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Various blends of chocolate bars sold in the store.

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Various blends of chocolate bars sold in the store.

Summer days mean pretty nice days here in So Cal, but slower chocolate sales.   It’s ok, because now I have time to relax and think about what my next steps are.

Chocolate and Cheese Plate -  Saturday Night

I’ve been eating a lot of chocolate + cheese + bread for breakfast and just did a cheese photo shoot with my friend.  People should really think about putting cheese and chocolate together.  This past weekend, my friend’s kid, Nicolaus King, a superb classical pianist, had an intimate gathering for his close friends.  He’s such an articulate young kid and it was so interesting to here him analyze the pieces he was playing.  I took piano for 10 years so have some connection with what his intentions are in each piece.  Getting back to the food part, I had the privilege of serving my chocolate on a cheese plate.  This was what I had on the chocolate and cheese plate:

Chocolates:

Coffee + Vanilla and Almonds + Sea Salt

Cheeses:

Shaft’s Blue Vein Cheese (cow’s milk) + Fontina Italian cheese (cow’s milk)

I know that the Coffee + Vanilla goes well with your red wines.  They were serving a Merlot and Cabernet.  Coffee + Vanilla is not my favorite blend, but if I’m drinking a red, I must have Coffee + Vanilla.  What was surprising was that the Coffee + Vanilla tasted so well with the Blue cheese.  Blue cheese is a very strong cheese and the Coffee + Vanilla chocolate is also intense.  Both of them complement each other so well.  The saltiness of the blue cheese brings out the coffee and vanilla.  These two are a must on a cheese plate.  It is such a delicious pairing.

Almonds and sea salt is more of a delicate flavor.  So this went well with your Italian cheese which was lighter cheese and not very strong.  I think a cheese that has some caramel notes and more salt would go well with the Almonds and Sea Salt.  Still searching for the best cheese for this chocolate.  The Almonds and Sea Salt was excellent with the cold Riesling they were serving.

New Blends

My new blends these next couple of weeks at the market are Brown Sugar Mayan and Chocolate Daisies.

Brown Sugar Mayan has all the ingredients of your classic Mayan Tradition, but I also added brown sugar + salt + peppercorns.  It’s amazing how just a tiny bit will change the flavor profile.  I didn’t think it would be such a big difference.  There’s more texture, and I can taste the bits of cinnamon which I love.  It’s more of a deep rich flavor and great with your reds where I think the classic Mayan is better with your lighter red wines and white wines.  Classic Mayan is great with a nice crisp white wine.

Chocolate Daisies was already here this year.  Ortega 120 is going to use this in their tequila tasting so I made a little extra for the markets.  I took organic chamomile flowers and stone ground it with your nibs + sugar + cinnamon sticks.  A great soothing blend.  It’s amazing has a hot chocolate.  Before you know it, summer is around the corner.

If you want to find out about the new blends, sign up for the newsletter on the right hand side where it says, “Where To Buy”.

More exciting news on the way so I’ll have another post this week!  It’s big news!

Patricia

I thought Mother’s Day was going to be dead at the Malibu Farmers Market, but low and behold Suzanne Summers (aka Cindy from Three’’s Company) came by and bought 2 bars of chocolate – Almonds +  Sea Salt & Cherries + Almonds + Black Peppercorns.  I wasn’t quite sure if it was her, but it was confirmed when one of the vendors from the olive oil stand came by and said, “Suzanne Summers totally raved about your chocolate and told us we have to come by and taste it!”  I was super excited!

When I saw her coming by my booth today, I immediately yelled out “Hi Suzanne!” and it slowly died to a small whisper as I hit the last letters of her name.  I was shocked to find myself calling her by first name as if she was my long last pal.  She came by and told me, “We went to Toronto and we made the chocolate + cheese + bread recipe.  We put the chocolate on a piece of bread, toasted it, put some cheese, prosciutto, and figs and it was divine!”  She then bought the Almonds + Sea Salt.  I told her the batch turned out really well this week, and she walked away and smiled.  She’s a very nice lady and so supportive of the farmers market.

To top of the starry day, a guy in a baseball cap came by my booth as I was helping another customer.  I quickly asked him if he wanted to try the Mayan Tradition.   He said “no”.  I was a bit annoyed, because he wasn’t following my tasting order and actually messing it up.  He said he wanted to taste the seasonal blend of Pear + Vanilla.  I gave him a piece and then focused my attention on the other customers.  He mumbled something like, “I kinda want to taste the Coffee + Vanilla.”  After finishing with the other customers, I gave him a piece and he looked up and said, “I’ll be right back”.  It was Edward Norton from Fight Club & American History X!  He bought 3 bars:  Almonds + Sea Salt, Coffee + Vanilla, Cherries + Almonds + Black Peppercorns.  He said he would give them as gifts! Awesome!!!

The day started off really hectic.  I hit my head on the canopy as I was setting up at another market.  Now I have a big welt.  An employee was really late,  and I was about to cancel the Malibu Market.  But the stars were aligned – no pun intended – and the day ended pretty well I must say.

