Valentine's Assorted Chocolates

If chocolates were simply a mix of sugar, cocoa, and cocoa butter, you might as well buy them at the dollar store. Or, better yet, not at all

Good chocolate needs to be so much more

A chocolatier must understand the sounds of the ingredients that make the chocolate.

MEHRBAUM’S DECISION TO LEAVE

Hardly anyone today can recall the joy of exchanging a fistful of coins for Mehrbaum’s delicate hand-made chocolate morsels. Mehrbaum’s was the nineteenth-century German confection shoppe that made passersby inhale deeply. Then Mister Mehrbaum decided to leave.

But he had foresight.

He trained (with brutal intensity) his long-time friend and fellow chocolate lover Jacob Frankel on classic methods. Once it was clear Jacob had mastered the training, he was given the closely-guarded family recipe. Mehrbaum boarded a ship left the US forever.

Today, the 3rd generation of Frankels is running things.

Every chocolate brand is faced with two options.

One is to study what’s out there and do whatever's trending. Nothing wrong with that. It’s an intelligent way to build a stable brand. Cover bands might be reproducing someone else's music, doesn’t mean they aren’t talented musicians themselves.

But there is this other path. Here, the artist rejects all norms and explores their own interpretation. They’ll likely make mistakes and have to return to the drawing board often. There is suffering in this path. And self-doubt. But it’s the one we chose for ourselves.

IT’S TRUE

It’s true that chocolate magic is born in equatorial wetlands, and where we get ours.

It’s also true that when the beans arrive, they are inspected carefully by inspectors for flavor and aroma.

But in our opinion, the thing that’s kept our customers coming back for over 71 years is what they experience when they taste our finished product.

We won’t pretend we understand what’s happening inside other chocolate companies; we simply don’t know.

What we do know is what happens inside our 4 walls. All our free time goes into experimenting flavor combinations.

When making an almond patty…

And when making dairy-free Kosher Berry Swirl, should the berry center be wrapped in creamy chocolate ganache followed by dark chocolate -or- should the dark chocolate be wrapped in creamy ganache? There’s a difference.

SMALL BATCHES

When making cereal boxes, production speed is an important detail.

We’re not in the cereal-making business, so we do everything by hand, one batch at a time.

The chocolate you’re about to buy doesn’t exist yet. Only after you complete your order, will Mr. Frankel give us the signal to start.

There’s something different about chocolate