Lake Champlain Chocolates Blog

Last night at the factory, we hosted a Chocolate and Wine pairing as a fundraiser for a local group, Queen City Police Foundation. At the event, 2 whites and 2 reds were paired specifically with an individual chocolate. Now, I know people are pairing wine with everything these days but I was still uncertain how the flavors were going to match up. I’ve only ever had solid dark chocolate with red wine.

Our local wine experts worked with our chocolate truffles and nuts to find the perfect match and here is what we had –

Prosecco with Milk Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts
Riesling with Grande Valencia Truffles
Monastrell with White Raspberry Truffles
Cabernet Sauvignon with 70% Dark Chocolate Truffles

Each wine and chocolate on it’s own was delightful, as one would expect. However, paired together, they were truly delicious. Who knew these flavors would work so well in tandem? So, here’s a tip. Next time you have a special gathering to host – bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, girls night, workplace social – why not try something new like a chocolate and wine pairing. Simply offering one or two of these to your guests will move your event from just another party to something memorable. But watch out, your guests will come to expect it!

I recently brought home a container of Old World Drinking Chocolate which is actually 54% dark chocolate shavings that you use to make hot chocolate. I have a roommate who loves hot chocolate and so far has enjoyed each of our flavors. But I noticed this container going untouched. Then he asked if I could bring him home some more hot chocolate. Confused by this, I asked what the problem was, why wasn’t he drinking it. He replied that he didn’t really understand how he was supposed to use it, even though the directions are on the back. It just looked a little different and he wanted what he was used to. No problem. I get it.

So, there I was with a container of lovely chocolate shavings and not sure what to do with them so this weekend, they became chocolate chip cookies. I was out of chocolate chips so I used them in their place and I have to be honest – I liked them better. They were more evenly distributed throughout the cookies and you didn’t end up with areas of tons of chips and then no chips. And the chocolate is really good, which never hurts. Now I’m thinking they can go in my pancakes, my tea breads, scones, even waffles. E-mail me if you want the recipe. And if you have an idea for using Old World Drinking Chocolate Shavings in your recipes, we’d love to hear about. Or maybe even send a picture!

I see my mother once or twice a week. Each time I visit, I bring chocolates of some variety but they always include an organic milk chocolate bar with sea salt and almonds. I’ve mentioned it before, it’s her favorite. Sure she likes everything I bring her but we all have our favorites.

So, now that Mother’s Day is almost here, I’m a little stuck as to what to give her. I want to give her chocolates because I think it’s more fun than flowers as she can share them. You know how moms are with that whole sharing thing. Besides, she has a huge flower garden and once spring hits, her house is already filled with fresh flowers. So, chocolate is the gift of choice. But since I always bring her chocolate and I work in a chocolate factory, do you think it’s a cop-out?

And just what chocolates should I give her? I never treat her to the pretty seasonal boxes of chocolates like this year’s summer Selection. I just never think of it. And I don’t think she’s had the chocolate dipped apricots so maybe she’d like that. I don’t know. I just don’t know. I’m open to suggestions. What are you getting your mom?

I have just celebrated my three year anniversary working here at Lake Champlain Chocolates, and almost daily I am asked some variation of this question: “Bet you get sick of eating chocolate, huh?” The answer to this is a resounding “NO!!” I still have to plan my lunches around what chocolate I have already eaten in the morning!

This year, in a valiant effort to discipline myself where chocolate is concerned, I made a February Resolution (I had already caved on my New Year’s pledge to myself):

I would abstain from eating chocolate for three months. I was rolling along smoothly, taking the long way around the gleaming cases of decadence on my way to get my morning coffee, when it happened. Yesterday, at 9:17am, a mere 54 days into the 92 days of my self-imposed restriction, I spotted it: A bounteous plate overflowing with chunks of Peanut Five Star Bar samples!

Now I’m not one to frivolously use the word “Genius”, but whoever created the combination of chocolate and peanut butter definitely falls under this category. And LCC has taken the notion and perfected it by creating this creamy-centered block of peanut butter delight, with crunchy chunks of peanuts and crispy milled rice gently blended in, and liberally coating this hefty block of bliss with milk chocolate.

On this particularly sunny April day, I could actually smell the peanut butter as I walked into the café. Really, it wasn’t my fault. How could I possibly withstand the temptation so blatantly put before me? Just one mouth-watering piece; okay, just two mouth watering-pieces, and I was on my way. I got my coffee (wonderful, as always), and had to pass the plate again on my way out the door; it would have been rude not to sample a bit, and I didn’t want to offend.

