Story 1: A Mother and Daughter Bakery-Based Reunion

A couple of days ago the lure of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco finally won me over. I stopped in for a croissant the moment they opened, knowing the butter would still be meltingly warm from the oven. The woman helping me asked if I wanted jam. The apricot did not particularly appeal, but after I commented that I wish I could have brought some great jam I had at home, she said by all means go get it.

The flaky abundant croissant fulfilled my food fantasies and I enjoyed every calorie, particularly with this Tayberry jam my sister had brought from Oregon. Immediately after my satisfying breakfast, I emailed my sister to tell her how I’d enjoyed pairing the jam with the croissant.

Yesterday she stopped by the maker of this jam at the farmer’s market in Oregon. While standing there she told her friend how I’d eaten this berry jam with a Tartine croissant. The jam maker’s reply: “My daughter makes the croissants at Tartine.”
Just writing that gives me chills. Here almost 400 miles apart, I had rushed home to get this jam made by the mother of the person who made the croissant I ate it with. If you didn’t believe in some kind of universe before this, maybe you do.

Or perhaps you need to read this next story first.

Story 2: The Sticky Bun Susie Sought Out Comes to Susie

One day I visited my favorite coffee house in San Leandro, CA called Zocolo. All morning I’d thought about the pecan sticky bun I’d had there, made by an artisan bakery. They were out. Crestfallen, I ate a bagel instead.

The next morning I found myself at Peet’s Coffee in San Francisco. After reading each section of the newspaper I handed them to the three young women sitting next to me.

One of them said: “You’re so kind to offer these. What can I give you in return? How about advice? Do you like pastries?”

Our information exchange about the most succulent baked goods flew. She told me about a nearby French bakery known for the most buttery pastries ever. There’s this great cafe in San Leandro, I explained, with the most heavenly pecan sticky buns. It turned out her husband worked nearby and she made a note to send him to the cafe to get her a sample.

“My sister works for a bakery” she said, pointing to the girl next to me. I asked what it was called. “Raison d’Etre” she replied.

This was the bakery that makes the very sticky buns I’d craved the day before.

“I have one in the car I can give you” her sister said. And we walked down the street. She opened a cooler, unwrapped a foil ball, and before me presented the genuine article: the pecan sticky bun of my quest.

As I dove in, we shook our heads in amazement at this bizarre coincidence.

On Being a Connector and Synchronicity

I just read a quote by Wayne Dyer that connectors often experience synchronicity / coincidences and are used to it. While I’m known as a connector I never get used to things as highly improbably as those I described above. Is this The Secret’s proverbial Law of Attraction at work (attracting delicious pastries to me)?

I’d love to hear your wildest synchronicity stories!

For a Halloween feature in the San Francisco Chronicle, my partner in Epicuring Laiko Bahrs and I worked with a number of San Francisco artisan chocolate makers and bakers to create a “treats” crawl of the city. (Here’s the full text.)

Artisans? Yes. They are sole or very small operations who conceived of original recipes and creations they are making themselves, by hand. Meaning, they did not come up with a recipe, standardize it, and distribute it to one of their many locations to say do it exactly like this.

We adore See’s. Honestly, I have a life long obsession with See’s. Yet I’ve never called them artisans; yet, their candy has never lacked without having that description. See’s employs production workers who took Mary See’s (and other more recent) recipes to produce en mass. They use extremely high quality ingredients. I wouldn’t, let’s just say, enjoy so much at a time otherwise.

A later post will continue a discussion (read: rant) with ideas on how to describe a limited production food operation without going overboard. For now, winding through the sweets of San Francisco for a visual definition of “artisan.”

Click the image to enlarge…and see the craft behind the artisans.

See how a few tools, wood, and hardware store parts can come together to make much of the small scale machinery needed to start tinkering with making chocolate. Disclaimer: The DIY part works mostly for prepping the cacao beans, not so much for making the actual chocolate. Although surely there is someone hacking together their own conches and other refining equipment.

• New Taste Marketplace – 5/14
• ForageSF Underground Market – 5/21

Read more about The Nutless Professor, how it supports sustainable rice growing initiatives, and what you’ll find at the market. And thanks to so many people for your support as I’ve developed these products! All of my knowledge will be going into a book I’m writing.

While others filled cups and napkins with samples, my chocolate chunks and passion fruit-filled bon bons disappeared like a snowman in global warming.

However despite my theobroma high, the bliss came from great conversations with old candy-making friends and interesting new food entrepreneurs I met at the show.

