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A Tribute to Chuck

October 5, 2021 by Jennifer Roy

We have a tradition at Dandelion of celebrating birthdays. We ask everyone what their favorite treat is on their first day, and then on their birthday, their team typically surprises them with pizza, a chocolate eclair, or a little cheese plate. There have been a few times when team members have joined Dandelion on their birthday (Anna, Pablo) and we’ve had to scramble to uphold the tradition.

One of our last in-person, unmasked birthday celebrations was in 2019. I happened to record the birthday on my handheld iphone. In the video, you can see about two dozen team members huddling in the hallway while Caitlin lights the candles on top of a plate of cookies and ice cream. And then, all at once, the chocolate factory erupts in a remarkably on-key Happy Birthday for our wonderful Production Mechanic, Chuck.

Chuck joined us over five years ago, half retired but wanting something to keep him busy. He started at Valencia and helped us open the 16th Street Factory in 2019.

He had the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met as well as a habit of sending “love notes” to the factory every quarter or so. One went like this:

Hello Dear Dandelions,

Tomorrow I get to begin my sixth year trying to support the production team. What a ride! And I hope it keeps on keeping on.It continues to be a joy to come to work and spend my days with the wonderful people on our teams.
I have said this before but it bears repeating. When you discover someone worthy of your love, add them to the many you already love. You won’t run out. There is no limit to how many people you can love.

Also to repeat, somehow Dandelion finds amazing team members and I just love you all. Thanks to you all for being so thoughtful and helpful.

I continue to know that if I have these feelings and don’t share them the opportunity to say nice things may pass and I will rue the missed chance.

With great love to you all,
Chuck

During Covid, Chuck came to the factory every day to keep the chocolate production line humming so our bean-to-bar chocolate factory could exist through today — with pictures of his family and grandchildren on all walls and surfaces of his tool room cheering him on.

In early August Chuck came to Todd and said, “Todd, I think it might be time to think about really retiring,” which surprised us all. And perhaps Chuck suspected something because the next week, he received a late-stage diagnosis and shortly thereafter entered palliative care. Even from the comfort of his living room surrounded by family, he woke up to join our weekly virtual Wednesday-morning All Hands and told us (again) that he loved us all.

We hoped he had more time then. His wish was to have another Christmas with his family. But as Chuck always reminded us, you should always say “I love you” to those you care about because you never know how much time you have.

We’re a small team today and work shoulder-to-shoulder at the factory. And we’re still feeling the shock waves of losing someone we’ve worked beside, who helped carry the factory during these past 18 months, and whom we cared about very, very deeply.

Chuck, we miss you and we so love you too. It’s hard going into Q4, typically the busiest time for our chocolate factory when we all rally together, without our loyal mascot of so many years.

And yet, if there’s one thing that Chuck would want, it would be for us to make sure we remind those we care about that we love them. And sappy as it might sound and though it’s unlikely we’ve ever met, I want to say we love you all too. Thank you from all of us for supporting craft chocolate, for making our livelihoods possible, and for cheering us on during uncertain times.

Wishing you all health and many good days ahead.

Chuck, rest in peace our dear friend.

Elaine

Diversity & Inclusion

July 26, 2020 by Todd

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how we can make Dandelion a more inclusive and welcoming company. We’ve always tried to do right, whether it be with the farms we work with, or in our community, or with our staff. We’ve always cared deeply and believed that trust is given, second chances matter, and that we should be thoughtful in all of our interactions.

But really, that’s just the start. We need to do more here: recognize our privilege, identify how that affects our company and team members, make sure that everyone feels welcome at Dandelion, support paths to advancement for BIPOC, and do our part to fight against systemic racism.

With that in mind, I wanted to set in writing some of the actions we are taking to increase our inclusiveness. We see this as a living document that we’ll update as we adapt, and make changes. We hope you will follow along and provide feedback with ways that we can continue to listen, learn, and grow.

What we’re doing:

Creating an employee-led steering committee to help us listen and understand the issues important to the team and provide feedback as we make these changes.
[Update as of 6/30: the steering committee has been formed and is meeting regularly]

Hiring a diversity consultant to help us make these changes as well as survey the team to understand how we can do better. This consultant is being chosen by the steering committee, with input from the entire company.
[Update as of 7/15: the steering committee reviewed multiple proposals and has chosen Liberation Consulting.]

[Update as of 10/5: Liberation Consulting has conducted interviews / surveys with team members.]

