Thinking in New York

It's been so long since I've posted anything here. In the beginning while creating Sweet Mona's I spent many months of dreaming and planning and thinking and writing and drawing. It was the time I spent called walking the conference table.

The "Sweet Team"--Rachelle, Tristan, Julia & Grace are the people that make sure your chocolate shop experience is created in the store. The dream continues. Many folks come in and see that I'm not in the shop. I'm not. I'm researching, learning, creating, and dreaming to get Sweet Mona's to the next level.

I dream about opening other Sweet Mona's, Chocolate Boutiques around the country, and building a manufacturing facility. My dreams so far have been fueled by passion and tenacity with not much in the way of finances. I say that the finances will come through planning, and through education.

That's what I'm doing now--planning and gathering more education. There is so much thinking that goes into planning--forecasting, and costing, building, equipment, employees, return on investment, marketing--There is just so much to know. And that's takes time--time away from the shop.

Today I'm in New York blogging. Yesterday I spent the day walking and researching chocolate. When I walk into the shops here I see more than a case full of exquisite chocolates. I see the persons hearts in the dreams they are creating during their chocolate journey--some whimsical, some classical, some simple, some extravagant. That's what I want for those who walk into Sweet Mona's.

I hope you will follow me on my dream and allow me the priviledge of sharing the sweet life with you.

In the next few blogs, I'll talk about the different chocolate shops I visited in New York. Please follow along.

Creating the Perfect Life in Chocolate

For a few months now, Island Angel Chocolates, has been in the hands of a broker with the intention of selling the chocolate shop.

There are problems with this for me. First, I love making chocolate. I love interacting with the people that come into the shop for chocolate or conversation. I love training the staff to make chocolate and instruct them on interacting with the customer. And I like writing about the chocolate shop, doing the newsletters, and blogging. This is all easy for me to do. It is where I feel there is flow in my life. Right now I'm going into the shop pretty much every day but Sunday. I even love that.

There are things that I do not like about owning my own business. Marketing is one of them. I know that there are lots of ways to market a business. There is going from place to place and talking about your products to sell them wholesale. There is presenting classes, lectures, chocolate tastings, etc. There is going to shows and presenting your product to the market that way. There are creating blogs, like this one, and Internet discussions. And of course, there is paying for space ads

With this post, I'm reaching out for help in the areas that I'm not good at? My intention is that this help come in the form of a partner, or a marketing and sales person willing to work on a commission basis.

So if you, or someone you know, may be interested in partnering with me, please contact me! You can reach me through e-mail at monalynn@whidbey.com and I can give you more information on what this partnership might look like.

Where Does Chocolate Come From?

Theobroma Cacao. That's the name of the chocolate tree. Theobroma is Greek and it means "Food of the Gods". In this instance, the pronunciation for Cacao is KA-COW. Once the fruit of the tree is processed into chocolate, the spelling and pronunciation changes to Cocoa, pronounced KO-KO.

The trees grow in the tropics within 20 degrees north and south of the Equator. Africa is where the most Cacao is grown. They produce about 70% of the world's Cacao. The trees grow best under the shade of larger trees, like banana trees, much like coffee. The trees produce approximately 2000 pods per year and each pod has 30 to 40 seeds in them. They range in color from orange to red, to yellow, to violet and are about the size of a small football. The picture to the left was taken in the Dominican Republic by Victoria Santos of The Sister Island Project.

The tree flowers prior to producing fruit pods. The pods or fruit of the chocolate tree extend directly from the trunk. This is different than most fruit trees. Most of us all know what an apple tree looks like. Can you imagine the apples growing directly out of the trunk?

The Cacao pods when left alone are eaten by monkeys and other forest animals. The sticky substance inside the pod is what the animals are after and they usually cast the bitter seeds aside. In this way, the animals help to re-populate the area with trees.

The pods are harvested by farmers and cut open by whacking the pod with a machete like object and then the seeds are removed and layed out in the sun to ferment and dry. Once this process is complete, they are shipped off to be sold to chocolate manufactures.

Dolcetto Truffles

At times I'm asked to make custom truffles for special events. This year the Knight of Columbus, a Catholic Men's Organization, asked me to provide them with a specialty truffle for one of their fundraising events.

