When you travel, sometimes you run into fabulous food finds you really love. This section is where RFT editors--and hopefully RFT readers--share their favorites. While you can't find every wonderful food item in your local grocery store, more and more you can find items from around the world on the Internet. Whenever possible, we include sources of our food favorites so you can try them too. All of the products in this section are independently reviewed and none have paid for recognition in Favorite Food Finds.

If you produce or sell a food item you believe could be an RFT Favorite Food Find, email us about a review.

Bistro Blends of Napa Valley: Bright, Fresh Flavors

Bristro Blends of Napa Valley is the brainchild of John Spenger, a former waiter at the upscale Scala’s Bistro in San Francisco. Legend has it that John concocted a recipe for a bread dipper at the restaurant that customers loved so much they wanted to buy it. Years later, Spenger decided to take his customers’ advice and try to sell his product at farmer’s markets and food shows. It was an instant hit and Spenger started developing more delicious recipes. The rest, as they say, is history and now Bistro Blends offers dozens of gourmet oils, vinegars, and marinades through distributors across the country.

Bistro blends knows -- great ingredients make great prducts.

Part of the secret to the success of Bistro Blends is that they use the best ingredients money can buy –
cold-press 100% extra virgin olive oil imported from Lerida, Spain, that’s made from Arbequina olives a lovely, fruity olive; and deep rich balsamic vinegars from a small, family-run operation in Modena, Italy.

Bistro Blends olis and vinegars ready for tasting by RFT editors.

Another reason for their success is each Bistro Blend product has a distinct flavor profile. Each is chock full of deliciously fresh herbs and spices. And, unlike many oil and vinegar blends, the flavors of Bistro Blends products are never muddled. Each one offers bright flavors that you can easily identify.

Bistro Blends doesn't skimp on ingredients. The dried tomato mixture in the Sun-dried Tomato Balsamic Oil is thick enough to spread on bread. 

The Sun-dried Tomato Balsamic Oil, for instance, has a deeply rich, sweet tomatoey flavor that would be terrific as a bread dip, on bruschetta, or over fresh greens or pasta. The Thai Sesame Ginger Oil, doesn’t overwhelm with sesame like many oils. Instead, it blends the nuttiness of the sesame with the punch of the ginger in a combination that makes it great with noodles or an Asian sauté.

Garlic Balsamic Bistro Oil has a clean taste with a little heat at the end. The Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Meyer Lemon, one of our reviewers’ favorites, has a light lemony freshness that’s great on salads or fish. The Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar offers a deep, rich fruity flavor. Just  a few drops completely changes a salad or marinade. In fact, at RFT, we love the EVOO with Meyer Lemon with a little Raspberry Balsamic over a green salad with smoked salmon. The balsamic adds a bit of sweetness to the greens and the lemon accents the smokiness of the salmon. Absolutely delicious!

A lunchtime favorite around RFT offices is a smoked salmon salad dressed with Bistro Blends EVVO with Meyer Lemon and Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar.  

Real bottom line: If you don’t know Bistro Blends of Napa products, RFTers, you definitely should. These are some of the best oils, vinegars, and marinades available and, while they’re not inexpensive, a little goes a long way. Your tongue will be both surprised and delighted with any and all of their many offerings.  -- Reviewed by BH/AW

www.bistroblends.com/

Morgenster Lemon Enhanced Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Place of origin: Durban, Republic of South Africa.

In Capetown,  we met a friendly stewardess who flew the Amsterdam-to-Capetown route for the Dutch airline KLM. A fellow foodie, she recommended this smooth, wonderfully lemony olive oil, available at the local Pick and Pay grocery. It's produced by the Morgenster Estate Olive Farm and Winery, which is located in the heart of the Western Cape's wine region. If you live in the United States or Canada, Morgenster won't ship, but if you're in Europe or elsewhere, you can find it online at http://www.morgenster.co.za/

In the meantime fellow RFT readers, if anyone goes to South Africa, let us know and we'll have you pick us up of case of this incredible olive oil.

