February 19, 2012

Endangered Species Chocolate

At some point during my early middle-school years I was gifted a t-shirt from the local zoo.  For the life of me I can’t remember how this came about as we did not frequent the zoo when I was a child, but nevertheless, I was SUPER excited about this t-shirt.  The front sported a print of several zoo animals, and not in a little-kid kind of way, but in the “earthy” save our planet fashion of the early-mid 90’s.  Underneath the animals was the question “Will you be my friend?”.  Cool, right?  Right? Yes, that is right!  And where is the first place a pre-teen wears a new t-shirt? Yep, gym class!  The evening before gym class I modeled the shirt for my family.  My brother reacted negatively but that was not out of the ordinary for an older brother so no biggie.  He simply didn't understand how cool this shirt was about to make me.  Right?  Right!  Sadly, in the end, the shirt didn’t yield the kind of attention I was hoping for.  Everyone in gym class read the question on the shirt…out LOUD… and then laughed hysterically.  Even my closest friends and allies offered no support.  I responded by saying something desperate like “What? It was free!” and then with a sad face, “My grandma gave it to me” (Keep reading, I promise this all has to do with chocolate.)
Endangered Species chocolate was something I happened upon when I started spending more time in the organic and all natural food section at Newport Kroger Marketplace.  I needed something to satisfy my after-lunch sweet craving.  The packaging, which has a picture of a different endangered species on each bar of chocolate, caught my eye and brought back a flood of memories of the infamous zoo t-shirt!  And then it brought a huge smile to my face!  And I quickly tossed a couple of the dark chocolate bars into my cart.
In general, the Endangered Species brand promotes sustainability, ethically traded goods for producing their products and preserving the natural habitats where our endangered species exist. The Dark Chocolate With Cranberries & Almonds features the Gray Wolf and contains 72% cocoa. The cocoa beans in all of Endangered Species' products are sourced exclusively from farmers who work under fair and humane conditions and as the package states, 10% of net profits are donated to help support the species' habitats.

The chocolate is deliciously satisfying! My local grocery offers Endangered Species all-natural chocolate bars in a variety of flavors.  In addition to cranberry/almond I’ve also tried: deep forest mint, blueberry and plain dark chocolate but have yet to try the milk chocolate varieties.  I’m challenging myself to choose a different bar each time I’m at the store.  Of course, being a huge fan of any nut/chocolate combos, the almond cranberry has been my favorite. 
As if the taste weren't enough, I also love that Endangered Species chocolate does not have a pretentious price tag.  Normal retail for a 3oz bar is $1.99 at my local grocer and I often find it on sale for anywhere from $1.49-$1.69; totally reasonable.  I have broken the bars into pieces and served it with apples and a variety of nut butters, but trust me, this chocolate is just fine standing on its own.  Their website offers additional product information and features some products that aren't found in stores.  The chocolate hazlenut toffee has my name all over it!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Katie: I'm totally addicted to this chocolate, too! Pretty happy Kroger's has it on sale for $1.79 right now, even the 88%, whose lovely bitterness I'm now addicted to. The almond cranberry and the blueberry are also faves.

    Thanks for your kind words, btw! :)

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