(Image credit Mango.org) Our forced hiatus because of the impending Maine move gives the mind time to wander: what flavors should we eliminate? What should we introduce? Mangoes with Earl Grey tea are top of mind: I did batches years ago and while the tea was a little too steeped, the flavors really worked.. I am also rethinking our almond chocolate and want to marry it with pears: one of my go-to desserts is a pear tart with a marzipan cream and a bit of cognac. I want to make a chocolate version. And I have been thinking of a...
As mentioned on our Summer Stock page, we are moving this summer! Our new home will be Portland, ME, well known as one of the greatest foodie cities in the whole of the United States. This move will be momentous for Chocolats Passion, because we will take this opportunity to move to the Fork Food Lab, a large commercial kitchen incubator. The Lab is a superb facility that started a year ago to serve the needs of artisan food businesses. The immediate benefit will be that we can start shipping across the country and position some of our products nationally. ...
Bursting leaves and first tulips mean one thing in our kitchen: chocolate butterflies! They will adorn our special Mother's Day 16 Bites box, where Mom will get a great dose of our most popular flavor, salted caramel. The butterflies are done in 41% milk or 72% dark chocolate, your pick, then leaving you to select Mom's favorite flavors for the eight domes. Hearts also make an appearance in our other Mother's Day offerings, check all the possibilities here.
Back in late October, I ventured on a wet slope while walking our daughter's dog, Milo, and had a rather spectacular wipe-out. The kind they make into cartoons! I knew instantly I had done lots of damage to my right shoulder, but the chocolate season was only starting, so decided to grin and bear it. I found creative ways to carry trays and mold chocolates with 10 degree function in my right arm (upper arm glued to the body, more trips between machines), and was able to get by, also much due to the help of Amalia, who many...
We are working double time right now to make sure we produce all we need for one of our busiest chocolate holidays, Valentine Day of course! This year, our new Crunchy Hearts are getting a lot of attention. I just finished batches yesterday which we will start shipping today. Of all the chocolates I create, they are the most challenging, along with our Easter Bunnies and Baby Dragons. But they are delicious and I have never shied away from a challenge! So be sure to get a box, we will have them at two markets this week-end. On Saturday, we...
A batch of Pistachio Raspberry Our holiday season was terrific by any measure. After participating in Holiday Markets for 5 week-ends in a row, and shipping lots of orders out, we found ourselves with about 95 chocolates left, all in dark salted caramel, and a few Baby Dragons! So my goal is to be in the kitchen a lot right now, so we will have most of our formats ready well in time for the next big chocolate holiday, Valentine Day. This is what it takes to do a batch: We start our tempering machine the night before, so the chocolate...
