Archive | holiday

Emperors, Chocolates, and Notes in Passing

February 13, 2022 by Nick Cardoni

In a previous life, among the trappings of a tiny shop in Manhattan’s West Village, I stocked glass vases and galvanized steel buckets with all manner of floral delights, and prepared wild-looking bouquets to order for local residents. Each year, just prior to February 14th, we’d break our rule of “no red roses — too cliché” and stock up on precisely that cliché, as a surefire way to capture sales for last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts. We were fortunate to entertain a diverse and eclectic clientele the year ’round, but, in this particular moment, and always up til and past closing time on the 13th, there was a predictable, reliable influx of customers buying flowers and chocolate for their romantic partners. We’d assist and suggest and coach and almost always save the day for folks caught up in the rush of a holiday tradition seemingly thrust upon them.

As we once again approach the most chocolate-y holiday, arguably, of the year, we thought it would be fun to explore the current trends, a few of the clichés, and a bit of the history behind gifting chocolate on Valentine’s Day. Many of us are at least somewhat familiar with the tale of St. Valentine: a priest imprisoned and sentenced to death for his crimes, namely, performing marriage ceremonies for soldiers in defiance of an emperor who thought warriors were better off in battle if they were “unfettered” by romantic associations. As he departed his cell for the last time, the priest left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter (a woman he had helped to heal and subsequently befriended). His card was signed, simply, “Your Valentine.” History is fuzzy as to who exactly inspired this story, but the legend survives, as good legends do, and Valentine has since been associated with the message, the card, the gift, and the love.

Love in defiance of an emperor … is there anything better?

Luckily, most mid-February observances these days don’t involve imprisonment, execution, or imperial decree, and the notes we pass are, perhaps, less urgent. That said, shouldn’t we endeavor always to write to those we care about as though we may never again have the chance?

When I was in grade school, the exchanges were somewhat less poetic: perforated sheets of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cards with hearts and quasi-romantic sentiments, Hershey’s kisses and sickly sweet foil-wrapped chocolate hearts from the other Big Chocolate machines. Shortly thereafter, it was the ubiquitous Whitman’s Sampler clogging the aisles of CVS (my first job). As I began my haphazard journey into dating — is there another way to venture forth? — I graduated to slightly more expensive chocolate and arguably “better” Valentine cards, usually sans Ninja Turtles. In any case, and at least in the very small world that was my corner of suburban Massachusetts, the overarching message seemed to be that Valentine’s Day was a holiday where “men bought women (a fairly predictable box of) chocolate.” As my world grew bigger, I found that this distillation often brought eye-rolls at best and downright scorn at worst. It’s certainly a fairly narrow view toward gift-giving, and relationships, and romance, and the intersection of it all … not to mention the chocolate! From whence comes this narrative?!

I reached out to craft chocolate expert and culture aficionado, Megan Giller, of Chocolate Noise, for her take:

Over the past 80 years, big chocolate companies have worked hard to make chocolate the perfect gift for Valentine’s, in particular creating a tradition where men give women chocolate. I’ve even read marketing materials from the 1940s and 1950s where executives talk specifically about gifting, and focusing on women (and gifts for women) as their target.

From the early 20th century on, Rowntree (a British brand) ran advertisements directed toward men for Black Magic chocolate boxes and Dairy Box chocolates. Here’s one for Dairy Box:

“Spend a lucky shilling

On giving her a treat

A DAIRY BOX of lovely chocs

Will keep your ‘Sweetie’ sweet!”

Note the conflation of women with sweetness, and that it’s intended to convince men to buy chocolate for women.

This is, perhaps, not quite as sinister as pitching cigarettes as cool accessories to hook young smokers through television and film inclusions, but the approach is still problematic, serving to underscore gender stereotypes, and enforcing the notion that men have an obligation to buy for their women, in a somewhat impersonal and possessive way, to earn or maintain their affection. Of course, love is love, and great chocolate should ideally flow in all directions, from all parties, without expectation of any kind of “return on investment.”

We’re quite lucky to have a direct line to a part of the world where Valentine’s gifting takes a bit of a different turn. I reached out to Yuki Yamagata at Dandelion Chocolate Japan for her view of local traditions and Dandelion’s involvement in chocolate gifting practices, posing the following questions:

What is your understanding of traditions around gifting chocolate in Japan at Valentine’s Day?

For teenagers, Valentine’s Day used to be a romantic day where girls express their feelings to boys! When I was a high-schooler, one of my friends received a chocolate gift from an unknown girl who had a crush on him, on the way to his school. How cute is that?

For professionals, it used to be a (possibly, at least for me) a problematic day — where female employees are expected to give chocolate to male employees.

