sweetriot

When I first tried sweetriot I was at Whole Foods. There was a good-looking guy behind a table with three giant martini glasses overflowing with little chocolate pieces. I can’t pass up chocolate (and the good looking guy didn’t hurt either), so I tried them. These tiny little guys pack a huge burst of chocolaty goodness.

sweetriot ‘peaces’, as they call them, are cacao nibs coated in chocolate. They come in three flavors; cacao nibs dunked in 50% dark chocolate, cacao nibs dunked in 65% dark chocolate and cacao nibs dunked in 70% dark chocolate with espresso. All of them are great! The espresso ones are really good for right around 3 o’clock when everything gets hard at the end of the day.

These ‘peaces’ come in really cool reusable, recyclable and collectible tins that feature art from emerging artists *. They’re just the right size to hide in your purse or pocket. I’ve got quite a collection now, and I use the empty ones for all sorts of things. Inside each tin you also get a ‘fortune’ with facts about the countries in which cacao is grown. I was especially excited to see one about Ecuador (where my boyfriend is from).

sweetriot is a product and company with a conscience. They see these all-natural healthy treats as an alternative to products in the candy world. When you add the company’s mission: to create a "sweet" movement to fix the world, setting an example of the future of socially responsible business where the focus is on one unit and one individual at a time. You’ve got a real winner.

sweetriot supports the farmers who help grow the cacao for their product through enlightened trade practices and the chocolate-covered cacao nibs are made in Latin America where we engage with farmers and workers directly. For more information please visit them on the web

See's St. Patrick's Day Potato

In honor of St. Patrick's Day one of the jewelry contractors my company works with sent us a big box of chocolate. See's chocolate to be precise. Lucky gold coins and St. Patrick's Day Potatoes. Everyone else's first response is to rip open the box and start stuffing their faces. My first response is to go on the website and look for nutritional information.

Tired of waiting for a response to my email, I called costumer service directly. I was transferred once, to a woman who was very helpful. She told me that all of the candy and chocolates that See's manufactures themselves are gluten free and produced in a gluten free facility. The only exceptions are the decorated items; Easter Eggs, St. Patrick's Day and other decorated Candy Canes and decorated candies. She said that they do not make the decoration materials and cannot guarantee that they are gluten free, she believes that the facility they are made in is not gluten free. It was nice to talk to someone informed, she said that they have been receiving more and more calls on this matter in particular and she had a ready, educated answer for me.

And so we come to the much-anticipated St. Patrick's Day Potato. The girls in the office were agog when they arrived, almost fighting over them even though there were more than enough. I was told that, despite its humble appearance, this is a phenomenal treat. And it really does look like a potato, dirty and dusty, it even has 'eyes'.

The 'skin' is a packed mixture of cocoa and cinnamon and the inside is soft nougat with walnuts and pine nuts for 'eyes'. This tastes nothing like a potato. Good thing too. It's creamy and luscious and indulgent. I was afraid it would be too sweet, but the outer layer of cocoa and the walnuts inside balanced out the nougat and the cinnamon adds bite. Because I'm one of those 'healthy' girls, I got my spud in half and then cut a quarter and that was chocolaty sweet, satisfying enough that I don't feel like I have to eat the whole thing (which often happens with lower quality sweets). I packed this one up to enjoy for another day or two or three (I hope).

As much as I love chocolate I'm not a big indulger, especially since I had problems with so many that have 'malt flavoring' or it's kin. Being from the Mid-west, I don't have much experience with See's, although I see their chocolates in the Detroit airport now. If this is any indication of the rest of their chocolates, I'd say See's is an excellent choice for gluten free, delicious chocolate confections.

Full email response*

Chocolate Coconut Raw Organic Food Bar

When I picked up this Organic Food Bar I was a little dubious. Organic is great, and in most cases raw is pretty good too. Famished and exhausted after a hard workout and a long week I knew I needed something that wasn’t a candy bar. When I open the package I wasn’t quite expecting the soft brown bar inside. This surprised me. Soft and moist and not to sweet, eating this was a trip back in time when I used to snitch oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough.

It was so good that I reflexively checked the label again. Sure enough, along with the organic, raw, no dairy, and no GMO certifications was gluten free. With those cute little chocolate chips and noticeable pieces of cashew, this out to hold me over till diner.

I am definitely going back to try more flavors, and to stock up for my gym bag.