Fill your Stockings with Incredible Treats!
Vintage Chocolate Making Equipment at Soma Chocolatemaker. Creative Commons licensed photo
We’ve recently received two shipments of some of the best chocolate anywhere. Come in and treat yourself, or someone you like (a lot). If you are purchasing chocolate as a gift we recommend also buying a back-up bar (just in case something happens to the first - after all you should really try some yourself).
I was first introduced to Soma Chocolatemaker by event planner Christine Smart (Smart Events, christine@smartevents.ca) during Don Genova’s Food Culture Class at U-Vic. Christine had brought this amazing chocolate that she’d picked-up while in Toronto. Soma’s chocolate is remarkable both in terms of the texture they create and the complex profile of flavours that they craft. I’ve been wanting more since that first taste. At the time Soma was so busy that they were unable to fill wholesale orders. They’ve expanded their capacity a bit and are now doing small wholesale orders for lucky stores like Plenty.
Soma Chocolatemaker is one of the few artisan chocolate makers in North America making chocolate in small batches directly from the cocoa bean. They buy their cocoa beans from plantations around the world including Conacado from the Dominican Republic, organic Sambirano from Madagascar, organic from Costa Rica, and Panama:
Our preference is for Fairtrade, Organic and flavour grade (Criollo and Trinitario and Nacional varketies) although we have a soft spot for Forasteros from Kuapa Kokoo coop in Ghana. We are looking forward to a new crop from Papua New Guinea as well as forming relationships with plantation owners in Central America and Dominican Republic.
The order from Soma that arrived yesterday includes six Mexican Mollinillos - ornate, handcrafted wooden hot chocolate frothers! It also includes Chocolate Tumbled Wild Cherries, Macadamia Nuts, English Toffee with toasted almonds, Handmade Fruit Jellies, Chocolate Covered Nibs, a wonderful selection of exotic hot chocolate mixes (perfect stocking stuffers), and seven of their signature chocolate bars. The Arcana 100% is a perfect gift for a true chocolate fiend:
Arcana 100%. Made with 3 types of flavour grade cacao beans. The cocoa is roasted, refined, and conched without the addition of sugar emulsifiers or flavourings. The wild raw taste of this 100% chocolate may bring about an unexpected change of consciousness. Bean Type: Forestero/Criollo/Trinitario.
We also received an order last week of organic, direct-trade, stone ground chocolate from Taza Chocolate in Massachusetts.
Taza Chocolate is unique in that it is the only chocolate maker in the US using a traditional stone ground method to produce chocolate. Most chocolate companies import bricks of chocolate and rework those into bars. Taza starts from cocoa beans that they source directly from organic farming co-operatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. They use simple rustic Mexican stone mills (molinos) to process their own minimally roasted beans. Typically chocolate is conched (mixed, sometimes for days) to produce a smooth texture and a consistent mellow taste. Taza prefers to let the wild pure taste of the cocoa bean shine. Their unconched chocolate “buzzes, slaps, and sings with an exotic, winy complexity… when the tiny granules-pieces of cacoa bean-start flashing on your tongue, they hit with intense nutty, citrus flavors” (Gourmet, February 2009).
The order from Taza includes rounds of Mexican Drinking Chocolate in four flavours: Salted Almond, Cinnamon, Cacao Puro, and Guajillo Chilli. It also includes their three signature bars: 60% Dark, 70 % Dark, and 80 % Dark.
We also have a selection of seasonal organic treats from True Grain Bakery in Cowichan Bay: Stollen (including a few that are made with spelt), Fruit & Nut Cakes, Fig Loaves and Gingerbread Cookies.
Patty from Pearl Chocolate in Cowichan Station has made some fantastic Panforte (an Italian confection with honey, hazelnuts, almonds, dried fruit - including orange peel) and her always popular salted caramels and chocolate dipped figs (filled with cognac truffle) are also in the chocolate case.
We have Sugar Plums (ingredients include almonds, apricots, dates, honey, & orange zest) from Sandy Ferris (try her incredible Chocolate Brownies, Tea Blends, and Bran Bread Mix too).
We also have all-natural Christmas Mint Puff Pillows from Hammond’s who’ve been making beautifully crafted, handmade candy since 1920. However, their hand-cut all natural candy canes are almost all gone.
Give something you love from Plenty.