Win two free tickets to the Fabulous Food Festival

November 2, 2009 at 7:43 pm (Shows and Samplings)
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logo food fesitval

It’s the second annual food festival showcasing local artisan products just in time for the holiday season happing this weekend, November 7th-8th at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. Come visit us at booth #518 where you can sample and buy our entire product line, including our holiday peppermint bark and stocking stuffers.  There will be everything from chocolate, to olive oil, cheeses, salsas  including live music and demos. lectures and product giveaways.

To win a pair of tickets, simply tell us your story of where you first saw our product line and you may be headed to the Fabulous Food Festival in San Francisco this weekend.  The winner will be chosen at random.  Email us your story to customercare@jadechocolates.com.  You must be able to pick up the tickets at our SF kitchen before the weekend.

Hope to see you there!

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Rewarding our loyal fans and customers

September 24, 2009 at 6:20 pm (Uncategorized)
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As you may have already heard, the 3rd Annual Los Angeles Chocolate Salon will be held on October 11th, 2009.   We gave away two pairs of free tickets to our loyal fans.  One pair was given away to our Facebook fan,  Pauline Fujita who was the first to demand her free tickets by writing on the Jade Chocolates wall “I want my free tickets”.  We sent out a notice to our fans on facebook and in record time (one minute to be exact) Pauline got tickets to the sweetest event in town.  Join our page on Facebook for updates, information,  the occasional chocolate giveaway, prizes, and tastings.

 

mariel yelper

Yelp photo

We also gave  two free tickets to Mariel Christian of Los Angeles, who gave a rave review on yelp back in January.   This review made my day, no, it made my year and I was certain that I would somehow reward Mariel for such a thoughtful review.  Here’s what she had to say about Jade Chocolates:

 

MS. JADE CHOCOLATES!
What can I say? Girl, you’ve created a masterpiece =)

Just about a year ago, I rediscovered my LOVE for chocolate. I’ve always liked chocolate, but for some reason I stopped allowing myself to enjoy it. I had more of a “I’m feeling like crap today – I’ll stuff my face with chocolate” attitude. Then I’d feel bad about it. But someone came along who helped open my eyes to the “goodness” of chocolate and NOW, I decided life’s too short to live without chocolate.

On with my 5 STAR review: I had the pleasure of trying this amazing chocolate. The Genmai Bar is scrumptious. The “rice crispy” crunch is not overwhelming. This is a sweet creation. I also had the Orient Espresso Bar “oh my yum” – melts in your mouth! I shared this one with my roommates and they agreed “very good chocolate”. I’ve tasted the chocolate dipped mangos too, again, delicious =)

I look forward to trying the other flavors! This is gourmet chocolate.

2*’s for the exotic concoctions and very charming packaging. Thought has been put into these adorable bars. Check out the website for more info. Wonderful gift ideas!!!

2*’s for the chocolate itself.

1* for Mindy Fong (owner/Chocolatier) a woman entrepreneur who followed her dream, inspired by her grandfather, to do what she loves. This chocolate is made with heart and you can tell.

 

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Soap that looks like truffles!

September 12, 2009 at 2:19 am (Uncategorized)
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These were such a sight to see as I strolled through the Historic Downtown area of Kent, Washington.  Amazing soap that makes you take a second look!  I really wished I had purchased these since I can’t find any information on the internet about this company (Sapone Tartufi?).  Next time I’m in the Pacific Northwest, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for these amazing pieces of art.

soap truffles

 

soap truffles in box

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Architecture to Chocolate: Drawing from Inspirations

August 28, 2009 at 4:43 am (About Me)
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If it’s one thing that I took away from all my drawing, drafting and design classes is that color is a useful tool. 

Color can affect mood.  Red is an intense color which can stimulate your senses causing a faster hearbeat and breathing.  The effects of blue is opposite of red.  Blue is a calming color, causing a relaxing sensation to the viewer.  Color is a cultural phenomenon.  For many, it is the symbolizes love.   Many Asian brides wear red for this reason and in China, it also symbolizes good luck.  In western cultures, white is worn to symbolize purity.   Yellow is a mourning color in Egypt while yellow symbolizes courage in Japan.

In other words, color is  powerful. 

There are two people in the architectural field have been an influence in my career:  The first is my ex-professor from UCDavis where I studied Environmental Design.  The other is a world renowned architect from Mexico.    

Richard Berteaux:  He is a Professor Emeritus at UCDavis and the first to introduce me to the use of color as a main design element.  Below is a photo of a swimming pool and a singular wall of clean color.  The wall is eye catching, and calms the viewer with it’s blue hue.  From this vantage point, the clear blue sky is dotted with green flora.  Those colors are repeated in the wall.  This also happens to be my ex-professor’s backyard.

