Vosges Organic Chocolate review

So, hubby and I sat down to watch the Biggest Loser the other night. It was a moment I had been looking forward to all day. Not just because I am inexplicably hooked on watching that show, but because that day, the UPS man had delivered a box from Vosges Chocolates.

I first heard about Vosges about a year ago. The company offers some really exotic and interesting goodies. One look at their Web site or catalog will probably leave you with the hardest chocolate cravings you have ever experienced, and it will probably make you a little curious, too.

After all, there's something kind of weird about a chocolate bar with bacon in it, right? Well, that's one of Vosges specialties. It comes in milk and dark chocolate, and it's called Mo's Milk Chocolate Bacon Bar. It also comes in a dark chocolate version.



My first Vosges candy bar was a Barcelona Bar, which is milk chocolate with chunks of hickory smoked almonds and French grey sea salt in it. It's incredible! I asked for one in my Christmas stocking last year and made it last a couple days, which is a record, but this isn't your ordinary candy bar. It's meant to savor. I like to take the tiniest bites and let it melt in my mouth. To just chew and swallow it would be a shame, I think.

This time, I tried the mini organic candy bar sampler. It consists of nine half-ounce bars, including organic Dominican 45% cocoa milk chocolate, organic Dominican 74% cocoa dark chocolate, the Enchanted Mushroom bar, which is the dark chocolate infused with reishi mushroom powder (weird, I told you!) and the Habana bar, which is the milk chocolate with dried plantain chips in it (Yum!).



So, as we watched TV, Hubby and I split one of the Enchanted Mushroom bars and one of the Habana bars. He liked the mushroom one best and I liked the plantain one best, but we agreed that they were both very good. The dark chocolate has a deep, rich flavor and the mushroom powder (which is supposed to have health benefits) adds a unique texture to the chocolate. As it melted on my tongue, I actually got bits of dried mushroom, but even as a decidedly non-mushroom person, I wasn't grossed out. It didn't TASTE like mushrooms. The milk chocolate was more my style, though, and the plantain chips were slightly salty, which I enjoyed a lot.

Now, you might be wondering, isn't it kind of wrong for someone to be participating in a Body After Baby Challenge and watching a weight-loss TV show to be enjoying rich chocolate treats?

NO FRIGGIN' WAY!

I am a firm believer that actually ALLOWING yourself to have treats while dieting is the best way to go, because it cuts down on cravings and binges.

But here's the real kicker...

One of Vosges mini organic candy bars only has 80 CALORIES! That is SO easy to work into your daily calorie allowance and oh-so worth it!

Think about it, would you rather eat one of those piddly 100-calorie packs of random cracker or cookie nonsense, or would you rather save 20 calories and have something really good?

Like this:



I thought so!

Oh! And I almost forgot... Vosges also captures my heart for being a green company. The chocolate is produced with 100% renewable wind power, the company buys organic ingredients whenever possible, the facility and production processes are certified organic, they use recycled materials for their packaging and they encourage people to find creative ways to reuse the packaging rather than throwing it away.

I think this oath, which can be found at www.vosgeschocolate.com/green sums it up pretty well:

"We purchase ingredients having luxurious taste and sustainable merit like our Rainforest Alliance and organic certified chocolate. We purchase packaging made of post consumer recycled paper, renewable resources, or bio-degradable materials. We buy our cleaning products and office supplies from organic and recycled vendors. We power our manufacturing facility and boutiques with renewable energy. We bring peace to the world through chocolate one purchase at a time."

Go to www.vosgeschocolate.com to find out more about this awesome product. There are Vosges boutiques in Chicago, New York and Las Vegas and we have found the exotic candy bars at Whole Foods as well.