Reviews Surrounded by chocolate

I wish there was a chocolate cleanse.

There were a lot of chocolates from the various shows recently and it seems there will be more coming in from other shows, so, I'm going to say that the great thing about getting chocolate from a 'health food' fair or gourmet show, is that before you even taste it you know it's going to be 10xs better than grocery store chocolate. There really isn't a stinker in the bunch here...there are a few that I don't like as much...a bit too sweet for my taste, but in the realm of candy bars, they're probably still less sweet than most of what is out there.

To begin with, it is not possible to choose a favourite Theobroma chocolate bar. They are consistently superb, with a rich, silky chocolate that honestly sent waves of pleasure through my body.. One was plain, dark, unadorned chocolate and the rest had chunks of dried fruit throughout...just enough to make it delicious...okay, it was already delicious, but to enhance an already high degree of deliciousness. I do have a sharp fond memory of the long gone coconut bar, but the raspberry and banana were similarly wonderful.

Theobroma chocolate is gluten-free, fair trade and organic, with elegant packaging, in long slender fingers of chocolate, wrapped in tasteful green and brown mylar and available in gift boxes.

The Cocomira lady had been prepared to give us a box of everything, but I was already overloaded and wasn't prepared to carry that much, so we took a single box of Mocha Latte Crunch, and she filled it with a few of the open samples they had left at the end of the day. They're lovely and buttery, almost too rich, but cleverly packaged in tiny chunks, in transparent envelopes sealed with a pretty sticker naming the flavour. the presentation is as rich as the confection. Their label proudly proclaims awards of distinction and it's easy to see why. My only complaint is that I foolishly did not want to carry more of them home. Flavours: Hazelnut Crunch, Espresso Crunch, Maple Crunch, Dark Chocolate Crunch, Pistachio Crunch and Mocha Latte Crunch.?

Barkley's Maple Chocolate Truffle Bar was also quite rich, as one would expect of a truffle, with a beautiful maple taste...a bit too sweet for my taste, but if I had a coffee on the side, this would be a nice chocolate to have a bit of.

Camino was debuting a new line of chocolate candy bars, priced somewhat more reasonably than their usual precious bars. We were given several bars: Caramel filled, peanut butter, hazelnut butter, puffed rice and quinoa. almond and raisins, all of which I liked to a degree, but all of which were too sweet for my taste overall.

Of the bunch, I liked the puffed rice and quinoa best. Understand that I am judging at a really high level here. Despite the fact that I liked these the least, they directly compete with national brands...or at least they compare extremely favourably with similarly flavoured candy bars produced and sold by multinational corporations with a lot more sugar, and are priced at a level that makes them a reasonable buy for someone who isn't entirely committed to the price levels often associated with organic and fair trade foods with no connection to child slave labour. That gets my vote for this product. Almond butter - Dark Chocolate,Almonds & raisins - Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut butter - Milk Chocolate, Peanut butter - Dark Chocolate, Puffed rice & quinoa - Milk Chocolate.

The Ananda chocolates were a nice find, and as with most of the booths at the CHFA, I really enjoyed talking with the company representatives at this booth, who were clearly genuine in their enthusiasm for their product (also true of every single chocolate company...I'd be super-happy all the time too, if my job was marketing top-quality chocolate).

Back to Ananda though, the enthusiasm of the reps was well supported by the evidence presented. In this case, the results were more uneven than others, but the great results were stellar. Gigi and I disagree on most of the Ananda chocolates, she likes the mint best, I like the new bar they were most proud of, a super dark bar sweetened entirely with banana, wheras she did not care for that one at all and I only kinda liked the mint.

Ananda chocolate is vegan for those that care, with 100% biodegradable packaging, which we should all care about. It's also beautifully packaged and can be bought in very nice gift sample boxes. "Pure Bliss" – 77 % Dark Organic Ecuadorian Chocolate, "Blissful Banana" - Dark Chocolate with Chewy Banana, "Coffee Break" - Dark Chocolate with Coffee Beans, "Mentally Mint" Dark Chocolate with Mint and Coffee, and "Naked Cacao" – Dark Chocolate with Cacao Nibs, sweetened with organic banana pure and sucrose-free.

More cheerful, pleasant people at the Tootsi Impex booth, where again, we took only a small sample of Elan bio perfection chocolate covered cocoa nibs to test, as the rest, cereals and rices were too much to carry at the time. The chocolate was creamy and delicious with a mild crunch of the tiny bits of nibs inside (at least that's what it feels like)...they're pretty good...I'll definitely finish this, but for this sort of thing, I think my preference is chocolate covered coffee beans.

Giddy Yo Yo won the People's Choice Award at the CHFA. Their product is a raw chocolate, 100% organic and 'beyond fair trade'. Flavours: Original, Mint, Ginger, Spicy, Mocha and Orange (at least, these are the ones we have). The plain chocolate is a nice tasting, slightly grainy, but delicious bar and the orange is a fragrant eye-opener...and I mean that literally, it's 2:33am and we just got this one today. The mint is nice and minty, but I've lost the love I had for that combination in my youth. 'Spicy' is orgasmic, ever so so slightly peppery and with the most delicious, silky chocolate, that should not, but seems to be somewhat different from the other chocolate bases of the Giddy Yo Yo bars I've tasted...could be my imagination...after all...the time. I'm about to try the ginger and looking forward to it, ginger and chocolate being one of my favourite combinations...perhaps time to stop and take a quick sip of tea. Not bad, but not the phantasmic, out of body experience I was looking for. Simply okay, not up to the standard of the orange. More tea. The mocha wins my 2:42am stamp of approval. 'The People' were right. Or at least, they made a good call.

Olivia Chocolate won the 2011 Silver Award in the top category, Best Bean-to-Bar chocolate bar at the London England based Academy of Chocolate. My bars are a 70% Maple, and an 86% plain dark. Drum roll please...pause for tea...This stuff is incredible. I've never heard of it before, but this maple bar is melting across the roof of my mouth and its fragrance is filling my head. It's just sweet enough and so gorgeous a chocolate flavour. I could die happy right now. That was 70%. More tea. CHOCOLATE CONCENTRATE. Man, is that bold. The espresso of chocolate, a tiny piece could keep a man alive for a week. Tastes good too, but I am personally more of a latte girl than an espresso chick.

There was also Horizon chocolate milk, which was the most delicious chocolate milk I have ever had. I'm sure this booth had happy people too.

Although they were not involved in any of these shows (or at least I didn't see them there), it would be wrong to complete this without mentioning my favourite, locally produced drinking chocolate. Chocosol Traders imports chocolate directly from Oaxaca Mexico, from farmers they know personally...a step beyond fair trade, to a model they call 'horizontal trading'. Buying direct. Their core expertise, for my money is the drinking chocolate, of which my favourite is the 5 chili, but they do also make excellent eating chocolate. All of it is what their founder Michael referred to as "Adult chocolate, nothing like those candy bars they sell you in stores." For the Chocosol collective, chocolate is a kind of sacrament, it's a food, a source of pleasure, but it is not diminished to being a 'candy'. They are really happy people.

Gayle