Berteaux pool

“Color has been exploited as an underlying theme and often a major design element in nearly all our work: Bold or more modest color, but often applied in subtle ways. We have always utilized color to give a desired aesthetic “punch” to a part or whole of a building, to create a “look” or “feel” to an interior space, a building or a complex.” Richard Berteaux

Ricardo Leggoretta:  Ricardo Leggoretta is a world renowned architect from Mexico with structures in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa….just to name a few.   He uses color as a main ingredient in all of his structures.  It is his signature design element.

legorret orange ocean legorreta hotel camino real

 These great architects use bold color similarly to the way my little bars are wrapped; clean and modern, striking and begging for attention.  In an endless sea of chocolate bars on the chocolate shelf, my bars stand out.  The bold simplicity of color catches the consumer’s eye.  If it’s a bar they have never seen before, it is often picked up, observed and studied, and hopefully makes it into the shopping cart.

sidebar bars

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Architecture to Chocolate: The Metamorphasis

August 12, 2009 at 6:34 am (About Me, Product Information)
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I wish I could tell you the usual story. The kind of story where I could tell you  I had full family support when I decided to step away from the design world and into the sweet world of chocolate. But I’d be lying if I did. 

My father, especially, was not at all happy with my departure from my previous architectural profession.  The beginning of forming my company was the worst of the comments…. ”Five years of college and you want to throw it away and play with chocolate!”  Or sometimes, I’d hear this, “You gave away three weeks paid vacation, health and retirement benefits to start this! “. The comment was made even more poignant with a disappointed look towards the floor and the negative head shake.

In defense, I can’t blame my Dad.  He knew nothing about ‘fancy chocolates’.  Say the word ‘chocolate’, and he’d think See’s Candies or Hershey’s.  It wasn’t until my mom and dad came to last year’s San Francisco Chocolate Salon did they begin to understand my new profession.  They stood there, waiting to talk to me, waiting for the customers to leave.  They were standing there for many many minutes.   The shift in their perspective was forming.  “Wow, so expensive! People pay five dollars for a candy bar!  That’s fancy chocolate!”. 

And that’s about the best compliment from my Dad yet.

Transferring skill sets.  What my Dad had failed to see is how I have applied my past experiences and skills into my new profession.  I see art everywhere.  There is art in making the chocolates. I am continually streamlining our handmade approach so that nothing is wasted.  The rhythm of  piping chocolate into the molds; the dance between my assistant and I when we produce the bars.     It’s nearly flawless.  There is art in the taste of the chocolates.  How does the taste of my chocolates stand out from the rest?  My answer: the color/flavor wheel.  I relate flavors like I relate colors on the color wheel.  Flavors can be complimentary (opposing flavors/colors) or flavors can be analogous (similar colors/flavors).

The Genmai bar is an example of complimentary flavors.  The creamy and smooth milk chocolate is complimented by the nutty, crunchy, and roasted flavor of the brown rice.   The initial taste of the milky chocolate and the nutty crunch of the rice is a great contrast.  The Dragon’s Breath bar is an example of analogous flavors.  The smokey tea, the roasted sesame seeds, and the spicy red chili all are flavors belonging on the same side of the flavor wheel.   These are all warm flavors.

color wheel 004 - with 1 tsp grey
Above is an image of a color wheel.  Colors opposite each other are called complimentary.  Red is opposite to blue and therefore are complimentary.  Analogous colors are colors close to each other, such as orange is to yellow.

The design of my chocolate bar packaging is the most obvious sign of my past background.  As you will read from my next posting,  large bold, vivid colors from my main architectural inspirations are translated into my tiny chocolate bar packaging.

red color 

It’s been about a year and  a half since I began Jade Chocolates and I’ve accomplished so much in this short amount of time.  My company has acquired numerous awards, we’re continually adding products into our line, and we’re slowly branching outside of the California market.   

Nowadays, I get not a single peep from my father.  His previous comments have stopped altogether and I he’s warming up to the idea that chocolate can be just as lucrative a career as  my past cushy office  job.    One day, he’ll see what I’ve known all along, that all of my hard work will have it’s own rewards.

Watch for my next posting: Chocolate and Architecture: Drawing from Inspirations.