P&G Tips Black Tea

Place of origin: England. Popular in England, P&G Tea is a blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan black teas. It's rich without the bitterness you often find in black tea. We've found this tea reasonably priced in the "English foods" section of our local grocery store. It's also available online from Internet resellers like Amazon.

Bellindora Fruit Flavored Balsamic Vinegar

Place of Origin: Woodbridge, California, USA.  We discovered these fruity, earthy balsamic vinegars when we visited Bobbie's alma mater, the University of California, Davis, where a campus restaurant serves the apple balsamic. Infused with 100% concentrate of the fruit and with no additives, these wonderful balsamics are perfect for salads, sauces, desserts or as marinades for chicken, pork or fish. www.bellinaestates.com

June Taylor Products

Place of origin: Berkeley, California, USA.  Foodies in the know covet food artisan June Taylor's jams, conserves, fruit butters, syrups and marmalades that she's been making by hand, in small batches for the last 15 years. The British food artisan makes unusual flavors such as Lemon Thyme, Bay Laurel, and Blood Orange and Lavender. Recently, RFT editors discovered a new use for June Taylor's Strawberry Rose Geranium syrup -- add a touch to freshly thawed frozen strawberries for sweetness and depth and serve over frozen bananas (if you run the bananas through a high-quality juicer like a Champion, they become a creamy confection much like ice cream without all the fat and calories!). www.junetaylorjams.com 

Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce

Place of origin: Belize, Central America.  In Belize, Melinda, the originator of a line of hot sauces, is practically a national hero. We fell in love with its hot, hot flavor. She now makes a line of sauces, including Mango Coconut Pepper Sauce, Coffee BBQ Sauce, Jalapeno Ketchup, and more. In the US, you may find some of Melinda's products at your local grocer's or go to www.melindas.com for their full product line. 

Sturdiwheat Pancake Mix

Place of origin: Red Wing, Minnesota, USA.  We discovered this wonderful pancake mix on a trip back East and have been ordering it from the Sturdiwheat company ever since. Easy to make by just adding water, Sturdiwheat pancakes are fluffy with flecks of whole grains for a bit of tooth and extra flavor. The company also makes pancake mixes, fish coatings and other items, but the pancakes remain our favorite. Check them out at www.sturdiwheat.com

Alaea Sea Salt

Place of origin: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. . Alaea is a traditional Hawaiian sea salt with red volcanic clay called Alaea added to it that gives it a reddish brown color and more than    This addition does not alter the salt’s taste or smell, but does significantly over 80 unique minerals. Alaea salt is crunchy and has a delicate and smooth flavor that is mellower and less salty than regular table salt. We've found it's excellent on Hawaiian fish like Ono and many other dishes. We stock up on Alaea at the famous Stadium Swap Meet (Wed, Sat, Sun), 20 minutes away from Waikiki, where the locals shop for the best deals in town. Or you can buy Alaea at any number of online vendors. 

Lipton Yellow Label Tea

Place of origin: England. . If you're a tea drinker and have traveled to Asia or Africa, you've likely run into Lipton's Yellow Label Tea. Unlike its weak and flavorless American cousin, the Yellow Label is an inexpensive, everyday back tea that's robust yet flavorful. We used to stuff our bags full of Yellow Label or convince friends travelling to Asia or Africa to bring us back some, but we realize we can now buy this tea online at places like Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Lipton-Yellow-Label-Bags-100ct/dp/B000JSQDK4

AJ's Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard

Place of origin: Pasco, Washington, USA. In the Northwest, Walla Walla Sweet Onions are famous for their mild, sweet flavor. Aj's Edible Arts has taken this onion and made one of the best mustards we've ever tasted. The sweet onion mustard also comes with roasted garlic. The mustards are delicious on sandwiches and in salad dressings. At RFT, we also like to coat lamb or pork chops with it before broiling. Yumm! www.ajsediblearts.com/

