugar*, cacao butter*, non-GMO soya lecithin,); peppermint oil*, rosemary oil*, milk* (less than 0.1%).  Allergy Information: Manufactured on the same equipment that processes tree nuts. *Organic.

Would you like Curry Chicken or Sushi for dessert?

I have chosen two chocolate bars today with two very distinct flavour profiles. And once again, I am tasting Vosges Haut Chocolat, made by a company from Chicago.  I realize that I have been blogging way too often about Vosges chocolate, but that is only because I bought almost every one of their flavours and now I am just trying to get through that stack of chocolate bars before the summer completely melts them away. But don’t get me wrong; getting through the stack is NOT a punishment because I have yet to be disappointed in Vosges’ chocolate flavours. In fact, nearly every one of Vosges chocolate bars have provided me with an unforgettable flavour experience. And most often, that flavour experience is reminiscent of a familiar savoury food experience.

The first chocolate bar that I tasted is Vosges’ ‘Naga Bar’ with sweet Indian curry, coconut and milk chocolate.  The coconut flavour is very subtle, although I think there were small flecks of coconut to add a little texture.  To me, this chocolate tastes like curry chicken with a milk chocolate aftertaste. There is a high percentage of cacao in this milk chocolate and so it is not very sweet; a good thing because if it were sweet, it might be weird with the curry flavour. Overall, the spice is paired well with the type of chocolate.

The second chocolate bar is Vosges’ ‘Black Pearl Bar’ with ginger, wasabi and black sesame seeds in a semi-sweet dark chocolate (55% cacao) . The Wasabi instantly makes me think of sushi. The sesame seeds are slightly ground up and they don't add a lot of flavour, but they are very noticeable and give the chocolate an interesting texture.  The ginger is subtle in this chocolate compared to the wasabi, but I think the balance of ginger to wasabi flavour is making me crave sushi. In fact, now the only thing I want to eat are some California rolls and some raw tuna on sticky rice. Isn't it wonderful what chocolate can make you crave?  It’s funny because chocolate is normally the 'what' that I crave.

If you are interested in spicing up your chocolate tasting and eating chocolate that tastes like dinner, here are the details on the two chocolate bars that I tasted today:

Vosges Haut Chocolat Naga Bar, 45% cacao, 0.5 oz (14g)
Vosges IP, LLC, Chicago, IL, USA
www.vosgeschocolate.com
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, dry whole milk powder, soy lecithin-an emulsifier, vanilla), 2% desiccated coconut, sweet curry.  Chocolate bar contains: 40% cocoa solids minimum, 15% milk solids minimum.  Contains: Soy, milk, coconut.  Manufactured in a facility that handles tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish and soy.

Vosges Haut Chocolat Black Pearl Bar, 55% cacao, 0.5 oz (14g)
Vosges IP, LLC, Chicago, IL, USA
www.vosgeschocolate.com
Ingredients: Dark Chocolate (cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, soy lecithin-an emulsifier, vanilla), 2% black sesame seeds, wasabi, ginger.  Dark chocolate (55%) contains: 53% cocoa solids minimum. Contains: Soy, sesame seeds. Manufactured in a facility that handles tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish and soy.

High percentage milk chocolate and tropical island cacao make a great chocolate bar

I love milk chocolate made with very high percentages of cocoa solids.  Here's one of my new favourites:  Cachet Limited Selection 'Vanuatu' 44% Milk Chocolate. It is rich and to me, it has a nice mild tobacco flavour and thick cocoa butter texture. 

Given that the U.S. Government requires a 10% concentration of chocolate liquor and the European Union requires a minimum of 25% cocoa solids (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_chocolate), then a milk chocolate bar with 44% cocoa solids is rather high.

The good thing about eating milk chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa solids is that you know exactly what you are eating.  With 44% cocoa solids, and 20% milk solids (as specified on the package of the Vanuatu bar), there is not much room for any other unnatural or unhealthy ingredients, like the hydrogenated oils or food colourings added into commercial milk chocolate bars.  You also know that it will not be as sweet as commercial chocolate, so you instantly reduce the sugar that you are consuming, but you are still getting a milky chocolate taste.

The other good thing about a high cocoa percentage in milk chocolate is the flavour.  Regional flavours in the beans are not masked when the chocolate is made of beans from a specific origin.  High amounts of sugar and vanilla flavour will mask the uniqueness of origin chocolate.


The Vanuatu chocolate bar by Cachet is
made with forastero beans from Vanuatu, a nation of 83 Islands in the South Pacific Ocean.  Just knowing they have cocoa beans and islands in the South Pacific Ocean made me instantly want to place Vanuatu on my "bucket list" of places to go during my lifetime. Then again, Vanuatu just experienced an undersea earthquake on July 31st that hit a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale. And that was the second earthquake this year.  Yikes, I'll maybe rethink my bucket list entry. But I can still enjoy their cocoa beans thanks to Cachet.

CACHET LIMITED SELECTION 'Vanuatu', 44% Milk Chocolate, forastero, 100g (3.5oz)
Made in Belgium by:  Kim's Chocolates, Belgium.
http://www.kimchoc.be/
Ingredients:  sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, vanilla (nat. flavour).  Milk chocolate:  cocoa solids min. 44% - milk solids min. 20%.  Contains: milk.  May contain traces of nuts, peanuts, soybeans, eggs and gluten.

