Zzang Candy Bars and Passion

The Fancy Food Show really was awesome.  The best part was getting to meet people who are really passionate about food and chocolate in particular.  One of them was Charlie Frank with Zingerman's Candy Manufactory (http://www.zingermanscandy.com).


Zingerman's (http://www.zingermans.com/) makes all kinds of amazing things.  But these candy bars are over the top.  Charlie and his team make them almost entirely BY HAND.  It's always so cool when you get to meet the chocolatier!!  And Charlie is so excited about these bars!  They actually have ingredient lists you can read - not a bunch of added weirdness.

The boxes are very cool - that's a collectible Christmas card in the purple box (love the peanut in a Santa hat!).

The Cashew Cow is described as milk chocolate cashew butter gianduja, cashew brittle and roasted cashews dipped in dark chocolate.

OMG - this is amazing!  Fantastic texture and if you like cashews - you'll be in heaven!  Not too many bars have cashews so this is a real treat.  Also some puffed rice, so it has a really light feel to it. Wow!!!

The original bar is described as butter-roasted peanuts, caramel and peanut butter honey nougat dipped in dark chocolate.  Holy God - how great does that sound?

How great does that look?

And the bar is awesome - a nice salty taste and loaded with peanuts.  Great chewy texture.  Awesome. I wish it were covered in milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate, but that's just my super sweet tooth talking.

The Wowza is described as creamy raspberry-chocolate ganache, raspberry preserves and fresh raspberry nougat in a crisp dark chocolate shell.

Again with the textures!  Wow!  The preserves have a grainy, sugary quality that plays perfectly off the nougat and the chocolate.  Super sweet and totally made for lovers of raspberry!

The What the Fudge? bar is described as milk chocolate fudge, Muscovade caramel and malted milk cream dipped in dark chocolate.

If you like fudge, this is the bar for you!  So rich and coated in chocolate!  It's WAY too rich and sweet for me, but if you can handle fudge - you will love this.

The great thing about all these is they are candy bars!  Not weird excursions into la-la land - they are gorgeously rich, decadent bars of candy!  Charlie isn't messing around - these are delicious, rich celebrations of classic flavors.  Different from any of the classic candy bars, but comforting like the best of them.  Yummy!!!

The best thing (besides the awesome flavors and quality ingredients) is Charlie's passion. It is really contagious. Are you passionate about your work?  If not, is there something in your life you're passionate about?  It could be a hobby or other pursuit.  If nothing comes to mind - get on it!  What do you like?  What are your dreams?  What would you regret not doing or experiencing? 

You have to find your own passion - no one else can bring it to you. 

While you're mulling it over, make sure you eat some chocolate. 

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Chocolate Bark is basically a flat slab of chocolate into which nuts and dried fruit and other things are placed. I've reviewed Bissenger's awesome pumpkin bark which is a giant slab of chocolate with delicious pumpkin swirled in. I also reviewed berkshire bark's Pretzelogical Bark which I didn't care for. But berkshire makes other barks:


http://www.berkshirebark.com/


and the big thing is the ingredients are all natural - no preservatives.


Here's Mocha Buzz:

Mocha Buzz has Belgian milk chocolate, roasted almonds, cocoa nibs, crushed coffee beans and caramel. If you like coffee - you'll love this. I don't like coffee and I loved this! The chocolate really is excellent and it's packed with almonds. The caramel must have been really light because I didn't notice it. The bitterness of the nibs and the coffee beans balance it all out. Outstanding!!

Here's another coffee influenced bark - Jumpin' Java:

This one has Belgian dark chocolate, roasted almonds, Espresso toffee, crushed coffee beans and caramelized cocoa nibs. Again coffee lovers would adore this - but so did I! I was shocked!! It must be the toffee and the almonds that offset the bitterness of the coffee beans. This was a damn fine bark!

You don't see much done with white chocolate (really not chocolate at all, but you know I'm no snob!). This one is called White Lightning:

It is made of Callebaut white chocolate, roasted cashews, fresh lemon zest, ginger and sea salt. This is a good bark, but it doesn't have the depth the others do. Cashews are a sweet nut and with the white chocolate - well, it was too bland and sweet for me, especially compared to the others. Not bad in any way, just not as good.

Here's Tropical Heat:

This one is Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate, macadamia nuts, mango, papaya, pineapple, coconut, Ancho chili powder and cayenne pepper. I thought I would really like this bark. I found the chili powder and the cayenne pepper too strong - overpowering the fruits. Maybe a milk chocolate would have helped restored the sweet balance. I am so bummed - I bet I would have worshiped this bark if it didn't have the chili powder and the pepper. Wah!!!! This was my least favorite.

And finally, there is Midnight Harvest:

This one has Belgian dark chocolate, roasted almonds, roasted hazelnuts, dried cranberries, fresh orange zest. Outstanding!! A great fall bark - packed with nuts and fruit.

These are so much better than your average candy bar - you can really taste the quality of the ingredients. And the flavor mixes are creative and interesting without being weird (well, except for Tropical Heat - I just don't like my chocolate to be so peppery). If you're a chocolate lover, you owe it to yourself to try and track these barks down.

Once again - the things I thought I wouldn't like (the coffee barks), I did and the things I thought I would like (the white chocolate and the fruity tropical heat), I didn't. Keep trying new things - you don't really know what you will (or won't) like until you try it!! And this goes for people, music, places, activities etc. etc. etc. - not just chocolate. I keep saying it because it's so true for me - the hardest thing to keep open in this life is your mind.

Release the hounds of habit!! Try a new bark. (Bwah, ha, ha!)