Tag: chocolate

Coco Dolce supports organic farming with its coconut-rich chocolate bars

Coconut and its various derivatives have long been touted for their contributions to the flavors and health benefits of food prepared with them.

My foray into Kultura Filipino’s “Crafts for a Cause” exhibit where I chanced upon the Coco Dolce stall, however, was the first time I heard about using coconut products in chocolate production.

This unusual feature is in line with the tenets that Coco Dolce producer, The Freefood Co., operate by. Its guiding principles include: better health, helping rural areas develop into sustainable communities, and respect for the planet and its resouces.

Its chocolate bars, therefore, are made from a rich blend of fine cacao beans, low-glycemic coconut sap sugar, virgin coconut oil and vanilla. These ingredients were sourced from Mindanao’s organic coconut farming communities and from local growers of indigenous cacao and nuts across the country. The resulting chocolate products are free from GMOs, harmful processing agents and preservatives and other chemicals that may adversely affect one’s health.

Organic coconut sap sugar, in particular, has a low glycemic index level of 35, making Coco Dolce bars suitable for people who need to manage their sugar intake.

The bars are manufactured by chocolate artisans using the traditional conching method. This involves the heating and mixing of the chocolate’s ingredients over long periods of time. The process helps in developing the chocolate’s flavor through frictional heat, release of volatiles and acids, and oxydation.

I bought two of Coco Dolce’s 45g chocolate bar variants: the Milk Chocolate (whole milk powder added to the other ingredients) and the 65% Dark Chocolate.

The bars hold well without refrigeration yet has a smooth texture upon biting. The chocolate flavor is rich, helped by the non-cloying and milder sweetness of the coco sugar.

Over the holidays, I plan to gift some bars to my titos and titas who are trying to control their sugar intake. Because the holiday season is a time to enjoy good food, right?

Aside from SM’s Kultura Filipino outlets, Coco Dolce chocolates may also be purchased online in The Good Store.

Check out my review of another artisanal chocolate –Malagos single origin premium chocolate.

Malagos brings award-winning single origin premium chocolate from Davao

As with most plants, cacao beans, from which chocolate is manufactured, take on the characteristics particular to the region where they were grown and harvested. This is called their terroir.

Cacao beans that have been blended lose their terroir, hence the preference of some chocolatiers for single-origin chocolate products.

Davao-based Malagos Agri-Ventures Corporation, for example, produces the award-winning single origin premium Malagos Chocolate. This product line grew out of the resolve of the Malagos company matriarch, Mama Charita Puentespina, to reinvigorate the Davao’s cacao industry which crashed in the 1980s.

Instead of just exporting cacao beans to serve as raw materials for foreign chocolate manufacturers, Mama Charita drove the company’s cacao growing and post-harvest practices, as well as campaigned to make cacao a priority crop in the region.

Today, Malagos Chocolates is an internationally recognized and awarded brand. It is made from high quality cacao beans, grown in the Malagos farm in the foothills of Davao’s Mount Talomo.

The beans are carefully fermented, sun-dried and roasted in temperature controlled roasters, then ground to a fine texture at par with international chocolate standards. These processes are all done without the product ever leaving Davao, making Malagos Chocolates all natural, single origin and tree-to-bar.

I chanced upon Kultura Filipino’s “Crafts for a Cause” exhibit over the weekend and replenished my chocolate stash from the local brands featured there.

I picked the 65% dark chocolate; being the lowest percentage cacao content among the brand’s offerings, I think this variant offers the best balance between sweet and bitter chocolate flavors.

And apparently, I’m not the only one that thinks so. Malagos Chocolate’s 65% Dark Chocolate has won international awards, particularly in Academy of Chocolate’s Tree-to-Bar category in 2017, and in the World Drinking Chocolate Competition organized by the International Chocolate Awards in 2015.

Fancy a bite of this award-winning, single origin dark chocolate treat? Malagos Chocolates are available at SM Kultura Filipino branches in SM Mall of Asia, SM Makati, SM Megamall, SM AURA, SM North EDSA, Taal Vista and Pico Loro.

For more details, visit malagoschocolate.com.

DIY Gift: Hot Chocolate on a Stick

Every holiday season brings the same struggle: what to give to all of the family’s relatives, friends and co-workers for Christmas that will be unique, can be useful to or enjoyed by the recipient, and won’t go over the family’s gift budget?

Last year, we gave out over 100 bags of Chocolate Chip Cookies which my daughter and I baked and packed as our gifts. Thankfully, I know a baking supplies store nearby so I was able to save considerably on ingredients.

This year, while surfing through Pinterest, I discovered a new gift idea: Hot Chocolate on a Stick!

The recipe below is further simplified from the one I found on Pinterest, but still quite yummy! Best of all, ingredients and tools are easy and cheap to come by, thanks the nearby baking supplies store.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 tsp peppermint oit
  • 15 large marshmallows
  • additional milk chocolate chips and candy sprinkles as garnish

You will also need:

  • Coffee stirrers or plastic straws to serve as sticks
  • Individual plastic wrappers
  • Gift ribbons
  • Gift labels

Procedure:

  • Melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave. (Medium high power for 30 secs and High power for 15 secs; resulting melted chocolate should be thick and have a nice sheen)
  • Mix in the the peppermint oil.
  • Pour the mixture into 2 tbsp chocolate molds (I used a small ice cream scoop to measure out and pour the mixture into small puto molds)
  • Spear each marshmallow with a plastic straw then placed it in the middle of each mold
  • Place in the refrigerator for 5 hours or until set.

I wrapped these with individual food-grade plastic wrappers decorated with red satin ribbons. I included a tbsp of milk chocolate chips and 1/8tbsp of candy sprinkles per package as garnishes. The label should indicate that the hot chocolate on a stick should be stirred into a cup of hot milk until the chocolate is melted.

This recipe yields 15 sticks.