Chocolate Syrup for All of Us

"National Ice Cream Day" is just two days away on June 7th.  While we here in The Chocolate Cult might prefer our ice cream to have chocolate in it there are other options: Chocolate on ice cream.  One such possibility comes from Santa Cruz Organic and today your Chocolate Priestess wants to reveal their Chocolate Flavored Syrup that they sent us with you all.

Ah, but there is more.  They sent us two identical 15.5oz bottles so we also have a giveway/contest where you can win your own bottle.

To enter follow these steps:

1.  You must be a public Follower of The Chocolate Cult either through blogspot, Facebook, or Networked Blogs.  I do check this each time so if you joined for the last contest then left us you must rejoin -- honestly why would you leave your Sisters and Brothers in Cocoa behind?  You can join in either of those three ways linked to on the left hand side of this blog. 

2.  You must leave a comment below by Noon Eastern Time on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.  Your comment simply needs to to say what sounded best to you about this syrup so you'll need to read the full review as well as a statement verifying that you do live in the lower 48 States of the USA --  I'm shipping this bottle myself and that's what I can afford at this time.

3.  Finally you need to make certain that your listing as a follower includes a way for me to contact you directly by private email. If you win and I can't contact you, I'll move on to the next person in line.

The order of your comments will determine your number for the random drawing so the first person to comment will be #1, the fourth person will be #4 and so forth.  The winner will be chosen using this random number generator.

Now for our review.  The syrup is certified organic by the USDA and manufactured in an eco-friendly fashion as certified by Green-e-org.    It also happens to be vegan though that isn't on the label if you look at the ingredients.  The second ingredient is cocoa while the first is "invert sugar" which means it is a mixture of equal parts of glucose and fructose which is naturally found in fruits though which fruit I don't know.  It would explain the overall very sweet taste this syrup has.  2Tbsp has 110 calories, 15mg sodium, 1g fiber, 24g sugars, 1g protein, 2% of the calcium you need and 6% of the iron you need daily.

We tried this syrup in two ways.

First, we tried it on ice cream which is the most common way you're likely to use chocolate syrup during the hot summer months.  I needed to shake it well first because some initially some sugarly, lightly brown liquid came out of the container -- that isn't a negative on the product just a comment on how all syrup is but I have to give it a try.  We tried it unheated though there are microwave directions on the bottle -- it was still in the mid-80s when we had this, no way we needed it heated!  It came out thick and very fudgy in texture and had a nice solid cocoa scent to it.  We controlled our portion size by using this cute ice cream cone shaped bowls and cookies and cream ice cream since it has chocolate in it but frankly not enough.  As you can see the syrup was a very dark almost black color that nicely contrasted with the ice cream.  It added a needed extra kick of chocolate to our treat and we all loved it, it wasn't too sweet just a nice blend of cocoa bitter and sugar.  It even stuck to our spoons and the bowls because it was so wonderfully thick.

Second, as a mix in with milk to see how well it could make chocolate milk.  It mixed very well even though after an over night in the frig made it even thicker.  I didn't measure it other than with my eyes so I can't say how much I tried.  The milk took on a sweet scent and did indeed turn light brown.  The syrup stayed mixed very well even an half an hour later so it gets high marks for that quality.  However, the sweetness I mentioned with the ice cream really explored in cold milk and it made this overwhelmingly sugary.  So my advice is to stick with this as an ice cream topping heated, cold or room temp.

If this Santa Cruz Organic syrup sounds like it might meet your needs for organic, vegan, microwaveable, and chocolaty, give Santa Cruz Organic a look.  And remember to follow the instructions to win your own bottle to try.  The contest will be decided in just a few days, so enter now!

Sisters and Brothers, may you, too, take the time to slowly appreciate what the Divine and human ingenuity have offered you in chocolate.