From The Blog

Los Angeles Pop-Up Debut with Salt & Straw Ice Cream

August 31, 2018 by Jennifer Roy

When Salt & Straw ice cream invited Dandelion Chocolate to be the pop-up shop in their Los Angeles-based Arts District DTLA scoop shop (829 E. 3rd St.), we were thrilled and jumped at the opportunity. We could not think of a better way to introduce ourselves to the LA community than inside our favorite ice cream maker’s store.

Our pop-up shop inside Salt & Straw’s Arts District DTLA scoop shop.

In 2017, Dandelion Chocolate’s Executive Pastry Chef Lisa Vega taught a class with Salt & Straw’s co-founder Tyler Malek at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa. Lisa made her chocolate “Nutella” celebration cake and Tyler made nib-infused ice-cream. Soon after, Tyler and the Dandelion kitchen team collaborated to create the Smoked S’more ice cream flavor for their limited edition chocolate menu. Since then, all of Salt & Straw’s San Francisco scoop shops have served a rotating flavor that includes Dandelion Chocolate. A friendship made in chocolate ice cream heaven!

Tyler, Lisa, Meredyth of Dandelion Chocolate and Salt & Straw

Tyler of Salt & Straw, Lisa and Meredyth of Dandelion

In the LA pop-up shop, we will be offering a curated selection of our bars, hot chocolate mix, cocoa nibs, and ground chocolate, as well as our book, Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S’more. And, of course, visitors will be able to taste samples of our chocolate. Norah, one of our long-time employees who now lives in Los Angeles, helped bring the pop-up to life, and we are so grateful for all of her hard work!

The pop-up will run through February 2019 during regular store hours, 11am to 11pm daily. Please stop by and say hello!

Cookies for a Cause: DOUGH & CO and Dandelion

August 10, 2018 by Omar Mamoon

Since 2013, Omar has been running DOUGH & CO, a San Francisco-based purveyor of cookie dough meant to be eaten baked or unbaked (eggs are substituted for a slurry of white chia seeds). All proceeds from this collaborative cookie project will benefit La Cocina, a non-profit food business incubator for women and people of color where he’s been a long time volunteer. We are excited to have him write about the philanthropic side of his local business.

I started DOUGH & CO five-and-a-half years ago. Though I never went to culinary school or business school, I had a strong innate passion for food. This passion was further fueled by the non-profit La Cocina.

La Cocina helps primarily low-income immigrant women of color to start food businesses; I lived across the street, so I started volunteering. Seeing people go through the program was super inspiring. I quit my desk job and started renting commercial kitchen space from them on Sundays where I’d make small batches of cookie dough.

From day one of starting DOUGH & CO, I knew that I wanted to give back to the community somehow. Part of the company mission statement is to “doughnate” 1% of our profits, 1% of our time, and 1% of our delicious cookie dough to nonprofits and causes that are important to us. Since starting my business, I’ve helped raise and donate over $25,000 to various non-profits around the Bay Area through cookie dough collaborations with like-minded folks. It’s not a lot in the grand scheme of it all, but it’s something – and that something can make a difference.

I’m stoked and honored to collaborate with Dandelion, who generously provided their 70% Camino Verde Chef’s Chocolate (which I mixed in generously with a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough). It’s like eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, except in a sophisticated cookie form. All proceeds from the sales of this cookie will benefit La Cocina.

The Dandelion/DOUGH & CO chocolate peanut butter cookie will only be available at the Dandelion Ferry Building cafe. And, it’s only around for a limited time – August 10-17, 2018.

I really like it, and I hope you do, too.

-xx

Omar

An Interesting Read on Brazilian Cacao

August 1, 2018 by Greg

While we don’t normally repost stories onto our blog, I thought it was worth calling this one out. One might say Brazil keeps crossing our path. Dandelion has been interested in working with cacao from Brazil for many years. Our sugar comes from Brazil and we’d be excited to have a bar where all of the ingredients are from Brazil.

Tuta, Greg, and Juliana at Vale Potomuju

A few years ago we had the pleasure of hosting Sarah Hartman, the Brazilian Chocolate Maker of Harper Macaw, for the summer. One of our previous Chocolate Makers, Arcelia Gallardo, eventually moved to Brazil and started Mission Chocolate, making some of the tastiest Brazilian bars I’ve had. So much Brazil! I’ve met many interesting and talented people in Brazil and after visiting Brazil this past May, I am quite optimistic about the bean-to-bar industry there. Many producers are also making chocolate from their own beans, creating a tight feedback loop to help improve quality and flavor.

