Homemade Chocolate - The Secret Chocolatier's Diary » contest

Chocolate Moments, Yours and Ours

Andy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:36:09 +0000

Last week I had my epiphany when asked ‘What is your favorite chocolate?’ I always seemed to not know. Really it would instill a sort of funny, ‘Well all of them are our favorites, why would we sell anything otherwise?’ internal dialog. The reality being so close to chocolate all the time the term favorite gets more granular, more delicious, because time and mood can play a factor.

To this we ran a quick contest for people to tell us a moment and what kind of chocolate they would pair it with. Now most people took my examples and made them their interpretation. I was hoping for a little larger play with the idea but I understand. I probably wasn’t being as clear in the scope I was letting you all have fun in. We’ll play again soon. This is all for fun anyhow!

Your Chocolate Moments

Since there were just a handful of respondents, we’ll recap them here.

From the ever faithful Jenny, aka Mom:

Sunny spring afternoon, outside: I’ll SHOCK myself and go with the new white, or a fresh mint truffle.
A quick snack before your work day is done: The darker the better!!
A quiet moment to yourself when all might be still: Dark with a single yet complex flavored infusion, preferably that has warmed to room temp.

A chocolate lady in her own right, Andrea:

Outside: A delicate key lime truffle
A quick snack: Dark chocolate truffles
A quiet moment: Your chai truffle

The (in)famous Terie:

My special time is when I am able to work under the pergola smelling all the flowers with my laptop designing anything that has to do with graphics. The best compliment is rich dark chocolate and anything orange. I love the aroma of the orange and the pairing with chocolate is something special for the senses. It’s almost an overload between the sweet clean smell of the outdoors and when I close my eyes and pop a chocolate confection in my mouth, ohhhhhhh baby. Heaven

We have thousands of visitors a month, hundreds of fans across the galaxy, and three of our loyal fans are there to talk with us. I hear Princess Bride references in my head but I’ll digress too much. On to our thoughts..

The Secret Chocolatier

Bill’s Chocolate Moment

The one time that I always enjoy a truffle is when we rotate flavors into a new season. It’s only when we rotate flavors and one of my favorites comes back, like grapefruit in the spring or basil in the summer, that I even take the time to stop and actually enjoy the moment. It is not a big ordeal though. I just stop, still in the kitchen, and eat one truffle from the first batch of that season. It’s a perfect moment four times a year.

Karen’s Chocolate Moments

Sitting on the porch with a white chocolate truffle would be my current moment of choice. I love the smooth creamy texture with a slight sweetness yet a hint of salt.
If I could have anything I wanted it would be a few moments with our extra dark tcho chocolate truffle. It makes me think of an espresso roast of the chocolate, it has a bite to it that leaves me wanting more yet only able to take small bits at a time. It gives me that extra buzz too.

Robin’s Chocolate Moment

My days are crazy (and I’m not talking about just the family), I teach too and after a long day in the classroom all I want is a little isolation. If the weather is right sitting outside on my chair-swing with an espresso truffle can do me wonders. A moment of quiet enjoyment and pleasure that also gives me a little pick-me-up to handle a second shift of chocolate duties.

Andy’s Chocolate Moment

The day is long over but I’m at the keyboard still. A large orange truffle has been at my desk for over an hour and I can just tell it’s only holding form for me. My lightly heated office has created a perfect moment, orange infused chocolate held together by a tenuous shell. Pop it in my mouth and it’s just perfect.
Another quick moment I have a lot lately is when the market has gone quiet during a lull between rushes and I find myself haunted by something. A quick trip to our sampler cooler with a big spoonful of white chocolate ganache is amazing at refreshing the palate and making a piece of my soul just smile. Something about that buttery–hint of salt flavor that keeps me smiling for the rest of the morning.

Enough! Who won already?!

As I read over a draft of this I can hear in my head Jenny badgering me into getting done and telling who wins a sampler box from us. Well the results are a four way tie. I should have known a simple vote wouldn’t work..

To complicate this (*grin*) I went to the most random place on the internet and ran a number randomizer from 1-300, each hundred aligned to a person based on when they submitted their entry. The result was: 151.