And Amol…..he would have just fainted if he saw Suzanne.  I’m not going to tell him I saw her for fear that he might tell me to get her autograph and a picture.  What a tourist.

- Patricia

I’M working with a great gal that will help me understand the ins and outs of distribution.  The fear now is if I can keep up with production.  Stone grinding will always be done by hand.  When you automate everything, whether it be perishable or nonperishable goods, it takes a lot of character away from it.  As my friend Leslie says when it’s handmade, “you can feel the energy that the person put into it when you eat it.”  I like machinery, but with anything you have to draw that fine line of how much is too much.

THE life of a small business owner is crazy.  It is the birth of a child.  I don’t have a child and babies are much cuter.  The hope is to have a little one on the way, but this is my baby for now.   Ok, I’m actually at work right and I still am a slave for the next couple of weeks.  But I had to take a little time out to share with you the heavy burden lifted off my shoulder.

World….here we come!

Blessings!  Patricia

(310) 280 – 0474

Various blends of chocolate bars sold in the store.

All retail packaging (chocolate rustic bars and hot chocolate powders) sold in the store.

www.heathceramics.com

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW

So Banana + Cardamom is now retired.  I had the Chamomile + Cinnamon for a couple of weeks, but I think we are reaching the end of that.  It’ll be Pears + Vanilla for the next month.  I’m using Bartlett Pears – unsweetened.  The pears have a subtle flavor.  Cacao % is a 72%.  I bite into the chocolate and notice the bitterness of the chocolate and then aroma and taste of the Vanilla Bean.  I let the bits of pears lay on my tongue and the pear flavor hits you like a gentle surprise.  The bars are 2 oz, because the Dried Bartlett Pears are not cheap.

Market Days

I get some customers that tell me they don’t like dark chocolate.  I automatically know those people like sugar.  People who are willing to listen to my chatter of why THIS dark chocolate is better makes me feel good.  It shows they are conscious about what they put inside their bodies.  I had a lady today at the market tell me she likes milk chocolate much better.  But I told her she has to try this chocolate.  I gave her the sweetest chocolate – Shangri-LA and told her that her palate will be more accustomed to less sugar, and she should try to make her way up to higher cacao %s.  After 5 minutes of talking, standing in front of the booth pondering while babies were crying, and other bought a bar, she caved in and bought a Shangri-La (black sesame + goji berries).

I personally can’t go back to the smooth texture of normal dark chocolate and that’s what I told her.  The gritty texture of ChocoVivo chocolate makes it more satisfying, and I know that it’s minimally processed and the ingredients used are whole and pure.  I’m a purist at heart.

Oh, weather man just said that it’s going to be Rainy – 30%.  Well, 90% of the time they aren’t accurate.

Off to bed.  Sweet Chocolate Dreams Everyone!

What words come to mind when you look at this bottle of milk?  Simple, Pure, Fresh.  Those 3 words should be in all the foods that you eat.  So today I’m talking about the ingredients found in a chocolate bar at the store:

Ingredients in a low-grade chocolate bar: SUGAR, CHOCOLATE, COCOA BUTTER, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, MILK FAT, LACTOSE, SOY LECITHIN, PGPR, VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, AND MILK

vs

ChocoVivo 75% Cacao chocolate bar: Cacao Nibs + Unrefined Cane Sugar

So why add all those ingredients?  When I was learning to make chocolate, a teacher told me to use soy lecithin or PGPR in my chocolate so the oils don’t separate.  And then she told me to start adding additional cacao butter.  Why? Why? Why?  PGPR was NASTY!  The smell was horrific.  Soy Lecithin, I don’t recall what it smelled like, but it’s basically a waste product when processing crude soy bean oil.  Here’s a very reliable article from the Westin A Price Foundation.  Soy is pretty much genetically modified these days.  And it’s still out there whether GMO foods do harm to your body.  You don’t really need all these additional fillers if you consume your chocolate quickly. These days, stores want food products to be shelf stable.  It’s all about the $$$$.  Not a bad thing, but you have to offer quality products.  And additional Cacao Butter – well, it’s just another processed method done to the chocolate.  It’s pressed from the cacao mass (nibs that have been ground up).  It creates a smoother mouth feel.  My philosophy has always been, use only whole ingredients.

So here are some quick definitions for some of the ingredients.

Milk fat – adds creaminess

Lactose – Milk by- product to keep the milk solid

Cocoa Processed with Alkali – cocoa is different than cacao.  Cocoa has not cacao butter so this needs to be separated from the cacao solids.  An Alkali is added to make the chocolate look darker and neutralize the acidity.

Just remember, the less the ingredient list the better.  There’s so much to learn about chocolate.  It’s definitely not black and white.  Stay w/ me and you’ll soon learn to appreciate chocolate.  It’s much more than just a bar of chocolate.

Currently Almonds + Sea Salt bar sold in the store.

http://www.joansonthird.com/