Starting additional mandatory diversity training. Currently we do online training (and have 90%+ participation) and are going to add more sessions and depth, again taking the lead from our consultant and steering committee.
[Update as of 10/5: Liberation Consulting is starting diversity training this week, with sessions through late November.]

[Update as of 11/30: Initial rounds of diversity training have been completed; vast majority of staff has participated so far.]

Reevaluating how we handle reconciliation, investigations, and mediation. Formal HR practices are heavy on the documentation for what happened but not necessarily on how people felt about the situation 3, 6, 12 months later and don’t give visibility into the actions taken or why. We would like to find a way to increase communication about these processes while staying legal and reflecting team member privacy. This will take some time to further develop in partnership with the steering committee and our consultant.
[Update as of 11/30: Subcommittee has formed to address this and is in the process of examining our processes and handbook. ]

Integrating more implicit bias and inclusion training into our on-boarding and professional development.
[Update as of 11/30: Added inclusion training into on-boarding. First rolled out to seasonal employees, currently evaluating feedback. ]

Forming a board of advisors to help us steer the company with outside voices.

As we’ve embarked on these changes, I’ve had a chance to talk to many team and community members and I’ve been heartened to see how deeply everyone cares about doing right here. These deep questions speak to our core values: how much do we value second chances versus zero tolerance? How do we treat employee privacy versus the need for justice? I’m looking forward to working through these issues in a thoughtful way.

We know that actions speak louder than words, so please watch this space for updates as we continue to implement these changes.

Best,
Todd

Craft Chocolate:
Slow Food That’s Worth the Wait

February 18, 2020 by Emily Mantooth

Emily Mantooth is co-founding the Craft Chocolate Experience with us March 6-8, 2020. Her years of experience with the Dallas Chocolate Festival made her the perfect partner with whom to embark on this adventure. She has been the engine pushing the festival forward and so we thought you’d enjoy hearing about it from her perspective. We look forward to seeing you in March!

Making chocolate is a lesson in patience. To start, it takes a cacao tree about five years to grow enough to bear fruit. And even then it can take another four to five months (or longer) for the tree to actually produce that fruit in the form of cacao pods.

From there, beans are harvested, fermented, bagged, and shipped all around the world. This can also take months. For the craft chocolate maker, only the finest beans will find the way to the factory, assuring that the chocolate that is produced can highlight the nuances of these magical beans. And while the farmer may be looking to the next harvest, the maker’s work is just beginning: sorting, roasting, winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering….so many calibrated steps that all have to go perfectly to produce a high-quality bar.

And that’s just to make the chocolate. For confectioners, they take it a step further to create truffles, bonbons, and pastries that both taste delicious and look amazing.

So much work has gone into getting the chocolate made, but even that is not the end of the process. Once craft chocolate makers and chocolatiers perfect their recipes, they must add to that production the challenge of selling what they make. Decisions about product and shape, packaging, marketing, pricing, and shipping. Do we open a shop or just sell through others? Do we update our labels this year? How much should I produce of each product? How many beans should I buy? The rabbit holes are many and deep. So, while addressing the business decisions is a key part of actually making chocolate as a business, it is rare that a chocolate maker got into the business because of this step. And yet, day after day, amazing artisans grapple with these choices to keep their passion going.

As we put the finishing touches on Craft Chocolate Experience: San Francisco, I think about all those things daily. From the farmers to the folks wrapping bars that have come off the production line, everyone has a part to play in getting a delicious and beautiful piece of chocolate into the hands of someone who can enjoy its flavor while also appreciating all the time and energy and perseverance that it took to get it there.

We are thrilled that we have over 90 exhibitors coming to the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts from March 6-8 to tell their unique stories and share their amazing work. This truly is a chance like no other to learn and taste and experience the literal fruits of these labors. For our guests, this means tasting bars and confections from around the world, learning from industry experts on a range of in-depth topics, and also having some fun while gaining a deeper appreciation of what it takes to bring craft chocolate to market. These makers and their commitment to excellence, to doing things the right way, and to caring about the impact that their businesses can have on the communities they touch continue to inspire our whole Craft Chocolate Experience team.

So, while we excitedly count down the days until we see old friends and try new treats, our hope is that everyone who attends Craft Chocolate Experience this March shares our enthusiasm. We are mindful of the dedication, creativity, and tireless effort it takes to make each bar of chocolate…and we cannot wait to see these talented makers share that with every guest who comes into the Palace of Fine Arts.

