Chocolate University Online Blog
Last Tuesday we stopped at Caffe’ Chocolat in Titusville, Florida. We noticed it in the historic downtown part of Titusville a couple days earlier as we drove out to Playa Linda beach. When we drove by a second time, on another adventure, we took the opportunity to stop.
The cafe portion is truly a restaurant with a complete menu including sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, and salads. They also serve specialty coffees, hot and iced. Of course they have fine chocolates and other desserts.
Our interest was in their Chocolate Salon. Here they had a wide assortment of chocolates made right in the store. Pam, owner and chocolatier, has been making the chocolates for more than six and a half years now.
We picked up five pieces of chocolate: the dark chocolate signature truffle, dark chocolate covered sea salt caramel, champagne truffle with dark chocolate, single source Ecuador dark chocolate truffle, and a dark chocolate coconut cluster. (While our choices were all dark chocolates milk chocolate options were also available.)
While each of the chocolates were all quite enjoyable my favorite was the coconut cluster. With the smooth dark chocolate and the toasted coconut, in proper proportions, this morsel really hit the spot at the end of a long day. Delicious!
Before I close out this article I also have to mention the sea salt caramel. Perhaps you’ve already read my blurbs about bacon and chocolate. There is a certain appeal to the saltiness combined with the sweet and rich chocolate flavor. This particular chocolate covered caramel offers that sweet/salty sensation without the smoky flavor of the bacon.
Of course the geographic positioning of Caffe’ Chocolat in Titusville, neighboring the Atlantic, adds just a bit more authenticity to the sea salt experience.
Stop by Caffe’ Chocolat the next time you’re visiting the space coast. Or try online at www.caffechocolat.com.
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate shop
We spent the day enjoying our time at the Kennedy Space Center. What does that have to do with chocolate?
Apparently the astronauts need their chocolate fix too. Or, at least, the marketing department is quite active in its desire to have us think so.
First of all, our kids had to get some freeze-dried ice cream. You know that’s official “space food,” originally developed for early Apollo missions.
Apparently the ice cream is real, but it is frozen and then vacuum dried. We tried two different flavors; cookies & cream and chocolate / vanilla / strawberry. Both of these have chocolate in common.
The cookies & cream version was like an ice cream sandwich having two chocolate cookies with the ice cream between.
It’s actually amazing how good these products taste. I guess that anything with enough sugar is bound to taste good!
We tried another product too, “Space Food Sticks.”. The best way to describe this is like a fluffier version of a large Tootsie Roll. It was apparently “developed for the U.S. space program.”
Bryn seems to remember eating these as a child. I don’t remember these sticks at all.
All of these products contain cocoa. The sticks also contain cocoa butter and chocolate flavor.
Websites for these sites are www.luvyduvy.com and www.spacefoodsticks.com.
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: nostalgia
For dessert tonight Bryn’s mother made Rice Crispy bars. She melted some Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips, spread it on the bars, and then put another layer of bar on top. So it was kind of a layer cake, the layers being rice crispy bars and the frosting being semisweet chocolate.
It’s a rather simple dessert, yet quite tasty. But here’s the best part – we had a wine that worked real well with the chocolate. It was a Shiraz from Layer Cake. So with our pseudo- layer cake dessert we drank a Layer Cake wine. There’s something quite appropriate about this.
OK, that’s all interesting, but the reality is that this particular Shiraz combined well with the sweetness of the bars and the chocolate notes, leaving an impression that said, “give me more!” I think I had three bars when my mother-in-law said, “doesn’t anyone want to eat any of these?”
Yikes, if I ate any more, I wouldn’t be able to drive home.
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: tasting, wine
When I first laid eyes on the Mo’s Bacon Bar by Vosges, Ltd. I was in shock. My mind raced. Who would put bacon in a chocolate bar? Isn’t that some kind of violation? Serious penalties should follow. 
Then another thought crept up, “I wonder what it would taste like?” Did I really think that? Could I try something that sounded so strange? My resistance fell and I walked out of the store with a new-found creation.
Upon pealing open the wrapper I immediately noticed the smell. It was smokey. Hmm. I took a bite. Hmm, again.
Little chunks of smoked wood flavor had invaded my chocolate. And, it’s salty! Yet all of that combined with the sweet milk chocolate for an interesting effect.
