{"id":37914,"date":"2023-03-28T17:01:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T00:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/?p=37914"},"modified":"2024-02-18T14:04:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-18T22:04:13","slug":"the-out-of-towners-spring-2023-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/outsidechocolate\/chocolateroundtheworld\/american-chocolate\/the-out-of-towners-spring-2023-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Out of Towners, Spring 2023 edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog mostly focuses on SFBA artisan chocolate, but we do occasionally try chocolate from other places and write about ones we think are worth sharing. Sometimes we try a single bar from a company. That\u2019s not enough for a separate article so I\u2019ve decided to do \u201cOut of Towner\u201d articles on a recurring basis that group these worth-a-mention bars into a review.<\/p>\n

As of this writing the bars reviewed are available. I include where I got them \u2014 online or in local stores this time, so you can try them too.<\/p>\n

Askinosie Sweet Potato Pie<\/h2>\n
\"Askinosie
Askinosie Sweet Potato Pie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a fan of Askinosie Chocolate<\/a>,<\/strong> Springfield, MO, I subscribe to their newsletter. Which is where I found this fun bar advertised for the 2022 winter holiday season. I was intrigued but had an already full chocolate tasting calendar at the time so I passed on it. When I saw in a 2023 email that it was still available \u2014 and now at a reduced price \u2014 I ordered one.<\/p>\n

I grew up outside of Buffalo, NY, where pumpkin pie was the traditional holiday dessert and I liked it. But when I moved South for school and discovered sweet potato pie my allegiances switched. I think it\u2019s tastier and I like its slightly more fibrous texture better. So a bar that\u2019s labeled Sweet Potato Pie was talking to me.<\/p>\n

I like Askinosie\u2019s packaging, which is simple and recyclable. They usually reuse burlap thread from the bags their cacao comes in to close the bar packaging, but this bar had a ribbon instead and the label included a To: and From: section \u2014 simple upgrades that made it ready for gifting. Such a good idea: the upgrades make it easy to gift chocolate bars and at the same time reduces the waste of extra packaging and a card.<\/p>\n

\"back
The back of Sweet Potato Pie bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bar was the color of milk chocolate but this was white chocolate and made with zero milk products. I got a bit of a shock when I saw the back of the bar was covered in toasted mini marshmallows. Strong candied yams vibe which is not a dish I like \u2014 unnecessarily extra sweet. On the plus side the bar smelled good with strong nutmeg and cinnamon aromas.<\/p>\n

Best of all it tasted like sweet potatoes and sweet potato pie \u2014 not just another pumpkin pie spice chocolate, but an actual sweet potato pie experience. It even had a texture that evoked the pie \u2014 the toasted marshmallows instead of adding extra sweet seemed more about adding a chewy texture. As Cacaopod said, \u201cThey nailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honoka\u2019a\u00a0Goat Milk<\/h2>\n
\"Honoka'a
Honoka’a Goat Milk Chocolate bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I bought Honoka\u2019a Chocolate Company<\/a>\u2019s<\/strong> Goat Milk Chocolate Bar based on a recommendation from the staff at\u00a0The Chocolate Dragon Bittersweet Caf\u00e9 & Bakery<\/a>. Honoka\u2019a is one of the few U.S. chocolate companies that grows their own cacao (because Hawaii is the only state in the chocolate growing belt near the Equator).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a 55% cacao bar and had a sharp break for a milk. It had a smooth texture and a definitely goat milk flavor, more savory and vegetal than regular milk chocolate.<\/p>\n

The chocolate was sweet but not too sweet for me. It\u2019s a good darker milk chocolate and a good rendition of a goat milk chocolate.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t make it to The Chocolate Dragon, you can buy the bar directly from Honoka\u2019a online.<\/p>\n

Marou\u00a0Ginger & Lime<\/h2>\n
\"Marou
Marou Ginger & Lime bar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat<\/a>,<\/strong> is a Vietnamese bean-to-bar chocolate that we reviewed before<\/a>. Since our previous article, Marou has expanded from single origin bars to flavored bars, milk chocolate, energy bars, and other chocolate products.<\/p>\n

We saw the Ginger & Lime bar at Star Grocery<\/a>, recognizing Marou\u2019s distinctive packaging and noticing the new inclusions. It seemed too good to pass up.<\/p>\n

The 69% dark chocolate bar had a hard snap like the other Marou bars we have tried. It had a great ginger and lime aroma. Even better, the\u00a0ginger and lime flavors were distinct. The ginger was not biting and was dried ginger, instead of candied, so it didn\u2019t add sweetness. It did add a little texture to the chocolate. The lime was very tangy and I liked that it held its own against the ginger.<\/p>\n

The chocolate was underneath the other flavors. It took a long time to melt and the bar wasn\u2019t very\u00a0chocolatey tasting. Instead the\u00a0ginger and lime built in intensity as the chocolate melted. And it had the\u00a0longest ginger aftertaste I\u2019ve ever had from chocolate.<\/p>\n

Marou doesn\u2019t sell directly to consumers, but their bars are available worldwide and they have a store locator on their site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some chocolate visitors are worth the trip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,1570,169],"tags":[1360,515,1396,1535,534,898,1536],"class_list":["post-37914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-chocolate","category-asian-chocolate","category-reviews","tag-askinosie-chocolate","tag-ginger","tag-goat-milk","tag-honokaa-chocolate-company","tag-lime","tag-marou","tag-sweet-potato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37914"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41712,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37914\/revisions\/41712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chocolatebythebay.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}