Five Roses Tea

Place of Origin: Durban, Republic of South Africa. A trip to South Africa introduced us to this smooth black tea. We brought some back with us, but you can buy it online at the Marmite Pantry http://www.marmitepantry.com/Five_Roses.html

Intentional Chocolate
Place of Origin: Hawaii/Los Angeles, CA, USA

In 1986, entrepreneur Jim Walsh, set out to create a new type of chocolate, modeled after the varietal breeding technology developed in the California wine industry. He matched the genetics of particular varieties of cocoa plants with Hawaii’s unique environment and created Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate, a new variety of intense, mouthwatering chocolate.

Today, Walsh isn’t happy just making great chocolate. He wants to change the world and make it a better, happier place. That’s where Intentional Chocolate comes in. According to the company website, “The good intentions are infused into the chocolate from advanced meditators -- some who have trained with the Dalai Lama -- and is delivered with love to those who eat it.” Every piece of chocolate is made with the intention: “ Whomever consumes this chocolate will manifest optimal health and function at physical, emotional and mental levels, and in particular, will enjoy an increased sense of energy, vigor, and well being…for the benefit of mankind.”

They even cite a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of
80 subjects that showed eating one ounce of Intentional Chocolate daily for three days increased the subjects’ well-being, vigor, and energy by an average of 67%. Now, we don’t know about those findings, but we’re willing to volunteer for the next research project because Intentional Chocolates are terrific.

At RFT, our reviewers sampled four different types of Intentional Chocolate: Dark Chocolate Caramels, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Hearts, Hot Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate Pistoles (disks). The caramels and raspberry hearts both feature a thin coating of Hawaiian Vintage Fine 68% Dark Chocolate that have a deep, rich flavor and just the right “snap” chocolate should have. Each has a clever graphic of one or more people in a lotus position holding a tiny heart (the company’s logo). The caramel is intense, yet creamy. The raspberry filling is like an explosion of fresh raspberry on the tongue. If you’re not a major dark chocolate fan (at RFT we are), you may find the intense dark chocolate flavor too much, but we loved it.

The pistols are small, quarter-sized disks of Hawaiian Vintage Dark Chocolate, just the right size for snacking or for melting for cooking or baking.

Intentional Chocolate’s dark hot chocolate isn’t powered, but rather chunks of Hawaiian Vintage Milk Chocolate with 28% cocoa mass, organic vanilla, and spices. Of course, the label also lists the ingredients of “well being intention and pure compassion” and no herbs or additives. Their recipe calls for 3 ounces of chocolate to 4 ounces of hot milk and the result is a satisfying cup of chocolate comfort. The chocolate flavor isn’t overwhelming (they suggest adding more chocolate if you prefer) and you can taste a lilt of vanilla and spices, almost like a chocolate chai.

All in all, realfoodtraveler finds Intentional Chocolate a delight and something that will satisfy even the most discriminating chocolate connoisseur. The fact that the company donates 50% of their profits to goodwill causes that promote planetary peace and harmony and that the chocolate may also make you feel better is a sweet bonus. We don’t know what your intentions are, but our's to have another Intentional Chocolate. -- Reviewed by BH/AW

www.IntentionalChocolate.com

Big Island Bees Honey

Place of origin: Big Island, Hawaii, USA

Looking for a unique taste of Hawaii that's local, seasonal, organic and downright delicious? Try Big Island Bees Honey. This is single-source honey, meaning the bees collect nectar and pollen from a single type of flower. Each blossom's flavor profile is a marriage of the plant variety, the soil, the rainfall, and the temperature. And each gives the honey a distinct flavor, color, and texture. The Big Island Bee Company is savvy enough to let the bees perform their magic and do very little processing of their finished product. Once you enjoy these honeys, it'll be difficult to return to bland store-bought varieties.

