I’m not sure how long the Vosges brand Mo’s Bacon Bar has been available, but when I first heard about it last year I knew I had to keep an eye out. The bar is said to have been an inspiration of chocolatier Katrina Markoff, who drew on her childhood experience of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon.

I was really interested to see how this would be pulled off. Bacon is yummy, chocolate is yummy, but together?

I found a bar at Cost Plus not too long ago and picked it up for about $6. A hefty price tag for 3oz of chocolate!

The bar is wrapped inside a foil pouch and packaged in a thin cardboard box. There isn’t much of a scent when the pouch is first opened, though there is a slight smokey smell if you get up close enough.

I had my bar in the fridge for about half an hour before I opened to make sure it didn’t melt all over me. It was slightly above room temperature when I opened it up and had a satisfying snap when I broke a square off.

That was about where anything good ended. Well, that’s not entirely true – the chocolate was smooth except for the bits of bacon throughout. And granted, there wasn’t a lot of bacon. But the “applewood smoked bacon” just did not work for me. It was really disappointing because I wanted to like this, but I could barely get through the one corner I bit off. I gave it a minute to get over it, thinking maybe it was just because I wasn’t used to bacon and chocolate and I’d be more receptive after a second bite. No go. In fact, that one went into a paper towel.

Overall, the smokey bacon flavor was just way too overpowering. The chocolate tried to poke through but failed miserably, and – even though my package said it’s good until next January – the bacon tasted stale and old and was so much a part of the chocolate that I can’t even say the chocolate was any good.

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Another trip down the candy aisle at Sam’s Club recently turned up this large bag of Limited Edition Neapolitan Hershey Kisses. I love neapolitan ice cream so I had high hopes for these!

The bag I found is 24 oz and I picked it up for about $7. Each candy is wrapped in the standard Kisses foil, and like all the other Limited Editions these have their own special design of silver, brown and fuchsia with a little flag that says “Neapolitan.”

Neapolitan consists of three layers containing chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. Hershey’s pulled this off with chocolate on the bottom, a larger strawberry layer in the middle, and a small vanilla tip.

At room temperature these had a waxy mouth feel and even after being in the fridge for a bit to firm up they just kind of coat your mouth. Strawberry is definitely the dominant flavor — even upon just opening the bag it’s all you smell. The chocolate and vanilla are totally lost to the point that you wonder if they’re strawberry flavored too and just colored for the sake of being able to be called Neapolitan Kisses and not straight-up Strawberry Kisses.

Overall I wasn’t terribly impressed with this limited edition release, and the kids weren’t either which is saying something!

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Yes, chocolate for breakfast – and it’s actually good for you!

I had the opportunity to try some Antioxidant Indulgence cereal recently and am very happy to report that it was delicious! Because of its health factor I was expecting it to be vitamin-y or at the very least bland, but the crunchy whole grain flakes perfectly carried the dark chocolate flavor, and the real strawberries and Goji berries had the usual condensed, sweet flavor of dried fruits. The kids even loved it!

Like I said, the cereal is made with dark chocolate, strawberries and Goji berries which are all touted as great sources of antioxidants, which provide a boost to the body’s immune system and help neutralize free-radicals. It’s also low-fat and high in fiber (6 grams per serving) and is made with all-natural ingredients, providing 16 grams of whole grains per serving and is a natural source of vitamin C, niacin, iron, magnesium and selenium.

It’s one of three new cereals in the Natural Living line, which also include Omega-3 Harmony and Artisan Inspiration.

Each 10 oz box is about $4 and can be found at most grocery stores, including Whole Foods, Vons, Safeway, Albertsons, Ralph’s, Wegman’s, and Publix.

[image used with permission from Organic Milling]

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My husband recently discovered that one of his co-workers is a distributor for Xocai Healthy Gourmet Chocolate. I hadn’t heard of the company before but when his co-worker offered to let me try some of course I was more than happy to!

Overall I really liked the chocolate and would love to get my daily fill of vitamins and fiber from it! Though I did get some reading material included with the samples I still don’t know much about the company itself – I didn’t want marketing to interfere with my reviews, so I only referred to the pamphlet that contained information about the products I tried.

The chocolate is made from cold press cacao beans harvested from family-owned and operated farms on the Ivory Coast, and açaí berries, which seem to be the newest health food rage. Açaí berries are a high-energy fruit harvested from an amazonian palm tree. A lot of juices and snack mixes are including the berry in their ingredients lists now.