The reason I wanted to highlight this piece in particular is because it does a great job of explaining a very complex and challenging topic – the devastation of the Brazilian Cacao industry – as well as highlighting Juliana and Tuta, two cacao producers in Brazil who have been doing an incredible job rehabilitating their farm (which I was able to visit in May) as well as producing tasty chocolate. With all of that being said, I hope you enjoy the read: https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/27/bioterrorism-in-bahia-witches-broom-chocolate/

New and Decadent in the SF Valencia Cafe: Camino Verde Coffee Cake, Chocolate Ganache Fig Tart, and More

July 25, 2018 by Karen Solomon

Ready to try something extravagant with your cacao nib brewed coffee? Come and see us at the SF Valencia street cafe for Chef Lisa Vega‘s baked goods featuring summer’s best fruit paired with chocolate.

Say hello to the fig tart with balsamic caramel, honey ganache, and crisp honeycomb.

Round like a bicycle wheel and named for a well-known French bike race route, meet the Paris-Brest pastry with hazelnut praline cream and chocolate ganache.

Ready for spooning, the chocolate pannacotta with rich tahini, nutty sesame soil, and tangy stone fruit is a contrast in tangy and sweet.

Don’t let the muffin shape fool you. This is our old-fashioned coffee cake with Camino Verde chocolate, bright cherries, and cocoa nib nut streusel.

San Francisco/Tokyo Dandelion Employee Exchange Program

June 29, 2018 by Kaija Bosket

Kaija is a lead chocolate maker at the Valencia Factory in San Francisco. In February 2018 she lived in Tokyo for a month as part of the DCJ (Dandelion Chocolate Japan) and DCA (Dandelion Chocolate America) employee exchange program. She loves making chocolate, exploring new places, and, of course, eating good food.

Why does Dandelion have an employee exchange program?

Todd, one of our founders, used to do a lot of exchanges when he was growing up (Mexico, Russia) and he learned so much from those experiences. He wants to offer cross-team learning as well as exposure to different culinary palates and team processes.

What were your first impressions of life in Japan?

I was amazed at how clean and quiet the trains and subway stations were! Traveling around was a treat.

What was hard about your life there?

Kaija and the Dandelion Japan delivery van

This is Kaija being much taller than the Dandelion Japan delivery van.

The height difference was my biggest challenge. I’m 5’11, and I felt like a giant by Japanese standards. At work we had to make a few modifications so I could work comfortably.

What else was unexpected?

Communication and transportation were surprisingly easy. People were super nice and helpful and the transportation system was easy to navigate.

How was your job in Japan similar to the work you do as a chocolate maker on Valencia Street?

It was still making chocolate the Dandelion way. It was the same process, values, and team spirit. Everyone puts 110% into their work and everyone loves what they do.

How was the work different?

DCJ works with smaller quantities of cocoa beans at a time than DCA. There is also a different flavor preference for how the chocolate should taste. In the Dandelion Chocolate Japan bars, they like the chocolate to have more sour and fermented notes. We also tend to have different reference points for flavor. For example, when we taste espresso, they often taste tea.

Work life. Kaija makes chocolate with her co-workers in Japan.

What were some highlights of the trip?

Getting to work with the DCJ chocolate makers was such a treat as well as getting to meet other makers at the Craft Chocolate Market, an event hosted by Dandelion that gathers craft chocolate makers from all over the world. We also traveled to Kamakura, Ise, Osaka, and Kyoto and tasted samples from a variety of Japanese confectionaries, bean-to-bar makers, and bakeries. I also saw my first real, growing cacao tree at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens!

Was there a lowlight of the trip?

A few coworkers and I had horse sashimi at an izakaya in Tokyo. Everyone else loved it but it was probably the only thing that I ate in Japan that I didn’t enjoy.

Would you do it again?

Absolutely! It was super inspiring to work with chocolate makers all the way on the other side of the globe. I can’t wait for my next chocolate adventure!

Arigatogozaimashta, Kaija! The Dandelion Kamakura cafe will see you again soon.