Big Island sells three decidedly different honeys:

Wilelaiki (or Christmas berry) 100% Organic Honey is a golden amber with a silky-smooth texture with light floral notes that linger on the tongue. One reviewer said she could "almost see the flower" from tasting this light, floral honey. This would be an excellent honey to drizzle over warm pears. Or use a little of it to make a light, sweet dressing for fresh greens. 

O'hia Lehua Blossom 100% Organic Honey is a white, cream-styole honey. O'hia Lehua crystallizes within a few weeks of being extracted, so this honey will likely be semi-solid when you receive it. Heat it gently. It still retains a natural, slightly gritty texture (it's honey with tooth) that would go great on an English muffin. Or try it mixed with some softened butter or some quality peanut butter for a delectable spread. 

Big Island three-jar gift pack allows you (or someone you love) to sample all the different honeys in beautiful package.

Macadamia Nut Blossom is a hearty honey that doesn't back down! It features a deep richness and an almost woody/floral flavor. This honey, the orange color of an autum sunset, offers a fragrant afterglow that made one of our reviewers keep licking her lips for just one last taste. We'd recommend this robust honey for savory applications such as a glaze for roast chicken or meat. Or just slather it on your toast or pancakes and enjoy with your favorite cup of coffee or tea.

The Big Island Bee Company, LLC
808-324-0295
www.bigislandbees.com

Reviewed by BH/AW

RFT's Hot
New Finds

 Bees and Beans: Handmade Artisan Chocolate Bars

Chocolate candy bars usually don’t taste like a rich dessert. The Bees and Beans artisan candy bars handmade in small batches by Portland, Oregon pastry chef Faith Dionne are desserts-in-a-bar. Made in small batches with whole ingredients with no additives or preservatives, Bees and Beans Bars are made fresh and even come with eat-by dates to ensure the bar you eat is at its peak of freshness.

Quality, local, and sustainable is what Bees and Beans is all about. Dionne not only wants to make delicious candy bars, she wants to support local communities, be kind to the earth, and showcase Northwest ingredients –  raspberries, blueberries, hazelnuts, honey, butter, and cream. She dips her bars in dark 70% chocolate from Theo Chocolate (see our review in this section) and Scharffenberger Chocolate. Her packaging is eco-friendly and completely biodegradable.

Bees and Beans makes three different bars:

Bert’s Bar- This bar comes with a filling made of filberts, milk chocolate, peanut butter, and crispy rice all dipped in dark chocolate. Bert’s Bar has a nice rich chocolate flavor with a delicately satisfying crunch.

Bert's Bar, with its filberts and crispy rice, has a lovely crunchiness.

Berry Bar- Dionne takes raspberry caramel and soft honey nougat with dried blueberries and dips it in  dark chocolate to make the Berry Bar. It has a distinct berry flavor and the nougat is soft, almost marshmallow like. One of our editors didn’t care for the texture of the nougat. Another editor found the bar an interesting combination of caramel and fruity flavors.

The Berry Bar's nougat is very soft like fresh marshmallow. 

Honey bar- This Bees and Beans bar consists of honey caramel, salted hazelnut, and honey nougat dipped in dark chocolate. This bar, a reviewer favorite, has more firm nougat than the Berry Bar and has a delightfully rich caramel with notes of honey with a sweet, salty tang.

The Honey Bar was an RFT reviewer favorite. 

Real bottom line: These ridiculously rich candy bars are more like little desserts. In fact, we doubt that we could eat a whole 2 ounce bar by ourselves. We suggest you cut these candy bars into little pieces and savor them. You’ll not only make your mouth happy, you’ll be supporting local, sustainable small businesses and we love that idea.

www.beesandbeans.com

Cacique Hispanic Products: Authentic, Family-made in the USA

Realfoodtraveler is all about celebrating authentic, regional foods. But, every once in a while, our editors come across a formerly regional company that produces wonderfully authentic products that has made it big. And that’s Cacique Hispanic Products.

