If you’re ringing in the New Year with your closest friends and family, you’ll likely need a few nibbles and bubbles to help with the festivities. Here are a few quick ideas perfect for pairing and sharing on the last night of 2015:

Harbison

This lovely, little cheese comes to us from Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont. Harbison is a small-format, soft-ripened cheese wrapped in tree bark pulled from the woods surrounding Jasper Hill. The result is a creamy, sweet paste with notes of wood and herbs. Cut the top rind off and serve with a spoon at your party; scooping out this paste is a transcendent experience. PairHarbison with crackers, fruit, and champagne.

Luxardo

Take your champagne game up a notch this year with one simple addition. Drizzle a 1/2 teaspoon of Luxardo syrup into champagne flutes, top with sparkling wine, and garnish with a Luxardo cherry. Boom. Bubbly game on point.

Robiola

Is it obvious yet that I love soft-ripened cheeses and sparkling wine together? If not, let me spell it out: I LOVE SOFT-RIPENED CHEESE WITH SPARKLING WINE.

From the same Piemontese producers who brings us Rocchetta and La Tur comes a sweet, mushroomy due latte cheese called Robiola Bosina. Cow and sheep’s milks are blended to form a thin square of soft-ripened cheese. The soft rind gives way to a creamy, oozy paste that coats the mouth. Pair with Prosecco for the ultimate Italian-inspired New Year.

Chocolate

Does there really have to be a reason for eating chocolate? The answer is no.

I love a few nibbles of really exceptional chocolate once the New Year’s toast is over. Why not make your chocolate local? Our Utah Dark Chocolate Collection has some of our favorite locally-made bars for your nibbling pleasure. Want a little more? Stop by one of our locations for a few samples to help you decide on your own curated selection of fine artisan chocolate.

Lentils

Italians will traditionally eat lentils cooked with pancetta and sage and topped with cotechino on New Year’s Eve. The small round shape of both the lentils and cotechino signify wealth to Italians. Plus, it’s an incredibly tasty way to welcome 2016.

Bitters

Here’s another way to raise the bar with your average sparkling wine this year. Have fun mixing bitters and other ingredients for festive sparkling wine cocktails. Not sure where to start? Our Essential Bitters Collection will get you going with our most popular, coveted, and easy-to-use bitters.

Local Collection

Whether you need a hostess gift, a quick party pack, or tried and true treats, we’ve got ready-made collections to get your party started. Choose from any of our gift collections to give to your favorite hostess or as a starter pack for your own party. You can’t go wrong with the goodies we’ve put together for you.

There you have it, friends. I hope you’ve all had a marvelous 2015, and I hope 2016 is even better—and tastier!

We can’t wait till the actual Chocolate Festival for you to see what’s on the menu, because it’s just so exciting! So here it is.

At this year’s festival, five chefs and local mixologists will use one of Solstice Chocolate’s five bars to showcase sweet, savory, and boozy applications of the Salt Lake City craft-chocolate maker.

The all-star culinary lineup includes Chef Logan Crew of Current Fish & Oyster, Chef Tyler Stokes of Provisions, Pastry Chef Courtney McDowell of Pallet Bistro, Pastry Chef Amber Billingsley of 3 Cups, and Pastry Chef Alicia Pacheco of Rye Diner & Drinks. The tantalizing evening will begin with an amuse-bouche prepared by Chef Marshall Bryant of Caputo’s. Wine will be served by Francis Fecteau of Libation, Inc., beers will be poured by Avenues Proper, craft cocktails will be mixed by Beehive Bitters and Sugar House Distillery, and pour overs provided by La Barba Coffee Roasters.

Caputo’s Chocolate Week comes at the perfect time of year. Our annual Chocolate Fest puts me in the mood and mindset for the holidays and festivities, but it also gives me a chance to start testing desserts for the family dinners and fun holiday parties to come. My family has a knack for making enough food to feed an entire village, but we do our best to minimize the menu as much as we can every year. We always make the usual pumpkin, pecan, and apple pies, and these are also often accompanied by another cream-based or chocolate-based pie.

This year, I wanted to find a way to incorporate a chocolate dessert without making yet another deep-dish pie. Chocolate pies rely heavily on cocoa powder for flavor, but I like having more control of the nuances. Basically, I want a chocolate pie with a third of the volume, no cocoa powder, and to be made exclusively with chocolate bars.