(Yuki is referencing the common tradition of ‘Giri Choco’ or ‘Obligation Chocolate’.)

In exchange for Giri chocolate, female employees are gifted back from male employees for something on the [more recently adopted] White Day on March 14th. It could be a measurement of how popular you are as a professional in the company team. It’s also cute to see chocolate gifting happening in families, too. Little daughters give chocolate to their dads, like Father’s Day.

How have traditions/customs shifted in recent years and where are things headed?

I’m not sure if teenage girls give chocolate to boys nowadays. In professional situations, it has been changing and I rarely hear about chocolate gifting from female employees to male employees. Instead, I hear many ladies buy chocolate for themselves or for their girlfriends to thank them for their friendship. You will see lots of female customers at the Valentine’s gift fair. Gift giving to romantic partners is still happening, too.

How has Dandelion Chocolate Japan been involved with and impacted by Valentine’s Day gifting?

February is one of our busiest months, however our chocolate is not red, heart-shaped chocolate, and not affordable for Giri chocolate. I feel like people who select us for Valentine’s Day gifts are more enjoying chocolate itself than celebrating Valentine’s Day.

In a perfect world, we’re simply targeting people who love craft chocolate, and the only behavior we’d like to encourage is that they give it to anyone and everyone they care about! We are spoiled to stand amongst so many fine and admirable craft chocolate makers these days, and it’s no great evil if, by custom, we give and eat a bit more of the good stuff than usual at certain times of the year. As a means to say “I Love You,” chocolate provides a magical end. From my window on this ever-changing world, the only obligation we should honor is the one to say “You Are Appreciated” when we mean it, while we have the time to do it.

Recipe for Nibbuns

December 3, 2019 by Karen Solomon

Breakfast doesn’t get much more decadent than our nib-studded, sugar-coated morning bun with a labyrinth of chocolate custard swirling through the middle. This recipe makes an excellent weekend or holiday project because the dough and custard must both be made a day in advance. You can also make the filling and cinnamon nib sugar ahead of time, but wait to assemble the buns until the day you plan to bake and serve them. The cinnamon and yeasted dough in this bun pair well with coffee notes, spice, and nutty flavor profiles. The nibs in this recipe are ground, which intensifies their impact a little. This recipe is from our book, Making Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to S’more.

Makes 10 to 12 Nibbuns

INGREDIENTS

Bun Dough

1 teaspoon / 3 grams active dry yeast
3 tablespoons / 42 grams / 1 1⁄2 ounces sugar
1 large egg
1⁄2 cup / 110 grams / 4 ounces heavy cream
2 ¼ cups / 385 grams / 13 ½ ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1⁄2 teaspoon / 1.5 grams kosher salt
Pinch of freshly-grated nutmeg
3 tablespoons / 42 grams / 1 ½ ounces unsalted butter, melted, plus more for brushing
Nonstick cooking spray, for the bowl and the muffin tin

Chocolate Custard

3⁄4 cup / 113 grams / 4 ounces 70% Chef’s Chocolate, Ground Chocolate, or chopped chocolate
1 large egg
1⁄4 teaspoon / 1 gram vanilla extract
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons / 150 grams / 5 ounces whole milk
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Filling

1⁄2 cup packed / 110 grams / 3 1⁄2 ounces light brown sugar
½ cup / 60 grams / 2 ounces cocoa nibs

Cinnamon Nib Sugar

1⁄4 cup / 30 grams / 1 ounce cocoa nibs
1 cup / 200 grams / 7 ounces sugar
4 teaspoons / 8 grams ground cinnamon
Pinch of kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

Make the Bun Dough

In a small bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar, and 1⁄2 cup (110 grams / 4 ounces) of warm water. Set the bowl aside for about 10 minutes, or until foamy.

In a small bowl or cup, whisk the egg with the cream. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and nutmeg.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the yeast liquid and the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to come together; then stream in the egg and cream mixture, followed by the melted butter. Continue mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl, about 6 minutes.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place it in a large mixing bowl or container that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray or lightly greased. The dough will rise significantly; make sure the bowl has enough room for the dough to double in size. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator overnight to develop the flavor and elasticity of the dough.

Make the Chocolate Custard

Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat and set it aside.

Whisk the egg and vanilla in another medium bowl to break up the yolk.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk and cinnamon just until steaming. Gradually stream a small amount of the warm milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, and cook the custard over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom as you go, using a heatproof spatula. Be careful not to let the mixture get too hot as it will curdle. Cook until the mixture has thickened and will coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Remove the custard from the heat and immediately pour it over the melted chocolate. Whisk thoroughly to combine. Pour it through a fine-mesh strainer, and if the custard appears chunky or curdled, use a handheld immersion blender to emulsify it. Pour the custard into an airtight container and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours, or overnight.

