I admit this Food Gal is more of a B&B Gal or Resort Gal than a Camping Gal.
I’ve been camping once, and while it was a blast, I readily acknowledge I am not one for roughing it regularly. What can I say?
Thankfully, one of the best things about camping, well, doesn’t really require sleeping outdoors in a tiny tent. And that is S’Mores.
Theo Chocolate’s version may not be melty from a campfire, but it is every bit as blissful to eat.
The Seattle bean-to-bar chocolate company, the first organic and fair-trade chocolate factory in North America, has created the Big Daddy ($9.99), a three-piece collection of S’More confections that I recently had a chance to sample, along with some of its other new products.
The base, of course, is a homemade graham cracker cookie that is plenty crisp. Atop it is a thick, fluffy marshmallow, and something a classic campfire S’more lacks — sweet, gooey vanilla caramel. This big square-shaped S’More is completely enrobed in dark chocolate, then decoratively squiggled with alderwood-smoked milk chocolate.
It’s super chocolately, and yes, even a little smoky tasting. It’s dangerously good. You will have no problem finishing one. Then, you will eye the remaining two in the box until you find yourself unable to refuse.
Theo’s new bars ($1.59 to $3.99 each) this year include: 70% Sea Salt, creamy tasting with just the right amount of salt; 85% Dark, rich and deep for the purist at heart; Salted Toffee 55%, a lovely sweet-salty combo with crunchy pieces of toffee throughout; and the Grapefruit Ginger 55%, which wakes up the palate with the fresh, sharp taste of citrus and a mild back note of ginger.
Other fun flavors include the Raspberry 70% Dark, very fruity, with a nice sweet-tangy character from all the deyhdrated bits of raspberries throughout; and Cinnamon Horchata 45% Milk Chocolate, a gourmet version of a Nestle’s Crunch Bar with plenty of cinnamon and crisp rice.
I approached the Ghost Chili Caramels ($9.99 for a six-piece set) with trepidation. But the soft caramels, coated in chocolate and sprinkled with sea salt), thankfully, were not searing in heat. Instead, you definitely felt a prickle of heat on the back of your throat, but it was nothing painful or unpleasant. I’d rank it about like a medium salsa in heat, especially because the sweetness and lushness of the chocolate and caramel tempered the spiciness.