Nicobella Truffles

Nicobella Chocoates!

It's all about chocolate. Well, for the next few posts, it might be. Lately it has been raining free chocolate on me. I feel so lucky! It all started when I won a box of Nicobella truffles. Sue Ann was celebrating the one year anniversary of her newly revised blog, Chocolate for Breakfast, so she had a few give-away prizes to offer her dedicated chocolate fans. I was thrilled to get the box, because it was chocolate from a company that I hadn't tried. Nicobella chocolates are organic, vegan, fair trade and come in packaging that is considerate of the environment. What is most exciting is the interesting flavors they offer. Nicobella is fearless when it comes to mixing flavors. In the box of six truffles that I received, there was only one flavor that was less outrageous, and that was the Pure Cocoa Bliss truffle.

Truffles were first created in France. Traditionally, they were made using a ganache, a mixture of cream and melted chocolate. Because Nicobella truffles are vegan, cream cannot be used. Instead, the cream is replaced with organic oat milk, which makes these truffles lower in fat. While nearly all truffles are considered decadent, the ones by Nicobella are also quite sophisticated. I consider them geared toward adults because of the unique flavors and the extra dark, not too sweet chocolate flavor, but there's no doubt that most kids would gobble up the Blueberry-Almond and Pure Cocoa Bliss options, despite the lack of a sugar sting to the teeth. The blueberry flavor is strong but not overpowering and combines beautifully with the chocolate. The taste is pure and natural, a true representation of the quality ingredients they use. I was pleasantly surprised that flavors I never thought I would like combined with chocolate, worked with these truffles.

Rocky Mountain Mints

The free chocolate droppings continued yesterday when some people from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory stopped in the place where I work and handed each of the employees some free chocolates. It has been a long time since I sampled this chocolate. My favorite was always the Rocky Mountain Mints. Included the the sample I got were a chocolate heart and a small truffle. These were a sweet (maybe a tad too sweet for this granola girl) contrast to the more down to earth Nicobella chocolates. It was a really nice gesture, and made me realize that I'm always a little skeptical when people first approach. I generally think someone is after something, so it was a relief and nice surprise to get a free little sample of chocolate instead of some spiel.

Piece, Love and Chocolate for Valentine's Day!

The last thing I want to add is that Piece, Love and Chocolate will be hosting a class called Chocolate Lab for Lovers this Wednesday February 8th. I will be attending to get a few interviews and gain some insight on the physiology of taste and how taste affects our mood and other senses. Speaking of this kind of thing, a fun experiment to do with chocolate is to grab a friend, throw a blindfold on him and have him sample some chocolates. Here's the trick though. Take one bar of chocolate and cut it into three separate pieces. Have him taste a piece and describe it. Then, hold a piece of a banana under his nose and have him sample another piece. Chances are he will describe it differently. With the last piece, hold an onion under his nose while he samples it and see what he says about that!

A Big THANK YOU to Sue Ann and Nicobella!! You both made one chocolate lover very happy.