Just as each chocolate bar begins with a cacao tree planted years before, we, too hope that Craft Chocolate Experience is just the beginning of a chocolate journey. That the things that guests taste and learn are the beginning of their own chocolate adventure….and we can’t hardly wait!

Chuck Visits the Chocolate Machines at Dandelion Chocolate Japan

December 16, 2019 by Chuck Dewey

Chuck is our Chocolate Production Mechanic who helps to keep the factories running here in SF. His engineering skills are second to none; he’s never met a machine he couldn’t woo into working at its best. In November, 2019 he was asked to bring his knowledge and elbow grease to our factories in Japan, and take in a little bit of the local culture. Below, Chuck shares a few highlights from his trip.

Chieko and Kaija invited me to come inspect and repair the machines they use at Kuramae and Honjo, and I found that Dandelions are the same everywhere you go: hard working, kind to people and to machines, and very welcoming to this old man.

The river between Honjo (on left) and Kuramae

What a clean and beautiful place to have a chocolate factory and café.

Chieko and Kaija (and the DCJ team) take very good care of their chocolate-making machines but, before something serious breaks, they wanted to create a proactive preventive inspection and servicing plan. Luckily for me, I got to visit for about a week and help them implement the plan. One of the Japanese chocolate makers, Ozaki, got the nod from Chieko to add to his duties the care and feeding of the machines. (They don’t eat much.) Ozaki and I worked side-by-side for a careful inspection and preventive maintenance session for each machine. He is ready to do the hands-on work that will keep the DCJ machines in tip-top shape and minimize surprise failures.

Luckily, DCJ chose and installed identical machines to those that we use in California. The machines don’t get worked as long and as hard as they are in the US, and they’re all in great shape. We had some minor touch-ups that got implemented and a few more that Kaija and Ozaki will implement going forward.

Just like all travelers to Japan, I lost a day as we crossed the International Date Line but got it back on the return trip. That really messed with my sense of time.

I arrived on a Saturday and made a valiant effort to gather some energy for my first visit to Dandelion Chocolate Japan at Kuramae on Sunday morning. Kaija and Chieko and the chocolate makers gave me a warm hello.

Dandelion Chocolate factory and café at Kuramae with beautifully weathered wood front; to the right, Dandelion Chocolate ChEx (Chocolate Experiences classroom)

Retail space with traditional Dandelion Chocolate chalkboard (Thank you, Elaine!)

Upstairs guest tables and chairs make a comfortable tasting experience

The Kuramae factory and café are much like the Valencia factory in San Francisco

After a nice greeting with the DCJ team, Kaija laid out the plan for the week and led me on a tour of the welcoming Kuramae factory and the strictly-functional Honjo factory. We discussed all of the equipment and our action items. We would take care of Kuramae first and get some serious plumbing out of the way. While the plumbers worked at Kuramae, we attacked the projects at Honjo. I met Ozaki on Monday and we were side by side for the rest of the work.

On Thursday we went shopping for tools. We traveled by train and found a huge “everything” store that looks like a Home Depot or a Lowes on the ground floor, then continues to many floors of anything you might need to keep your home operating.

Kaija and Ozaki waiting in the train station

Just like everything I saw in Tokyo, the factories are immaculate and extremely orderly.

We had plenty of tasks to fill the week, but worked at a comfortable pace that left time to experience a wide variety of tasty delights. The baristas know how to make great hot chocolate and coffee drinks just like at home.

Cafe latte for an old mechanic

One day the wonderful pastry chefs made udon for the whole staff. I got to join the lunch!

Every meal became a flavorful adventure. One rainy day we even ate an American-style hamburger. It relieved Kaija’s hankering for a taste of home. I have to say, they even did that well.

On Saturday night Kaija and her friend took me to a traditional restaurant that required shoes off at the door and to sit on mats on the floor. The food was amazing! I was surprised that this old man was able to stand back up after dinner.

What a great experience it was visiting Tokyo and our Dandelion Chocolate colleagues in Japan!

Chuck enjoying Japan and some okonomiyaki

Angela Pinkerton’s Torta Caprese With Cacao Nib Gelato And Cherry Confitura

July 9, 2019 by Karen Solomon

Pastry Chef Angela Pinkerton (Che Fico, Eleven Madison Park) is a talent, a creative force in pastry, and a friend. She has been there for us several times as a volunteer chef for our annual 12 Nights of Chocolate fundraiser for the SF/Marin Food Bank, and she recently joined us on a chef’s trip to the Dominican Republic to see how cacao is grown, fermented, and dried, and to learn how the chocolate-making process begins. While there, she visited Zorzal Cacao, and the gelato for this dessert takes inspiration from her visit to the origin. Angela tells us that steeping the nibs in cold milk and cream overnight helps extract, “the fruity perfume essence I remember from eating the raw cacao beans during the trip, and the toasty cocoa flavors we expect to enjoy.” Angela currently serves this dessert at Che Fico Alimentari as a memento to what she experienced with us in the DR.

