Tag: cacao

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Chocolate That Isn’t Bars Or Bonbons

Instead of telling you all about a specific chocolate bar this time, I thought I’d mention a few chocolate-related products I’ve tried that contain chocolate or cacao, or at least products related to cacao…  (Husks count, right?)

Friends gifted me with my first taste of mint chocolate Smashmallows.
“Maybe you can put them on your website.”
So, naturally, you’d think that the Smashmallows in this photo were the ones they gave me.
Uh, no. Those disappeared too fast.

(They were THERE.  And then somehow they got OPENED.  And then all of a sudden they were GONE.)

This necessitated a replacement bag, to actually take photos of this time.
One can never have too many marshmallows.
Correction: Smashmallows.

And apparently one can never go wrong making hot chocolate in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

There will still be takers.

Smashmallows Mint Chocolate Chip Marshmallows Still Life Photo

 

Mint chocolate Smashmallows are yum and and have you SEEN some of the flavors? Cinnamon churro, coconut pineapple, cookie dough!!  (The toasted vanilla would probably make pretty awesome rice crispy treats. Just saying.)

 

Arte Sano Cacao Pod Soap

This was a bar of soap I purchased locally, because cacao husks sounding intriguing as an exfoliant.

It turns out the husks were more effective at alarming me into thinking there were bugs in my bathwater than actually helping scrub my skin, but that was my fault for being paranoid.  (This soap does not contain any bugs.  It just so happens that husks look like bugs to anyone who is blind as a bat without their glasses on.  #me)

Burts Bees Blueberry & Dark Chocolate Lip Balm

Burt’s Bees Blueberry & Dark Chocolate Moisturizing Lip Balm

While I am generally a fan of Burt’s Bees products, and this lip balm DID keep my lips moisturized, I can’t say that it smelled particularly of chocolate OR blueberry.  I’ve had better success with the classic Burts Bees peppermint lip balm (THAT smells like peppermint and works great).

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There Will Be a Test Afterwards

New chocolate bars fascinate me.  The anticipation of the taste is a big part of the fascination, but there’s more to it than that.  Many chocolate companies are outdoing themselves in the packaging department, so the wrappers are quite a treat to inspect. Part of the intrigue are the names that the different chocolate makers have chosen (both for their company and for their chocolate), and the stories behind those names.

The fascination does not end when the chocolate that comes home with me (or home to me) is carefully inspected from front to back, photographed from every angle (remind me to tell you about my 154 GIGS of chocolate photos sometime) and sampled. The packaging is never thrown away.  Instead, it goes into my collection of wrappers to reference later, to use for other photo-ops, or to be re-purposed.  (A plastic insert with shallow indentations that had originally held pralines in place makes a perfect mold for dark chocolate mint thins!  And I really ought to look into decoupage. Only I’d need something big in order to use up the quantity of wrappers that just had to be rehoused because they were outgrowing their drawer.  Anyone ever decoupaged an entire wall of their house with chocolate wrappers?) (Disclaimer: I don’t have enough wrappers for a whole wall…yet.)

There Will Be a Test Afterwards - Craft Chocolate Photo

Pictured: Andean Lemon Verbena by Pacari, Milk Chocolate by TCHO, Smoked Chai by Raaka, and Maple Coconut by Dick Taylor. (I’m making them sound like perfumes. Come to think of it, all of those would likely make nice scents!)

The taste, the wrappers, the packaging, re-purposing the packing…even after all of that, there’s at least one more thing that is fascinating, and that is: What will other people think of each chocolate?  There are usually a few squares leftover to share with this friend or that friend. I know, I know.  Leftover chocolate; is that even possible?  Trust me, it takes great restraint to keep my hands off the whole bar, box, or bag.  Sometimes it’s impossible; there is almost never any milk chocolate left to share (my apologies to my milk-chocolate loving friends)!

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Perugina 51% Cacao: 100% Delicious

When I think of Italy, I think of history.  And architecture.  And good food, and family.  Now, thanks to Perugina 51% Cacao, I’ll also think of chocolate as well.

My first taste of Perugina chocolate was in the form of Baci, chocolates with a hazelnut filling, wrapped with a love note (“Say I Love You The Italian Way”).  They were tasty, but didn’t exactly make my top ten list (only because nothing involving nuts usually makes my top ten list).

(Technically my top 10 list doesn’t exist.  And if it did, it would probably look different every few weeks!)

Much time has been to devoted to designing chocolate packaging to tempt consumers.  This consumer loved the richness of the reds, golds, and browns of the Perugina 51% Cacao packaging:

Perugina 51% Cacao Chocolate Bar Wrapper

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