10 Things I Gleaned While Not Eating

1. The world wants more chocolate! Every year new companies pop up, and the crowd loves them. The thing is, companies go too. It’s exciting to feel the passion, and exhaustion, of a new candy company as I sample a peanut butter cup from Snake and Butterfly (who incidentally makes maple bacon caramels).
2. When accounting for costs, every minute counts. “It’s easy to calculate the time involved with making my chocolate but where I might lose sense of time – and money – is the packaging. Every ribbon tie, every piece of tape takes a few seconds and thus costs me. When making a large number of packages like for an event, my costs can skyrocket.” So when you rip open your box of chocolates, enjoy the full experience like you will the gooey centers.
3. Kitchen collaboration rules. I’d heard of at least 3 chocolatiers on the hunt for a large kitchen. It turns out one is working on starting a kitchen and has the line on others who may share. Collaboration is so much better than competition.
4. If at first a group dies out, start again. The desire to commune among local chocolatiers is strong and wonderful. Peer groups rock – for sharing resources, general support in victory and commiseration, and trading advice. For a couple of years a group of women – “The Sweet Mafia” – would meet periodically. A new chocolatier is reinvigorating the tradition, which led to various business collaborations in cooperatively buying bulk chocolate and production.
   
5. Fame can’t hurt. No one knew why William Dean‘s line was so long, about a 15 minute wait. Tasting the chocolates answered three questions: They’re good. He’s famous. Their tasting was a veritable flight with a highly personal touch. OK four: They were selling a lot. Was it his feature on the Home Shopping Network? Do tell.
6. Inspiration comes from the darndest places. The delightful I-li of Vice Chocolates debuted a chocolate inspired by “The Ring,” decorated with a ring and named after her favorite character.
7. Twists are fun especially where danger is involved. It’s fun when you can tell a story like Amano Chocolates with their bon bon made with “the most expensive honey in the world” from Yemen. I pictured kids in the middle of nowhere sticking their arms in buzzing hives to enable me to taste that chocolate in San Francisco coupled with the thought that the honey is probably unavailable at this time.
8. Wine and chocolate go together almost as well as vodka and chocolate. Two different vendors had twists on the ol’ Godiva chocolate liqueur. I had to go with the “local” one – made in Petaluma, despite the Motley umlaut in VÄD.
9. It’s hard to tell big companies from small. There is much contention in the world as to “artisan” being bandied about. I had no clue (except for a post-chocolate-coma-flashback) that Pure Dark was a Mars company. Yes that Mars. It is now tempting to say “not that there’s anything wrong with it” ala Seinfeld, because I’m an admitted fan of another Mars company, Ethel M. A few months ago the editor of Specialty Food Magazine posed the question of large companies using “artisan.” It’s a toughie.
10. Toffee and caramel are all the rage. Which is good, with sugar and butter being my two basic food groups. Cristina of Kika’s Treats is making caramels using palm sugar. Toffee Talk, a San Francisco company, uses red walnuts which lend an extra soft crunch to their English style toffee. Nicole Lee, ex-high techie of San Jose, sampled mini chocolate hearts filled with drippy passion fruit caramel as did Anni from Gateau et Ganache in Palo Alto.

Wise Sons Deli is just getting started. In fact there’s no actual deli yet! The boys are cooking at La Cocina, with limited pop-up appearances for brunch. Plan your Saturday Feb. 5 around them: 11-2pm at 105 Valencia St in San Francisco.

If you need convincing, check out the food in my quick video and this SF Weekly review:

Leo Beckerman and Evan Bloom with Sarah Weiner at the Good Food Awards.

This naturally led me to reflect on my own chocolate obsessions, which  although it dates me, I simply had to share. Because there’s nothing better than a chocolate covered date!

