Category Archives: Chocolate

Chocolate With A Techie Pedigree

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That’s what you have in TCHO, the only chocolate factory in San Francisco that actually makes confections from cacao bean to candy. Located on historic Pier 17, the company was founded by former space shuttle technologist, Timothy Childs, who launched it with Louis Rossetto, co-founder of Wired magazine.

TCHO (the name is a combo of “technology” and a nickname for chocolate), is in the process of revamping an old steel molding line from a German castle to make it state-of-the-art with video monitors and computerized control systems. TCHO hopes to open its doors to the public for tours in early 2009.

Meantime, the chocolate is available for purchase online. What makes this chocolate company even more tech-friendly is that it does public beta tests on all its bars. Anyone who wants to shell out $10 for two 50-gram bars in plain brown wrappers can try them and send in their comments before the final formulations are completed.

TCHO uses “common sense” labels to simplify the descriptions of the chocolate bars. The first one, launched earlier this year, was “Chocolatey.”  “Fruity,” a bar that supposes to be reminiscent of fruit without having any really in it, was launched a month ago. And lo and behold, this morning, “Nutty” arrived in my mailbox to try.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure ‘d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Enjoy Luxe Chocolate in San Francisco; Mention FoodGal To Get A Discount

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Chocolate heaven. Photo by Jared Cure.

Confectioner Coco-luxe has opened its first store, and lucky San Francisco is home to it.

At the 1673 Haight St. (at Cole Street) shop, unwind with a big mug of Coco-luxe’s own hot cocoa served with fresh, handmade marshmallows. For an extra boost, get it with an espresso shot made with beans by local roaster, Blue Bottle Coffee.

Drink up.

Nibble on a green tea, “dreamy orange,” or malted milk truffle. Or get tempted by the array of chocolate bars in such creative flavors as “Monkey’in Around” (with banana chips, cocoa nibs, and a sprinkle of sea salt), and “Good Fortune” (with candied ginger and actual bits of fortune cookies). There’s even a cute selection of “to-go gifts,” and I mean to go. The chocolates are arranged in whimsical cardboard suitcases.

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A New Texture in Chocolate Bars

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Taza Chocolate of Somerville, Mass. offers a different taste sensation in chocolate bars. Using certified organic chocolate grown on small farms in Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, the bars have a distinctive texture from traditional Mexican stone grinding that’s quite different than any other chocolate bars on the market. The result is a bar that’s very minimally processed.

A 3-ounce bar is about $6 and available on the company’s web site, as well as at Mollie Stone’s in San Francisco, Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco, and Yali’s Cafe in Berkeley.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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A New Kind of Drinkable Chocolate

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Cabaret Brewed Chocolate

It’s not like hot cocoa. It’s not like hot chocolate. And it’s definitely not at all like chocolate milk.

Cabaret Brewed Chocolate is all together different. Rob Polevoi’s Oakland company brews whole cacao beans in water to extract every last bit of flavor. It’s similar to the way coffee is brewed from coffee beans, only this takes much longer.

The resulting liquid is mixed with just a bit of organic sugar, then reduced down to a concentrated syrup. Stir a teaspoon into a small cup of hot water and — voila! — you have brewed chocolate to enjoy. Each teaspoon weighs in at only 24 calories, too.

Mixed with hot water, it creates a relaxing beverage.The beverage is light in body, akin to coffee. The taste isn’t heavy and super rich like that of hot chocolate. Instead, it is delicate, refreshing, and a little like chocolate-covered toffee in liquid form. It’s a very soothing drink to sip.

A 6-ounce jar is $14.95 and available online at the link above.

Cupcake Craze

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Kara's Cupcakes

Cupcake mania, which hit New York first (“Sex and The City,” anyone?), then spread to Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, is finally making its way to the South Bay/Peninsula.

Talk about taking your sweet time.

While those metropolitan areas long have boasted stand-alone bakeries specializing in nothing but cupcakes, we who have been frosting-starved in the South Bay/Peninsula finally will get our baked-good due when Kara’s Cupcakes is expected to open two locations in September: one in San Jose’s Santana Row (next to Pluto’s), and the other in Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village. Because the Santana Row location will be tiny — just 300 square feet — it’ll have a smaller selection, but promises to showcase the bakery’s most popular flavors.

Kara Lind, who worked in marketing for Conde Nast, found her true passion when she attended Tante Marie Cooking School’s baking program in San Francisco. Her first Kara’s Cupcakes bakery opened in 2006 on Scott Street in San Francisco. Since then, she’s added a second location in San Francisco, this one at historic Ghirardeli Square.

The cupcakes are made daily with such premium ingredients as Scharffen Berger chocolate, Clover Dairy products, and Flying Goat organic coffee. Regular cupcakes, $3 each, come in flavors such as Buttery Buttermilk, Chocolate Velvet, and Kara’s Karrot. Filled cupcakes, $3.25 each, come in such decadent concoctions as the “Fleur de Sel” (a chocolate cupcake with caramel filling, ganache frosting, and sea salt).

What does Lind find so irresistible about cupcakes?

“They are just filled with so much happiness,” she says. “They are like a little piece of joy.”

Who can argue with that?

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