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.

After last week’s market on Saturday, I got some organic oranges from a vendor and started zesting away.  I thought I would have enough to make at least a 10 pd batch.  To my dismay, the yield was only 5 pds batch of chocolate.

Candied Orange Peel + Hint of Cloves

The other 5 pd batch that I made is Vanilla Bean. I put the whole Vanilla Bean Pod not just the beans.  There’s so much flavor in the pods.  So for those that have been asking for Vanilla Bean, come by and get your fix while you can!  I’ll have the Candied Orange Peel + Cloves for the next couple of weeks.  Then I’ll continually add spices until I get an Orange Spice that will be just in time for the Thanksgiving Holiday where you can actually put it on your turkey.  It’ll be more like a fusion mole.  For those that don’t know, mole is a sauce indigenous to Mexico.   There are many types of mole sauces and not all have chocolate.  But most people know it as a savory chocolate sauce.  Mole has so many different ingredients that it’s quite labor intensive to make.  Mole was originally used on turkey and now it’s more popular over chicken.  It’s a savory sweet sauce that goes well over fish, tacos, enchiladas, and even eggs.

Flavor Page

Sorry for not updating my flavor page.  I will get to it!  For  those that haven’t been to the farmers markets, my 6 Classic Blends are:

1. 85% Cacao
2. 75% Cacao
3. 65% Cacao
4. Coffee + Vanilla Bean
5. Shangri-La = Cacao + Unrefined Cane Sugar + Black Sesame + Goji Berries (the most popular blend)
6. Mayan Tradition = Cacao + Unrefined Cane Sugar + Almonds + Cinnamon + Guajillo + Pasilla Negro + Chipotle Chilies

The seasonal blends are:

1. Cherries + Coffee
2. Chunky Cherries + Almonds + Black Peppercorns
3. Orange + Cloves *New
4. Orange + Vanilla Beans*New

It’s suppose to be chilly so great weather for hot chocolate!  I’m almost there with my packaging so you’ll soon get a peak!

Chocolate Blessings!

Schezwan Peppercorns

This weekend instead of the usual Chunky Cherries + Almonds +  Black Peppercorns, the black peppercorns are substituted with Schezwan Peppercorns.  It was an accidental mistake, and I thought it might change the taste every so slightly.  Was I wrong.  There’s a big difference.  Schezwan Peppercorns are used mostly in Chinese and Tibetan cooking and come from the Prickly Ash Tree.  The have a very distinct flavor – citrusy and anise-like.  I think of it similar to a 5 spice powder, but more delicate.  It goes well with the cherries and almonds.  A lighter kick than the Mayan Tradition with the 3 chilies.  I’ll be selling this at the Playa Vista Farmer’s market this weekend so come get it while you can!

Beauty of Frictional Heat and Cacao Butter.  Chocolate squished between the stones

Hi!  I’m telling myself that I’m going to make a commitment to start blogging.  So after some tweaks on the website and finalizing a few changes, here’s the first official entry!

Earlier this week I went into the kitchen and started experimenting with different flavors.  Quatre Epice – 4 spices in French.  The typical spices are cloves, nutmeg, white pepper, and ginger.  I forgot to bring my dried ginger and organic peppercorns .  So I improvised and used Schezwan Peppercorns, I got from a chef and cinnamon.  After tossing in 4 measured batches of the ingredients into the chocolate, I finally found the perfect blend.  I gave a tiny sample to my friend and these are his comments:

“This is your best work so far Patricia.  Each component came through.  I love the sweet warmth of the cloves.  The nutmeg spoke everything Autumn.  The cinnamon added a subtle undertone.  And the peppercorns!  Oh My!  It was like getting a kiss from someone you were hoping for, but not expecting.  I love this chocolate!”

I’m hoping to introduce this for the holidays.  I’m working on a couple of other blends.  When I’m only using whole ingredients and not flavorings, the job of creating recipes is more challenging.  But I’m up for the challenge!
Chocolate Blessings!