• Dark Ages:
  -Discovered The American Chocolate Truffle at Alice Medrich‘s Cocolat shop in North Berkeley. Later interviewed to work at their HQ as well as the Judy’s candy factory.
  -Delighted to hear about Guittard (the chocolate used by See’s), when my old boyfriend tipped me off that he used to dumpster dive at “some chocolate factory” as a teen. Have enjoyed buying bulk chunks for instant home chocolate-making fixes ever since (available at the Milk Pail market in Mountain View and Spun Sugar in Berkeley). Somehow never managed to get to the Ghirardelli factory in San Leandro although I lived nearby and couldn’t get enough of the chocolate breeze.
  -When I read about The Candy Box, a famous old Yuba City turtle making candy store in California’s “prune belt” – my sister and I shouted “road trip!” We promptly inhaled a number of double stacked turtles, while enjoying conversation with the old tyme 80s-something candy maker, who encouraged us to try the “famous” dark chocolate steamed prunes (Yes they rocked!)  As a caveat, I ordered some years later and was not quite as thrilled; although it may be me.
  -I visited the Hershey factory several times in Oakdale, a location with a real walk-through tour that many locals didn’t know existed…till they moved to Mexico. Now an old Bay Area candy-making company Sconza took their place.
• dot com era
  -Got addicted to visiting Michael Recchiuti‘s tiny stand for $5 bags of “slightly damaged” bonbons at the old San Francisco farmer’s market, formerly in a cozy parking lot north of the Ferry Building.
  -I still have the clipping from an early Scharffen Berger article in the SF Chronicle magazine: Imagine, two audacious men on a mission to create a great American dark chocolate. Positively thrilling.
  -Visited Richard Donnelly‘s workshop in Santa Cruz to enjoy my first chipotle truffles.
• Twas at the dawn of the new millennium that by sheer happenstance and dot connecting I found myself starting the Fair Trade chocolate program in small, antique office in downtown Oakland with TransFair USA.  Most memorably this gave me an opportunity to have a blind chocolate tasting with Alice Medrich and Robert Steinberg, one of Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker’s founders, so he could illustrate that the beans available for organic and Fair Trade chocolates were not up to snuff, at the time. (The next year I diverted a trip from Avignon to Italy through Lyon to visit Bernachon.)
• Fast forward to 2009:
  -An epic year working with Foodzie , meetin a bevy of wonderful chocolatiers, many doing all the work themselves: BonBonBar, Neo Cocoa, Kika’s Treats, Her Coconess, Au Couer des Chocolats, Jade Chocolates, Charles Chocolates, Gateau et Ganache, and Coco-luxe. And while not exactly chocolate, other Bay Area stars are Anastasia’s Sweet Revolution caramel, Claire Squares addictive chocolate / caramel / shortbread, and Clarine’s Florentines (the best florentine’s per David Lebovitz…and me). And many more. This list shows just how the Bay Area has become a hub for confectioners and chocolate makers.
  -Toured TCHO, an impressive bean to bar chocolate factory on the Pier.
  -Raw chocolate started to pop up on the scene, with Snake & Butterfly at the Campbell farmer’s market impressing me with their “unraw” quality. Fearless popped up under the radar in Oakland and seems to be making it big.
• 2010:
  -Had the pleasure of indulging in and writing about Vice Chocolates, currently selling at a single farmer’s market in Oakland.
  -At the Good Food Awards judging discovered Bittersweet‘s own bean to bar chocolate.
  -Went back to the future at a funky old See’s shop in South San Francisco. While stuck at SFO someone tipped me off that you can hop on a hotel shuttle that zooms you up to this See’s and Costco. You didn’t hear it from me! Oh, I guess you did.
• 2011:
  -Heard a couple of guys are opening a chocolate making factory in the Mission and remembered tasting from their early batches, made in a garage, ala Hewlett Packard. Will be exciting to see if they’re the next Scharffen Berger!
  -Anticipating the Epicuring chocolatiers tour, to learn more about Poco Dolce and Telltale Preserves… and for Shawn from Au Coeur des Chocolats to be discovered for his mastery.

A New Generation of Chocolatiers

Venues like the Underground Market are helping a new generation of chocolatiers test out their wares, while deciding if they want to go into business.

After much personal “investigation,” I think Michelle’s Droga Confections (peanut rocky road clusters and wildflower honey caramels) will be the next hot thing. She is making the candy herself, using Marshall’s honey and all sorts of good ingredients. It’s hard to do it all and she plans to get help, but if you like to buy local, and you haven’t had her rocky road, jet on over to Bi-rite. Doctor’s orders!

While technically out of the Bay Area, Yummy Dummy Chocolate Company of Davis remains one of my favorite chocolate stories: This chocolate bar company is led and run by a team of under-10 girls – from operations through chocolate making.

How brilliant an education: Inspire kids with chocolate to learn every possible life and business skill along the way.  Shawn Askinosie has his Chocolate University. I’d love to see a Chocolate Grade School.

What’s your chocolate history, present and future?

