Author Archives: Kate

Intrigue Featured in Book

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Intrigue Chocolates is featured in a book by culinary professional, Jennifer Lewis. Published in 2010, this little number tells how to turn your food passions into a money-making venture. Starting a Part-time Food Business: Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Love for Food Into a Successful Business Without Necessarily Quitting Your Day Job is a slender paperback volume with just the pertinent information necessary to build a small business, based on your deep interest in food. Jennifer’s premise is to give the reader examples of small enterprises, like Intrigue Chocolates, who have struggled and thrived. She sees this pattern repeated by other successful foodies turned entrepreneur: a joining of passions, highly specialized skills, and a willingness to step into the void. A risky place that puts faith in the very thing driving us at Intrigue, and the basis of this book; Love of good food.

Here’s an excerpt;

(Aaron)…experimented with some habañero chilis he’d grown and dried the year before. With very minor tweaking over the next few years, this initial creation became his signature Jamaican Hot Chocolate Truffle, inspired by traditional Mexican spiced chocolates. From that first experiment Aaron was instantly hooked on chocolate in this form. “I loved playing with flavors in combination with chocolate and using my knowledge of plants to create those flavors naturally.”

Lewis now has a second book out, titled Food On Wheels: The Complete Guide To Starting A Food Truck, Food Cart, Or Other Mobile Food Business. Both of her books can be found for sale on Amazon.com. Follow her personal blog about small food business at smallfoodbiz.com where she loves to talk about food and entrepreneurship.

March Truffle Flavors

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Many other cultures and religions celebrate the start of the New Year at the beginning of March. So why not celebrate with a box of chocolates?

Fortunato No. 4 Truffle – Thought to be extinct for 100 years, this single-origin chocolate comes from Peru, is organically grown and fairly traded. Named for the Peruvian farmer, one Senor Fortunato, who was caring for the re-discovered cacao trees at the high altitudes of the Maranon Canyon.


Jamaican HOT Chocolate Truffle – Dark rum, nutmeg, honey, vanilla and habenero peppers influence this favorite truffle. The character of rum can vary profoundly depending on how it is aged. Barrel aging and burnt sugar give this drink its characteristic natural brown color. Habanero peppers can be unpredictable, but they are all hot. The familiar orange tropical fruit originated in the Yucatan pennisula, but habaneros come out of the Caribbean, too. Rum and habaneros are old island mates, finally found together again in this exciting truffle.

Saint Basil Truffle – The “King of Herbs”, fresh, organic basil will surprise you with how wonderful it tastes in dark chocolate. One of the most popular herbs throughout history, our Saint Basil Truffle remains on the top of the popularity list with our customers. Rich in phyto-nutrients and iron, basil has many health benefits.

Zoka Moka Latte Truffle – Made with the Tanzanian coffee bean roasted by Zoka Coffee Roasters & Tea Company, an award winning Seattle-based operation.

Stout Truffle – What did you call me? Nah, this kind of stout is a good, dark beer, a beautiful pairing with a good, dark chocolate.

Irish Coffee Truffle – Face it, there is still a chill in the air…best battled with a little Jameson Irish Whiskey and a dollop of clover honey in your coffee!

Fresh Mint Truffle – Fresh, organic mint leaves give this truffle a cool, clean flavor that you’d expect from walking out into your own garden.  This is far better than some laboratory-born extract!

Maple Syrup Truffle – It’s the time of year when the sap starts flowing from the Sugar Maples, so let one of these delicious truffles flow into your mouth!

Alderwood Smoked Salt Truffle – A truly smokey truffle, red alderwood smoked Pacific sea salt gives this truffle a taste reminiscent of the fires that cook up that maple syrup.

Honey-Ginger Truffle – Honey and ginger are a wonderful taste combination, and this time of year offer some health benefits that can help boost the immune system and support healthy respiratory function. Some think of ginger as merely a lovely spice with some kick, but 2000 years of Chinese medicine show there’s a little more to it.

Lime! Truffle – Surprisingly bright and cheerful. Made with fresh lime zest, this truffle is the only one that has earned an exclamation point in its name.

Blueberry Truffle – Made with organic blueberry juice, this one is a salute to the fading days of summer and berry-picking in the hot sun.  We selected this truffle to remind us of the opposite end of the year.

March ends on the same day of the week as June every year (except for leap years like this one).  Make March feel extra special with a box of Intrigue Chocolates!

February: The Month of Love

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Love has been associated with chocolate for a very long time and for good reason.

Antioxidants help keep your heart healthy and also help lower the risk of cancer. Catechins and Phenols are the antioxidants present in chocolate. Catechins are Polyphenols that have been shown to slow the oxidation of other molecules that produces free radicals that can set off a chain reaction and create cancer cells. Also, Catechins have been found to help lower blood pressure, which lowers the risk of heart complications (can lower risk of cardiovascular disease by 37%). However, there are hardly any antioxidants in milk chocolate, so if you love antioxidants, eat dark chocolate (like Intrigue Truffles!). Flavanols also increase the blood flow to the brain which decreases the risk of stroke (can lower risk of stroke by 29%) and in a study has been shown to make your brain process things quicker.