Whidbey Island Winery participated in the event and they chose their Dolcetto Wine to be infused into the chocolate. It's quite a challenge to get the true wine flavor to come through a dark chocolate ganache. However, this is how I used the wine and recreated the flavors to shine through the dark chocolate ganache.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients for the wine reduction:

1 bottle Whidbey Island Winery Dolcetto Wine
12 ounces IQF mixed berries
1 vanilla bean scraped

Place the entire bottle of Dolcetto Wine in a four quart sauce pan and reduce it down to about 1/2 of the contents. At that point add the mixed berries and the scrapings of the Vanilla bean and continue to reduce it down to a puree. Use cheesecloth or a fine sieve to separate the seeds from the puree. Place the puree aside until needed.

Ingredients for ganache:

16 ounces Tanzanie Dark Chocolate Pieces
11 ounces Heavy Whipping Cream
5 ounces Trimoline (inverted sugar)
6 ounces Dolcetta Paste

Place cream and trimoline in a sauce pan and heat to boiling. Pour the hot cream over the paste and the Tanzanie Dark Chocolate. Allow the mixture to sit for 30 seconds. After 30 seconds have past mix vigorously by hand or use a stick blender to emulsify. Once the mixture is mixed thoroughly, pour it between two metal bars also known as rulers. Allow the mixture to set overnight. Once the mixture has hardened, it can be cut into pieces as desired or a small cookie cutter can be used to make round shapes.

Each piece is then individually dipped in dark chocolate and decorated as desired. This is a yummy truffle and only for the true chocolate lover. Tanzanie chocolate is a 74% dark chocolate couverture and definitely is dark.

Raspberry Dessert Truffle

Ingredients:

16 oz - 74% Dark Chocolate
12 oz - Heavy Whipping Cream
3 oz - Raspberry Dessert Paste
(or Raspberry Jam)

Cook heavy whipping cream to boiling.

Pour boiling cream over top of the 74% dark chocolate and the Raspberry Dessert Paste.

Allow mixture to sit for 30 seconds and then hand whip to emulsify.

Pour into bowl and cover and allow to set overnight.

After the ganache has hardened, use a scoop to make ganache balls.

Dip in chocolate or roll in cocoa powder to finish.

The truffles above were create using a half sphere flexipan mold. When using a flexipan mold, the mold must be sprayed with cocoa butter prior to pouring the ganache in it so that the truffle is easily removed after setting up. Once the truffle is set up and removed it is dipped into chocolate and decorated by piping chocolate on the top.

The shelf life of this truffle is five to seven days. For a longer shelf life, add inverted sugar in the amount of 2 oz.. It can be corn syrup, honey or other liquid sugar. The corn syrup will smooth out the truffle without changing the truffle flavor. Whereas the honey will sweeten the truffle.

It's Time for Hot Chocolate

Whether you come into our cafe for some hot chocolate or decide to enjoy it's simple pleasure at home, it's the time to start thinking about how to warm yourself as the weather turns colder.

At our cafe in Langley you can indulge in our Truffle Shots. They are thick and rich and delivered sweetly in a rich dark chocolate, a smooth milk chocolate, or a sweeter white chocolate. Close your eyes and dream of the wonderfully smooth taste on your tongue. It takes you away and relaxes creating the ultimate chocolate dream. There's lots of choices at the chocolate bar so you can have your Truffle Shot with fruit or with spice or purely chocolate. Are you adventurous? How you drink your chocolate may unveil your authentic self to the world.

Or maybe you'd prefer to indulge at home. That's easy too... Come and get our Truffle Shot Mix and take it with you to fully enjoy in the privacy of your own home. Here's a recipe for you to try:

Chocolate Brandy Boost

5 1/2 cups cream
1 cinnamon stick
Orange Zest from 1 orange
1/2 cup light brown sugar
8 ounces Dark Truffle Shot mix
1/2 cup Brandy

Combine cream, cinnamon stick, orange zest and brown sugar in large saucepan. Stirring constantly warm the mixture over medium heat until bubbles start to form around the edges of the saucepan. It's important to keep the mixture just under a boil so it won't scorch. Turn off the heat and use a small ladle to place just enough of the cream mixture over the Truffle Shot Mix stirring it to make a roux. This will melt the chocolate into a smooth and creamy mass. Strain the remaining cream mixture into the roux until it's the consistency that you most enjoy. Pour into warm mugs. Top with some whipped cream. Shake a little cinnamon on the top and drink slowly to savor.

This does sound abolutely scrumptious doesn't it? It's an adults only hot chocolate but if you use your imagination and substitute the Brandy for some other wonderful non-alchoholic flavor just think of what could happen. A recipe is really only as good as the creativity of the cook preparing it. Experiment and experience!