Make the Filling

Combine the brown sugar and nibs in a small bowl. Set aside.

Make the Cinnamon Nib Sugar

Place the cocoa nibs in a coffee grinder or small food processor and pulse until they are finely ground. Sift the nibs through a fine-mesh strainer and combine the nib powder with the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl, whisking thoroughly. Set aside.

Shape, Cut, and Bake the Buns

Generously coat a standard-size muffin tin with nonstick spray. After the dough has risen overnight, remove it from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it into a rectangle about 1⁄4 inch thick, approximately 12 × 16 inches.

Using an offset spatula or a rubber spatula, spread the chocolate custard in an even layer over the dough, leaving a 1⁄2-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cocoa nib mixture evenly over the custard.

Beginning at the longer edge of the rectangle, tightly roll the dough to form a log. Slice the log into 2-inch segments. Place one segment into each cavity of the prepared muffin tin, spiral-side up. Allow the buns to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (176.7°C). Bake the buns for 20 minutes, or until golden brown, rotating the tin 180 degrees halfway through to ensure even coloring.

Allow the buns to cool in the muffin tin for at least 10 minutes. Prepare a small bowl of melted butter, and using a pastry brush, coat each bun with a thin layer of melted butter. Immediately roll each buttered bun in the bowl of cinnamon nib sugar, coating the entire surface thoroughly. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Ganache Macaron Gift Box for Valentine’s Day

February 4, 2019 by Karen Solomon

Loving people can be sweet. But the love of a good cookie can be transformative! For the third year in a row, we are delighted to be tucking our kitchen’s handmade pink macarons into pretty bowed boxes special for Valentine’s Day. Crisp and chewy almond meringue cookies sandwich a Camino Verde, Ecuador single-origin chocolate ganache — this year with the flavors of the kitchen team’s favorite cocktails.

If you’re local to San Francisco, we can’t wait for you to see these – and, of course, to taste them! Mary and the whole kitchen team have been flooded with preparations. You can only imagine what 2,000 macaron tops and bottoms in petal pink look like when spread across our tiny kitchen. We’re only able to produce 100 boxes. And because they’re too delicate to ship, you can only find them at our SF Valencia Street and Ferry Building shops.

In the 2017 blog post Mary wrote the first year we offered this seasonal gift, she points out the difficulty of getting the texture of the cookies right while trying to make so many all at once. “The reason macarons are usually only found in bakeries and restaurants, rather than the home kitchen, is probably that they are a rather intimidating project to take on. Admittedly, if you don’t have a great deal of experience making them, even if you’re a professional baker like I am, the prospect of making macarons can be a little…frightening.”

Why the fear? “The thing about macarons is that something can go wrong at nearly every single step of the process, and they are delicate: the almond flour must be ground and sifted finely enough, the egg whites must be at room temperature, the meringue must be folded into the almond-sugar mixture enough (but not too much!). This process is known as macaronage, and when done correctly, it produces a thick batter that flows like lava but still holds its shape when piped.” Like many great elements of French cooking, the ingredient list for the cookies is simple: ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar. And quite literally, the temperature or humidity of the air can make or break these cookies. It is no small feat to get that perfect crisp-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside texture every time.

The single-origin chocolate ganache filling, made with our Camino Verde, Ecuador ground chocolate and rich cream to make it silky, takes a new twist every year. For 2019, it’s cocktail time! (The rich, chocolatey center will have the flavor of the spirits, but almost none of the booze.) Each box contains 10 macarons total with two of each flavor: Fernet, Mai Tai, Manhattan, Negroni, and Paloma.

The beautiful, reusable gift box is decorated with one of the pretty patterns we design ourselves, and finished with a satin bow we tie by hand. Find the macaron gift box in both of our SF shops February 13th and 14th, 2019, for $35. We’ll also have bouquets of flowers on hand on Valencia Street to help you woo your Valentine.

12 Nights of Chocolate 2018

November 9, 2018 by Jennifer Roy

In just a few weeks, we’ll be hosting our sixth Annual 12 Nights of Chocolate!

Each year, Dandelion Chocolate invites chefs to take over our factory to create a unique holiday culinary experience for charity. This year we have 38 chefs participating, and there’s only one rule: use Dandelion chocolate on the plate. Each evening is unique in that we ask chefs to create a menu that is entirely their creation – from elegant seven-course dinners to chocolate beer, concretes and burgers! All proceeds from the event go to the SF-Marin Food Bank. In 2017, we helped to raise over 65,000 meals.

The dates are December 2nd through 13th, and we’ll be hosting all of the nights, with exception of movie night, in a beautiful loft space on the second floor of our soon to open chocolate factory on 16th and Alabama Street. Our annual Willy Wonka movie night will take place at our Valencia café.