In celebration of Good Food Month, please join culinary consultant Laiko Bahrs and yours truly on an insider Chocolatiers of San Francisco tour.  We’ll experience three wonderful local makers of artisan chocolate confections, pastry, and preserves in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco:

Shawn Williams, chocolatier and co-founder of Au Coeur Des Chocolats creates unforgettable European-style chocolates filled with delectable combinations like banana caramel and candied orange and hazelnut crunch.

A master of patisserie as well as confection, Shawn will demonstrate

• how to mold a chocolate bar,
• make decadent hot chocolate with cream, and
• assemble and torch s’mores.

We’ll taste all of these as well as his assorted chocolates.

Pastry chef and chocolatier William Werner is the owner of Tell Tale Preserves, the soon-to-open pâtisserie, delicatessen and café on Maiden Lane and the Tell Tale Society, a monthly subscription bag filled with seasonally influenced preserves, confections, cookies and cakes, both sweet and savory. William will walk us through his production facility, share his vision, and we’ll taste his chocolate and coffee confiture.

Kathy Wiley, founder and chocolatier of Poco Dolce is the visionary behind the hugely popular handmade chocolate tiles that are on the savory side of sweet. Kathy will take us on a tour of her chocolate factory and we’ll taste her addictive chocolate confections and her new chocolate bar.

$10 of each ticket will be donated to La Cocina to enable aspiring food entrepreneurs.

Attendance is limited and pre-purchased tickets are required–> Buy tickets

Friday 12/10: The Hub in San Francisco hosts a benefit holiday party for local human services non-profits.

Sat & Sun: 12/11-12: Aftelier Perfumes Open House in Berkeley – Perfumes and teas made the truly artisan way using the  “purest, most sublime botanical essences from around the world.” I have yet to experience Mandy’s perfumes but I have a feeling they are the perfume equivalent of experiencing the finest chocolates.

Saturday: 12/11: Omnivore Books – San Francisco – Jessica Theroux reads from her new book Cooking with Italian Grandmothers.” How cute would it be to give this book along with Italian ingredients? Molto!

Or spend a weekend donating:

• South bay and Peninsula charity needs and locations
• Pick fruit for food bank donations (Peninsula)
• Find Bay Area food banks
• Animal lovers can donate food to the Oakland Zoo!

Lots more. Add any links here!

Through San Francisco’s CUESA – The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture – I recently toured Glashoff Farms, an 89-acre, 100+ year old Suisun Valley farm owned by the Glashoffs for several generations. Today they grow berries and walnuts (with trees over 150 years old!), as well as oranges, prunes, persimmons and more.

Obsessed with walnuts, I was in heaven seeing the harvesting and processing, ending with a taste of their walnut oil. Take a tour though the farm through my eyes and taste the Glashoff’s produce at the Ferry Building on Saturdays.

Visiting the Farm

Plan to visit Glashoff next year for their berry u-picking. You can also orer online or drop by the farm on a trip to Napa (just a few miles away!) to buy some fresh walnuts, jams, and more in their “honor system” store.

A diversified family farm is a good thing! Look for the sign...

Down go the walnuts!

Walnuts are raked up after they shake the tree.

The walnut skins and shells have a natural herbicide quality.

The majority of the walnuts are processed into walnut oil. Previously part of the Blue Diamond growers co-operative, when the price of walnuts plummeted, the Glashoffs decided to process the nuts into the high value walnut oil (delicious as a bread dipper, in desserts, or dressings).

The walnut processing is a pretty old fashioned, compact operation.

Honor Farm Stand

Maria said the farm stand has been very successful in terms of selling their products without oversight. I marked up the photo to point out a few things for other farms thinking of doing the same.

They have detailed instructions for visitors (1) as well as promotion of the u-pick. The stand has both fresh products (2) as well as their jams (3) and other “value added” higher margin products.

Glashoff's Honor Farm Stand. Click to see larger.

CUESA provided a 5 star lunch made with farmer's market produce.

The Future: Helping the Family Farm with Agri-tourism

After studying at Chico, daughter Lizzy is returning to the farm to help the business diversify even more by hosting events and possibly agri-tourism stays. An idyllic setting with gardens and so close to major roads, it’s a natural! Stay turned for more.

Maria, Susie (the nutty fig girl) and Lizzy

About CUESA Events in San Francisco & Beyond

CUESA “is dedicated to promoting a sustainable food system through the operation of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and its educational programs.

They arrange some wonderful educational events both at the Ferry Building Marketplace and outings in San Francisco in beyond – great for tourists and locals who want to learn more about sustainable food and agriculture.