Cacique (the name means “the very best” or “the ultimate authority”) was founded in 1973 by Mexican immigrants Gilbert and Jennie de Cardenas. Gilbert brought knowledge of traditional cheese making with him from Mexico and he began making and selling old-world cheeses like queso fresco (fresh cheese). Over the years, this family-owned company grew, added employees and other Mexican products, including sour creams, yogurts, and the spicy Mexican sausage, chorizo. Their guiding principles of included using fresh, natural ingredients and traditional recipes never changed. Today, you can find Cacique products in many grocery stores cross the United States.

Cacique products contain all-natural ingredients and are made with traditional recipes.  

Why do we recommend choosing products like Cacique? Because realfood is all about using authentic ingredients appropriate for the dishes. Many of us have made enchiladas or tacos with Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheeses. Try using real Mexican cheeses and you’ll taste a real difference. You can, of course, use Cacique products in non-Mexican dishes too. Their Ranchero Queso Fresco is a great substitute for feta cheese; their panela can be used in place of mozzarella. We suggest first becoming acquainted with Cacique products with Mexican dishes. Their website www.caciqueusa.com offers some terrific recipes.

These are some of the Cacique products our RFT editors sampled:

Ranchero queso fresco and Cacique queso fresco- both of these are fresh cheeses made with milk, rennet, and sea salt. Queso fresco is a crumbly cheese that will also melt when heated. It’s great on tacos or where ever you use feta cheese.

Panela- Another fresh cheese, panela is a mild cheese that resembles mozzarella only with more complex notes. At RFT, we served panela with Spanish Iberian ham and buttery crackers and found it superior to mozzarella.

Quesa Quesadilla is a great melting cheese. Here it's paired with some Cacique Pork Chorizo. 

Quesa Quesadilla- This pale yellow cheese, one of the RFT editors’ favorites, is a wonderful melting cheese. The flavor is buttery and nutty and it has a lovely creamy mouth feel. Like the name implies, Quesa Quesadilla makes great quesadillas. We also melted it with Cacique chorizo and with eggs and it was equally good.

Cojita- One of Cacique’s robust cheeses, cojita has a dry, crumbly texture and a more pronounced flavor than its milder cousin, queso fresco. This is a good topping cheese. We used it as a finish for traditional carnitas tacos and found it added a nice accent.

Chorizo, crema, tomatoes and fresh lettuce make a great stuffer for pita bread.  

Crema Mexicana and Crema Mexicana Agria- If you haven’t discovered Mexican cremas, you should and the ones made by Cacique are excellent. Unlike American sour cream that have a gelatin-like texture, Mexican table cream or sour cream (agria) are pourable. This makes it easy to use them as a topping on enchiladas, tacos, or other dishes. It also makes it easier to control the portion. Cacique’s table cream, Crema Mexicana, is slightly sweet, rich, and creamy and would make an excellent addition to fruit, soups, or salads. Their sour cream, Crema Mexicana Agria, has a bit more tang and would make a great addition to flautas, chili rellenos, baked potatoes, or where ever you use sour cream. Both types of crema are terrific for turning down the heat on spicy dishes.

Cacique makes sweet table cream and sour cream (agria). Both are pourable.

Pork and Beef Chorizo- Unlike sweet Spanish chorizo, Mexican chorizo is spicy and Cacique’s offerings are full of flavor and heat – a little goes a long way to spicing up a dish. Both Cacique’s Pork and Beef Chorizos are removed from the casing for cooking and cook up crumbly. s. While both are spicy and flavorful, the pork has intense flavors; the beef is mellower. Because chorizo naturally gives off a lot of fat, in some dishes we drained some of the fat before using in other dishe.

Chorizo tends to hve some fat, so draining it before adding it to other dishes is a good idea.

One of our RFT editors added a bit of Cacique Pork Chorizo to a fish soup and it added just the right touch to make the dish complex without being

A little goes a long way with chorizo. Pork chorizo turned this fish soup into a real dazzler.

too hot. Another editor paired pork chorizo with Cacique’s Queso Quesadilla and stuffed it in a pita pocket for a quick lunch. Yet another editor added a bit of the beef chorizo to liven up scrambled eggs.

