ALL ABOUT CHOCOLATE

It’s Women’s History Month, the perfect time to talk about the history of women in chocolate! Let’s look at women’s roles in both the growing and making of chocolate, and in consuming chocolate from the beginning of chocolate making to the present day.

A popular and unusual flavor of chocolate offered by Tangle Chocolate is our Italian Truffle Salted 72% dark chocolate. Recently, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Sabatino Tartufi, the company that makes our truffle salt, and go on a truffle hunt with one of of their hunters and his adorable dog! Read all about the experience.

Here in Massachusetts, fall is coming, but it's not quite here. What's going on in Guatemala, the home of our delicious cacao? Read to find out about the life cycle of a cacao pod.

As the summer months roll in and the heat rises, we all look around for something to cool us off. Gelato with Tangle Chocolate Topping, anyone? But wait, what is gelato, anyway? And how is it different from ice cream? Which is healthier? This three-minute read will answer these questions.

While the chocolate production steps of roasting, milling and tempering are well known for their impact on the final product, one that can have the greatest flavor impact is often forgotten. Much like kimchi and sauerkraut, cacao beans too require fermentation in order to create the chocolate we all know and love. Here's how it works.

Recently, a customer asked if I had any fat-free chocolate dessert recipes. While I’m unaware of any chocolate or recipes that contain ZERO fat, there are lots of low-fat options. Here’s a little information about the fat that is in chocolate, the best options for low-fat chocolate, and a couple of very low-fat chocolate recipes that this chocolate lover finds worth trying. These are wonderful treats for anyone who cannot process fat (or has other reasons for not wanting to eat fat).

Tangle Chocolate recently began offering a creamy, deep, 52% cacao MILK chocolate for the many folks out there who haven’t yet made the switch to dark (we refer to our milk chocolate as the gateway chocolate, so beware!). Want to know a bit about the process involved in developing our milk chocolate formula as well as a thumbnail history of milk chocolate? Keep reading.

A few days ago, a Tangle customer contacted me, upset because she had accidentally smeared some chocolate on her silk sofa. While I was unable to help her—a silk sofa stain of any kind would send me directly to a professional upholstery cleaner—I do have some suggestions for how to get chocolate out of clothing, and a professional dry cleaner and the Smithsonian Museum add their two cents as well.

As a professional chocolate maker, I own a number of specialty pieces of equipment that you won’t find in your home kitchen. But did you know that you can make an approximation of chocolate yourself using what you likely already have? My introduction to chocolate making was in Belize, where I learned basic techniques that can be practiced almost anywhere. Keep reading, and maybe you’ll decide to give it a go yourself. 

It's almost that time. You want to give your Valentine something that references Valentine's Day traditions, but that is also a bit surprising, a fresh take, an upscale twist on chocolate and flowers. We think you will find what you're looking for in this ultimate gift guide from Tangle Chocolate.

Tangle Chocolate’s best selling Winter in New England gift box is full of products to keep you cozy and healthy and happy through a cold winter. One of the items in the box is Elderberry Syrup, an immune booster, made by local herbalist Hannah Jacobson-Hardy of Sweet Birch Herbals in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Want to know more about it?

So your taste in hot chocolate no longer includes powders that come in envelopes, but you don't know how to make truly rich, real, exceptional hot chocolate yourself. You are about to read the best of the best of hot chocolate recipes.