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Free Tickets to Appel and Frank’s Chic Summer Soiree

August 4, 2009 at 5:56 am (Uncategorized)
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Summer '09 Invite appel and frank

Come see what’s hot in fashion at this summer’s Chic Summer Soiree on August 13th, 2009 with over 65 designers offering clothing, accessories, handbags, etc.  Jade Chocolates and Clarine’s Florentines will be there selling as well.  And the best thing, click on Appel and Frank’s website, type in code DESIGNERSF and get free admission!

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Word of Mouth Sales: Free Chocolate with Referral

June 28, 2009 at 4:21 am (Product Information)
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From now until August 31st, 2009, refer Jade Chocolates to any retail store outside of California and get over $30 of free chocolate from us!  We’re looking to expand our line across the nation and what better way than to get a little help from our own valued customers.  If you know of any high end gourmet markets, organic markets, tea shops, wine and cheese shops, spas, cigar bars, wineries and wine bars, or chocolate shops let them know about Jade Chocolates, then send us an email and we’ll do our best to get our products there.

Here are the rules:

  • We must get our chocolates into the store within 45 days of your suggestion.
  • It must be a store that we currently do not have any product lines in.
  • Limit of two $30 chocolate gifts per customer.
  • We reserve the right not to pursue any suggested outlet that may not be a good match for our products.

Send us your suggestions to wholesale@jadechocolates.com  Make sure you let your recommended store know about us too.

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An Informative Night at the Commonwealth Club: Women & Chocolate

June 24, 2009 at 5:56 am (Uncategorized)
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Join us for an informative night with a panel of women-owned chocolate companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Along with myself, Kathy Wiley of Poco Dolce, Malena Lopez-Maggi of The Xocolate Bar, and Christine Doerr of Neo Cocoa will be discussing our roles in the chocolate business.

The discussion is followed by a chocolate tasting of our products with complimentary wine.  Don’t miss out on this opportunity so hear straight from us chocolatiers. Hope to see you there.

Seating is limited. Click here for tickets.

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Guittard’s Guest Chef Series with Andrew Shotts, part 2

June 15, 2009 at 8:35 pm (Chocolate Friends, Shows and Samplings)
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The following is a photo journal of the class I took with Chef Andrew Shotts.  Some details may be missing as only the photos shown here are described. I highly recommend you take a class for a more thorough and complete understanding.

 USING A GUITAR CUTTER

1. Align edge of ganache to the edge of the guitar and slowly lower the handle.  Use your free hand to make sure that the ganache does not move.shotts cutting with guitar

 

 

shotts guitar2.  Use a thin sheet metal to transfer the cut ganache and back onto the cutter. In this photo, a clear straight edge is used to guide the ganache onto the sheet metal.

         shotts wiping guitar strings

3.  Wipe the strings with a dry towel.        

 

                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                    4.  Load the cut ganache back onto the cutter at a 90 degree angle. Use a straight edge to position the ganache.

shotts loading guitar

5. In this photo, the top of shotts evening out ganachethe ganache was cut flush.  Sometimes the edges of the ganache may bowed and should be fixed for a consistent product.

 shotts drying out squares

6.  Separate out the cut squares and let dry for one day before enrobing. 

 

 

 

 

DECORATING ENROBED OR HAND DIPPED CHOCOLATES

USING TRANSER SHEETS

shotts laying transfer sheet

1.  Once you have enrobed your chocolate pieces, place a transfer sheet onto the top of the wet chocolate.  Using a dipping fork, gently press the down on the sheet using small circles to making sure that the entire surface of the bonbon is in contact with the transfer sheet. 

 

 

 

shotts peeling transfer sheet

2.  Preferably, wait one day before peeling off the transfer sheet.  Your bonbons will get a shinier surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAND DECORATING

shotts tip technique

1.  In the photo shown, a piping tip is used to  decorate the top of the bonbon.  (The bottoms of the pieces have a noticeable foot due to the change in speed in the enrobing belts).

A dipping fork may be used to decorate your piece or just about any suface that can give an interesting texture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shotts enrobing detail

2.  The design from the piping tip is subtle and beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

TIPS FOR USING MOLDS

 1.  Cocoa butter to be sprayed into molds should be at 86 degrees F. If it gets too hot, pour back and forth between two containers as shown in the photo until the desired temperature is achieved.shotts cooling colored cocoa butter

2.  Spray the molds and let sit to dry.

shotts air brushing

3.  Turn over the mold and clean the excess cocoa butter off by rubbing the mold onto a papshotts cleaning colored molder towel.