Meet the chocolate tart. Thin, sweet pastry dough holds a thin layer of rich, luxurious chocolate and a dollop of bitters flavored whipped cream. My first attempt was so successful it garnered a happy dance and a phone call to the family. Solstice’s Wasatch Blend bar made an earthy, balanced tart base that was enlivened with a Beehive Bitters spiced orange whipped cream. It was festive, delicious, and a quarter of the size and effort of our usual chocolate pie.

Save this recipe for your upcoming holiday parties. You can also use your favorite chocolate bars and bitters to make this your own.

Wasatch Blend Chocolate Tart
Serves 8-12

Tart Dough

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon Beehive Spiced Orange bitters
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Mix all ingredients with a stand or hand mixer until there are no dry patches. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight until firm. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness or until there is an excess of about 3 inches in diameter to fit an 8-inch tart shell. Press dough into the shell and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before removing the tart ring from the shell.

Chocolate Ganache Filling

• 10 ounces heavy cream
• 7 ounces Solstice Wasatch Blend, or two dark chocolate bars, 70% cacao or higher
• Fleur de sel sea salt

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, use an immersion blender or whisk to combine. Whisk until your ganache is fully blended. Stir in fleur de sel in small pinches, to taste. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes, then pour into the tart shell. Chill until ready to serve, but remove about 15-20 minutes before serving

Bitters Whipped Cream

• 10 ounces heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 2 teaspoons Beehive Spiced Orange bitters

In a medium bowl, whisk heavy cream, confectioner’s sugar, and bitters until whipped, but still loose. We don’t want stiff peaks, but enough volume to hold cream together when we top our chocolate tart with it. Adjust sweetness and flavoring with bitters before serving.

More from Chocolate Week:

A Primer on Solstice Chocolate

Solstice Drinking Chocolate Recipe

Caputo’s Solstice Chocolate Mini-Tartlets

A Retrospect of Past Chocolate Festivals

Recipe: Adri’s Festive Wasatch Tart

The Menu for Chocolate Fest Featuring Solstice Chocolate

Ask Matt Caputo: What is the Best Process to Taste Fine Chocolate?

Salt Lake City’s newest bean-to-bar chocolate maker Solstice Chocolate is now part of our award-winning, craft-chocolate selection. Owner Scott Querry has developed his love and passion for chocolate over the last 15 years and is now the company’s sole chocolate maker.

“Using little cocoa butter, but no vanilla, their chocolate is one of the most well executed we have,” says Matt Caputo, CEO of Caputo’s Market & Deli. “From their unique and functional packaging to their flawless tempering, Solstice embodies truly incredible sophistication and depth of nuance.”

High-quality, hard-to-find, organic cacao beans are processed with organic cane sugar and organic cocoa butter in extremely small batches with a meticulous process and eye. The result is mature, full-flavored, single-origin bars that have stolen a piece of our hearts.

Here’s an added bonus: Solstice is not just delicious, there’s an incredibly pure, mindful process behind its deliciousness. The company strives to minimize its carbon footprint by eliminating waste during production and offering its chocolate in 100% biodegradable and resealable bags.

Don’t let this fool you into thinking they are just another marginal “artisan” or “craft” chocolate pop-up. You can tell this chocolate is chef-approved by looking at a number of menus around Utah. “The raw energy behind Solstice Chocolate has their vibrant chocolate popping up on the best menus around town,” Caputo says. “The restaurant industry has never shown this level of support for a Utah craft-chocolate company.”

Solstice’s skillful chocolate-making produces straightforward bars that scream the origin of the cacao beans loud and clear. Terroir is never a mystery with Solstice. “Some would call their style loud and brash,” Caputo continues. “When the notes are as clean and pure as this, I say rock on!”

Solstice Chocolate’s current lineup includes a total of five bars. One blend, titled Wasatch, and four single origins: Bolivian Palos Blancos, Madagascar Sambirano, Uganda Bundibugyo, Ecuador Camino Verde. Here’s some more information and tasting notes for each bar:

Description and Tasting Notes (provided by Solstice Chocolate):

Solstice Bolivian premium chocolate bars are handcrafted from Palos Blancos cacao beans. Palos Blancos is harvested from a damp rainy region of Bolivia. This climate gives rise to the unique qualities of this rich elegant chocolate. Tasting Notes: This deep rich chocolate has subtle notes of nuts, honey, and fresh cream.

Solstice Ecuador premium chocolate bars are handcrafted from cacao grown by Camino Verde Estate, a farm located near the southern coastline of Ecuador. This plantation uses unique fermentation methods to produce sweet decadent cacao. Tasting Notes: This aromatic sweet cacao results in a unique chocolate with delicious notes of brown sugar, caramel, banana, and cream.

