Whenever I go grocery shopping, I’m always on the look out for new products to try. And although shopping at Whole Foods can get a little $$$, I do enjoy taking my sweet ass time roaming through the aisles and discovering new treasures.
Today, something very magical caught my eye, and I couldn’t help but blog about it. Whenever I find something that makes me giddy and excited, I have to share it because I want everyone else to expereince the joy with me. And one little treasure that I stumbled upon today in the chocolate section was this:
Alter Eco Quinoa Chocolate
I was a little confused to see the words “quinoa” floating around the chocolate section, and when my heart skipped a beat, I had to stop to inspect what this madness was all about. My first reaction was to check the ingredients.
Basically when I’m shopping for chocolate I look for two things:
1. Dark chocolate at least 70% (I just prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate)
2. No soy lecithin
I’ve shopped around quite a bit, and there are actually very few organic chocolate bars sans soy. My go to brand is typically Theo, and Trader Joe’s has their version too which is quite tasty and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is Theo, just re-packaged.
Anywho, after checking out the ingredients and seeing that soy was not on the ingredient list, my heart skipped another beat.
Quinoa? In dark chocolate? I’m confused.
The verdict?
It was a win. A major win.
Some how the clever people of Alter Eco managed to puff up the quinoa, so when you bite into the chocolate you get a nice crunch. Kinda reminded me of Nestle Crunch I used to love as a kid, but smoother, creamier, and more sophisticated. And for only $4, not a bad price whatsoever.
Of course I had to check out the website to read a little more on the product. Here’s a bit about the chocolate I yanked from their site:
DARK DELICACIES OF PERU AND ECUADOR
Plucked from organic trees in the Peruvian Amazon and Ecuadorian Coast, our cacao beans journey to the base of the Andes Mountains, where they are transformed into some of the world’s finest cocoa products. The final destination is Switzerland, where expert chocolatiers craft our unique and habit-forming bars.
Meaning their cocoa beans are pretty well traveled. But you don’t even have to go to their website to read about the product because they also include a little bit about the chocolate right in the packaging. Clever.
However, if you do go to their website, which I highly recommend, they provide an extensive amount of information about the company, the founders, the people who work for the company, and information about their efforts towards sustainability. Pretty cool.
They also have a section highlighting the co-ops and farmers that provide the raw material for their product, the cacao beans, the quinoa, and even the sugar that’s used in the chocolate. You can also find bio’s and pictures of the farmers, and how they live and work on their site, which I think is even cooler.
On top of that, they have recipes and an online store that you can purchase their products.
Bottom line: Alter Eco Quinoa Chocolate …me like. Me like, very much.
I’d like to write a product review every week where I share with you some of my treasure finds and products I like. What do you think? Would you like to see more reviews of cool healthy, gluten-free snacks?