jcoco chocolate

It’s hard to imagine a time when chocolate was a luxury. In modern times, chocolate is so readily available that we take it for granted and don’t really savor it or appreciate it the way our ancestors did. It’s not made to be savored, really. It’s mass produced and filled with so many unpronounceable ingredients that we’ve forgotten what quality chocolate really tastes like. Jcoco is not that sort of candy. It’s not average or run of the mill. Instead, it’s the sort of treat that reminds you that, sometimes, a really special chocolate is worth waiting for!

Let’s start with the packaging, which I absolutely love! It’s not the most important part of the puzzle, but I’m a sucker for a cute wrapper and jcoco certainly knows a thing or two about making their product visually exciting. The exterior box, which resembles a clutch or a wallet, is made out of a really lovely paper that is quite soft to the touch. I pretty much forced everyone I know to run their fingers up and down the cover! It was sooo smooth and silky! Once the box is opened, you will find three separate bars each one featuring a different fashion photograph. So cute!

The candy itself is delicious! I am, honestly, very reluctant about doing reviews because I worry that I won’t like the product, but I truly, truly loved these bars! I didn’t want to share them with anyone! Here’s the breakdown on the three flavored bars.

Edamame Sea Salt: This one was perhaps my favorite. The toasted edaname beans provide a nice crunch and you can never go wrong with a salt/chocolate combo. This bar is made with milk chocolate, and I’m normally a dark chocolate type of gal, but I didn’t miss it at all in this case. Often I associate milk chocolate with cheap candy, but when it’s done right, as it is with this bar, it can be quite good!

Black Fig Pistachio:  This one was a big hit, too. Several people named it as their favorite. This is a dark chocolate bar, so bonus points there. Also, pistachios and figs are two of my all-time favorite foods, making it pretty hard for me to resist.

Veracruz Orange: I didn’t think I would like this one. Normally, I’m not a fan of chocolate and orange, but, I have to say, I loved it!! The combination of orange and white chocolate is really nice. I much prefer it over dark chocolate and citrus. The bar is creamy and sweet and downright delightful.  

In addition, I’m happy to report that jcoco does not use genetically modified ingredients in their bars and prints all of their boxes on recycled boxes. Woo hoo! You can find more info on jcoco, and shop online, on their website. ~Erin

Brownies with Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse

Another take on my beloved salted caramel, but this time it's gluten free! The trickiest part is the caramel, which is easy to make and easy to screw up, all at the same time. Everyone has there own way of making caramel, but I've found it's best to take it off the burner as soon as it turns amber...and I mean immediately! It's not difficult, but you do have to time it right or it's a disaster! Luckily, there aren't that many ingredients involved, so, if if turns into a big candy ball, you can just try again.

Recipe after the jump.

Alison Nelson's Chocolate Bar

The Web site for Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar is jam packed with designs I love. I really like the look of the Atomic Chocolates and the stylishly-packaged chocolate bars, whose labels are designed by artists like Rolito and Nathan Jurevicius. I'm especially interested in trying the Retro Bars, which come in flavors like malted milk, salty pretzel, and peanut butter caramel. So many choices! You can find stores in New York or Dubai or you can order online by clicking here.

(Pictured above: Stencil Bars. Below: Retro Bars, Graffiti Bars (designed by graffiti artists), Artist Bars, Atomic Chocolates)

Wasabi Ice Cream and Other Asian Ice Cream Diversions

Recently, at a housewarming party that I attended, a discussion about wacky ice cream flavors arose. I quickly mentioned the Curry ice cream from Vosges, while someone else told the tale of eating wasabi ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. Wasabi ice cream? At Cold Stone? I couldn't find any mention of it on Cold Stone's Web site, although I did find evidence of it's existence at one time, but it did start me wondering . . . is Wasabi ice cream available elsewhere?? I thought I'd do some Web surfing to find out!

Apparently, Wasabi ice cream is quite common in Japan, where, according to this Web site, you can also buy ice creams flavored with lots of yummy ingrdients, like chicken wings, eel, and octopus! The "yummy" part was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch that. I also discovered photographic evidence for Japanese snake, garlic, and salt ice cream. (I'd pass on the snake, but the garlic and salt flavors might actually be pretty good!)

Next stop on my Wasabi hunt was the Web site for il Laboratorio del Gelato in New York. They do indeed carry Wasabi gelato, along with LOTS of other new and unexpected flavors like Guinness and cheddar cheese. You can also find curry and wasabi flavors at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, which is in NY as well.

For those of you who prefer making things yourself, check out Anthony Bombaci's recipe for wasabi ice cream, right here.

I'll stop at this point, but I found lots of other interesting asian ice cream treats during my search! More to come . . . soon!

[wasabi ice cream image: Katherine Moon; wasabi sign: Andrew Martin; salt ice cream: piki hiki biki; snake ice cream: kaige]

Flavored Salt

I love when people take something traditional and turn it on it's head (well, except for my dislike of altering classic candy that I talked about in an earlier post), so I'm loving all these flavored salts from Barhyte. What a tasty way to jazz up, well, just about anything! I love the logo and colors, not to mention the yummy flavors. The chocolate variety is like the perfect sweet and salty paradise combined into one! Click here to check out the flavors and here to shop online.

You can also get some bacon-flavored salt courtesy J&D's. This particular bacon salt is not only kosher, but also vegetarian, so it would the perfect way for vegetarians to incorporate the bacon trend into their desserts! (I still haven't tried the whole bacon dessert thing, but it intrigues me, even though I'm a vegetarian.)

Btw, they also have bacon-flavored lip gloss for those of you out there who are really really into bacon. Click here to find store locations or to order online.

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

Word on the street is that Starbucks has a new Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate available that is sure to excite any and all fans, myself included, of the legendary sweet and salty combination. According to their Web site it combines "the flavors of buttery caramel and smoked sea salt," which explains why it's called Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I haven't tried it yet, but I have it on good authority that it's delicious!

For those of you who want to know exactly how many calories you're drinking (aka gluttons for punishment), Starbucks supplies a nutrition calculator for each of their products on their Web site. Enter your specifics (large or small, whipped cream or plain, soy milk or whole) and, voila, it gives you all the stats! Pretty neat or maybe not so neat, if you're getting a large hot chocolate with whipped cream! 760 calories? Yikes! Click here for more information.

Chip and Dip Cookies

These are my new favorite cookies! They are sooo good! Created by a mother who needed to come up with a new kind of cookie for her nut-hating son, this recipe utilizes two of my favorite flavors, sweet and salty. In order to give the cookies the crunchiness of nuts, without actually using them, the boy's mother decided to replace the nuts with pretzels and potato chips. In addition, her son, who sounds like a royal pain in the butt, would only eat the frosted portion of the cookies that she made, leaving the rest uneaten, so she added chocolate to both ends. That way, he'd eat the whole thing! I guess I'm glad that this particular mom had a picky eater for a son, otherwise we wouldn't have these wonderful cookies! Click here for the complete recipe, courtesy of Relish.