Time: 90 minutes active time, plus overnight steeping
Serves: 10-12

Make the TORTA CAPRESE

1 ½ cups/180g walnuts
4 cups/342g 70% Camino Verde, Ecuador ground chocolate
¼ cup/55g cocoa butter
6 ounces/165g unsalted butter
6 eggs, separated
1 ¾ cup/210g powdered sugar
1 teaspoon/4g sea salt
2 Tablespoons dark rum or Maraschino (optional)

Grease a 9” round cake pan and line the pan with parchment, then grease the parchment. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Lightly toast the walnuts and let them cool. Chop the nuts until very fine.

In a medium saucepan over a hot water bath, melt the chocolate, cocoa butter, and butter together. Remove from heat and stir the mixture until cools.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and sea salt until light and fluffy.

In separate mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Combine the cooled chocolate mixture with the yolks until thoroughly combined, then add the walnuts.

Carefully fold in the egg whites in three batches; the batter may look broken, but it will smooth out once it’s fully incorporated. Stir in the rum or Maraschino, if using.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a crust forms on top. (Note that a cake tester will not come out totally clean, but it shouldn’t have crumbs stuck to it. It will be coated in chocolate, but not gooey).

Cool the cake completely at room temperature. It can be served immediately or wrapped and chilled overnight. To remove the cake from the pan, quickly and evenly warm the pan on top of a burner or with a torch and invert the cake onto a plate. Peel off the parchment before cutting. For best results, slice the cake with a hot, clean knife.

Make the COCOA NIB GELATO

(Makes 1 quart. Note that you will need a thermometer and an ice cream maker.)

¾ cup/100g Kokoa Kamili, Tanzania cocoa nibs
1 cup/225g heavy cream
1 ½ cups/675g whole milk
½ cup/50g dried milk powder
¾ cup/155g sugar
¼ cup/38g dextrose

Lightly toast the nibs in a 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes just until you can smell the chocolate. Combine the hot nibs with the cream and milk and let them steep overnight.

Strain the nibs from the milk and cream and heat the milk mixture to 104°F.

Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the milk powder, sugar, and dextrose.

Once the milk reaches temperature, whisk in the dry ingredients and continue to heat the milk until it reaches 185°F.

Remove from heat and cool the ice cream base in an ice bath, stirring often. You can cure the base in the refrigerator overnight. Spin the base in an ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions and freeze until you’re ready to use it.

Make the CHERRY CONFITURA

4 cups cherries
¾ cup/151g sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon citric acid
1 Tablespoon dark rum or Maraschino
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Pre-freeze a metal mixing bowl.

Pit the cherries and cut them in half. In a medium saucepan, combine them with the sugar and then cook over medium-high heat until al dente, about 7 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove the cherries and transfer them to a frozen bowl to stop the cooking.

Continue to cook the remaining syrup until it thickens, about another 5-7 minutes. Pour the syrup into the bowl with the cherries and stir in the citric acid. Cool the bowl in the freezer for 15-20 minutes or until chilled and thickened. Add the rum or Maraschino and the lemon juice to thin the sauce as needed. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Make the CANDIED WALNUTS

(Makes about 1 pint)

2 cups/300g walnuts
2 cups/500g water
2 cups/500g sugar
kosher salt to taste

Chop the walnuts into bite-sized pieces, then sift out the dust. Bring the water and sugar to a boil, add the nuts, then reduce the heat to simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes, until the nuts have become semi translucent and saturated with sugar.

Drain the nuts from the syrup and spread them in a single layer onto parchment-lined sheet trays. Sprinkle them lightly with the salt and bake in the oven at 300°F for 15-20min until the nuts are dry, brown, and toasted, stirring halfway through to prevent clumps. Cool completely, then store them airtight in a cool, dry place.

To assemble the dish:

Warm slices of the cake in a 425°F oven until hot to the touch, about 3-5 minutes. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the cherry confitura on one side of the cake. Sprinkle on the candied walnuts and top with a scoop of the gelato. Serve immediately.

