Lake Champlain Chocolates Blog

One of the most popular questions we get during the summer is how do we keep our chocolates from melting in shipment. The funny thing is that while this is a question that really only comes up during June, July and August, it is something we deal with year-round because there are areas of the country that have temps in the 80’s  even in February. (Hard to believe when it’s 5 below zero in VT but it’s true – not everyone is freezing in winter! Who knew?!)

So, I thought I’d take a moment to explain a little bit about our summer shipping procedure. While our chocolates are carefully packed at all times of the year to avoid breakage and damage that can occur in transit, during the summer and to warmer climates during winter, we pack our chocolates in insulated boxes sealed with ice packs.

In addition, we have to adjust our shipping options as the ice packs only hold for a day or two, on average. This explains why you see limited shipping options when ordering during summer months. Since the courier trucks aren’t air conditioned, we can’t take the chance of having your package sit longer than overnight. (Since we ship from Burlington, VT, ground shipping in New England is usually overnight as a general rule.) While it may increase the cost to ship outside of New England between June and September, you can be sure your chocolates will arrive in perfect shape. And in the off chance something does happen in transit, just give us a call and we’ll work with you to resolve problem.

Now, if you’re considering shipping chocolate to yourself or perhaps sending it to friends or family as a gift and you have some concerns, you can always give us a call. We’re more than happy to answer your questions.

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting upon an article about the health benefits of chocolate. Sure, it’s no use to the dead cat but if you believe the reports, it can be of benefit to us. And while I’m not a doctor (really?!?!) I have been hunting around to find some more info on chocolate and health. So, below are links to a few articles you might find interesting as they relate to your health. I don’t know if they’re true or not but I did try to use sources that might have some reputability, for what it’s worth. I’ll share more as I come across them.

Let’s begin with the basics, chocolate and antioxidants. Prevention magazine ran an article a while back entitled Chocolate's Secret Power and I think it bears revisiting. And since they picked our 54% dark chocolate as one of their favorites, I'm kind of partial to it. 

The next link is about chocolate and its relation to blood pressure. It’s an article from WebMD entitled Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure. I’d suggest the Select Origins Square Sampler here to snack on while reading as it comes with an assortment of dark chocolates in varying levels of cocoa content. Might as well begin the process of lowering that blood pressure as soon as possible, right?

Now comes my favorite topic (and probably the most debated) – chocolate and your mood. Does chocolate really make you feel the same as you do when you’re in love? Who knows since love is such a subjective thing but here is an article from the BBC entitled Why Chocolate Makes Us Feel Good. I’d bet we’re supposed to go with dark chocolate here again so how about some dark chocolate truffles? Nothing says love like truffles, right?!

When it comes to health and chocolate, my advice is glean from the articles what makes sense to you, eat chocolate in moderation and give up on feeling guilty about it because the guilt will kill you faster than anything!

After posting the recipe for zucchini bread with chocolate, I thought I’d do a little more hunting around for other chocolate recipes and what I found was about a bazillion cookie and cake recipes but also a handful of odd-sounding (but probably good) recipes I can’t resist sharing. I have made none of them so I can’t say if they’re good or icky but I can tell you one thing – they sound interesting! So, my only request is that if you make any of them, please let me know how they were.

The first recipe - Chocolate Covered Potato Eggs - is from the Food Network and I would love to try it since it’s a combination of two things I really like – chocolate and potato. I have to admit I’m a little afraid but I’d definitely taste it if someone made it. Hint hint…

I’ll let you decide what you think about the next recipe - Rutabaga Caponata. I can’t imagine what the combination of ingredients in this recipe tastes like but since it comes from the Saveur magazine website and contains bittersweet chocolate, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.

The third recipe I will leave you with is a drink and while the idea of it sounds great, I’m not certain about the execution so mix up a batch and let me know what you think. Again, considering the source is Absolut, I’ve really got to assume they know what they’re doing with the Cruzan Chocolate Daquiri.

Cheers!

So, it’s summer (sort of) and before too long, everyone I know will be trying to pawn their zucchini off on me. I mean, seriously, why grow it since you know someone else will and they’ll have way more than they could ever eat and run around trying to give it away. Happens every summer. You know what I’m talking about!

Well, this summer, I’m going to be prepared and since we’re friends, I’ll help you out. In my tv watching and internet searching, I came across a really yummy zucchini bread recipe. I saw Paula Deen make it on tv and then I found it on the Food Network website and since I’m crediting them, I don’t think they’ll mind if I share with you. Just don’t tell them and we’ll all be good. Maybe.

So, here it is:

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest
Whipped cream, for serving

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

Now, when you get all that zucchini from your friends and coworkers, just think of the yummy bread you can make with it. Chocolate even makes zucchini taste better!!!

People do some pretty neat things with chocolate, be it cooking, sculpting, photographing, etc. And once in a while, I find things that are just too irresistible to not share. This video of chocolate bunnies is one of those things.

Now, in the second part of this video (Act II), I debated if I should post it because someone might not like it but I decided that all together, it was just so darn cute. I hope you enjoy these adorable chocolate bunnies and to whoever was clever enough to create it, thank you. It made me smile. So sweet - no pun intended!

For those of you who are on the edge of your seat awaiting more info about Chocolate and Beer (and I know there are scores of you…) your wait is nearly over. Gary Coffey, our Retail Sales Director, will be hosting a Chocolate and Beer pairing as part of this year’s Vermont Brewers Festival, July 18-19 at Waterfront Park in Burlington. I can’t tell you exactly which chocolates and beers he’ll be matching up for you as we’re still tweaking the final pairings (and by tweaking I mean hanging out after work and noshing on chocolate and beer.) Besides, if I told you, it’d ruin the surprise.

