Tag Archive for: french chocolate

San Francisco Chocolate Salon Returns on April 2nd as the Premiere West Coast Artisan Chocolate Festival

The 14th Annual San Francisco International Chocolate Salon takes place this Spring on April 2, 2022. The Chocolate Salon has long been known as the original artisan chocolate festival on the West Coast.

Chocolate aficionados, fanatics, lovers and addicts can taste & experience a wide range of artisan, gourmet & premium chocolate in one of the world’s most famous culinary metropolitan areas.

Chocolate Salon participants include chocolatiers, confectioners, and other culinary artisans, such as Amano Artisan Chocolate, Z. Cioccolato, LetterPress Chocolate, Michael’s Chocolates, Formosa Chocolates, Goufrais, Siamaya Chocolate, CocoTutti Chocolates, Fookie, R & J Toffees, Brigadeiro Sprinkles, The Good Chocolate, p.o.p. candy co., flying noir, the Wishing Well Workshop, Fabula Tea, and more.

For more information or tickets, visit www.SFChocolateSalon.com or HERE.

The San Francisco Chocolate Salon, Los Angeles Chocolate Salon, Sacramento Chocolate Salon, Seattle Chocolate Salon and International Chocolate Salon are produced by TasteTV, which originally created the first Chocolate Salon event in San Francisco in 2007, inspired by its cultural cookbook on chocolate, entitled “French Chocolate.” French Chocolate is available on Amazon.com and on www.FrenchChocolateCookbook.com.

Local and State COVID Guidelines apply.

Why we love Guittard’s EPIQUE 70% Chocolate Bar

Guittard Epique chocolate-3

One of our favorite new dark chocolate bars is not from a young upstart artisan bean-to-bar maker, but from a traditional and historic bar maker with a new product line.

Guittard Epique chocolate-1Guittard’s new 70% cacao EPIQUE Blend No. 49 bar is squarely in our “can’t stop eating” list. With chic packaging and color schemes, as well as an included description that this bittersweet chocolate bar has “dried red fruit notes and anise end notes,” the EPIQUE sounds almost like a wine varietal. This particular chocolate varietal includes Forastero, Trinitario, Criollo.

As such an esteemed vintage, it is also a bit more expensive than its E. Guittard predecessors, but well worth it.

Weighing in at 70% cacao, EPIQUE lacks the slightly bitter notes that one could expect in a dark bar over 68%. In addition, a creamy and delicious texture places this product in the “addictive even to non-dark chocolate lovers” category.

Guittard Epique chocolateIt is not an inexpensive snack, but at a $5-$6 price point this still comes in at the lower end of the premium artisan bar scale as far as cost, especially when considering so many artisan bars are now on the shelves at $10-$15.

We have long been fans of the Guittard product line and family, and even included their history in our bestselling book, FRENCH CHOCOLATE (also known as Chocolate FRENCH).

It could be argued that with EPIQUE, Guittard is using this product to appeal to a more costly market while not alienating its current customers. If that is true, then bravo on a job well done! Either way, we love the end result.

Tag Archive for: french chocolate