We wish to extend our warm thanks to those of you who nominated us in the first round of Downeast Magazine's 2021 Best of Maine survey. We are so thrilled to now be a finalist in the "Maine-Made Chocolate" category! The final round is happening now, and we would be so honored to get your vote! We are in good company with folks representing over 50 categories from all walks of Maine life. To access the survey, click on the Downeast/Survey Monkey link. Our team thanks you for your kind support, and looks forward to sharing new chocolate creations with...
A month ago, my darling neighbor Desi van Til gifted a box of our chocolates to Erin French of the iconic Lost Kitchen. Not long after, TLK approached us to see if we would be willing to have our Chocolats in their next online market, slated for today at 11 AM. It took our team a nanosecond to decide, of course, because who doesn't want to be in the company of fabulous Maine women artisans of all stripes? After a gorgeous ride to Freedom from Portland to deliver our beautiful boxes, Catherine and Fred had a grand time chatting with...
Pack up the heart molds, polish the eggs! Thematically, the switch from Valentine production to Easter is swift. This year, the early Easter date (April 4) makes speed even more necessary. But not stressful, because each of us loves the creativity of making each batch of eggs vividly different from the last. We love to imagine a festive Easter table adorned by our eggs, each unique. The French Bunnies are more exacting, and Darcy is the ultimate bunny maker with her precise, sheer yet fanciful painting. Jacques (above) is done in brown tones with a little pink nose and white...
Photo credit Sarah Levine The time span between the holidays and Valentine day is the shortest of all the major chocolate holidays, and as such imposes absolute production discipline on our team! We use the past year's numbers to guide our output, but also add a hefty increase to deal with last season's shortages. Among our most popular Valentine offerings are our Big Valentine Heart and our "Love you to the Moon and Stars" boxes, so we are hard at work to make more. The other challenge is that Valentine season is our favorite time of year to introduce...
Back in March, three weeks before the pandemic shutdown, a young woman entered the shop and asked if we were hiring. As serendipity would have it, we were, but I told her we were looking for someone with professional pastry training. No problem, said she, she was a CIA (not the spy agency) graduate in pastry, who had a stint in chocolate making under Chef Greweling (the high priest of the American chocolate industry). Darcy and I conducted an interview and voila, Sarah Levine joined our team. We insist on pastry skills because of the light touch they develop, but...
The following entry is a reprint (with the kind permission of the editors of the Green Man review) of the most fun review of our Halloween Skulls. Enjoy! Chocolats Passion Skulls Skulls. I love them. Not only because it’s October, but because I dig their shape. Their mystery. The whole philosophy of existence thing. Yorick? Yeah, I didn’t know him, but I sure did peek at his skull at time or two. But sometimes I just want something to sink my teeth into, and Portland, Maine’s Chocolats Passion has got me covered. Two treats in one – skulls and dark...
