+

For my next blend, I wanted to use bananas.  I think bananas and chocolate are a great combo.  Peanut Butter + Chocolate was blend in my mind, but I have too many nutty blends at the moment.   I wanted to work with a unique spice, thus cardamom.

Cardamom is a very difficult spice to incorporate into foods.   It’s super strong and it can be overpowering as I found out the past couple of weeks.  It’s not like I can use milk or flour to help spread the intensity.  You put 2 intense ingredients together and things can go array quickly.  So I put 2 little pods in a 13# batch of chocolate and it was STRONG!  I kept adding 5 # increments of chocolate and after being in the kitchen until 2:00 AM last week, I decided that I needed to let this puppy sit so I could muster up enough energy to tackle this again.

Was in the kitchen last night and made it my mission to win this fight.  So I took about 1/4 of the original batch I made last week and stone ground it with more chocolate.  But I thought I’d make the blend a bit sweeter to about a 58% cacao.  It was too sweet!  So I ground 75% cacao and mixed it with the 58% cacao and WaLa!  It turned out perfectly!  The bits of chewy bananas with a hint of the cardamom is just right!  TKO!  Now I just have about 20# of chocolate + cardamom.  Well, you know what kind of chocolate I’ll be selling at the market for the next few weeks.  But Banana is the theme for the next month.

ok, ok, ok, The secret is out.  For those that haven’t come by the farmer’s market, it’s your lucky day, because I am now posting the famous recipe that makes most people drool when I tell them.  I don’t need to say much, because you can read a chef’s e-mail to me when he tried this at his restaurant this past week:

“I met you last Friday at the Venice Market, bought then a sampler of your various chocolates. I took your idea of chocolate and cheese and went with it. For a special dinner, three customers at our restaurant, I cut a round of brioche, toasted it quickly in a 500* convection oven, put a slice of Mayan on the brioche, melted it slightly in the oven, topped it with fresh goat cheese from Soledad Goats, candied kumquats to finish. Spectacular! We then set up a sampler tray for all of the staff (and a few lucky customers!). Everyone went gaga, which is how I suspect most people react when they first taste your chocolate. Although we’ve had similar, unconched varieties in Italy, yours has made a much bigger impression. It’s so alive, delicious, wonderful. I certainly will switch to ChocoVivo once I’ve worked through the Valrhona 66% Caraibe I have in stock. Glad to have met you, and thanks!”

- DJ Olsen, chef @LOU

Below are the official recipe and pictures. ———————————————————————————————–

ChocoVivo

Chocolate + Bread + Cheese

- Take a piece of artisan bread and lay a chocolate “rustic bar” on top of the bread.
- Lightly toast Chocolate + Bread (Approx 30 seconds). Chocolate can burn so be careful.

-  Chocolate will come out like softened butter.  Spread chocolate with a knife to coat the rest of the bread or just leave it as is – a beautiful rustic piece of melted chocolate

-Add the following on top of the Chocolate + Bread:

- Fleur de Sel or a light flakey sea salt.

- Drizzle of Olive Oil.

- Cheese (from cheddar, goat cheese, to a crumbled blue cheese like gorgonzola)

Pair with a bold Red Wine (white wine with the spicy Mayan) and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

Jess Hilton from the New School of Cooking in Culver City came by the Venice Farmers Market and bought the 75% Cacao to use in her brownie recipe.  It’s chocolatey , intense, fudgey, and best of all – not overly sweet. – so you can taste real chocolate.  So enjoy and if you have any recipes you would like to share with me, I’ll post it here.  – Patricia

BROWNIES

6 ounces unsalted butter

2 ounces 75% ChocoVivo Chocolate

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ChocoVivo dark ground chocolate

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 inch square pan with parchment paper.  Lightly butter the paper.

Combine the butter and chocolate bar in a bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water.  Stir occasionally until chocolate and butter is melted.  Remove from heat and add ground chocolate, sugar, vanilla and eggs, one at a time.  dd flour and salt and stir just to combine.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until the edge of the brownies are set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with few crumbs.  Let brownies fully cool before cutting.

Everyone has a particular.  You can’t fit more than one Large marshmallow in a cup of hot chocolate, but they are so nice to bit into.  Mini marshmallows are adorable to look at and you can definitely fit more than one in a cup.  So here’s my question:

Do you prefer Mini or Large Marshmallows in your Hot Chocolate?  Your Vote Counts!

It’s snowing in Oklahoma – my home town.  While I’m here in sunny California, my family is bundled tight and gathering under a warm fire.  I miss the seasonal weather, but of course the trade off is there are no year-round farmer’s markets.  Today was a day of rest and reflection.  I mostly slept and organized my place and the next four days I will now tackle….PAPERWORK.

Thank you to all who have supported me through this grassroots movement of ChocoVivo.  I started my first farmers market in June – Playa Vista – and now I am selling at 5 markets.  But to those in Manhattan Beach, last Tuesday was my last day.  I’ve met some of my closest friends there, but I had to let go of the slowest market and analyze where I need to best utilize my efforts.   So I might add another market, but at this moment I will concentrate on setting up the ecommerce site.  Valentine’s is on the horizon so get ready for some new blends!