Extra Dark and Extra Minty Chocolate to help with Women's "Monthly Madness"

I am a big fan of mint-flavoured chocolate - particularly mint dark chocolate. So I have been developing a small collection of mint dark chocolate bars and have been meaning to have a tasting party.  But with my long and somewhat difficult pregnancy and now the arrival of my son, I just haven't had the energy to throw a tasting party.  Since the hot weather is beginning to affect my chocolate supply, I thought I'd hurry up and taste some of the mint chocolate.

Today I am tasting two chocolate bars: a NewTree "Eternity" dark chocolate bar with mint flavour and the "lunatic" chocolate bar with mint and cocoa nibs by Zazubean.

The "lunatic" chocolate bar has a unique selling feature in that it is advertised on the package as the "Women's Monthly MADNESS" bar. On the back of the package it says that it "provides hormonal balancing for women and takes the edge off of premenstrual tension in a sweet and natural way." 

So I don't know why - particularly given the "hormonal balancing" statement on the package - I hadn't noticed that there were "medicinal ingredients" in the chocolate. When I scanned the ingredients list, I hadn't noticed that it said "non-medicinal ingredients", which were pretty straightforward, so of course I hadn't looked to see what the "medicinal" ingredients were or the warning on the package that said "Cautions: Not recommended for use during pregnancy, during lactation or for children." Yikes, I opened the chocolate to taste in the last week of my pregnancy and have slowly been finishing this chocolate bar since I got home from the hospital while nursing the baby!  So I guess I better look up these medicinal ingredients and find out how big my mistake was in eating this chocolate bar.

The "medicinal ingredients" are: Dong quai (angelica sinensis), Chaste tree berry (vitex agnus-castus) and Maca root. According to various Internet sources, Dong quai is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat women's reproductive problems and to relieve menstrual disorders such as cramps, irregular menstrual cycles, infrequent periods, PMS, and menopausal symptoms (reference: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/dong-quai-000238.htm). So I can see why that ingredient was added to this chocolate in order to help control women's "monthly madness".
   
The second ingredient, chaste tree berry, is used to relieve menstrual pain and control hormones. But be warned, it was supposedly used in previous centuries for suppression of sexual desire, so perhaps use this sparingly if you want to maintain an active sex life! (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitex_agnus-castus).

The last 'medicinal' ingredient is Maca root.  Apparently Maca root helps rebuild weak immune systems, re-mineralize poorly nourished bodies, and increase energy and endurance (http://www.macaroot.com/).  It contains chemicals that include important "hormonal precursors". It has "hormone-normalizing effects" and can heighten libido in men and improve semen quality (reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepidium_meyenii).  Perhaps it was added to offset the effects of the chaste tree berry.  Although Zazubean does make another chocolate bar that covers this area of heightening libido. I recently tasted and blogged about the Zazubean "Flirt" chocolate bar that was intended to heighten libido and it also contained Maca root.

So now that we've learned about all the ingredients and how they can help women with their "monthly madness", you are probably wondering: "So how does it taste?" Well, the Zazubean "lunatic" chocolate bar is dark, bitter, slightly minty and crunchy all at the same time.  The texture is perfect and melts in your mouth nicely. If you like a bitter-tasting chocolate, you will like this chocolate bar.  If you prefer your chocolate and mint combination on the sweeter side, then this probably is not for you.

The NewTree "Eternity" dark chocolate bar with mint flavour isn't as fancy, nor is it filled with medicinal herbs. It is, however, slightly sweeter than the Zazubean "lunatic" bar, but the texture is not so smooth and luxurious.  I like that they have added green tea extract, which gives the chocolate eater a double-whammy of antioxidants from both the cacao and the grean tea. Unfortunately, this NewTree chocolate bar was improperly stored in the sunshine and the texture is not great.  It is slightly chalky, so I guess it would be unfair of me to comment on the texture.  I bought a few flavours at a little artisan store in Ottawa and I think they all sat in the direct sunlight.  I will have to try to get me\y hands on some other NewTree chocolate bars some day soon so I can fairly rate their taste and texture.

So what have I learned today?  Read the entire ingredients list before eating any chocolate with a funky name, especially while pregnant and nursing a baby.  Also, don't buy chocolate at a store where they have it on display in the direct sunlight!

Here are the package details from the two chocolate bars that I tasted today:

Zazubean "lunatic" Mint & Cocoa Nibs Organic Dark Chocolate bar, 72% Cacao, 56g
Formulated in Canada, made in the USA for Zazubean Organic Chocolates, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
http://www.zazubean.com/
Medicinal Ingredients:  Dong quai (angelica sinensis), Chaste tree berry (vitex agnus-castus) and Maca root. Non-medicinal ingredients: Cocoa beans*+, evaporated cane juice*+, cocoa butter*+, cocoa nibs*+, glycerin, honey*, vanilla*, peppermint oil*. +Fair Trade certified(TM). *Certified Organic. Made on shared equipment with products containing wheat, eggs, milk, peanuts and other nuts. Cautions: NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE DURING PREGNANCY, DURING LACTATION OR FOR CHILDREN.

NewTree MINT ETERNITY, 73% Cocoa, 2.82 oz
NEWTREE America Inc., San Anselmo, CA, USA.
http://www.newtree.com/
Ingredients: unsweetened chocolate, sugar, pure cocoa butter, cocoa powder, peppermint with other natural flavors, natural green tea extract, emulsifier: soy lecithin.  Cocoa solids: 73% minimum.  May contain traces of gluten and milk.  Made in a facility that also uses hazelnuts.