So, here are the details which are also available online at the Vermont Brewers Fest website . The Chocolate and Beer Pairing will take place Friday, July 18 at 8pm in the Education Tent at the Festival. Capacity is limited so definitely arrive early to be sure there’s space. Admission to the Chocolate and Beer Pairing is free once you enter the Festival.

If you’ve never been to the Vermont Brewers Festival, you should really try to make it. It’s a great time down on the Lake and with so many beers to sample, you certainly won’t be bored. See you on the Waterfront!

Each summer in Burlington, the Burlington City Arts Council hosts the Battery Park Free Concert Series hosted in – yup, you guessed it – Battery Park. It’s outdoors, open to the public, all ages and as indicated, free. It’s amazing how much free quality entertainment there is in Burlington. We’re very lucky.

Well, the reason I’m sharing this with you beyond the fact that it’s fun and cool and a great thing to do on a Thursday night is that this year, Lake Champlain Chocolates is one of the main sponsors. We’ve teamed up with The Point and we're presenting a 4-event series beginning July 10. The schedule of entertainment is as follows (and I have to admit I basically just cut and pasted from the wonderful Burlington City Arts website, thank you BCA!!!):

7/10
Needtobreathe
South Carolina Rockers on Atlantic/Lava Records
with The Smittens
 
7/17
Back Door Slam
Intoxicating British electric blues on Blix Street Records
with Cannon Fodder

7/24
Tift Merritt
Grammy nominated singer/songwriter
with The Eames Brothers

7/31
Matt Costa
Alt-pop star on Jack Johnson's label
with Sara Grace and the Suits

Not only will you be able to check out all this great free entertainment but you’ll see us onsite with our All-Natural Ice Cream. If you still haven’t tried it yet, be sure to stop by. It’s so good!

So, with that being said, I’ll let you all get back to work/solitaire/avoiding work/internet surfing/whatever. Hope we see your smiling faces at Battery Park!

File this under just another kooky thing we get to do here sometimes. OK. Friday was a company holiday for us (Thank you Jim!!) so Thursday was effectively Friday. Excellent. On my way out the door, Gary – our Retail Sales Director – asked if I had a second to help with something he was working on. Sure, I wanted to begin my three-day weekend and all but listen, he had a tray of chocolate and some beer in his hand. My curiosity was piqued.

So, we headed back to the break room where we often do some of our product tastings internally. There were a couple other people there already waiting to assist in this project. Apparently, Gary was looking for tasters and flavor panel people to help him with beer and chocolate pairings. Yup, you read correctly. Beer and chocolate. Move over wine, there’s a new player at the table looking to shack up with chocolate. My curiosity was now beyond piqued. I was totally bought in but a little scared as to how this was going to work.

Well, I shouldn’t tell you what brand of beer we were working with (Wolaver’s and Otter Creek this time around) or the exact flavors as it’s still a “work in progress” but I can tell you I was totally and pleasantly surprised. I never would have put beer and chocolate together in a million years but there were some really tasty pairings. Sure, you can put a chocolate-covered salty nut with nearly any beer but we didn’t stop there. We went to truffles, we went to chocolate-covered fruit. We even went to spicy chocolate. And it was wonderful.

Where are we going with this? That I don’t know just yet but Gary just stopped by my desk to ask for more assistance with the beer and chocolate. Am I in? You bet I’m in. Next time you’re sitting around with some chocolate on your coffee table and some beer in your fridge, why not give it a go?! What’s the worst that can happen?

If you live locally or have had the opportunity to visit any of our retail locations here in Vermont, you may have sampled our ice cream. Available in a number of flavors including Belgian Chocolate (of course) and Maple Pecan, it’s fast become a favorite to locals and visitors alike. In fact, I’ve found many occasion to stop in the factory store and sample a vanilla malted milk shake made with extra extra malt. But now, the surest sign that summer has arrived to the North Country is visible– sorbet has returned to Lake Champlain Chocolates!

Don’t get me wrong, I love ice cream. I eat it no matter what the weather is. It’s just the way it is. But when summer hits, our Mango and Strawberry Sorbets are where it’s at for me. Cool and sweet with the biggest fruit flavor you can imagine, there’s nothing like it. If I had to choose just one, I’d go with the Mango. I heart mangos! But luckily, I don’t have to choose. I just have to eat my share before the leaves fall and the sorbets leave us until another summer comes.

If you’re in the area, stop in for a sample. Can I say it’s life altering? Ok, maybe not. I’m not much for the drama. But I can say it’s afternoon-altering

BTW - In talking to the girls in the factory store about the sorbet, they informed they ran out of it on the first day it was available as all the staff was getting sorbet for an afternoon treat. We know a good thing when we see it. Afterall, we are in the "good thing" business.

Chocolate is a very poplular topic to write about. Just Google the word and you'll be amazed by what you find. So, in my e-travels, I came across a quote that made me smile. When I saw who it was attributed to, that smile turned into a laugh!

"All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." - Charles M. Schulz

Very Snoopy-esque, no? So, if you don't have one, go get the other. But in my opinion, the latter of the two is easier and since you can pick out exactly what you want, it makes more sense, too! And with that, I think I'll go have a chocolate-covered caramel.