Donation bins will be located inside our cafe on Valencia Street as well as the event space for the duration of the event. Stop by to drop off cans and non-perishable food anytime during the holiday series.

For the amazing chef line-up and tickets click here.

The 2018 Advent Calendar is Here!

November 2, 2018 by Karen Solomon

Michelle, who headed up this year’s Advent calendar odyssey, grew up in a German home where the holidays are huge, and Advent calendars are treasured handmade heirlooms. Just ask her and she will share her memories of the beloved daily dose of treats, toys, or coins to countdown to the holiday. And, of course, her and her sister’s giddy anticipation of trying to peek inside the pocket to see what tomorrow might bring.

Michelle is bringing some of this spirit to our 2018 Advent calendar–our largest to date by any metric. It’s the most we’ve ever made (800!), the most amount of chocolate collaborators we’ve ever worked with (12!), and the most holiday joy we’ve ever offered (tons!)

To make this project happen, we partnered with some of our favorite San Francisco Bay Area chocolatiers and treat makers to craft the Advent calendar of our childhood dreams. You have to understand that for these small mom-and-pop makers, creating an extra 800 or 1600 bonbons in the months before the holidays is a huge undertaking! We tip our hat to these small shops and thank them for squeezing us onto their busy production line.

This year’s calendar is also a collaboration with artist Maggie Enterrios. We’ve been huge fans of Maggie’s playful, detailed nature illustrations for years, and we were so excited that we finally had the chance to work with her on this extra-large project. Her gorgeous hand drawings of local birds, bugs, and botany brought this year’s design to a whole new level. The detailed lettering and calligraphy are from another artist we admire very much: Lisa Quine. Every calendar in the collection is numbered by hand and comes tied in a shimmering forest green bow. We are so delighted to share this delicious display of edible beauty with you and whoever shares your holidays (and your chocolate).

Each large calendar contains 25 hand-picked, treat-filled, reusable treasure boxes decorated with Maggie’s hand-drawn birds, animals, plants, or flowers that call the SF Bay Area home. The decadent confection inside each box is thoughtfully crafted by people who make the sweets we love. Crisp, smooth, or chewy; chocolatey, fruity, or nutty; the array of flavors and textures changes daily, though the quality and craftsmanship are in every bite. Each treat contains some element of our cocoa nibs or single-origin chocolate. To get you ready for what’s under the lid, know that some of the confection flavors include the Oolong Crisp Bar, Smokey the Bourbon, Gingersnap Praline, Speculoos Coffee Tile, Caramel Crunch, Mini Blood Orange Bonbons, and Burnt Honeycomb. You won’t want to miss out on this once-a-year celebration of art and chocolate! Get yours here.

2018 Advent calendar collaborators include:

Supplies are limited and this is expected to sell out. Shipping is only available within the continental United States.

A Halloween Debut of a New Web Series Featuring Witches and Chocolate

October 29, 2018 by Megan Giller

Megan Giller is a longtime friend of ours and one of the most prolific journalists and authors in the field of chocolate. She’s also a feminist, a food historian, and our guest blogger for this post. Note that the video mentioned below is not suitable for children.

When I was working on my book, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate: America’s Craft Chocolate Revolution, one of my favorite sections to write was “Chocolate Is for Everybody,” about craft chocolate being made by all sorts of minorities, including women. (After all, my business card says, “food writer, feminist, chocolate eater.”)

I’ve always wanted to write more about women and food, and when I asked Professor Kathryn Sampeck if she knew of some good stories, boy, did she deliver. She sent me two scholarly articles, “Chocolate, Sex, and Disorderly Women in Late-Seventeenth and Early-Eighteenth-Century Guatemala,” by Martha Few, and “Potions and Perils: Love-Magic in Seventeenth-Century Afro-Mexico and Afro-Yucatan,” by Joan Bristol and Matthew Restall.

These dense, academic papers contain a treasure trove of illicit activity. Long story short: In the 1600s and 1700s in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, thousands of women were accused of bewitching their lovers, enemies, and frenemies with magic hot chocolate. At that time, chocolate was a pretty gritty drink, and you could hide all sorts of ingredients in it. Fears of women spiking hot chocolate stemmed from anxiety about their changing roles in society, and women who challenged the status quo were persecuted — just as they were in every age, and all around the world.

One of the stories is so powerful that it inspired me to start a new project, a digital TV show called What Women Ate. The first episode is about one of the so-called witches, named Cecilia, who was accused of bewitching her husband with hot chocolate and making him impotent (sure, sounds likely). Before I write any more spoilers, here is the full episode for you to watch, just in time for Halloween. If you like what you see, subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow @whatwomenate on Instagram!