Real bottom line: If you want to kick up your Mexican dishes a notch with authentic products, you can’t do better than Cacique. Readily available in U.S. grocery stores, you’ll find Cacique’s line of cheeses, creams, yogurts, and meats both delicious and affordable.-- Reviewed by BH

Cacique’s website www.caciqueusa.com/ offers some terrific recipes, including some from Food Network Celebrity Chef/Restaurateur Aaron Sanchez.

Papa Fertitta's Olive Mix: downright addicting! 

Place of Origin:
Shreveport, LA USA

Papa Fertitta’s Olive Mix comes in 16 ounce containers and can be shipped.

Olives, pickled vegetables, celery, and other spices in olive oil, Papa Fertitta’s Olive Mix is tangy, salty, and, for this reviewer, completely addictive. At Fertitta’s Deli in Shreveport, Loiusiana, they serve it on the favorite Muffy Sandwich (their version of the famous Muffelletta Italian submarine sandwich made famous in New Orleans). But you can use Papa Fertitta’s Olive Mix on just about anything -- deviled eggs, omelettes, chicken or tuna salads, hotdogs, hamburgers, or sandwiches. It keeps well in the refrigerator, but we’re betting you’ll love it so much that it won’t last in your’s. www.papafertitta.com

Indulge Caramels: Soft, Sensous, Delicious 
Place of Origin:
San Francisco, CA, USA

This RFT editor is a sucker for good caramel and Indulge Caramels, a new company from Portland, Oregon, makes some very good Orange Caramels.

Handmade Indulge Caramels are soft and buttery with a background note of orange that’s not overpowering. Company founder Jennifer Bell started creating gourmet caramels as holiday gifts for friends and, as they say, one thing led to another. Now she makes her Orange Caramels and Chocolate Dipped Orange Caramels all by hand using only the finest ingredients. The Chocolate Caramel, this reviewer's favorite, are covered with high-quality dark Guittard chocolate. The yhave just the right snap on the outside countered with the soft caramel inside. Delicious!

Indulge caramels and their caramel chocolates can be boxed in beautifully-wrapped gift boxes.

While the RFT editors only sampled Indulge's Orange Caramel, they also come in sea salt, cayenne, coconut, cinnamon, almond, chocolate, and apple. And they chocolate cover a number of these flavors. If we were you, we'd buy some of these Indulge Caramels for the caramel lover in your life. -- BH

www.IndulgeCaramels.com

TCHO Chocolate: Intensely Flavor-Focused Dark Chocolate

Place of Origin:
San Francisco, CA, USA

There’s a lot of good chocolate in the world, dear readers, and we believe TCHO Chocolate is some of the best dark chocolate on the planet.

Keep in mind that RTF editor-in-chief Bobbie Hasselbring is the author of The Chocolate Lover’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest and The Chocolate Lover’s Guide Cookbook. And RFT editor/photo editor Anne Weaver served as a judge on many of those trips to evaluate chocolate for the books. So we know our way around chocolate and TCHO, in our opinion, is some really great chocolate.

This is varietal, single source chocolate – that is, chocolate that’s grown in a particular place for specific flavors and other qualities. The people at TCHO source their beans from Ghana, Peru, Ecuador, and Madagascar and the results are startling good. Without adding additional flavors, each variety has its own uniquely distinctive flavor and texture. Eating TCHO is like eating a piece of the country it’s grown in -– the raw, wild chocolate essence of the place of origin coupled with the silky sophistication that comes from great chocolate making.

TCHO comes in four terrific flavors:

TCHO’s Dark Chocolate “Chocolatey,” 70% cacao, hails from Ghana and is an intense chocolate flavor with what one reviewer felt was "a rich, almost coffee-like finish." Another reviewer said this chocolate had a "hint of spice." Of course, the chocolate has neither added coffee nor spices. This is pure Ghana cacao beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, and vanilla.