The cacao content in this bar is 45% so it still has quite a nice chocolate impact for a milk chocolate. As you may know by now I prefer dark chocolates over milk chocolates so having the higher cacao content in this milk bar gave it extra points in my book.
All-in-all the strangest thing I found about this bar is the non-melting, non-dissolving little bits of crunchy bacon left in my mouth at the end. Maybe they’re supposed to be a little reminder of what I had eaten!
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: bacon, flavors
Research shows that chocolate milk might be just as good as sports drinks to help athletes recover from intense exercise. This information comes out of a small study from James Madison University in Virginia as presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.
I like to ride my bicycle for hours at a time and have often enjoyed a glass of chocolate milk upon my return. My logic was that the milk contained some protein so it’s probably a good thing for muscles. Milk also contains fluid for rehydration, as well as minerals like calcium and magnesium, electrolytes such as sodium and potassium, and carbohydrates including lactose. These are all good for recovery after exercise and occur naturally in milk.
During the reported study 13 soccer players were given either low-fat chocolate milk or a high-carbohydrate sports drink. Then researchers measured blood levels of creatine kinase, an indicator of muscle breakdown. The players who drank the chocolate milk had lower levels of this chemical, indicating less muscle damage. Furthermore, based on measurements of players subjective reporting, there was no difference between milk and the sports drink as far as tiredness, muscle soreness, and muscle strength.
OK, the study was small, with only 13 players, but I think this clearly points out an alternative to expensive sports drinks. And, this is especially good news for chocolate lovers who can now claim that their chocolate milk is a good part of their exercise program!
Categories: chocolate in the news
Tags: chocolate milk, research
Wow! What else can I say? This afternoon Bryn and I visited an independent chocolate shop called Allô! Chocolat in Waukesha, Wisconsin. We met with the owners, Roger and Carrie, who have been in the chocolate business for about 3 years.
It’s a nice shop on Main Street. They’ve got a plentiful selection of chocolates available to suit any taste. They’ll even customize formulas on request for special clientele!
Today I want to take a moment to write about their chocolate covered bacon. Yum! The bacon is cooked up extra crispy and then covered in a dark chocolate. The combination of smoky and salty bacon, with the sweetness and impact of the dark chocolate, is marvelous.
When I first opened the package I was instantly hit with a nice chocolate aroma. Then, when I took a bite, I immediately noticed that the chocolate itself is really smooth, with a great mouth feel.
I’ve previously tasted a Mo’s Bacon Bar from Vosges. (I’ll have to post a review of that soon.) Anyway, the bacon in Mo’s gave me the sense of more of a candied bacon, whereas the chocolate covered bacon from Allô Chocolat was a slab of real bacon with a real dark chocolate.
If you haven’t tried this combination – bacon and chocolate (granted it sounds really strange) – I seriously recommend you do. And, certainly, if you are in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, area stop by Allô Chocolat on Main Street and pick up a bag for yourself.
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: bacon, chocolate shop, flavors
The school year is done. Nothing new is on TV. It’s too hot to be outside. You don’t want to spend another day at the mall. And just sitting around doing nothing in the air conditioning one more day doesn’t sound very appealing either.
Is this how your summer goes? While the school year might be September to June (roughly speaking anyway), there’s nothing that says you can’t start studying something fun this summer. You can get started right now by enrolling yourself in chocolate school!
Imagine the benefits…
- You can sign up right now and get started on your first lesson immediately, from the comfort of your living room.
- Each week you’ll get a new lesson to expand upon your increasing chocolate knowledge.
- For each of the first ten weeks you’ll be learning to taste chocolate so those trips to grocery store or mall can have a new twist, the goal of finding interesting chocolate!
- You’ll have some purpose for that “alone time” before someone else starts their daily noise making.
- Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. What could be better to have your mind on anyway?
No doubt there are social events with friends and family coming up. How about taking some of your new-found chocolate knowledge to impress others? Or maybe you’ll want to make a new recipe that you discover as a bonus in one of the lessons. (You don’t want to take the same dessert you took last year do you?) Or take along your new favorite candy bar to share.
Chocolate just makes everything more fun, so put yourself in summer school this year, chocolate summer school. The best type of school you can imagine. Yes, you get to eat your homework!
Chocolate University Online is where your chocolate studies will begin. And, you don’t even have to give the teacher an apple. Of course she does accept bribes of chocolate!
Categories: shameless self promotion
Tags: about
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