To celebrate Mike and Sheila's return to the Bay Area from South Africa, we went on a tour of the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory:
I can't remember the name of the machine pictured, but it uses granite rollers on two axes, to grind the cacau (a.k.a. cocoa) bits into a fine goo. It was one of the many machines that we saw on the tour, which was super-awesome by the way. I went there not planning on buying any chocolate, and of course, I ended up buying three bars.
I dig the fact that the break out the cacau content of their chocolate, and that they make a really dark chocolate (82%). Apparently, I am somewhat in the minority for liking dark chocolate, but hey, I knows what I likes.
All of the pictures that I took are up. This tour is definitely recommended if you are up in the Berkeley, CA area.
-Andy.
I loved that tour when we did it a few years ago. Did you stick around and eat at Cafe Cacao?
My big question for them is how much will change since Hershey just bought them out.
Their 82% is far and away my favorite chocolate, tastier than anything has a right to be! I remember when Liz and I were on that tour, we got weird looks because we really enjoyed tasting the roasted, completely unsweetened cacao beans, relishing the flavor like it was some crunchy form of wine.
Did you by chance eat at the cafe as well? If not, you'll have to make a return trip, as it's quite nice. No matter what you get, make sure you have their potato chips (which I know sounds silly, but just trust me).