San Francisco International Chocolate Salon

Just received an email with new chocolate additions to the 2009 San Francisco Chocolate Salon.

TCHO, Tifa Chocolate, Yelp!, Omnivore Books, The Sweet Beauty Organic Chocolate Spa, ARTworkSF, and PlayFirst's "Chocolatier" video games (Decadence by Design).

The Chocolate Salon is Saturday, March 21st, 2009 from 10am-6pm and is the premier artisan chocolate and confections event on the West Coast, with over 30,000 square feet of discoveries and delights at the Fort Mason Center's Herbst Pavilion in San Francisco.
Advance Tickets are $20 ($25 Door).

See the new Chocolate Television video from past Salons featuring L'Artisan du Chocolat, Quady Winery, XOX Truffles, and the San Francisco Chocolate Factory.

The Third Annual San Francisco International CHOCOLATE SALON participants include over 50 chocolatiers, confectioners, wineries and other culinary artisans, such as: Amano Artisan Chocolate, Jade Chocolates, Coco-luxe Confections, Guittard Chocolate Company, Saratoga Chocolates, Marti Chocolatt, The Tea Room chocolate, Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Choclatique, TCHO, The Xocolate Bar, Dolce Bella Chocolates, William Dean Chocolates, Dove Chocolate Discoveries, , Omnivore Books, Sweet Beauty Organic Chocolate Spa,Chocolate Television, The New York Times and TasteTV, and many more. All this in over 30,000 square feet of Chocolate, Wine and Confections.

For Tickets: Contact: www.SFChocolateSalon.com

Chocolate Salon Author Book Signings:
Carole Bloom, "Truffles, Candies, and Confections"
Celebrity Chefs, "Sexy Dishes: A Guide to Who's Hot in the Kitchen"
Anita Chu, "A Field Guide to Cookies"
A.K. Crump, "The Cafes of San Francisco, 3rd Edition"

*** UPCOMING LUXURY CHOCOLATE SALONS **

- Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon (July 12, 2009)
- Chicago Luxury Chocolate Salon (September, 2009)
- Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon (October 2009)

For more info: www.ChocolateSalon.TV

Tcho: San Francisco's high-tech chocolate

Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle Staff writer, had an article on Tcho, artisan San Francisco chocolate, yesterday. Timothy Childs, a rocket scientist (yes! a former NASA technologist) and Louis Rossetto, the founder of Wired Magazine, are ready to introduce their latest chocolate. "Not just any chocolate, but TCHO Chocolate, where technology meets chocolate, Third World farmers get paid more and, the creators say, "the last good drug" just got better.

"We spent three years putting this together," said Rossetto, the silver-maned CEO of TCHO, who started Wired magazine in 1992 and sold it six years later for a reported $30 million. "Now, for me, it's like the first issue is about to hit the stands. We're in a magical moment."

As TCHO chocolates begin to reach the market, the 30-person company located at Pier 17 becomes the only maker from bean to bar of chocolate in San Francisco.

Tcho doesn't use percentage cacao or varietal as descriptors. Instead, its chocolates are packaged based on flavors: chocolaty, citrus, fruity, floral, earthy, nutty. Pretty unique, and I guess I'll need to try them all to make a judgement. The flavor comes from the bean's terroir, but another part is in how Child brings out the flavors in the roasting and fermenting process.

High tech is an important part of the Tcho process, no big surprise, but so unique. Soon Childs will be able to monitor fermentaria across the globe from his iPhone.

Read the entire article.

Tcho was at the top of the Chocolate Picks in Drink of the Week's Valentine's Day list.

The TCHO factory in San Francisco will open to the public for tours and educational events in the fall. The chocolates are sold at TCHO's store at Pier 17 at Embarcadero and Green and at www.TCHO.com, also available at select specialty stores in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Mateo.

Glad to see there will be chocolate tours in the Bay Area, especially after Scharffen Berger's Berkeley closing.

TeamBuilding Unlimited, a division of Murder on the Menu, is now offering a San Francisco Chocolate Scavenger Quest (groups only).