I received a few samples, and the above is the Xocai Nugget. It has a high cacao content combined with the açaí berry and blueberries, and is about the size of a Hershey Nugget, though any other comparisons end there! It’s a little bit dry at first bite, but after just a few seconds and a chance to warm up it becomes smooth and fruity and really very good. There’s no bitterness and though I can’t pick out just the açaí berry or blueberry flavors it does leave a pleasant, fruity aftertaste. A serving size is one nugget (12 grams) and each nugget is 70% cacao, caffeine-free and is even ok for diabetics.

The next one I tried is the Xocai X Power Squares. Each 6 gram wafer is just over 1″x1″ and is touted as being the most “powerful, health-promoting chocolate ever produced.” A serving size of three squares claims to be the equivalent of 12 lbs of tomatoes, or 1.9 pounds of spinach, or 2 pounds of raspberries. They’re loaded with epicatechins, catechins, and flavonoids.

These have a nice snap when bitten – exactly what you’d expect from a wafer – and a very smooth taste. There isn’t as much of a fruity flavor in these, it’s all dark chocolate with a surprisingly light aftertaste.

Next I tried the Omega Bar, and right when I opened it I got a pleasant orange whiff. This bar is a little dry at first bite as well, but smooths out quickly, and the orange and acai berries in this one are very present. There’s a slight crispness to it from flaxseed, which I was surprised to see listed and which offers up the benefit of omega-3 to the mix. The orange leaves a dominant aftertaste the becomes slightly bitter after a few minutes.

At first bite I was conflicted on the Protein Bar. It’s about what I’d expect from a health food bar – even with the unprocessed cocoa, acai berries and “other anti-oxidant rich berries” the dense bar tastes very vitamin-y. I actually like protein and health bars but I can’t quite pinpoint what it is about this one that I’m not crazy about – possibly the low-glycemic-index sweetener used? I’m not sure.

Last but not least I tried the Powerhouse Cookie, an “extreme dark chocolate chip cookie.” It was very moist, and at first bite I got more tangy than chocolatey. The cookie claims to provide your entire daily requirement of flavonoids and has 7 grams of fiber. It’s also said to be suitable for vegetarians and vegans, using only whole wheat flour, whole cacao beans, cocoa butter and natural sweeteners. I didn’t find anything outstanding about the cookie though I did enjoy it.

Like I said at the beginning, overall I really liked all the products and think it’s great that chocolate can be used as the vehicle for some seemingly great health benefits! If you have questions or are interested in the company, please feel free to contact my husband’s co-worker, he’d be more than happy to answer any further questions!

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How well do you know your candy bars? Well enough that you can identify them without a wrapper and from their insides only?

Check out the Candy Bar Identification Quiz to see how well you can do!

I scored 18 out of 20 – apparently it’s been too long since I’ve had an Oh! Henry, and I’ve never had a Chunky so I wasn’t able to identify it. How did you do?

Other quizzes that might make you feel hungry:
~ Candy Bar Quiz
~ Hershey’s Kiss Quiz

And check out what are considered the worst candies ever!

[original image: sxc]

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We took a trip to Cost Plus World Market last week to stock up on some more good chocolate (they finally have Tim Tams! And Aero Bars!).

I got a nice little pile of chocolate I’ve been wanting to try and my husband went right for this one, which is saying a lot because he’s not really into sweets. I think it was the packaging that got him, though – all those almonds and chocolate, really? We had to give it a try and see!

First off, this bar is huge! I took a shot of it with my hand to show you just how big it is, weighing in at 8.75oz. Valor Chocolates is made in Spain, and the dark chocolate with almonds is considered one of their premium bars.

When you first open the bar this is what you’re greeted with! My husband let me open it up for pictures while he was at work and I knew he was in for a treat – his favorite type of chocolate is chocolate combined with almonds!

From the front you can’t even tell what’s waiting for you inside!

As you can imagine, each bite is guaranteed to have several almonds. The chocolate is truly delicious – smooth, not bitter, and very satisfying. The almonds taste fresh with a very nice crunch and neither of us came across any that had gone rancid.

At room temperature the chocolate is just slightly soft (hence the fingerprints, which I didn’t think about until I’d already handled it!), and melts perfectly in the mouth. Needless to say, as soon as he gets back from his current business trip I think we’ll be heading back to the store to stock up!

I highly recommend this bar if you happen to come across it!

