Last Saturday, I attended the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon. There were around 35 exhibitors - mostly chocolatiers and chocolate-makers as well as a few wineries. This is the first major West Coast chocolate show in around two decades, and I was thrilled that it was happening the weekend I was there. Here are a few highlights of what I tasted:
Amano Madagascar Single Origin 70%: Amano is a young Vermont-based artisan pure chocolate company. Their bars are made in small batches using traditional machinery. The 70% Madagascar bar has a lovely rounded cacao flavor with notes of raisins and plums that continue to open as it melts.
Couture Chocolates: Couture Chocolates is an artisan chocolatier featuring designer chocolate confections made by founder Ginger Elizabeth. I tried their Vanilla Bean-Infused Caramel from their Caramel Collection.
Saratoga Chocolates: Saratoga offers a lovely selection of handmade truffles and confections. I really liked their Key Lime Pie truffle that featured a key lime filling + a tiny graham cracker crust encased in milk chocolate.
Coco Delice: Coco Delice features French-style truffles made by hand. I really liked their cognac truffle - handrolled, not too sweet, big on the cognac, double-dipped in chocolate and then rolled in cocoa.
The Tea Room: The Tea Room is all about enjoying fine tea and chocolate. Their product line includes both imported fine teas and chocolate truffles handmade in-house by their chocolatier team in Napa. They have some interesting tea-infused chocolates using ingredients such as chamomile, Earl Grey, and jasmine tea. I tried a classic 72% truffle - it had a nice, slightly fruity ganache blended with cacao nibs, all coated with cocoa.
Grand Avenue Chocolate: I found Grand Avenue's dark chocolate Cabernet truffle interesting. The most powerful flavor that came through was not so much red wine but more in the range of dried figs.
Coco Luxe: Coco Luxe is a California-based chocolatier that produces a very cute line of chocolate truffles and confections with really fun flavors such as banana split, dreamy orange, and pb bite. I tried their malted milk truffle, which started out somewhat on the savory side and then moved quickly to taste just like a malted milkshake (go figure). A bit sweet for me, but satisfying and fun to try.
