Chocolate-Drizzled Strawberries

Tasting a strawberry at nature’s fleeting peak ripeness is to experience the sublime. For this limited, small-batch seasonal collaboration, Nicholas and our Confections team hand-select Ichigo Farms’ exceptionally sweet, sustainably grown Albion strawberries — popular at sun-soaked summer farmers’ market — and hand-drizzle each berry with one of two single-origin 70% chocolates. Twelve plump, firm berries, enhanced by the chocolates’ complementary tasting notes, are bright, juicy, and impossibly fragrant, even in the depths of winter. 

Hydroponically cultivated in hand-built wooden greenhouses powered by solar energy and recycled water, these berries thrive from October through February, well beyond traditional strawberry season. Third-generation Japanese-American family-run Ichigo Farms, located in Monterey County, California, hand-picks every berry at aromatic perfection, then delivers them to San Francisco within twenty-four hours of harvest. Our chocolatiers pair the gem-like strawberries with two thoughtfully selected chocolates — delicately fruity 70% Costa Esmeraldas, Ecuador; and creamy 70% Maya Mountain, Belize — complementing the fruits’ sweet, floral brightness, and gentle acidity.