Today, I have yet to get my coffee, but I hope the retail store is sampling the Peanut Five Star Bars again, because I still have 6 days before the start of my May Day Resolution, and I am definitely not sick of chocolate!

I mentioned it before but it’s official. It’s out and we’re in it. Paula Deen’s magazine has put out a special issue all about chocolate and it’s now available. In it, on page 122, you’ll find a two-page spread all about us. How exciting! There’s also a lot of other stuff in the chocolate issue called Chocolate Celebration including recipes for not just sweet chocolate treats but entrees made with chocolate too. It’s a really nice magazine, something you buy and keep around for the recipes. And the best thing, in my opinion, is there are hardly any ads and absolutely none of those smelly perfume samples pages. Just beautiful images of chocolatey goodness!

I’m sure you can find it in your local bookstore or maybe even your supermarket but if you look and don’t have any luck, you can order it on their website at www.pauladeenmagazine.com. Or, you can stop by here at the chocolate factory and I’ll let you take a peek at mine. What’s better than reading about chocolate while sipping on an iced vanilla latte?! (Now if only her adorable sons would stop in...)

So we’ve discovered a trick here at the chocolate factory. In our break room, there is a window that looks out at one of our enrobers. It’s about 10 feet away. If you come in early, you see the folks in production in full swing and often they’re enrobing one of our Five Star Bars. Usually we all watch for a minute or two while we make a cup of tea.

Here is what we’ve discovered. If you stare for a while and you’re expression is one of enough longing and pity, there’s a good chance they’ll bring some fresh seconds out on a plate to the break room for snacking on. Mind you, there’s rarely a time when there isn’t chocolate around to snack on but the opportunity to gobble down a freshly made Five Star Bar is one I can’t resist.

And this morning, they were making Caramel Five Star Bars. And on a day when you’re not quite sure if it’s going to be a good one or a bad one, a fresh bite of Caramel Five Star Bar is enough to tip the scales in favor of good. (But maybe I should find a better word to use than “scale”…)

Sugar used to come in 100 pound bags.  No ergonomic design in those days.  Desiccated (dried) coconut came in 100 lb bags also (huge).  Now everything comes in 50 or 25 lb bags.  The Disneyland candy kitchen had all of its raw material storage downstairs.  Access was by an old fashioned freight elevator or a wrought iron spiral staircase.  You know, the real skinny kind designed to save space.  We were too manly to use the elevator, so, we used to carry 100 lb sacks of sugar on our shoulders up a narrow spiral staircase back behind a candy case and through a narrow (2ft) doorway.  I have the sore joints to prove it.

I remember the time one of the cooks had just weighed up a batch of candy (divinity, I think).  We used to weigh every each ingredient by placing the copper kettle onto a balance beam scale (if you don’t know what that is, ask your Mom).  Corn syrup was pulled out of a five gallon pail by wetting the hands and working the dense syrup into a ball and throwing it into the kettle.  (A good candy maker could pull over five pounds at a time.)  Sugar was scooped on top of the corn syrup and other ingredients were usually added later.  So this guy carefully weighed out his ingredients and set the kettle on the fire ring.  You have to get the picture to appreciate this.  A big plate glass window; hundreds of wide eyed tourists on one side and a quaint, serene little candy kitchen on the other.  In the kitchen sits a big, round bottomed copper kettle sitting on a low stove filled with ingredients topped with a mountain of sugar.  The tourists crowd the window as the candy maker pours a pitcher of water over the sugar and as the mountain melts away, three big cockroaches scurry out of the sugar, fleeing for safety.

You can imagine the rest of the scene.

I’ve got to get back to work now.  By the way, we don’t have any cockroaches in Vermont:  too cold.

Yikes. Looks like our website www.lakechamplainchocolates.com upset a fellow blogger unintentionally. It seems that one of our web folks was tickled by some kind words posted on a blog and paraphrased them as a review without permission. That’s our bad and we apologize but who’d have thought it’d be such a large offense. Perhaps I’m too new or naïve to web etiquette but when there’s so obviously no intent to misuse or abuse someone’s praise, perhaps a simple heads up to straighten us out would be in order. Or, maybe I have it all wrong. Maybe it is an inexcusable offense and if so, I think perhaps this blog and web world isn’t for me. Oh well. At any rate, we really are sorry.
 
