Cuckoo for cacao

Sure, we all want to eat more organic foods, but if that means eating substandard dark chocolate … not so much. In Seattle recently, I was excited to try Theo chocolate bars, made there from all-organic, fair-trade cacao, which they roast themselves. Here in Sacramento, Whole Foods stocks a small selection of their Origins line of chocolate bars: the very dark Ghana 84 percent chocolate bar, an Ivory Coast 74 percent bar and a blended bar from Ghana, Panama and Ecuador, with 75 percent cacao. (I also tried their sweeter, fruity 65 percent bar from Madagascar.) Now I wish that the company’s Phinney line of flavored and milk bars were available here—particularly the Bread and Chocolate bar, with crunchy, toasty, slightly salty bread crumbs infused throughout dark chocolate—a twist on the French snack of chocolate in a baguette—or the fig, fennel and almond bar. They are, however, available on the company’s Web site (www.theochocolate.com).