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Below are the winners of the Razzberry M&M’s! If I don’t hear from a winner within the next 24 hours or they live outside the U.S. (I did get a few of those!), I will re-draw tomorrow and update here.

Everyone was asked to tell me their favorite M&M’s, and I got some great responses!

I used a random number generator for the drawing so without further ado:

Gail Zambie, who wrote: “Love the peanut M&Ms”

Barbara Ryan, who wrote: “Dark chocolate M&M’s, ….any time…..Yummy”

Patrick Rowley, who wrote: “Ahhh M&M’s sooo many to choose from and sooo little time to eat them all. Favorite one? Agh you would be so sadistic as to make me choose between the crunch of the candy shell with the rich milk choc or the delight at finding a peanut or almond and lets not forget the crisp M&M’s and all the wonderful varieties! Choose you say? I think Not! I shall enjoy them all and savor every moment!”

Michele P., who wrote: “I love the peanut butter ones!”

Jessica, whose wrote: “Peanut Butter!”

The winners have all been emailed so if you see your name above but haven’t heard from me, feel free to drop me a note to double check that it’s you (if you didn’t receive the aforementioned email).

Again, if winners do not respond within 24 hours a new name(s) will be drawn.

Thank you everyone who entered and please keep an eye out over the next several weeks for my next contest!

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I still have quite a few packs of Razzberry M&M’s in the cupboard and with summer kicking into high gear I figured they’re the perfect chocolate treat to send out!

So here’s your chance to win a bag to try for yourself!

How to Enter

I’ll be giving away one 1.5oz bag each to FIVE people who leave a comment in this entry and tell me what your favorite M&M is. Plain, peanut, peanut butter or one of the special limited editions? That’s it!

The giveaway will run until 11:59pm the 22nd, and the winners will be chosen at random this coming Monday, June 23rd.

One entry per household. Duplicate/multiple entries from one person will all be discarded. And yes, I do check!

I do need to limit the participation of the contest to residents of the U.S. as shipping a package of M&M’s pretty much anywhere else will cost more than the candy itself! Please also make sure you leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck!

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I saw the commercial for Werther’s Original Caramel Chocolate several weeks ago and knew I had to give them a try. I love Werther’s caramels and was glad to see them expand their line with a non-hard candy caramel chocolate combo!

My first impression of the candies were how small they are – they look much bigger in the commercial, maybe about half the size of your palm, at least a couple of bites. I don’t know if they did that on purpose in the commercial or if they decided to make them smaller after the fact, but these are tiny! One bite and they’re gone.

Anyway, the bag is 5.2 oz of candy, which came to about 16 or so pieces (I forgot to count!). Each oblong piece is wrapped in the recognizable Werther’s gold foil.

Unwrapped, each piece is actually rather pretty with the swirled caramel and chocolate.

The chocolate is smooth but it’s obviously just the vehicle for a weird caramel flavor – it looks like chocolate but I don’t taste any, and by only the second piece the caramel flavor starts to taste kind of burnt. I’m not sure how that happens but the yummy Werther’s caramel flavor seems to be lost.

Have you tried these? What do you think?

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Father’s Day is just around the corner and dads love chocolate too! A lot of the companies below offer expedited shipping, so if you’re just now realizing too that Father’s Day is only five days away, don’t panic!

See’s has a lot of great Father’s Day stuff this year. There’s the standard Seegar that’s been around for years, and they now have a Blue Ribbon Box filled with chocolate, a Father’s Day Scrapbook Box, and a Sports Dad Box.

Target has Good Fortune Father’s Day cookies, which are fortune cookies dipped in dark and white chocolate.

Father’s Day Milk Chocolate Bar Gift Box are from World’s Finest Chocolate and are chocolate bars wrapped in “Happy Father’s Day” wrappers and be personalized further for free!

Chocolate.com is offering a Happy Father’s Day Chocolate Chip Cheesecake that looks amazing!

By Nature (UK) has natural and organic chocolates and is featuring a chunky Father’s Day slab.

Phillips Candy has put together a Boston Red Sox Bucket that contains milk chocolate baseballs, freshly baked Phillips Chocolate Chip cookies, “ballpark” popcorn – and peanuts drizzled with chocolate, a Red Sox tumbler, temporary Red Sox tattoos & pencils and an adorable plush baseball.

You can find a bunch of Molded Chocolate Father’s Day gifts from The Chocolate Vault!

VirtualChocolate.com has a ton of chocolate-themed e-cards for dad, too, just in case you can’t get something else to him in time!

[image: see's product photo]

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