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Single Origin Chocolate Tasting

Do you get chocolate in your stocking? When I found the Single Origin Chocolate Taster Kit at Mouth , I knew someone who would love it. Whether he'd share it, or not, was undetermined. But he did, in fact, decide to share. So, last night, after dinner, he unwrapped the chocolates and we tasted, savored, and commented. Just a quick note about "single origin chocolate." The term is pretty self-explanatory and it's a simple idea. Single. Origin. It’s chocolate produced from one variety of cacao that's harvested in one region. Think about terroir in wine. Same idea. Cacao, like grapes, is a plant whose flavor profiles are affected by the characteristics of the soil, the climate, and more. And, just like wine, many terms used to describe single-origin chocolate will be familiar to wine lovers. Think earthy, floral, herbal and berry. What we tried... Ritual Chocolate 's Madagascar Bar. It's a 75% cacao, harvested in 2014. This was from the batch numbe...

A Visit to Dandelion Chocolate

Last year, as part of D's birthday celebration, we took the Chocolate Walking Tour of San Francisco . Our tour guide Michelangelo had given us other suggestions of must-try chocolate places that weren't included in the itinerary and one of the spots was Dandelion Chocolate . We came across their stand in the Ferry Building, but that location didn't serve the cacao pulp smoothie. So, we put on our to-do going to the shop in the Mission District. We finally made it during his birthday trip this year. He started with the Chef's Tasting platter. It included: Cacao Spritzer, Venezuela S'more, Papua New Guinea Pumpkin Spice Cake, Liberia Huckleberry Macaron, Madagascar Nib-Infused Panna Cotta, Ecuador We, of course, had the cacao pulp smoothie. It was a little chilly outside for it, but we sipped and shivered our way through. It tasted very similar to lychee. Jake's favorite was the strong, rich cup of European-style sipping chocolate....

Sipping Chocolate Tasting at Mutari

 A couple of years ago I supported a kickstarter for local chocolate company Mutari . I love supporting foodie start-ups! We tried their hot chocolate mix we received as a perk for making a donation, but we never made it to the storefront...until this weekend. While Jake was working on the pirate armory for our trip to the Renaissance Faire and R was working on a project for his science class, the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and I drove up to Santa Cruz and headed over to Mutari. We perused the menu and decided to go with one of their tasting flight. The sipping chocolate flight was described as "darker and more bitter." We went with it. Besides, it came with a mini cupcake from Buttercup Cakes . That cinched the deal for the EKE. He loves anything from Buttercup. We tasted their Trinidad San Juan which had a lighter body and a hint of coffee; their Venezuela Cumboto with notes of vanilla; and their Venezuela Ocumare that was tangy with some notes of citus and...

Walking Chocolate Tour of San Francisco

As a pre-birthday celebration, I booked a chocolate tour for the littlest foodie in the family. So, on Sunday we drove up to the City for some sweet family time... The Good Our tour guide, Michelangelo, was very funny and very well-informed about chocolate history. And - best part! - he let me know about some other chocolate must-trys in the City that weren't included in the walk. I love locals' tips. We'll definitely head back up and check out those other spots another time. The Not-So-Good The first two stops on the tour itinerary were actually closed. I wasn't sure if it was because of the holiday - or because it was Sunday (and, perhaps, Michelangelo doesn't usually do Sundays), but our guide seemed genuinely surprised. Chocolate Tour of San Francisco Itinerary Fog City News : This was closed. NewTree : This was also closed. Spicely Organic Spices : This was our absolute favorite stop on the tour - so much so that D changed his planned...