We get a lot of questions about our chocolate processes and what the little details are. One of the biggest stumpers is our Honeycomb Malt. So I thought I’d take a sec and give you an insider’s peak because this guy isn’t really what you think. So first, if you reach back into your candy archives you might remember honeycomb favorites like Crunchie and Violet Crumble? The Recchiuti approach is just a little different. We take your basic ingredients of sugar, water and baking soda to create a porous, crunchy candy…more similar to those old school candies I mentioned, not actual honeycomb. After it has set, the candy gets crumbled with a rolling pin and then sprinkled on top of the white chocolate ganache. One trip through the enrober covers them perfectly with milk chocolate and the final product is ready to eat. Here’s some photos…

A closeup of the honeycomb candy.

Rolling the honeycomb into the ganache.

Viola…the grand finale…our Honeycomb Malt!

Popularity: 6% [?]

As some of you might already know, we recently partnered with Peet’s Coffee & Tea and developed a new line of chocolate bars. All the folks here at Recchiuti worked their tails off. We really wanted to chill out a minute and acknowledge everyone’s efforts, so we threw a Peet’s Pupusa Party and took a minute to celebrate together. Here are some pics…

This is Angelica…our amazing Kitchen Manager along with Sandra and Marina who are a part of our kitchen/production team.

And here is Estee our Outside Sales Manager chatting with Michele who manages our Online Store.

Popularity: 7% [?]

One of my favorite things about calling San Francisco home is being able to frequent its many Farmer’s Markets. You know, it’s how Jac and I got our start..before we had our permanent spot inside the Ferry Building we sold our chocolates out of the back of our car at the weekend market. It is amazing to see how the area has developed over the years with the Ferry Building and all, but it’s great to see how the Farmer’s Market has remained such an integral part of the area. Here are a couple of my favorite shots.

Popularity: 13% [?]

This is a great time of year because we get to hear about all the summer adventures folks at Recchiuti are having. You know…those summer BBQs that go late into the night, the trips all over the world, and Fourth of July festivities. It’s also when we play in the kitchen…and bring our Smore’s Bites back. They’re tough to make, but they are such a labor of love we can’t let them go. One bite of these babies and the fireworks won’t just be in the sky this summer!

Popularity: 21% [?]

What would we be with work and no play? David Lebovitz tells this story best, but I did happen to be standing next to Mort Rosenblum when he dropped his phone in the Seine. A great night overall. And how better to end reflections of Paris than with thoughts of good company and even better chocolate… all under the glitter of the Eiffel Tower.

Popularity: 19% [?]

We started off in this particular morning catching up with friends at Les Deux Magots for an espresso, croissant and a few laughs. Time to hit the streets, and check out a few more chocolate shops. One of my friends who lives in Paris, gave me a present from his collection of wooden duck toys from the 30’s. I decided to take the duck on a road trip, starting off in Paris. Next stop was Normandy, with the duck, of course…..

Les Deux Magots…a great way to start the morning.

Me and Jac…

Our new travelling companion.

Popularity: 22% [?]

The last moments of Spring are perfect to inspire new ideas and a little creativity. Jac and I were in Paris recently looking for just that….inspiration. Now that I’ve had a minute to reflect back on the trip and head into the kitchen, I thought I’d share some of what we found.

After a grueling flight over to Paris, via Zurich for a five hour layover, we finally made it to Paris. The list came out, and we began to embark on a tour around the city for some chocolate inspiration and of course a few sites along the way. Here’s a little sample..

Popularity: 22% [?]

I wanted to share a little slice of the production of our new 64% custom blend chocolate made by Valrhona, exclusively for Recchiuti. Recchiuti is the first in the US to have a custom chocolate formulated by Valrhona. The bars are also available at all Peet’s Coffee & Tea shops nationwide. Enjoy…

Here’s Peter mixing the blend in our melter.

Our molded Semisweet Bar, hot off the trays.

Packing the bars off to Peet’s…

Tada! Finally…please welcome Recchiuti’s newest…

Popularity: 31% [?]

With an absolute perfect spring weekend nestled into the rolling hills of Healdsburg, Jacky and I took part in the annual wine pick-up party at one of my favorite wine-makers, William Selyem. The weekend consisted of loyal Selyem collectors/followers who were out for the weekend to stock up on their precious cases of ‘07 releases, who at the very least got a taste of some carefully crafted, and aged library vintages.

Recchiuti Confections was present with a table of our chocolate confections for tasting and sale during this annual party. I snapped a few pics for you to savor.

Enjoy…

Popularity: 33% [?]

Springtime in San Francisco is unlike anywhere else. Between the flowers, beautiful weather and amazing light, it’s really also a season for fresh ideas. So of course, we’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen experimenting with new chocolate flavors, infusions and some other surprises. The two pics here are a little peak into the kind of processes we have going on right now. One shows some mixed nuts we’re about to chop up so we can test out a new recipe and the other photo is of chocolate ganache setting. I can’t even tell you how rewarding it is to see the smiles on everyone’s faces here at Recchiuti when they get to taste test all of the new surprises we’re cooking up.

Popularity: 35% [?]