Sprenzy Shopping Blog

High fructose corn syrup, enriched flour, trans fat, hydrogenated oil and sugar are five ingredients you should minimize, or better yet, avoid in your food products. These days it’s very difficult to escape these ingredients because of all the processed and refined foods found in grocery stores and at restaurants.

Over the years, I have become more aware of what I put in my body. I cut out soda and pop (for you Midwest folks) 12 years ago because I was consuming too much sugar and empty calories. And since I’m not a coffee person, the side benefit of cutting out soda is being able to go caffeine free.

In the past, I’ve tried the zone diet and low carb/low glycemic index diets. The low carb diet went out the door when I started dating someone who loves her carbs and won’t give them up. These days I just try to eat balanced meals with natural, unprocessed food and not obsess over carbs, protein, fat, etc. So that means more cooking at home with fresh ingredients and buying more organic products. One of my favorite all natural products is Bear Naked oatmeal.

Bear Naked is an all natural food company that makes granola, low sugar cereal, organic hot cereal and oatmeal. Their products do not contain any refined sugars, trans fats, cholesterol or high fructose corn syrup. I have tried their granola and it’s good, but not crunchy enough for me. Their oatmeal completely rocks. A good friend of mine tried some Bear Naked oatmeal while visiting me and said, “this is the best oatmeal that I’ve ever had!”

I really like their oatmeal because it’s low in sugar and the oats are coarse and thick as opposed to the really thin Quaker Oats brand. My favorite Bear Naked oatmeal flavor is the triple berry (nutritional information on the right). The other flavors, banana walnut and peach & nut, are also good. You can enter your zip code on Bear Naked’s where to buy page to find a local store selling their products. If you enjoy Bear Naked products, then it’s cheaper to buy it from Amazon grocery if you don’t mind buying in bulk.

I really like Amazon grocery. It’s not quite Webvan, but for packaged goods, supplies, health aids and personal care products, it’s great. The prices are competitive with no tax and shipping costs. And eliminating a trip to a brick and mortar store for me is priceless.

Hello, my name is Chuck and I’m a chocoholic. I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Whether it’s for eating or baking, Scharffen Berger is my favorite brand of chocolate. Scharffen Berger is a small-batch, artisan chocolate manufacturer based in Berkeley, California. They are a first-tier chocolate maker, which means they execute every step of the manufacturing process from sourcing the beans to molding the bars.

“Scharffen Berger is a chocolate maker. That means we start with the raw product, cacao beans, and transform them into chocolate to eat or for use in baking. Many other chocolate companies buy already made chocolate liquor and make confections with that liquor.

Making great tasting chocolate begins with careful selection of the best cacao beans available. We buy cacao beans from around the world and only use cacao beans that undergo thorough on-farm fermentation. The farmer ferments the cacao beans before packing and shipping them. This step is critical to flavor. This takes extra time and effort on the part of farmers and we are willing to pay more for taking these extra essential steps.

In addition to cacao beans, our chocolate is made from sugar, cocoa butter, and very small amounts of soy lecithin and vanilla. We use whole vanilla beans from Madagascar and Tahiti, a rare practice in chocolate manufacturing.

Finally, we make chocolate in small batches, blending and roasting cacao beans from up to eight or more origins. We pay close attention to every detail in our chocolate making.

All of these factors result in higher costs, but we think it is worth the resulting delicious and unique flavors of our chocolate.”

Their chocolate has a very unique, fruity flavor particularly when the chocolate is warm and melts in your mouth. Scharffen Berger chocolate comes in semisweet 62%, bittersweet 70%, extra dark 82% and unsweetened 99%. The percentages indicate by weight the amount of ingredients derived from the cacao bean that is in the chocolate.

According to government standards, bittersweet chocolate must contain at least 35% chocolate liquor. Scharffen Berger’s bittersweet chocolate contains 70% chocolate liquor. In the last few years, Scharffen Berger introduced a milk chocolate with 41% chocolate liquor, which is much higher than the US Government requirement of 10% and European rules of 25%.

If you are visiting the bay area, I highly recommend taking a free public tour or a private tour of Scharffen Berger factory. Reservations are required. It’s definitely worth checking out because you’ll learn about the chocolate making process and get free samples of chocolate!

While at the factory (factory is such a misnomer because it’s small, inviting brick building), you should also visit Cafe Cacao where savory dishes and of course, chocolate desserts are served. If you can’t make it to Berkeley, don’t worry, take a virtual tour. Ok, it’s not very virtual but hey, they are an artisanal chocolate maker not slick video/flash producers.

On the Scharffen Berger site, there’s a great list of their favorite chocolate recipes. Or try out my favorite cream cheese stuffed chocolate cupcake recipe. The recipe still produces great chocolate cupcakes if you skip the cream cheese filling part.

If you can’t tell the difference between high-end chocolate and Hershey’s extra dark then don’t bother spending the extra money on Scharffen Berger. However if you like Ghirardelli, Godiva or better yet Valrhona chocolate, give Scharffen Berger chocolate or cocoa powder a try or use it in your next dessert recipe. You’ll blow away your friends with the amazing chocolate taste!

Note: You shouldn’t be paying more than $9.00 for a 9.7 oz bar.