Chocolate 301: Our Trip to Belize in 2019

May 8, 2019 by The Dandelion Team

Rebecca and Renee wrote this blog post together, and they were fortunate enough to attend our annual guest trip to Belize that we offer each February (just one of the many perks in working for a chocolate company—in addition to all of the chocolate you care to eat). This trip is one of many that we’ve taken as a team: Greg visited in 2013, and Molly had a look a year later, but this is the first for Renee and Rebecca. Renee is a chocolate maker at our Valencia Street factory. Rebecca was formerly the manager of the Valencia Street café, but she just became the Director of the Chocolate Experiences team. Warning: their travelogue will make you want to pack your bags.

Hello Dandelion Friends! This February we had the opportunity to attend a Chocolate 301 cocoa trip: an interactive, hands-on, seven-day exploration into the world of cacao in the southern tip of Belize. Along with Greg, our Bean Sourcerer, and 11 chocolate aficionados from across North America, we stayed at the very scenic Chaab’il B’e Lodge in Punta Gorda. We ate amazing chocolate-infused meals and washed them down with local cacao rum and Coke prepared by lodge owners, Sheila and Rusty.

Diving right into the jungles of Belize, we spent our first day touring Eladio’s farm where we learned about the gospel of cacao, and the harmony between man and earth that helps synthesize healthy plant growth. As he led us through his farm, Eladio would stop to pick what appeared to be random plants and teach us about the benefits they have on the body, as well as how they contribute to the growth of the entire ecostructure. We ate hearts of palm, sugar cane, cacao, and corn right out of the ground! It was a wild jump into the deep end of Belize. He stopped to cut open a cacao pod and said, “now we look for faces.” As Eladio explained it, the faces that can be identified in the raw pod give us insight into all of the animals and creatures that love to eat them! I found Stitch. What faces do you see?

After our long trek through Eladio’s wild farm, we finished the day with a delicious, home-cooked Belizean meal and a lesson on making traditional Mayan drinking chocolate.

Another day, we went to Xibun Reserve, a former Hershey plantation of 1100 acres that has been revamped and is now growing cacao and citrus. It is HUGE. We spent a bumpy couple of hours riding through the orange groves and rows of cacao trees in the back of a tractor. We got to see firsthand as the farmers split the cacao pods and harvested the wet beans. It was mind-blowing to see how easily and quickly they got the pods open because they are so thick! We also hopped down from our iron chariot to walk around through the trees, enjoying the variety of colors that each pod produced. The trees were full of beautiful flowers and budding cacao pods. Seeing the difference in how the cacao trees were kept at Xibun and at Eladio’s was really interesting. Xibun had very well-kept, neat rows of trees that were in stark contrast to the wild jungle of Eladio’s farm. Even as we rode around the tractor at Xibun, one side was all cacao—and then we’d turn around and see all citrus. It was surreal.

On Valentine’s Day we went to Maya Mountain Fermentary. The name may sound familiar to some of you who may have tried our Maya Mountain, Belize chocolate bars—feel free to learn more about how Elman developed this bar’s flavor profile. Maya Mountain is an organization, not a co-op, from where we source our delicious Belizean beans. They collect wet beans from farmers around Belize and ferment the beans at their location in Punta Gorda. This experience took the term “hands on” to a whole new level! We got to actually stick our hands in the gooey fermentation boxes to see how much heat they produce! We also got to taste the beans at different stages of fermentation and drying. The flavor of the nibs changed significantly from one to four days of fermentation, as well as at different stages of drying. Truly in her element, Renee got right to work, showing the team how we sort beans and explaining what we look for in this process. We learned what their quality manager looks for when they sort before packaging and sending beans to the chocolate makers. She then showed us what she looks for when she grades beans. She could look at a cut test and see how far along fermentation had occurred. We then tasted a wide selection of chocolate made with Maya Mountain beans from other makers. As a chocolate maker, this is one of Renee’s favorite things to do. One origin can taste so vastly different depending on the maker, but there remains a consistent character from the terroir that is discernible in each bar from the same origin.

On our last day, we went to Copal Tree Lodge where we walked around their beautiful garden and made chocolate with their chocolate maker. It was amazing to learn about their process and see that one chocolate maker takes ownership of every step! He gave us beans to taste from different times in the roast. We could taste the flavors evolving. Then we got to winnow the freshly roasted beans. It was very therapeutic, like raking a zen garden. After this, the chocolate maker showed off his skills and hand-tempered a large batch of chocolate right in front of us for us to pour into molds. To remove air bubbles from the bars in our factory, we rely primarily on a vibrating table. At Copal Tree, they rely on the more rudimentary system of slamming the chocolate mold against a table to remove air bubbles—a very satisfying alternative. It was incredible to see such a large batch of chocolate hand-tempered with such ease. He didn’t even need a thermometer; he could just feel the change in viscosity and knew when it was ready!