 

 

shotts bottom mold2

4.  Using a ladle, pour tempered chocolate over the mold.  Slightly angle the mold as shown and using an offset spatula, wipe away excess chocolate.   Tap out the air bubbles on the side of the table and turn the mold over back into the bowl. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

shotts shell molding5.  Turn the molds over and let it harden.  Chef Shotts recommends that the molds should be made the same day that it is filled and used up to an hour in advance.

 

shotts filling molds

6.  Pipe the ganache into the prepared molds.  Be careful not to over fill the molds. The photo taken here, shows the proper way end your to piping.  Once the mold is filled, stop the flow of ganache with your thumb and forefinger while the tip of the bag is buried into the piped ganache.  This eliminates the ‘top of the hershey’s kiss effect’.  This is important when sealing the bottom of the bonbon.

 

shotts bottom mold37.   Slightly angle the mold as shown and ladle chocolate onto the mold.  Go up softly with a palette knife and make sure that the chocolate covers the top cells.  Then using a soft gentle motion, sweep the chocolate downward over the remaining cells in the mold.  Once you are certain that all the cells are covered, press firmly with a palette knife and sweep away the excess chocolate.

 

shotts molded bonbons

8.  Leave the molds in the refrigerator for for about 10-15 minutes so that the chocolate has sufficient time to contract away from the mold.  The finished pieces are shown here.

 

 

 

 

This is just a few of the techniques we learned.  If you want to know more, take one of Andrew Shotts classes.

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Guittard’s Guest Chef Series with Andrew Shotts, part 1

June 8, 2009 at 5:59 am (Chocolate Friends, Industry News)
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Lucky me! I was a part of Guittard’s first Guest Chef Series at the Guittard Chocolate Studio in Los Angeles. The guest instructor was Andrew Shotts of Garrison Confections.  For three days we learned the art of  chocolate pralines and candy making.  Jade Chocolates has plans to branch into truffle making within the next few years.  This class is the first step to reaching this milestone and since I was once told that I needed 10,000 hours of ‘playtime’ in truffle making before I’m considered a pro in my field, I figure I better start tinkering with truffles now.

Our Instructors

From left to right:  Andrew Shotts, Sally Camacho, Donald Wressell.

shotts smiling Andrew Garrison Shotts:He was recently awarded the Food Network’s Top Chocolatier in America.  His current operation is based in Providence, Rhode Island where his team creates seasonal bonbon collections which changes every three months. Other notable awards he has accumulated: In 2000 and 2002, he was Pastry’s Art & Design’s “Ten Best Pastry Chefs in America”, and won silver in 2000 and 2001 at the National Pastry Team Championships in Beaver Creek. 

shotts wressell smiling Donald Wressell: He currently is the Corporate Pastry Chef for Guittard Chocolate.  He has also worked as Assistant Pastry Chef for Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia and as the Executive Pastry Chef for Four Seasons Los Angeles. His accomplishments include being named Southern California’s Restaurant Writers Pastry Chef of the Year in 2003.  In 1998 and 1999, he was named one of the “Ten Pastry Chefs in America” by Pastry Art & Design Magazine.  Chef  Donald has also represented the USA in several competitions including the World Cup of Pastry.  In 1995 and 2005, Donald helped USA acquire a Bronze Medal.  In 2001, he helped lead the team to Gold, the first time the Gold Medal was won by a USA team. 

 shotts sally enrobing belt blog

Sally Camacho:  A graduate from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, she had previously worked under Chef Donald Wressell at the Four Seasons Los Angeles for five years where she learned everything from plated desserts to wedding cakes.  She also assisted him in training for his many competitions.  In 2005, she was Assistant Pastry Chef to Chef Frederic Robert at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas.  She then was Pastry Chef for the James Beard award winning restaurant Bradley Ogden in Caesar’s Palace.  Her last position was Executive Pastry Chef at Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort in Miami, Florida.  She now is free-lance consulting and teaches classes on wedding and specialty cakes at the Ewald Notter School of Confectionery Arts in Orlando, Florida. In 2007,  Chef Sally was a part of the Amoretti National Pastry Team.

Some of the recipes created in the kitchen included:

  • Baja popcorn
  • Candied Nuts
  • Crispy Crunchies
  • Marshmallows
  • Salted Caramel (Molded Bonbon)
  • Lime (Enrobed Bonbon)
  • Habanero (Enrobed Bonbon)
  • Creme Brulee (Enrobed Bonbon), etc.

Watch out for the next post with more photos and tips  taught by Chef Andrew Shotts. In the meantime, here are a few photos of the finished products.

shotts table scape truffles

 Enrobed pieces

shotts candied nuts

Candied pistachios

bark

Dark chocolate bark with candied pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds and ginger

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