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We are giving away one Dark & Milk Chocolate Lover’s Box
Yes, one lucky person will win a box of chocolates! Come down to our booth at City Hall or St. Albert between now and Dec 22nd and make sure to enter our draw.You could win a box of chocolate worth $50! The winner will be announced on Jan 1st.
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Announcing our final appearances in 2012
Thanks again for coming out and rediscovering Chocophilia this fall. We have a quick update for you about where we will be this month: We will be at the City Market Downtown in City Hall on the following Saturdays from 10am to 3pm: Dec 8th, Dec 15th, Dec 22nd We will also be at the St. Albert Christmas Farmer’s Market on Saturday, Dec. 22nd, 10am to 3pm.…
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At the Royal Bison and the Westmount CL Hall this weekend.
We will be at two locations this weekend. On Sat and Sun, Dec 1st and 2nd, Chocophilia products will be out in force at the Royal Bison Craft and Art Fair. It is just north of the Strathcona Farmer’s Market. This is a great place to look for local, handmade stuff! On Sunday, Dec 2nd,…
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Turin and Nutella Brownies
Two weeks ago, Cyrus and I went to Turin for the Slow Food Festival. While we were there, we sampled many regional Italian specialties like wine, cheese, prosciutto and a type of chocolate called Gianduja. Giaduja was invented in the mid 19th century in Turin when there was a shortage of cocoa beans. The locals…
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Was your Fleur de Sel bar too salty?
To my customers and Fleur de Sel fans: If you’ve tried the Fleur de Sel bar that you purchased at a farmer’s market recently and found it to be super-salty, it’s not because I changed the recipe. It’s because I must have accidentally doubled up on the salt! Please come and see me at the…
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Chocophilia bars return to Edmonton tonight.
Here is some good news for Chocophilia lovers in Edmonton! The long wait is over. Your favorite Chocophilia bars and other Chocophilia products are once again available, fresh and delicious as ever. After shutting down the shop in April, I approached my sister, Angie, about the possibility of continuing to make the bars herself. Angie was with me in the…
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Mexico City Treats
Churreria “El Morro” The first thing we did when we got to Mexico City was go for churros and hot chocolate. Mexico City is crowded and hectic and I couldn’t face it without some ammunition. El Moro is an old school Churreria that’s been around since 1934. The atmosphere is no nonsense cafeteria style with…
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The end of a chapter, but not of the story…
Dear Customers, As you probably know, Kerstin’s Chocolates has been bringing great chocolate to Edmonton for the last 8 years, and I would like to thank you, our loyal customers, for your support. I began my journey offering specialty chocolate through chocolate education workshops in 2004 and then began manufacturing my own brand of bars,…
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Chocolate in Hoi An
It’s been a while since I’ve had chocolate and the bar of Beschle 64% with pistachios and salt that I purchased in Singapore was polished off weeks ago. I am in Hoi An, a picturesque but touristy town in central Vietnam which for hundreds of years served as a major port to Portuguese, Japanese and…
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Vietnam
The food in Vietnam is amazing. I don’t know how I can even begin to describe my feelings as I taste one delectable dish after another. In short, I feel like I’ve come home. It’s a strange feeling since I’ve never been here, nor have I ever really tasted proper Vietnamese food save the odd…
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Cacao and coconut
We are taking a package tour on the Mekong Delta. These tours always stop at tourist traps where they demonstrate handicraft or candy making. On our tour we stopped at a coconut taffy making workshop but to my surprise, there is cocoa growing in the surrounding plantation. Mekong River Cacao! Who knew? I asked our…
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Christmas 2011: From our Edmonton shop
We know you love exploring the holiday offerings of our European and U.S. counterparts as much as we do, but here’s what’s coming out of our own kitchen this season: Our classic offering is undoubtedly the Chocophilia Christmas Trio. Three chocolate barks in either a milk or dark box, all wrapped up in the handsome…
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Christmas 2011: From around the world
As promised, items handmade at our Edmonton shop will be out later next week, just in time for the 1st of December. For now though, we thought we’d showcase holiday themed items that have arrived from various parts of the globe. First up, Italy. Our two favourite Italian manufacturers, Amedei and Venchi, have sent us…
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What is Gianduja anyways?