Solstice Madagascar premium chocolate bars are handcrafted from Sambirano cacao beans. Sambirano beans are cultivated from a distinct tropical climate along the Sambirano River in Madagascar often referred to as “the green gold of Madagascar.” Taste Notes: This unique tangy chocolate has hints of citrus and berries believed to be a result of former fruit plantations enriching the soil during French Colonial times.

Solstice Uganda premium chocolate bars are handcrafted from fine cacao grown in Bundibugyo. This area is part of the flourishing growth of cacao farming in Uganda. Taste Notes: This dark chocolate has a subtle bitterness of cocoa powder with fresh, earthy hints of berries and tree fruit.

Solstice Wasatch Blend chocolate bars takes its name from the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the home of Solstice Chocolate. This is an original combination of cacao beans created to showcase Solstice’s love of chocolate. Taste Notes: This unique blend of cacao creates a chocolate which is both mild and exciting, with an essence of cream and subtle sweet spice.

All images provided by Solstice Chocolate

More from Chocolate Week:

A Primer on Solstice Chocolate

Solstice Drinking Chocolate Recipe

Caputo’s Solstice Chocolate Mini-Tartlets

A Retrospect of Past Chocolate Festivals

Recipe: Adri’s Festive Wasatch Tart

The Menu for Chocolate Fest Featuring Solstice Chocolate

Ask Matt Caputo: What is the Best Process to Taste Fine Chocolate?

A chocolate and caramel tart created by Caputo’s Executive Chef Marshall Bryant, using one of the best local chocolates Caputo’s carries, this recipe serves a large group (or a smaller, voracious one). For a smaller batch, simply cut amounts in half.

CAPUTO’S SOLSTICE CHOCOLATE MINI TARTLETS
Makes 75 mini-tarts, or few, larger shells

COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR TOTAL

You’ll need:

• 12 oz. of Solstice Wasatch Chocolate
• 1 quart, plus 4 oz. of cream
• 1 lb., plus 2 oz. unsalted butter
• 1 lb. sugar
• Pre-made tart shells (we’re using the mini bite-size shells)

THE CHOCOLATE:

Melt the chocolate over low heat until all chunks disappear, then add 2 oz. of butter. Stir until the butter is completely incorporated into the chocolate, then add 4 oz. of cream, and stir until smooth.

THE CARAMEL:

Melt sugar until it is golden brown (approximately 315 degrees). Remove from heat. Stir in 1 lb. of butter, then slowly add in 1 quart of cream. Stir until smooth.

THE FINALE:

First, fill the tart shell about half of the way with caramel. Add chocolate mix until tart shell is filled to almost capacity. Finish off the tarts with a very light sprinkle of fleur de sel. Serve to guests. Accept compliments graciously. Save a large number for yourself.

Guys, IT SNOWED! Never mind that it lasted 15 minutes, and never mind that none of it stuck around. The important fact here is that frozen precipitation fell from the sky the first week of November. I began dreaming of all the hot drinks in my near future as I watched those big, fluffy flakes fall gracefully to the wet ground. Cider, hot toddies, tea, but most importantly, drinking chocolate. Not the powdered milk and cocoa with weird dried marshmallows, but real drinking chocolate.

The key to this recipe is high-quality chocolate. Any low quality bars won’t create the right consistency or flavor that you and your loved ones deserve. With so few ingredients, we rely heavily on the flavor of our chocolate to make this drink shine. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Solstice Bolivia bar. Notes of honey, cream, and very subtle warm baking spices are the perfect flavor I want when I’m craving drinking chocolate.

We made chocolate cake pops just a few weeks ago with a special focus on ganache. For cake pops, the ganache served as a binder to keep the cake crumb together and on the pop sticks. Here, we’re making what I like to call a “loosey-goosey ganache” that is the perfect consistency for drinking. This is the same process as making a thick ganache, we’re just using more cream than chocolate. The very nature of drinking chocolate is luxuriously
thick, so a little goes a long way here. I only need about 1/4 cup when I make this on special occasions with friends, so let’s not lose our marbles over the use of heavy cream. However, should you feel that your marbles are still in jeopardy of being lost, use whole milk or half and half.

This is a fun, easy, and quick recipe that comes together in less than 10 minutes. Make this with your kids, your friends, or your family. This is my favorite and most decadent way to welcome the cold weather. Blankets, thick socks, and a fire make it the perfect early winter evening.