This doesn’t even scratch the surface on what happened on the trip. There was so much more that can’t be captured with words or pictures. It was really refreshing to be around so many people who are passionate about chocolate; not just the customers, but also the farmers, fermenters, and other makers. It was so eye-opening to see how much goes into making a treat that the world enjoys. 10/10 would go back on this trip! Without question, it is worth every drop of bug repellant, sweat, and slathering of sunscreen!

To Belize with Love and Chocolate,

Renee and Rebecca

PS: Want to learn more about what life is like in Belize? Maya moved there to deepen her work in chocolate, and our friend Madeline shares her story of living there for several months.

Elman Introduces the 2017 Harvest Cahabón, Guatemala 70% Chocolate Bar

March 21, 2019 by Elman Cabrera

Elman is a Senior Chocolate Maker at our Valencia Street factory and the profile developer of our Cahabón, Guatemala 70% 2017 Harvest chocolate bar. His story is a Dandelion Chocolate first: he was born in Guatemala City, and his father is from the north region, so this bar has such a strong family connection for him. Elman takes pride in all of his work, but he feels a particular responsibility in this 2019 release. We’ve asked him to share his experience with and connection to the cocoa beans from Cahabón.

(La traducción al español está abajo.)

Back in the day when I joined Dandelion Chocolate, I was so happy that the company was working with beans from my country of Guatemala. It was an amazing surprise and I felt really proud that my country was represented in such a delicious way. I’ve always wanted to work with the Cahabón, Guatemala beans but I knew it was a long shot. I was sad when I heard the Cahabón bar was no longer being made by the Valencia team, but also happy because I got to work with beans that have some cultural relationship with Guatemala.

The 2017 Harvest Cahabòn, Guatemala 70% chocolate bar

I was given the opportunity to work with the Guatemalan beans for a limited time. This profile is going to be produced just one time and only tempered for two weeks before it is gone forever. I want to give this origin the farewell it surely deserves for what it represents to me.

While working with these beans, I was surprised to find a different set of flavors from our previous 2014 Harvest Cahabón, Guatemala bar, which tasted like rich chocolate, walnuts, and liquid caramel. This new bar iteration of these fantastic beans is packed with lots of fruity notes while keeping its rich chocolatey notes. That was a nice surprise and something I knew I wanted to explore. I wanted to give the Cahabón bar more balanced tasting notes and get rid of the earthiness that the previous bar had. I still wanted to take the people trying the bar on a roller coaster of taste, but I wanted that experience to stay in the same line of flavors. That’s why this new bar starts with fruity notes that transform into rich chocolate and finishes with tart, fruity notes.

Is this bar a personal achievement? The answer is YES! I love my country and I’m proud of what farmers are able to produce and the dedication that they put into their crops. This time it’s not just about my country, but also the reiteration of my love and passion of what I do for a living. I love working with chocolate and having opportunities like this profile. It helps me to showcase how much I have learned over the years. I’m beyond blessed to have had the chance to learn from people with so much talent and knowledge. My hope is to be able to pay it back and share that knowledge and passion with my team members.

Elman es un fabricante de chocolates en nuestra fábrica de Valencia Street y el desarrollador del perfil de nuestra barra de chocolate de 70% de Cahabón, Guatemala de la cosecha 2017. Su historia es única en la historia de Dandelion Chocolate: Elman nació en la ciudad de Guatemala, y parte de la la familia de su padre viene de la región norte del país, por lo que esta barra tiene una conexión familiar muy fuerte para él. Elman se enorgullece de todo su trabajo, pero siente una responsabilidad particular en esta versión del 2018. Le hemos pedido que comparta su experiencia y conexión con los granos de cacao de Cahabón.

El día en que me uní a Dandelion Chocolate, estaba muy feliz de que la compañía trabajara con semillas de cacao de mi país: Guatemala. Fue una sorpresa increíble y me sentí realmente orgulloso de que mi país estuviera representado de una manera tan deliciosa. Siempre quise trabajar con las semillas de Cahabón, Guatemala, pero sabía que era una posibilidad algo remota. Me sentí triste cuando escuché que la producción de la barra de chocolate de Cahabón iba a concluir, pero también feliz porque pude trabajar con semillas que tienen alguna relación cultural con Guatemala.