We have lots of gianduja hanging around the shop for the holidays, so we thought we’d better re-introduce this amazing treat so you can get to enjoying it. Gianduja was first invented in Turin, Italy by Paul Caffarel in 1865. By grinding hazelnuts into a paste and then adding it to chocolate and sugar, he…
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Drinking Chocolate Flights – Saturday, November 19th from 1-5pm
Whilst in Portland, I got to visit Cacao Drink Chocolate and taste the most amazing Flight of three drinking chocolates (below). So, as a nod to this Portland shop’s genius (and to celebrate the first snow and cooler temperatures), we will be offering Drinking Chocolate Flights this coming Saturday, November 19th, from 1-5pm. Guests can…
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Tell us about your favourite bar…
We’ve been choosing our favourite bars over the past few months, and for December’s ‘Pick of the Month’, we’d like a little help. Leave a comment below (or e-mail us at marianne [at] kerstinschocolates [dot] com) telling us why your favourite bar should be December’s feature. We’ll pick the most passionate response and give the…
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Maggie Walt’s Hidden Gems Bazaar
We’re excited to be participating in Maggie Walt’s Hidden Gems Bazaar this year! Eleven other local businesses will be on hand at Maggie’s Fashion Underground (11217 Jasper Avenue) to offer up their wares on November 4th and 5th. There will also be goody bags and door prizes (including a Milk and Dark Chocolate Lover’s Box…
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Day One at the Salon Du Chocolat
We went up to Paris to see the opening day of the Salon Du Chocolat at the Porte De Versailles expo center. After a long subway ride, we arrived and excitedly went in! We left the kids back in Fontainebleau with Grandma and Grandpa. Don’t worry! They will come back to the Salon over the…
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A tour of the chocolates of Fontainebleau
Fountainebleau is a town on the outskirts of Paris. We are here with Cyrus’ family who is visiting from the Netherlands and New York. The town is famous for its palace and palace gardens which date back about 400 years. To be honest, I don’t know much about the history of the place. I’ve been…
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Say hello to Vosges (and more Domori, Zotter and Venchi)
We’re starting to run out of shelving space in the shop, but last week we happily made room for items from Vosges, Domori, Zotter and Venchi. From Vosges we received Red Fire, Blood Orange Caramel and Black Salt Caramel bars, in addition to their famous Mo’s Bacon Bars in dark and milk. There’s also some…
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Our October Pick: Michel Cluizel’s Maralumi Lait
We were originally wowed by Michel Cluizel’s handling of the Maralumi Noir, made up of beans from his Papua New Guinea plantation. But then he sent us Maralumi Lait. Cluizel has an excellent record when it comes to dark-milks. Just taste the surprisingly bright and citrusy Mangaro Lait. His Maralumi milk keeps this trend going.…
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Eat, bake, repeat.
As Kerstin heads out of Edmonton, many of our bars and other treats have found their way to the shop. We promised to keep you all updated, so here’s a peek at what’s new on the shelves. TAZA We love Taza‘s stone ground, organic chocolate in many forms, but particular favourites are drinking chocolate discs…
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September 2011: Trips and Changes
September 2011 Newsletter We were going to start this month’s newsletter by wishing you all a happy fall, complete with scarves, jackets and copious amounts of chocolate. But instead we’d like to help everyone enjoy the summery weather (that has finally arrived in Edmonton) by continuing to offer our Valrhona chocolate ice cream. We’ve got…
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Bean to bar experiment #1
On Sunday I tried to make my first batch of chocolate from the bean. I got the whole family involved including my husband, my kids(plus a friend), my sister and my niece. The kids loved it. They thought it was really cool that chocolate came from these weird looking and bitter beans. We started by…
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Summer closure, sale and city market news!
Our annual summer closure is from August 18th to September 8th this year, but we will be open on Tuesday, August 16th for an end-of-summer sale. Check back for more details. We will also be at the downtown farmer’s market on August 20th, August 27th and September 3rd. We will be selling pints of Valrhona…
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