Merry (belated) Christmas!  It’ technically the day after Christmas now.  1:45 AM

Chocolate Blessings!

Patricia

My little sis Theresa and I just finished the Unique La event this weekend.  It was a blowout and exceeded my expectations!  Bill from Pop Candy suggested I try the show and it was wonderful so I thank him so much for leading me this way.  The people loved the chocolate and our booth was rockin on Saturday!  So I’m planning for next year and I’m hoping to doing another one of these events in San Francisco.  They are awesome and such a great way to meet people. Little Sis is now under the weather and probably exhaused so she’s in bed.  I need to go give her a cup of hot chocolate.

For those that still want chocolate for the holidays come by the farmers markets.  My booth locations (of which I still need to update on my Where to Buy section of the website) are:

Manhattan Beach, Tuesday 12-4 PM

Venice, Friday 7 – 11 AM

Saturday, Torrance 8 – 1 PM

Saturday, Playa Vista 9 – 2PM

Sunday, Palos Verdes 8-1 PM

Last week for Orange and cloves so come and get it! 

I just spoke with my grower Vicente in Tabasco Mexico and my poor beans might be drenched in rain before they can make it over here.  As he says, “you can’t fight Mother Nature”.  Now I’m not sure if I can get the beans by Thanksgiving.  He says that since the rains are coming, it will take him some time to dry the beans by sun.  Due to my limited lack of graphic design skills, I didn’t know how to draw an arrow, but I can make a yellow smiley face.  So where you see a somewhat yellow smiley face is the state of Tabasco, Mexico.  Cacao beans can only be grown 20 degrees N or S of the equator.  So you are looking at Southern parts of Mexico, Central and South America, Ivory Coast in Africa and SE Asia.  Beans can be dried by sun like the next picture or they can use larger blowers.

Drying beans by sun

The ups and downs of a Small business.  You can’t fight it, you just have to embrace it.

Sad to say, I won’t be setting up a booth at the Venice Farmer’s Market tomorrow.  Here is the picture of my spot.  Imagine, a nice white canopy with a table decorated with a vintage yellow table cloth and baskets of “rustic bars” of chocolate.  I was so excited to get into the market, but due to “issues” I have to wait another week.  I should write a book about the farmer’s market.  Title:  Farmer’s Market Confidential.  So tomorrow, there should be this same empty spot.  If there isn’t, then all hell will be breaking loose.

ChocoVivo & Wine

Menu

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

ChocoVivo Shangri La

45% cacao nibs, sugar, toasted black sesame, goji berries

with

Domaine La Grange Tiphaine “Riage Tourant” Rosé 2008 Touraine, France

(Grolleau/Gamay/Cabernet Franc/Côt)

ChocoVivo Mayan Tradition

52% cacao, sugar, almonds, cinnamon, pasilla negro, guajillo, chipotle chilies

with

Wishing Tree Shiraz 2006 Western Australia

ChocoVivo Fig & Goat Toast

65% cacao, roasted figs, Laura Chenel goat cheese, sea salt, Energy Bee Farm Wildflower honey, olive oil

with

Mildiani “Saperavi Reserve” 2004 Kakheti, Georgia Republic

ChocoVivo Chunky Cherries

47% cacao, sugar, dried California bing cherries, chopped almonds, peppercorns

with

Uvaris Tinto (Tempranillo/Garnacha) 2007 Rioja, Spain

ChocoVivo & Belgian Bleu Toast

75% cacao, Grevenbroecker bleu cheese, blood orange evoo

with

Villa San-Juliette Petite Sirah 2007 Paso Robles

ChocoVivo Coffee

56% cacao, sugar, dark coffee roast, vanilla bean pods

with

Quinta do Infantado Tawny Port NV Porto

For those of you that have seen the movie Chocolat, this character should look very familiar.  Come to think of it my life is becoming more like the movie.  But no matter what, I definitely have Mr. Comte de Reynaud in my life.  In the movie, Comte de Reynaud is miffed when Vianne opens a chocolate shop.  He doesn’t want her to succeed and trys to run her out of town.  But he succumbs to the chocolate temptation and ends up breaking into Vianne’s shop to gorge himself with chocolate.

I have a real life Comte de Reynaud at the Palos Verdes farmer’s market.  I love this market.  It’s so quaint and the people are so supportive of the market.  There’s a great flower vendor and the orange guy has some juicy oranges.  They are delicious, and I am using the rinds in my Orange + Cloves blend.  My first day at the market, I set up right next to “the mayor”.   After I finished setting up, I walked over and started chatting with him.  This is how the conversation went:

Patty:  Hi!  How’s it going?  I’m curious how well you do at this market?

the mayor:  If I knew that I wouldn’t be working here.

Patty:  umm…so you don’t’ know how well you do?

the mayor:  I’d buy a lottery ticket if I knew the answer.

So all in all, I didn’t receive a hallmark “Welcome!” from my neighbor.  The following week I tried to butter him up with a piece of the Mayan Tradition which he refused to take, but I told him it would make him feel better and shoved it in his face.   Since then, he’s been tolerable.  Come by and meet “the mayor”.  He actually looks kinda like the guy in the movie without the moustache.