SOLSTICE DRINKING CHOCOLATE
Serves 4

• 14 ounces heavy cream
• 5 ounces or two dark chocolate bars, 70% cacao or higher, preferably Solstice Bolivia
• Fleur de sel sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk 4 ounces of heavy cream until whipped, but still loose. We don’t want stiff peaks, but enough volume to hold cream together when we top our chocolate with it. Set aside.

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour 10 ounces of cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add 5 ounces of chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, use and immersion blender or whisk to combine. Whisk until your ganache is fully blended. Stir in vanilla, then add fleur de sel in small pinches, to taste.
Pour into small espresso cups, Mason jars, or other small glasses. Spoon whipped cream on top and serve immediately.

This is an easy recipe to add your own unique twist. Here are a few easy ways to make it your own:

• Steep the cream ahead of time with your favorite spices
• Add a cinnamon stir stick upon serving
• Add a dash of cayenne for a spicy kick
• Add booze. Any booze. I’m a personal fan of whiskey or Bailey’s
• Mix equal parts drinking chocolate with coffee
• Top with marshmallows or whipped cream
• Substitute your favorite bitters for half of the vanilla extract

I don’t consider myself a serious baker, but I enjoy baking. I also don’t consider myself a festive person, but I do enjoy getting in the spirit of things with the right people. And the right people are often kids. I will not go crazy decorating with friends, but I will with my little sister or with my friends’ children,  a number rapidly growing with each passing year. I love crafting with kids, and Matt and Yelena were gracious enough to let me steal their two darling littles for some fun Halloween-themed cake decorating.

I love cake pops. Say what you will about them, but small portions of delicious cake that don’t require utensils are always a yes in my book. Plus, it got us in the mood for the upcoming holiday. Marou’s Heart of Darkness bar is an incredible option for chocolate cake pops.

In making cake pops, the actual cake matters, but the binder matters even more. Most cake pops use icing to keep the crumb together. Here, we’re using an easy ganache that’s a real knockout. As a refresher, ganache is the magical combination of chocolate and cream. Different ratios serve different purposes—from glazes and icings to truffle fillings and beyond. The high percentage of cacao in the Heart of Darkness bar make it rich and complex, while those intriguing tasting notes shine through any kind of decorating you succumb to. Sprinkles and icing are no match for the intense flavor of this bar. You’ll have no trouble sneaking these while the kids are out trick or treating or while fast asleep after their sugar high come down.

SPOOKY MAROU CAKE POPS
Makes about 20 cake pops

• 20-25 lollipop sticks, available at any craft store
• One 8-inch chocolate cake (I love using this recipe)
• 3 Marou Heart of Darkness bars, or about 9 ounces of your favorite dark chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces
• 3 ounces heavy cream
• 6 ounces white chocolate for icing, optional
• Immersion blender, optional, but so handy

In a large mixing bowl, crumble the cake between your fingers into fine crumbs. Set aside.

Simmer a small pot of water. Set a metal or glass bowl over it, making sure there is air between the bottom of the bowl and the simmering water. Pour cream into bowl and heat until it’s warm enough to melt the chocolate. Add 3 ounces of chocolate and stir to melt. Once the chocolate is melted, immerse your blender fully, making sure there is no air stuck in the top of your blender. Blend until your ganache is fully mixed and shimmering. If you don’t have a blender, continue stirring until the ganache comes together. Set aside to cool.

Once ganache has cooled, add small amounts to your cake crumb and mix with your hands. Continue adding ganache until the crumb holds together, but isn’t totally dense and weighed down. Scoop out portions for your cake balls. Roll each into a ball on a small baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and freeze 5-10 minutes.

While your cake balls are chilling, begin melting the remaining chocolate over simmering water to coat your cake balls. Poke a lollipop stick into each cake ball, spoon melted chocolate over each ball until fully coated. Coat all in dark chocolate or use another bowl to melt the white chocolate and use the same process to coat. You can set these on a plate to set and have a flat bottom, or stick the bottom of each stick into styrofoam to set in a more circular ball. Allow 30 minutes to set, then decorate to your heart’s desire. Or you can just eat them—that works too!

That point in the summer has arrived. IT’S TOO HOT. My legs stick to any surface I sit on, I’ve melted numerous lip balms and plastic cups left in my car, and I have to keep a close eye on my roommate’s air conditioning habits, that power isn’t gonna pay itself.

