California Dessertin': Chocolate, (Not So) Plain and Simple

I will not waste your time with excuses for why I haven’t updated since…July? Consider this notification that I am alive and well, and have been consuming desserts at just as alarming a rate as when I posted more regularly.

A week-long October vacation to San Francisco and Napa Valley yielded plenty of dessert-sampling opportunities, organized into Chocolate, Fruit, and Baked Item posts for your reading pleasure!

• Ghirardelli Peanut Butter Squares – Ghirardelli chocolate is made in San Francisco, and while their factory is not open to the public, they still provide a treat for visitors in the form of an extensive gift shop and chocolate restaurant at Ghirardelli Square. Shoppers receive a complimentary chocolate square upon entering the store, so we were able to sample their recently-released peanut butter squares. The milk chocolate was smooth and creamy, as always. The peanut butter was thicker than the average creamy peanut butter, without much salt or buttery flavor. I would have preferred a tad more salt, as few desserts are as joyous as those that combine salty and sweet tastes. Some buttery smoothness would have been welcome as well, rather than bland solidity enrobed in tastier chocolate. I’m sure Ghirardelli will refine their recipe over time – after all, I can find no fault with their long-tenured mint and caramel squares.


• Ghirardelli World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae – The chocolate restaurant had oh so many ice cream delights to choose from, but in the interest of being as objective as possible we ordered the classic Ghirardelli sundae. The dessert was a massive quantity of French vanilla ice cream drizzled in chocolate sauce made from ground and melted Ghirardelli candies. The chocolate-to-ice-cream ratio was among the best I’ve seen, which you would expect from a chocolatier! The milk chocolate sauce had a creamy taste and was mostly smooth, with a hint of cocoa-y graininess that may be a result of its freshness. Whipped cream and a maraschino cherry topped off the sundae.


• Tcho Chocolate – In wandering the Embarcadero area, full of old piers and warehouses converted to trendier ends, we stumbled upon Tcho’s chocolate factory and shop. Instead of marketing their chocolates by percent cacao, or bean origin, or added flavor, Tcho makes chocolate from beans with unique flavor profiles. So, a bar of Citrus chocolate didn’t have lemon extract added to the melt – instead, the source beans are just naturally tart and tangy, and those properties are drawn out in the chocolate-making process. The Citrus was my favorite, though Fruity was an effective complement to nuts and dried fruit (ha). I returned to Boston with a Citrus bar, some Fruity-covered cashews, and Chocolatey organic baking chocolate! A side note: coffee drinks featuring Tchocolate are extraordinary…and pack a lot of caffeine. We enjoyed the Tcho Shot (equal parts espresso and chocolate) and Tchocha (replace “Tch” with “M”).



• Milat Chocolate Port Sauce – The Milat winery in Napa Valley is a small, family-operated business that partners with a Napa chocolatier to make this dessert. A basic chocolate sauce is fortified with Milat’s port-style wine. The excellence of this sauce owes more to the sweet port than the barely-dark chocolate; the black cherry, assorted berry, and brandy flavors really assert themselves. This would be a good sauce for drizzling over vanilla ice cream, berries, or flaky pastries. I wonder which we’ll do!