GIVEAWAY: Gourmet Popcorn for the Holidays

We are thrilled to team up with a gourmet popcorn company for this time of year because it is nice to offer you all options that are healthier, unique, or just plain not the run of the mill candies or cookies you see everything during these holidays.  J. Drizzle sent us two dark chocolate varieties of their popcorn we'll share with you all the experience of trying them out.  I was assisted in this by four Acolytes so the impressions are a composite of our experiences as we tried 6 cups of each flavor we were sent.  The bags were basically plain brown bags with six cups of popcorn in each.  The labels different only in terms of the name of the flavor and the ingredients list.  There was no nutritional values though obviously popcorn covered with anything is less "healthy" than plain popcorn.  It is the holidays; have some fun! NOTE: The giveaway ended that was associated with this article.

The first is the Coffee & Cream variety which does not list coffee as one of the ingredients though it does have milk.  One of our Mocha Acolytes commented "this is slightly addictive" as he kept eating and eating this variety.  What made it "addictive?"  Each popped kernel is fairly large, everyone who tried it with me agreed on this point and we did not find any old maids (unpopped kernels) in the entire bag  Many kernels were bound together by the dark chocolate coating but the ones that were solo measured over a half inch across.  Most were well covered with the dark chocolate and had the white drizzle over them as well.  The scent was really popcorn though the entire bag together had a decent cocoa scent.  The coffee flavor varied a lot from kernel to kernel but the dark chocolate was consistant suggesting the coffee was in the drizzled white on top of the kernels.  The crunch was good and sharp yet these were very fresh as well.

The second was the Dark Chocolate Chili made with cheyenne pepper.  These were the same size as the previous bag, nice big popped kernels and no unpopped ones we could find.  The crunchy and the fresh softness of the popped kernels was identical, too, suggesting a strong quality control in their popping process.  These had a hint of spice to them just under the popped corn fragrance.  As you can see, they were drizzled pink over the dark chocolate coating.  The dark chocolate was the primary flavor to begin but the cheyenne's burn built up over time, oddly on the back of my tongue but in other locations in the Acolytes' mouths.  Now how spicy these are really depends on your level of spicy enjoyment.  I found them to be intense but two of the three Acolytes I tried these with found them delightfully hot while the third barely noticed the spice at all.   I would say that these are best for someone who likes a spicy kick with their chocolate.

These two varieties from J. Drizzle were exactly what you hope a gourmet popcorn would be: fresh and soft yet very crunchy, the chocolate dark and coating the majority of the kernels fully.  But you can try them yourselves either by ordering or by entering this giveaway hosted by J. Drizzle.  The rules are different for this giveaway so read carefully and as Alison, our contact there, directs in her message below:

Have your followers can log in to www.jdrizzlepopcorn.com and enter their contact information and that they found us on your blog. This would put their names in a que and a few days later a random follower would then receive $20 credit in their account to receive any flavors they wish. We would be happy to send a message along with the winner's name so you can announce it on your blog as well.

We should have no trouble turning around that giveaway if the recipient wishes to receive it before New Years Eve, it would really be up to the end user when they want to redeem their credit.

Notes:
As you know, Sisters and Brothers, this is The Chocolate Cult.  We do not discriminate against the type of chocolate -- white, milk, semi-sweet, bittersweet, or dark and all the variations in between.  We also do not discriminate about the type of product so we feature and reviews everything from food and body products to books, movies, and bake/cookware.  However if it is a food or body item, it must be chocolate.  We not only look at the companies who send us products but also the ingredients in their products. If something does not meet our standards, we cannot review it for all of you.  Sadly while we have given you our reviews of two of the four bags that J. Drizzle sent to us, we cannot review the other two because they are not actually chocolate; Toasted Coconut Crunch and the White Chocolate Pineapple.  Both are made with palm oil, canola oil, and milk but no cocoa butter is listed either online or on the bags themselves.  After speaking with the folks at J. Drizzle I believe they were misled by their supplier.  Both varieties tasted good our Acolytes all agreed but they simply were not chocolate and thus cannot be featured on The Chocolate Cult.