Oppressive heat calls for icy luxury. This week, that luxury comes to us by way of Luxardo cherries and you nearest freezer. You may recall a recent fennel pollen semifreddo and my argument for making this every day. But really, semifreddo is the ultimate easy dessert.

Whip cream, whisk eggs with additional ingredients, combine, and freeze. There, done. It’s almost too easy.

My pal and fellow class instructor, Evan, and I decided it was high time we rally the Caputo’s troops from all locations for a fun, food-oriented gathering. We love these monthly Cravings and wanted to share that with our fellow cheesemongers and deli co-workers, so we pulled a few cocktails and cheese samples together to learn about, discuss, and enjoy.

I wanted to make something special to add to the lineup. Luxardo semifreddo, duhhhhh.

I couldn’t stop there. I wanted to incorporate a fun play on neapolitan ice cream by adding a chocolate and mascarpone component as well. The Luxardo semifreddo was fantastic, but sandwiching it between two other semifreddi made it even more so.

We nibbled and snacked. We sipped and laughed. And then we ate semifreddo. LOTS of semifreddo.

You can make yours and keep them frozen for up to a week without compromising flavor. So I say make a giant batch to cool off and keep your heat-induced impatience in check. It’s worked for me all season. Enjoy!

Luxardo Cherry Semifreddo
Serves 10

• 1 egg
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup Luxardo Cherries, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons Luxardo cherry syrup, poured off from the whole Luxardo cherries
• 1 ½ cups cream

Line a medium loaf tin with plastic film. Beat the cherry syrup, egg, and egg yolks with the honey in a bowl until pale and thick. Whip the cream until it has thickened and doubled in volume. Fold in the egg and cherry juice mixture and pour into the loaf tin. Wrap in plastic and freeze for 3 hours. Remove the semifreddo and fold in the chopped cherries. Cover again and continue to freeze for an additional 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, invert the semifreddo onto a serving platter and drizzle with extra Luxardo syrup or more cherries. Serve slices immediately.

(For chocolate or mascarpone semifreddo, substitute cherry components for melted dark chocolate or mascarpone. You’ll also want to add 1/4 cup sugar when mixing with the egg yolks.)

The heat is upon us. Such a heat wave calls something to get us out of that stinky, sweaty funk and into the world of poolside icy drinks, patriotic fireworks, and memorable meals with friends. And of course, treats. We need treats.

For our monthly Cravings, we’ve brought in some fantastic new products and somewhat of an old faithful that we’ve never been able to get enough of. We think these products will make your July a bit cooler. They’re downright perfect additions for any summer occasion, whether it’s the family barbecue, poolside shenanigans, or an air-conditioned escape from the outdoors.

CHEESE: Vegetale

The flavor of this goat’s milk cheese is sweet, mild, and approachable. I couldn’t figure out why I gravitated toward this cheese so quickly until I began reading about it. Vegetale is made an hour away from the town my maternal family is from in Basilicata, Italy. Basilicata is Calabria’s neighbor to east in Italy, when I describe the region to friends, I reference the arch of the boot that is Italy. Vegetale is made in Gorgoglione, almost the center of Basilicata. I grew up with this cheese and this flavor—my senses remembered it long before I was even consciously aware of what I had been eating. My Nonno ate cheese like this by the pool with either cold beer or white wine while I jumped off the diving board and paddled around like a loon with my cousins. We’d take a break from our summer tomfoolery to inhale the cheese, fruit from our family’s trees, and Capri Sun nestled into the cooler next to Nonno’s wine. I miss those kinds of summer day—I can’t say I miss the Capri Sun though. You don’t have to be from Italy to love this cheese. It’s simply the perfect poolside snack. Just ask my Nonno.

CHOCOLATE: OmNom Coffee+Milk

Yep, we definitely eat chocolate during summer, especially this one. Matt and Yelena let me tag along to a dinner with the owners and makers of OmNom a few months ago in Seattle. They gave us the smallest taste of this bar, and I’ve been awaiting its release ever since. We are putting this in as our chocolate pick; however, there’s not really any cocoa solids to speak of in this bar. Shocking! You see, this bar is made entirely from coffee beans. Nope, no cacao mass at all. There is some cocoa butter for texture’s sake, but this is truly a coffee bar. Given that, it’s the ultimate midday pick-me-up, the treat hidden in your desk, the snack you really should keep away from the kids, the heaven-on-earth kind of bar. You get the idea, right?

