Patric Chocolate Takes on the New Web

When Patric Chocolate first started we had a website, and shortly thereafter a blog. At the time, it felt like I was "hip" and "with it," but times soon changed.

Now Facebook, Twitter, and sites such as Flickr allow companies a way to tell their stories with passion and to build a connected community and fan-base. So, with the excellent advice of a couple of good friends, Patric Chocolate has taken the leap into the New Web:

The Patric Chocolate Facebook Page -- If you are on Facebook, please spread the word and become a fan. We have a review system as well so that you can tell everyone what you think about our chocolate and other fine chocolate products. I'll be posting new chocolate-related videos and photo albums from cacao sourcing trips, and giveways will be available for Fans.

The Patric Chocolate Twitter feed -- Follow my daily chocolate-making process, learn about special events, and interact!

Thank you for your support; during these tough economic times, it really does mean a lot!

Very best,

Alan
Patric Chocolate

P.S. Don't forget to sign up on our mailing list on the top-right of the page. I send out a monthly newsletter with product specials, new products, events, and educational chocolate information. If you change your mind later, it is easy to unsubscribe with one click. No worries

P.P.S. By the way, if you've never seen what your mild-mannered chocolate maker looks like, there is a story in the Kansas City Star, just out today, that has quite a few good photos.

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Blogging and the Three Chocolatiers

No, I promise that I haven't forgotten the blog. In fact, quite the contrary, as I have been working on it more than ever. Unfortunately, however, the two topics on which I have been working have required so much research that the blog has seemed to be stuck in its tracks. On the other hand, once the topics are finished, they will each be taking up multiple blog posts, and will keep the Patric Chocolate blog moving at a good clip.

In the mean time, I hope that all of you in the fine chocolate belt of the US--Missouri of course--will join me this Tuesday for an event called the "Three Chocolatiers." Though most of you know that I am not a chocolatier, but rather a bean-to-bar chocolate maker, I didn't dare destroy such a clever title, so for one night only, an honorary chocolatier I'll be.

I'll be doing a demo on chocolate making from the bean, with plenty of things to taste, including chocolate, nibs, and roughly ground, pre-conched chocolate. Additionally, after my demo, a true chocolatier/confectioner genius Christopher Elbow and then author Elaine Gonzalez will also be doing demonstrations. It should be a great time!

Here is information about the price and the location--it is a fundraiser by the way, done in conjunction with Les Dames D'Escoffier:
http://www.kcrestaurantguide.com/chocolatierform.pdf

Best,

Alan

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Slow Food St. Louis: Chocolate and Beer; What More Could You Ask For?

(Above: Speaking to STL Slow Food at the Schlafly Tap Room)

Due to Valentine's craziness I am a week behind on reporting about the event, but it was so much fun that I'm going to belatedly share anyway.

The chocolate talk and tasting seminar was held at the Schlafly Tap Room in conjunction with the St. Louis convivium of Slow Food, and upon arriving, we--my wife and I--got a warm welcome from the Tap Room's head brewer Stephen Hale. Stephen showed us around the brewery as we got to talking about the combination of beer and chocolate and the difficulties involved in creating a chocolate-flavored beer, including issues such as iron content of chocolate--it's high--which could dissolve into the beer, oxidize, and create a hazy appearance--an unwelcome occurrence in most beers. After talking beer, we got set up for talking chocolate.

Following a brief Slow Food meeting things really got moving as a long and interesting discussion commenced, with participants asking countless perceptive and intriguing questions from the role that terroir plays in cacao flavor, even including natural yeast strains that could impact fermentation, to the various processes employed in small-scale or "micro" chocolate manufacture. After the discussion, we continued with the education by tasting the two currently available Patric Chocolate offerings as we talked about what tastes and aromas set them apart despite their shared origin--Madagascar. As usual, it was a true joy to see the expressions on people's faces as they searched for and identified various flavor notes and, often, realized that they had never tasted them in chocolate before.

If you would like to read more about the night and the reactions of some of the attendees, it has also been written about on the St. Louis Slow Food site, and a blog called the Cupcake Project.

Also, since--due to a recent article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch--many of you who are reading this blog are located in and around St. Louis, let me urge you to seek out Slow Food St. Louis if you are a lover of fine food. If you would classify yourself as gourmet, gourmand, or foodie, and you want to meet and talk with like-minded people who are making a difference in St. Louis food--and beverage--culture, then please contact them! It really will be worth your time.

(above: Trying to pluck a cacao pod off a photo of a tree
through sheer force of will--it didn't work)

I'd like to thank all STL Slow Food members, Sara Hale for organizing things, Rebecca Marsh for her input, and the aforementioned Stephen and Sara Hale for their incredible hospitality!

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Patric Chocolate's Saturday in KC:

Yesterday I spent a beautiful, chocolate-filled day in Kansas City. I had the fortune to be invited by Jasper Mirabile for his Valentine's Day radio show Live! from Jasper's Kitchen on 710 AM. We talked a bit about micro-batch fine chocolate, the processes employed here at Patric Chocolate, and what makes them different from those of mass-market chocolate. It was really a great time, and after the show I was lucky enough to have a group of about 75 fine chocolate loving Kansas City residents give me their undivided attention back at Mirabile's KC restaurant--called Jasper's--for a fine chocolate talk and tasting seminar that expanded upon many of the themes from the radio show.

Though I was expected to talk for about 45 minutes, I, due to my notorious wordiness when it comes to chocolate, was unable to keep it to under about an hour and a half. To my delight, however, everyone was not only patient but filled with a multitude of incredibly perceptive questions that really helped to drive the point home about the differences between fine chocolate and what one may find in the supermarket aisles.

And the chocolate tasting that came at the end of the talk truly seemed to be an eye opening experience for many people, which made me happy to no end. We all sampled Patric Chocolate's micro-batch 70% and 67% Madagascar bars and two supermarket bars. It was a joy to watch everyone's faces as they tasted flavors in the Madagascar bars that they had never experienced before, but also as they realized how little flavor of the cacao is actually present in common chocolate. One attendee, upon tasting the difference between the four bars, proclaimed that one of the common market brands didn't even taste like chocolate! Imagine that: chocolate that doesn't even taste like chocolate; Quelle horreur, the French would say!

Anyway, I had such a great time and got to meet so many warm and enthusiastic chocolate lovers that I would gladly return to KC--and Jasper's whose Italian cuisine is good enough to make a grown man cry--anytime!
(above: One section of the KC chocolate talk crowd)

Comments from attendees of the Patric Chocolate, Jasper's-hosted chocolate seminar are welcome!

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