Here at LCC, we’re relatively nice folks. We’re not totally web savvy and are just trying to get the word out about our chocolates with no intention ever to upset our friends out in the real world. We're still learning. All we ask is if we do make some type of misstep out there in e-land, just let us know and we’ll do what we can to fix it. We don’t ever want to upset anyone. We just want to make good chocolate and let the world know. So, our humble apologies to the offended blogger should he happen to read this. We promise not to use your words (paraphrase or quote) again on our site. Always eat good chocolate!

 **Update 4/2/08  - I think it's all cool with our upset fellow blogger. We understand where he's coming from and I think he accepts our apology. See his nice words below. You can check out his blog at www.limeduck.com. Thanks to all who weighed in. This is what makes the world go around, no?

I have to say, I’m really overwhelmed by all the places we’ve been popping up in print and on the internet. Some of these I am happy and proud to take a little credit for but there are blog mentions and article inclusions that were just a complete pleasant surprise. And since it’s all pretty positive, it’s like a sweet little treat every time I come across one.

Most recently, I noticed there was a great deal of traffic coming to our website from a blog called Soule Mama. I was curious as to how it is that so many folks are finding us from this blog so I went to it and there was a lovely photo of a beautiful little one in the middle of nibbling off the ear of one of our chocolate bunnies. The entry indicated we are now part of this lovely little one’s Easter tradition and that just makes me smile. It’s a pretty neat blog so give it a read.

As for where you can see us next, I have it on good authority that we are being featured in the upcoming Special Chocolate Collection issue of Cooking with Paula Deen. The magazine doesn’t hit news stands for a few weeks but if you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll tell you where you will find us – page 122. We’re so excited, we can’t even tell you. The folks there were so wonderful to work with - real Southern hospitality!

Recently, I made Paula Deen's Black and White Cookies and used our Sao Thome 70% dark chocolate baking chips in the icing for the black portion. They were yummy and definitely worth the effort and the calories. Be sure to grab a copy when it hits newsstands. From what I understand, it’s their chocolate issue and definitely not to be missed if you’re a fan of Paula Deen’s like me.

Photo property of Soule Mama.

Did I tell you we had a red and white tile floor?

Cooking candy produces very memorable aromas.  The human nose cannot smell sweet but the smells that arise out of a cooking batch of candy are delightful.  Each type of candy is distinct.  When sugar, corn syrup and water are boiled together the mass is referred to as a “bob”.  Candies such as peanut brittle, nougat, marshmallow, all start out this way.  A cooking bob has a clean, moist, crisp sort of aroma.  Fudge smells richer and a little like cooking pudding because of the interaction of the sugar with milk, cream, butter, vanilla, chocolate, (a little salt thrown in)walnuts (or pecans)(mmm… pecans with caramel)(we used to drizzle hot caramel scraped fresh from the kettle at the end of a run onto a small (not too small) tray of pecans and eat it all as soon as it was cool enough to touch – now that’s good)(Rats, I just went looking and we don’t have a single pecan caramel cluster in the factory.  I just got to have a pecan caramel cluster)(Wait a minute, we just ran some dark almond caramel clusters.  False alarm – they got sent to the warehouse this morning) (Ok.  I’m good now the enrobing crew ran some 5 star caramel bars this morning; I’m eating one of the seconds)

The first time I had the chance to cook solo, was with Pecan fudge which was to be used in pecan rolls. (the fudge is poured into sheet pans and cut into rectangular shaped bars, dipped in caramel and rolled in pecans)(mmm… pecans with caramel)

The head candy maker, Lee, was out for the day and he had left me to cook alone for the first time.  I had been working with him for about two months and he felt I was ready.  I awoke that morning with stomach flu, but, undaunted, I came to work ready to make fudge.  All was well until I began to cook the first batch.  I soon noticed that the smell and the heat combined to push my nausea over the controllable threshold so I turned off the fire in the middle of the cook and went outside for some air.  In spite of the fact that this scenario was repeated multiple times for each batch, everything seemed to go smoothly enough and I ended the day with a slab full of beautiful pecan fudge. 

The next morning, as soon as Lee stepped into the kitchen, He exclaimed “What happened?!”  (I’m thinking “How does he know?”)  I described my previous day’s dilemma and he explained how the prolonged cooking time darkened the batches more than usual.  However, the candy was saved, and I still enjoy the smell of cooking fudge.  Even pecan fudge (dipped in caramel and rolled in pecans) mmm…Pecans with caramel…