Their Dark Chocolate “Nutty” variety, from Ecuador, dials back the cacao to 65%, which produces a  lighter flavored chocolate with definite nutty flavors. If we didn’t know better, we’d swear TCHO added the essence of hazelnuts to this chocolate, but, again, it’s just the nutty flavor that comes from their distinctive Ecuadorian beans.

If you like citrus fruits and chocolate, you’ll fall for TCHO’s Dark Chocolate “Citrus” from Madagascar. At 67% cacao, it’s not quite as intense as “Chocolatey” and finishes with a distinctively acidic taste.

From Peru, TCHO creates Dark Chocolate “Fruity.” This choice offers a deep chocolate flavor with a definite fruity tang.

If you want to try all four flavors, check out TCHO-A-Day samplers. These are pproximately 1/4 ounce squares of each flavor packaged in a “pill bottle.” They call this product

We love TCHO's idea of a chocolate-a-day for what ails you.  

“the last good drug” and we agree. They even have a subscription program that automatically refills your “prescription” each month.

TCHO has a line of fruit and nuts covered in their dark chocolate. Their Macademia Nuts Drenched in Chocolate, a RFT reviewers' favorite, has a sharp crispness with a rich, crunchy nut flavor. Too often macadamia nut candies have a soft, almost mush macadamia. Not so with TCHO's. The nut is crunchy and fresh
 like its just come from the roasting oven. We weren't as impressed with their Chocolate-covered Honey Roasted Cashews. While complex in flavor, the cashews get lost and the honey-roasting is, in our opinion, wasted. We'd rather see a plain roasted cashew coated in TCHO's rich dark chcoclate. Their Mango Morsels in Dark Chocolatem another winner, was a lovely surprise with a tart, sharp, suprizingly chewy texture that was satisfying.

They also offer roasted cacao nibs drenched in chocolate, in which the sweetness of the chocolate flavor contrasts nicely with the almost sour nib. The plain roasted nibs aren't for eating as they are bittery and with a fibrous texture. We found a number of recipes for chocolate nib cookies, carmelized chocolate nibs, etc. and we'd have to try these before recommending this products to you, RFTers. 

TCHO Drinking Chocolate is something special. We made cocoa with 6 oz. of 2% milk and the recommended 3 Tbs. of chocolate. The result was creamy and velvety rich cocoa. The chocolate can also be served cold with ice (the chocolate must be melted with hot milk first).

And finally, we sampled TCHO’s Organic Baking Drops, little disks of silky smooth 66% chocolate. One of our reviewers swore that this chocolate must have a hint of milk chocolate in it  to produce such a velvety texture and balanced flavor (it doesn’t). The chocolate backs off on the dark chocolate intensity just a bit and, while we’re confident these drops would make some excellent baked products, we so loved popping these perfectly-sized disks into our mouths, we wondered why anyone would “waste” them in a recipe.

TCHO's resealable foil pouch keeps their chocolate disks fresh tasting.

All of TCHO chocolates are intensely flavored chocolate that has just the right snap, with a smooth satiny flavor on the tongue. This is chocolate for true chocophiles. It’s chocolate you need to take your time enjoying. Resist the urge to chew it. Instead, savor it, inhale it, allow it to melt in your mouth.

We were pleased to learn that there’s even more to love about TCHO than its seriously fabulous dark chocolate. This is a company that is committed to doing good by doing right. They partner with farmers to develop the best cacao beans possible and then pay them a fair price for it. And they protect the environment by growing organic beans.

Okay, with TCHO, you get some of the greatest chocolate on the planet and you can do something good just by eating it? What's not to love? Go get yourself some TCHO Chocolate at retailers like Whole Foods, Kitchen Kaboodle, Drageger's and a number of smaller, boutique retailers. Or purchase online at www.tcho.com.

--Reviewed by BH/AW