Recientemente, me dieron la oportunidad de trabajar con la semilla de cacao Guatemalteca por un tiempo limitado. Este perfil se producirá solo una vez y solo se templará durante dos semanas antes de que desaparezca para siempre. Es mi deseo darle a este origen la despedida que seguramente merece por lo que representa para mí.

Mientras trabajaba con esta semilla, me sorprendió encontrar un conjunto diferente de sabores a la de nuestra barra de la cosecha 2014, la cual tenía un sabor profundo a chocolate, nueces y caramelo líquido. Esta nueva versión de esta fantástica semilla está repleta de notas frutales y mantiene sus notas profundas a chocolate. Esa fue una agradable sorpresa y algo que sabía que quería explorar. Quería darle a la barra de Cahabón notas de sabor más equilibradas y deshacerme de la terrenalidad que tenía la barra anterior. Quería llevar a la gente que probará esta barra de chocolate en una montaña rusa de sabor, pero quiero que esa experiencia se mantenga en una misma línea de sabores. Es por eso que esta nueva barra comienza con notas frutales que se transforman en un chocolate profundo y terminan con notas agrias y afrutadas.

¿Es esta barra un logro personal? ¡La respuesta es sí! Amo a mi país y estoy orgulloso de lo que los agricultores pueden producir y de la dedicación que ponen en sus cultivos. Esta vez no se trata solo de mi país, sino también de la reiteración de mi amor y pasión por lo que hago para ganarme la vida. Me encanta trabajar con chocolate y de tener oportunidades como desarrollar este perfil. Lo cual me ayuda a mostrar cuánto he aprendido a través de los años. Estoy más que feliz de haber tenido la oportunidad de aprender de personas con tanto talento y conocimiento a través de los años. Mi esperanza es poder devolver la oportunidad y poder compartir ese conocimiento y pasión con los miembros de mi equipo actual.

A Visit to Areté Chocolate

February 26, 2019 by Ryan O'Connell

Ryan is a chocolate maker at our 16th Street factory, as well as a frequent traveler and motorcycle enthusiast.

Before Areté Fine Chocolate moved from Milpitas, California to Spencer, Tennessee in spring of 2018, Eric, Snooky, and myself had the pleasure of seeing the glory of what was, at the time, still their semi-operational facility before they’d fully packed up for their move. Areté Chocolate is owned and operated by David and Leslie Senk. As of our visit, David and Leslie were Areté’s only employees.

After meeting the Senks and seeing their process, it was abundantly apparent they are people of high personal and professional integrity, which very much shines through in their careful processing and top-shelf chocolate. Throughout the day, as our conversations meandered through chocolate theory, some noteworthy similarities and differences between us stood out:

We both believe in the importance of data collection to understand outcomes in the chocolate making process.
We both believe that when the chocolate is tempered may make a difference in its flavor. Aging chocolate and its impact on flavor is something we look forward to testing in more depth.
Areté removes the radicle from all of their beans, which is something we’ve always wanted to do and are we are working towards.
Much of their process is a result of custom and creative adaptations to fit their evolving needs while not sacrificing quality. Similarly, improving our quality is central to – and runs parallel with – our reflexive metrics for success as we continue to grow.
Areté makes all their chocolate in mini melangers, such as the ones we use for experiments.
David believes temperature control is crucial to consistent, predictable flavor.
We both believe that testing one variable at a time through experimentation is the best practice.
We’ve developed our own process for removing broken and moldy beans prior to roasting. At Areté, all moldy beans are removed after the beans are broken, one by one, through his mechanized, creatively-engineered process, speaking to the ingenuity and passion behind the operation.
After roasting in a convection oven, David’s beans are removed and then rapidly cooled to prevent any further, unwanted roasting. In a similar fashion, our beans are cooled in our drum roaster’s cooling tray post-roast.

The refining and conching room of Areté Chocolate

Takeaways to consider for experimentations or reinforcing in our current chocolate making practices:

We should continue to consider results of experiments done by others, while holding off on drawing any conclusions until a hypothesis can be tested through our own experiments.
We should also continue to revisit the effects of aging chocolate, with future experiments to support our previous investigations.
We should investigate further experiments testing the effects of melanger chocolate temperature, which may lead to more stringent temperature control guidelines and an improved understanding of how process temperature directs flavor.
Consider moving toward 2:1 mineral oil to chocolate ratio when testing microns via micrometer.

