It’s tiny. But it’s oh-so-big on decadence.
The Coconut Collaborative’s Chocolate Dessert Pot is thick and fudgy, and tastes like velvety dark chocolate ganache. Close your eyes, and you can easily imagine enjoying it out of a crystal goblet at a fine restaurant, not out of a plastic cup in your own kitchen.
What’s more, it’s dairy-free.
That’s because it’s made with coconut cream.
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Attention all chocoholics, don’t miss the first ever Craft Chocolate Experience at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, March 6 to 8.
This sweet extravaganza will bring bean-to-bar makers, chocolatiers, pastry chefs, and cacao bean farmers from around the world for panel discussions, cooking demos, and a chocolate marketplace with more than 85 artisans sampling and selling their creations.
There’s also an opening night party on March 6, featuring a dazzling array of chocolates, pastries and cocktails.
The renowned participants include: Jordi Roca from El Celler de Can Roca in Spain; Francisco Migoya, head chef at Modernist Cuisine; John Scharffenberger, founder of Scharffen Berger Chocolate; Kenji Lopez-Alt, chief culinary consultant for Serious Eats and author of “The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science”
Tickets for the opening night party are $95 each; a weekend pass to the event is $145 per person.
La Cocina, San Francisco’s pioneering kitchen incubator for women, people of color, and immigrants wanting to start food ventures, expects to open its much-anticipated food hall this spring.
To celebrate the impending debut of La Cocina Marketplace, a landmark all-women operated food hall, the organization is hosting a Week of Women in Food, March 2 to 8. It’s a series of prix fixe dinners spotlighting the seven La Cocina chefs who will make the new food hall their home. For these special dinners, each La Cocina chef will cook alongside a well-known, established Bay Area chef.
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These udon noodles may look much like ones tinged with matcha, but their deep moss hue actually comes from green algae.
Chlorella Udon Noodles by Sun Chlorella contain the freshwater algae known as chlorella that’s billed as one of the newest superfoods that’s rich in minerals and vitamins like D and B12.
I had a chance to try samples of the dried noodles, which cook up in all of 5 minutes. Drain, then rinse in cold water, and they’re ready to use in soups, stir-fries or salads.
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If you’re a fan of Burma Superstar’s signature Burmese tea leaf salad, you’ll be glad to know it’s never been easier to make a version at home now.
No more hunting around fruitlessly for fermented tea leaves or any of the other specialty ingredients needed. Burma Superstar’s new Burma Love Foods Company has put together a Fermented Tea Leaf Salad Kit. It’s vegan to boot.
The kit, which should be kept refrigerated until used, comes complete with the already made fermented tea leaf dressing made with organic tea leaves, as well as Burmese Crunchy Mix, which is a blend of crispy yellow split peas, toasted sunflower seeds, fried garlic chips, sesame seeds and roasted peanuts.
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Red Boat has long been the fish sauce of choice for discerning chefs and fastidious homecooks.
Now, the artisan producer has branched out into making other products featuring Red Boat, the artisan fish sauce that’s made from only two ingredients: black anchovies and salt.
I had a chance recently to try samples of two new and fun products from the company that was founded by Cuong Pham, a former Apple engineer. When he couldn’t find any fish sauce brands in the Bay Area that had the purity and balance of what he grew up with in Saigon, he decided to make his own.
Now, Pham has partnered with a few gourmet food producers to make these specialty items. First up, Red Boat Caramels, which are made in partnership with Pasadena’s Little Flower Candy Company.
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