I’m not a big worrier about whether the food I eat is organic or all natural. Maybe I should be, but then I’d have to worry that this would be a limitation on one of my life’s goals: To try as many different kinds of food as I can that don’t entirely gross me out. I’m not paid enough to be like Anthony Bourdain or Andrew Zimmern. In fact, you couldn’t pay me enough to eat some of that crap that Andrew Zimmern manages to get down his throat. If I considered the origin or pesticide levels, would I have tasted that wonderful mango margarita in Ajijic, Mexico? Hell, I don’t even know if the tequila was organic, and after I drank the margarita, I can’t say I cared.
But I know other people do care – deeply. For some, it’s a concern about allergies to pesticides and other chemicals in their food. Others are concerned about the effect of these chemicals on the overall health of their family, especially kids or someone with a chronic illness. Many people go organic because they want to support agricultural practices that are less harmful to the Earth and encourage local farmers. All are good, valid, important reasons. So when I come across a product that’s organic, delicious, not overpriced and widely available, I want to make sure to let you guys know about it.
My brother (who gave me Carroll Shelby’s Chili Kit for my birthday last November) gave us a couple of bars of Newman’s Own Organic Dark Chocolate for Christmas this year. He knows I like dark chocolate and he likes organic chocolate, so the Newman’s Organic Chocolate Bars were a great gourmet gift for a food blogger. My brother is a nice guy, but he’s not a big spender. Since most good gourmet chocolate I’ve tried is expensive, I honestly wasn’t expecting this to be all that great.
I was wrong. There – I said it. The 54% cocoa dark chocolate is one of the top chocolate bars I’ve tasted since I was in Europe.
As for the organic side of it, I’ll let Newman’s Own Organics website say it for themselves:
Inspired by our love of chocolate, we searched for a source of organic cocoa beans to make a rich, flavorful chocolate – and we found it! Our new Signature Series line of Chocolate Bars is formulated with some of the finest Certified Organic chocolate we’ve ever tasted, made from cocoa beans grown on Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. The USDA Organic Seal assures that at least 95% of the ingredients are organically certified. The Rainforest Alliance Certified seal guarantees that the cocoa in our Signature Series was grown on farms that meet comprehensive standards for sustainable farming, protecting soil, waterways and wildlife habitat as well as the rights and welfare of workers, their families and communities.
All nice stuff, right? Newman’s Organic Chocolate comes in six flavors:
- Dark Chocolate
- Super Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa
- Mocha Milk Chocolate
- Milk Chocolate
- Espresso Dark Chocolate
- Orange Dark Chocolate
The mocha milk and the super dark are new flavors, but since I’m not a huge fan of milk chocolate or super dark chocolate, I’m not too worried about finding them. But the dark chocolate was lovely. The texture was smooth, rich and slightly hard – just the way dark chocolate is supposed to be. Milk chocolate should be soft and melt quickly, not dark chocolate. Newman’s Dark Chocolate is a true semi-sweet chocolate. Not too sweet or waxy like many cheap dark chocolate bars on the standard supermarket shelves, nor is it bitter or strong tasting like so many of the super dark chocolate that everyone seems to be so wild about these days. (Personally, I think that a lot of these super dark chocolates taste like the stale cooking chocolate my mother used to keep in her pantry that even my candy crazed kiddie palette disliked. I’m suspicious that the new findings on the health benefits of dark chocolate are the reason for the current popularity in super darks.)
I’ve been keeping my eyes open for the espresso dark and orange dark chocolate flavors but only found them at Amazon. I’m going to order some of the dark chocolate and maybe some of the espresso chocolate
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How can we really live without chocolates! Love them! Thanks for sharing some good stuff here. By the way, I’m a member of a great group who are health enthusiaststhat might interest you too. Enjoy life to the fullest!
As a lover of chocolate I appreciate your article. Thanks. I don’t worry about the organic stuff either and probably should.
I didn’t used to worry about anything either. Ate whatever looked fabulous to my eyes! Like you, though, nothing that Anthony or Andrew eat will ever touch this tongue!
But . . . my sugar is out of control, although better since I have adopted an organic way of eating. For the most part. So, until I found your site. And went to check out some of the sites you feature here. I’m in chocolate heaven again!
Just wonderful!
Well, thank you Anita! Ironically, I was just about to order and try some sugar-free chocolate that I’ve heard is really quite good. Keep an eye out for the report within the next few weeks!
Awesome! I will be waiting for that! I’ve a friend who’s more like a daughter to me, who keeps an eagle eye on what I stuff into my face. If I can say it’s sugar free, she’ll back off . . . more or less! It’s so hard to find chocolate that is really good stuff and sugar free too.