Andrea wins a chocolate sampler box of her choosing (Spring box not listed but available).

There was a Reason..

The heart of it all was our taste-buds and our desires change throughout the day. We want different things based on a myriad of personal factors. Next time you ask an artisan crafter what their favorite it, give them some context. Besides making them look at you funny, you might get a far more useful and serious response.

Favorite Chocolate Results

Andy — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:00:13 +0000

Back at the beginning of the New Year we asked everyone what their favorite chocolate was. We had been working over the Winter months developing some new chocolate products based on our market feedback and wanted to hear from you.

The results were:

45% Dark Chocolate
34% Milk Chocolate
11% White Chocolate
9% Semi-Sweet Chocolate

It rings true for what we see requested and talked about as well. Interestingly enough we’ve started to see some subdivisions since we have a Tcho 68% Dark Chocolate Truffle box which competes with a 60% dark chocolate offering. For some the darker the better, others just want a quality dark chocolate. Do you find yourself with diverse likings of chocolate?

As a family and being around so many types of chocolates I find it fascinating how the same product has different appeals during different times of the day. Dark chocolate make my head tingle (in a good way), sometimes I just want the salty butter hit of a white chocolate. Other times I feel more texture oriented and the caramel like milk chocolate just calls out. Everything has a time and place.

Favorite Chocolate in the Moment?

People ask what is our favorite and I feel like there needs to be more context for it. What is your favorite chocolate for after work, or before bed, on the porch after a rain. I can give more if I am given a more subjective frame to work in. How about you?

Let’s try a few.. What is your favorite chocolate for these moments?

Sunny spring afternoon, outside.
A quick snack before your work day is done.
A quiet moment to yourself when all might be still.

Let us know what you think and we’ll let you know ours. Share your own moment and chocolate too!

Free Chocolate? Seriously?

This just gets better, we’ll pick from the responses next week and award someone with a sampler box of their choosing. All you have to do is leave a comment on here or our facebook fan page (keep it with the post for ease of tracking) telling us a moment (from ours or your own) and what kind of chocolate best fits it.

Now that’s easy.. Writing this has gotten me hungry for a grapefruit truffle. Interesting.

Winners Get The Best Chocolate

Andy — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:04:32 +0000

With our first ever contest let me say how much of a joy it was to run. We love our customers and getting to share at the market, deliveries, or even letting someone far away know that they were entered for some cool prizes for Valentines got a lot of smiles and interest.

On top of that we had many of our dear customers who we can easily call friends give us their words of inspiration on what they thought of The Secret Chocolatier.

A Chocolate Poem …

Valentines Chocolate Torte for Two

I went to eat some hershey bar
my stomache it did ache.
I tried to nibble Nestle’s
and waxy it did taste.
I longed for melty flavors
like orange, ginger, basil.
I yearned for taste epiphany
to sate & palate fulfill.
The Secret, I discovered
was not in underwear -
The Secret to my new joy
was The Secret Chocolatier!
–Maria Fisher

A Regional Farmer…

Once my fresh goat-milk cheese had ended for the 2008 season, I no longer sold at the Tailgate Market. I did not anticipate missing my chocolate treats as much as I did. I attempted to satisfy my truffle “jones” with a commercial brand I cannot recall at this moment. One bite and I rejected the rest. Then, I thought, I would try Starbucks. “PTEWEY!” So, in my opinion, The Secret Chocolatier’s Espresso truffle cannot be beat!

–Anne Cain, Daddy’s Girl Dairy

A Loving Consumer…

Just about the best chocolate I’ve ever eaten!

–Janis Wilkens

It’s good to share the love and we are elated to have had these and more sentiments come rolling back.

Everyones a Winner, but Some Get Prizes

Mitch Urash won the Grand Prize of a Chocolate Torte for Two and Truffle / Brownie combo box.
Tom Irvin and Diane Hugues will take home a chocolate truffle sampler box and 20% off discount.
Theresa Young and Dan McLaughlin are our runners up earning them a 2 pack of our 1 oz truffles and a 20% discount.

Thanks to everyone who participated! We’ve been given some other good ideas for future contests and look forward to having more. If you have a neat idea for a contest segment let us know!