Chocolove

In the last few years I’ve gotten hooked on organic foods and have been trying different brands as well as searching for new products. Around my way it’s either Acme or Giant and since I was closer to Giant that’s where I found myself. This particular Giant had an entire aisle dedicated to organic food. After I found the rice milk I was looking for I wandered down the aisle checking out other brands and products they carried.

Of course, from the photo at the top of this post, you already know it's about chocolate! I don’t consider myself a true “chocoholic,” but I might be a “wanna-be chocoholic." Maybe. There are other foods I can easily be bribed with that will turn my head, even from chocolate. But I admit I love good chocolate! My days of Nestle’s and Hershey’s are over and my palate has moved on to, unfortunately, high end or Belgian chocolate; both $$$. Which leads me to the topic of this post.

As my rapidly glazed over eyes roamed the selection of high-end chocolate bars, and I wasn’t really looking for anything specific mind you, they came to an abrupt halt when the following came into view. Orange Peel in Dark Chocolate. Remember I mentioned “other foods” above, well “orange peel” especially in dark chocolate definitely gets my attention!

I picked up the bar, sucked in and doomed, and started reading the label front to back as I’d never heard of Chocolove. Freeze-dried orange peel enveloped in Belgian dark chocolate crafted from African cocoa beans. Okay, I’m hooked. But then NCIS Agent Gibbs, aka hunky Mark Harmon's voice-over popped into my head to read the last bit of the wrapper's "you're goin' down" blurb.  Smooth, semi-sweet dark chocolate melts in your mouth while the crispy bits of orange peel release their gentle flavor. Chocolate and orange unite exquisitely and then relax into a lasting orange finish. Be still my heart! Or is it my taste buds? Is it necessary to add the chocolate bar found its way into my shopping basket? I really don’t know what came over me! Really!

I paid for the few items I needed and out the door to the privacy of my car, which I’d parked at the far end of the parking lot. Mind you, not for clandestine chocolate consumption but because I have this thing about parking my car next to other cars whose owners might whack my car getting out of their car. I know what you're thinking, "Yeah, right." Well, it's the truth!

Anyway, you realize I wasn’t going to leave without opening the chocolate bar and conduct a little taste test did you? The minute I opened the wrapper, the deep, rich chocolate and orange flavor immediately grabbed my attention like a chokehold and well, as they say, the rest was history. By the time I made it to the traffic light at the end of the shopping center, where I had to stop due to a red light and how convenient, I’d inhaled, I mean savored at least two, or was it three, pieces.

Common sense took over . . . somewhat and I managed, out of guilt, to save a few pieces of the 3.2 oz. bar for my husband who not only liked it but finished it. I have no willpower! 

This was my first experience with Chocolove’s products, which are made in Boulder, Colorado with Belgian chocolate. Their artful packaging and entertaining advertising is further enhanced by a tiny white box in the upper left hand corner, which actually resembles an open book if you look close enough. In the box are the words, love poem inside. The poem is located on the back side of the wrapper. Chocolove's FAQ section explains where their poems come from as well as other interesting information about the company and their other chocolate products.

Now, I’m off to Giant to pick up another Chocolove chocolate bar. My taste buds are hankering for their Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate. If you don’t hear from me in awhile you’ll know where I am.

Namaste
Chris