  • Studies have also shown that dark chocolate helps fill you up which helps regulate how much you eat.
  • According to a British Medical Journal, chocolate consumption can help you live up to a year longer. Heart attack survivors that ate dark chocolate were shown to live longer than those who didn’t.
  • Phenethylamine is another compound found in chocolate. So when you eat chocolate it triggers the release of endorphins which make you feel good.
  • Anandamide is a compound in chocolate that activates the same brain receptors as marijuana, which helps you to relax.

And those are some things that Intrigue Chocolates can help you with!

 

 

 

 

 

February Truffle Flavors

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February is the month of love, so what better way to start out this lovely month than to indulge in the natural aphrodisiac of chocolate?


Fortunato No.4 Truffle – Thought to be extinct for 100 years, this single origin chocolate comes from Peru and is organically grown and fairly traded. Named for the Peruvian farmer, one Senor Fortunato, who was caring for the re-discovered cacao trees at the high altitudes of the Maranon Canyon.

Jamaican HOT Chocolate Truffle – Dark rum, nutmeg, honey, vanilla and habenero peppers influence this favorite truffle. The character of rum can vary profoundly depending on how it is aged. Barrel aging and burnt sugar give this drink its characteristic natural brown color. Habanero peppers can be unpredictable, but they are all hot. The familiar orange tropical fruit originated in the Yucatan pennisula, but habaneros come out of the Caribbean, too. Rum and habaneros are old island mates, finally found together again in this exciting truffle.

Saint Basil Truffle – The “King of Herbs”, fresh, organic basil will surprise you with how wonderful it tastes in dark chocolate. One of the most popular herbs throughout history, our Saint Basil Truffle remains on the top of the popularity list with our customers. Rich in phyto-nutrients and iron, basil has many health benefits.

Zoka Moka Latte Truffle – This month’s Colombian Huila coffee beans are roasted by Zoka Coffe Roasters & Tea Company, an award winning Seattle-based operation.

Pear-Lavender Truffle – A touch of honey illuminates the fruit of the pear brandy and mellows the camphor bite of the lavender. Dark earthy cocoa, honey, pear, musk…

R. Valentino Truffle – Made with culinary-quality rose petals, this truffle is delicately floral but definitely rosy, with hints of vanilla.  Do we even need to recount the myriad connections of the rose to romance?

Damiana Truffle – Damiana is a South American herb that has long been used as an aphrodisiac. It gives the chocolate pleasant herbal bright notes, a soft pepperiness, and a little rich musk.

Pomegranate Truffle – The pomegranate juice makes this our most intensely tart and fruity truffle.  Native to Persia, this ancient fruit still represents love, prosperity, and fertility.

Paradise Truffle – The West African spice “Grains of Paradise” is reminiscent of cardamom, black pepper, jasmine, rose petals, coriander, … It starts subtly, but leaves an invigorating brightness on your tongue long after.

Sweet Raspberry Truffle – For those of you with a sweet tooth (or two), we have this truffle flavored with a sweet all-natural raspberry liqueur.


Sichuan Pepper Truffle- Sichuan pepper is not actually a pepper, it is the outer pod of some of species of tiny fruit that belong to the genus Zanthoxylum. It gets its name from its widespread use in Sichuan, China, but many other Asian countries embrace it also. Unlike the flavor of black, white, or chili peppers, it has a lemony aroma and creates a electric tingling on your tongue due to 3% hydroxy-alpha-sanshool.


Fig Truffle – Many people do not know this but figs are one of the highest sources of calcium and fiber in the plant kingdom. Figs are commonly dried because they bruise easily and spoil quickly after they are picked. When you ask someone what is a fig is they are very likely to say “a fruit” but they would be wrong. Figs are infructescense of the fig tree, which means that the tiny structures inside the fig are the fruits.

 

Share your box of Intrigue Chocolates truffles this Valentine’s Day.  Now that’s love!

What is Dutched Chocolate?

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Dutch process chocolate or Dutched chocolate is chocolate that has been mixed with an alkalizing agent to give it a tamer taste than “natural cocoa”. Natural cocoa is yellowish-brown in appearance compared to the darker brown color of Dutched cocoa. Coenrad Johannes Van Houten invented Dutched chocolate in 1828 in Amsterdam by treating the cocoa powder with alkaline salts to make the cocoa have a darker appearance and also a milder flavor. Before you substitute one type of cocoa or chocolate for the other, make sure you compensate for the pH difference in the chocolate. After the Dutching process the pH may rise from 5.5 to 7 or 8. If you’re eating chocolate for the antioxidants (flavanols) then don’t rely on Dutched chocolate, because the Dutching process destroys phytochemicals.

Dutch process cocoa should not be used in recipes that call for baking soda because it is neutral so it won’t react (only use it in recipes that call for baking powder) but, natural cocoa can be used in recipes that have either baking soda or baking powder. Dutched cocoa or chocolate is also good for use in cakes that you want to be able to taste the other ingredients as well (such as European cakes). Natural cocoa or chocolate is good for use in brownies, cookies and some chocolate cakes (but it’s up to you to decide what you want to use it in). Well known natural chocolate brands are: Ghirardelli, Scharffen Berger and Hershey’s. Some well known Dutched chocolate brands are: Droste, Lindt, Valrhona, Poulain, and Pernigotti. Dutch process cocoa (1 cup = 92 grams) weighs more than natural cocoa (1 cup = 82 grams). Here at Intrigue Chocolates we use a premium blend of lightly Dutched cocoa, just dutched enough to be less bitter, but not over-dutched to the point of tastelessness.