My personal favorite part of the tour: Talking with all those present about chocolate, life, and the chocolate life; seeing the incredible passion, enthusiasm, and dedication that the Senks have for making great chocolate.

Favorite origin/product: Ben Tre, Vietnam

Fun fact: We will be working with Ben Tre cocoa beans and releasing our take on the origin in 2019!

Biggest challenges: Possibly scaling up while maintaining quality, and chocolate making as a sustainable business.

My unexpected path to
Dandelion Chocolate Los Angeles

December 3, 2018 by Norah Hernandez

Norah is one of our original employees, and she has worn many hats and tied a lot of bows on our behalf. Right now she’s writing to us from LA, where she’s heading up our newest pop-up shop.

Six years ago this month, the WSJ published two tiny lines that declared: “Dandelion Chocolate makes some of the best chocolate in the world”. Dandelion Chocolate was so small back then, they could not handle the influx of online orders that came through following this little write up. With only 11 or so people in the company at the time, they needed some extra hands to help fulfill these orders for some of the best chocolate in the world – and this is where my journey with Dandelion began.

Norah and her team inside Dandelion Chocolate LA

At the time, I had no experience in chocolate, and thought, what the heck, how fun would it be to help at a chocolate factory! The one day gig included stickering bars (which we did by hand back then), sorting beans, foiling bars and tying the three packs with ribbon. Without realizing it, my first summer job at Tiffany & Co. many, many years prior, helped shaped the iconic Dandelion Chocolate bow. Maya showed me how they had been tying the bow, and without thinking, my muscle memory kicked in and I started tying the bows as I had been trained so many years ago. I owe this talent to be possibly the single reason that I was asked to come back day after day (at that time they could not afford to officially hire me until February of the following year), so I came in every day not knowing if it would be my last and this magical workplace would come to an end. My patience paid off and in February of 2013, I became an official employee and started working on the production team.

Back then, everyone wore many many hats and helped fill voids where ever it was needed, this led to me helping with gift box development and production after work and on the weekends, which turned into the start of our product department. In 2014 I became our first product manager and brand manager (I secretly feel I still hold this title because of the love I feel for our brand), and was responsible for developing new products, the production of current products, merchandising our retail shelves and making sure everything visual was always on-brand.

I eventually transitioned into the retail department when the Ferry Building manager gave notice two years ago. I took this opportunity to use my previous retail expertise and help the company where they needed me most. We were a small hot chocolate stand outside and this location had some challenges. After improving systems and sales during the first few months, the Ferry Building invited us to move inside to the old Scharffen Berger shop. We jumped at the chance to have one of the highly coveted shops inside this iconic San Francisco destination. Overseeing the construction last fall, we were able to open (by the skin of our teeth) the weekend before Christmas. Moving just a few hundred yards inside, we saw an immediate doubling of sales. The Ferry Building had become a real sustainable location for the company.

In the spring of last year, my family made a decision to move to Los Angeles. This decision came with the reality that I would have to leave a company that had made a permanent mark on me, and hopefully I too had made a small mark on it. When I first told Todd I was moving and joked that we should open in LA, he laughed, and then must have thought about it as a serious idea and came back to me and asked if I was really serious. I mean, how could I not be! Moving to a city that I love and bringing the chocolate and the company that I adore to share with this city has been an amazing opportunity for me. If there is anything I know about LA from living here years ago, it is that this city appreciates good food, beautiful design and amazing stories. I am so excited to share all those things through our pop-up at ROW DTLA for the next six months.

the outside of the Dandelion Chocolate LA shop

We have been open in LA for one week now and I have already met the some of the most amazing people (and kids). I cannot wait to share our story about chocolate and who we are as a company of now ~95 people. This a long way from the days when we all fit around the 12 person table on the mezzanine for All Hands, or the days when Maya started a rumor that if we hit a sales goal, Todd would take us all to Hawaii. At that next All Hands, his last slide just had the word “Rumors” on it, he told us, and I quote, “it would be crazy to shut down and pay for the whole company to go to Hawaii, so it’s lucky for you that we are crazy, we are all going to Hawaii!” Todd’s not crazy, he’s a brilliant visionary and I am so lucky to have stumbled upon his small dream for a chocolate factory he thought maybe 4 people would visit every day.

We will be open at ROW DTLA through April 2019 and our hours are M-F 11-7, Sat & Sun 10-6. We will start hosting Chocolate 101 classes on December 14 and 15 and you can find more details about how to sign up on our website under “Visit Us – Tours & Classes”.

The shelves inside Dandelion Chocolate LA

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.