SWEET: Luxardo Maraschino Cherries

If you read “maraschino cherries” and immediately thought of the acid-red type of cherries often accompanying dance-club drinks, which taste of preservatives and sugar, I understand. But please, come join us in the world of Luxardo Maraschino Cherries. Sour Marasca cherries are candied in a syrup that let’s us taste both cherry and liqueur. Fantastic does not begin to describe them. They’re the perfect finishing touch to your cocktails and I’ve had many successful evenings combining them with pork as an entree. You’ll hear about these many times in the coming weeks, we can’t help ourselves.

For at least the past three years, I ‘ve been preaching that Utah is the bright center of chocolate culture in the U.S. This year, Ritual Chocolate has proven me right by uprooting its entire operation from Denver and transplanted to Park City.

It’s not like Denver is some culinary backwater, where the chocolate and culinary scenes aren’t thriving. Quite the contrary—Denver is a booming foodie town, and Ritual had been adopted with great zeal into the community. Too bad for Colorado that Utah just has too much chocolate gravity for such an excellent company to resist once exposed to it.

Robbie Stout and Anna Davies, the husband and wife who own and operate Ritual, often visited Robbie’s family in Park City, where he grew up. Sure our access to the outdoors is far superior to Denver—we all know that. But I would like to think that after seeing the unparalleled energy and chocolate appreciation from our local food community at Caputo’s 2nd Annual Chocolate Festival, plans were set in motion. Alright, maybe I give myself too much credit. You’ll have to ask Robbie and Anna if you want the whole truth.

Nonetheless, no serious craft chocolate connoisseur would dare argue that Ritual is not one of our country’s Top 5 elite chocolate makers. So whatever the reason for their move, we win.

Five years ago, I searched around for fellow chocolate geeks to share in a wacky experiment: develop a local club dedicated exclusively to testing, tasting, and talking about the finest chocolates.

I love chocolate, and I love to share it with my friends, but I wanted a “society” of friends who were as nerdy and passionate as me. So I created a safe harbor for them to join me in chocolate geekery. I called the group the Utah Chocolate Society specifically to evoke visions of robes and torches and secret chants.

Early April 2010, the first 12 people joined Nick Frappier and I to blind taste chocolate. We inadvertently established our modus operandi: a strong emphasis on blind tasting. We began having monthly meetings with a focus on bars made from beans originating in Madagascar or Venezuelan or chocolate made by brands like Amedei or Amano. As it turned out, the similarities and differences told stories about the characteristics of bean origins and stylistic choices of the producers.

With our first anniversary, we started an incredible tradition of anniversary gelato, courtesy of Amber Billingsley. The first batch involved $70 worth of Amedei 9 transformed into a mere half-gallon of chocolate stracciatella gelato. It literally made some of us misty-eyed. Leading up to the second anniversary, we started our annual Chocolate Society March Madness Tournament—unless that violates a trademark, in which case let it be known that it is our Spring Silliness Tournament. The first tournament featured 32 chocolate bars paired off in a single-elimination, randomly-paired tournament. But each year since has included 64 chocolate bars. We have the only blind, honest chocolate competition out there, and it is some fun!

We have had lectures from a chocolate producer (Rob from Fresco) about the production process, Eric Durtschi from Crio Bru about bean agronomy, and Francis Fecteau from Libation about the tactics of smelling and tasting. We have visited a variety of chocolate producers, had meetings in various local venues to see and celebrate Salt Lake City, and we have eaten a LOT of great chocolate.

It didn’t take long for the real value of the Utah Chocolate Society to shine through, and it wasn’t in the chocolate. It turns out the society—the people who make it up—are easily the best part. We represent different ages, backgrounds, faiths, and senses of humor. We share in a common passion of chocolate, and we do it loudly and with much merriment.

April 30th saw us celebrating five years of getting together to get nerdy about chocolate, and I may have set too high a bar for myself if ever I try to outdo it. Adam Kriesel from Chaia Cucina Catering provided an awesome meal, after which we had, in typical ChocSoc fashion, WAY too many desserts and goodies provided by the people that make the whole institution so great.

My original goal was to find like-minded people to share in the chocolate discovery journey. Mission accomplished.

The next goal is to help Salt Lake City—and all of Utah—realize that Utah is a weird outlier in the chocolate world. The world of fine chocolate is completely overrepresented here in terms of both the number of world-class producers and the number of people who can’t get enough of the stuff. And I want Utah to further embrace that happy fact and shout about it annoyingly loudly to friends and family who ask, “What’s good in Utah?”

You can also learn about fine chocolates in one of the many classes taught at Caputo’s Market.