From The Blog

Cookies for a Cause: DOUGH & CO and Dandelion

August 10, 2018 by Omar Mamoon

Since 2013, Omar has been running DOUGH & CO, a San Francisco-based purveyor of cookie dough meant to be eaten baked or unbaked (eggs are substituted for a slurry of white chia seeds). All proceeds from this collaborative cookie project will benefit La Cocina, a non-profit food business incubator for women and people of color where he’s been a long time volunteer. We are excited to have him write about the philanthropic side of his local business.

I started DOUGH & CO five-and-a-half years ago. Though I never went to culinary school or business school, I had a strong innate passion for food. This passion was further fueled by the non-profit La Cocina.

La Cocina helps primarily low-income immigrant women of color to start food businesses; I lived across the street, so I started volunteering. Seeing people go through the program was super inspiring. I quit my desk job and started renting commercial kitchen space from them on Sundays where I’d make small batches of cookie dough.

From day one of starting DOUGH & CO, I knew that I wanted to give back to the community somehow. Part of the company mission statement is to “doughnate” 1% of our profits, 1% of our time, and 1% of our delicious cookie dough to nonprofits and causes that are important to us. Since starting my business, I’ve helped raise and donate over $25,000 to various non-profits around the Bay Area through cookie dough collaborations with like-minded folks. It’s not a lot in the grand scheme of it all, but it’s something – and that something can make a difference.

I’m stoked and honored to collaborate with Dandelion, who generously provided their 70% Camino Verde Chef’s Chocolate (which I mixed in generously with a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough). It’s like eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, except in a sophisticated cookie form. All proceeds from the sales of this cookie will benefit La Cocina.

The Dandelion/DOUGH & CO chocolate peanut butter cookie will only be available at the Dandelion Ferry Building cafe. And, it’s only around for a limited time – August 10-17, 2018.

I really like it, and I hope you do, too.

-xx

Omar

An Interesting Read on Brazilian Cacao

August 1, 2018 by Greg

While we don’t normally repost stories onto our blog, I thought it was worth calling this one out. One might say Brazil keeps crossing our path. Dandelion has been interested in working with cacao from Brazil for many years. Our sugar comes from Brazil and we’d be excited to have a bar where all of the ingredients are from Brazil.

Tuta, Greg, and Juliana at Vale Potomuju

A few years ago we had the pleasure of hosting Sarah Hartman, the Brazilian Chocolate Maker of Harper Macaw, for the summer. One of our previous Chocolate Makers, Arcelia Gallardo, eventually moved to Brazil and started Mission Chocolate, making some of the tastiest Brazilian bars I’ve had. So much Brazil! I’ve met many interesting and talented people in Brazil and after visiting Brazil this past May, I am quite optimistic about the bean-to-bar industry there. Many producers are also making chocolate from their own beans, creating a tight feedback loop to help improve quality and flavor.

The reason I wanted to highlight this piece in particular is because it does a great job of explaining a very complex and challenging topic – the devastation of the Brazilian Cacao industry – as well as highlighting Juliana and Tuta, two cacao producers in Brazil who have been doing an incredible job rehabilitating their farm (which I was able to visit in May) as well as producing tasty chocolate. With all of that being said, I hope you enjoy the read: https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/27/bioterrorism-in-bahia-witches-broom-chocolate/

New and Decadent in the SF Valencia Cafe: Camino Verde Coffee Cake, Chocolate Ganache Fig Tart, and More

July 25, 2018 by Karen Solomon

Ready to try something extravagant with your cacao nib brewed coffee? Come and see us at the SF Valencia street cafe for Chef Lisa Vega‘s baked goods featuring summer’s best fruit paired with chocolate.

Say hello to the fig tart with balsamic caramel, honey ganache, and crisp honeycomb.

Round like a bicycle wheel and named for a well-known French bike race route, meet the Paris-Brest pastry with hazelnut praline cream and chocolate ganache.

Ready for spooning, the chocolate pannacotta with rich tahini, nutty sesame soil, and tangy stone fruit is a contrast in tangy and sweet.

Don’t let the muffin shape fool you. This is our old-fashioned coffee cake with Camino Verde chocolate, bright cherries, and cocoa nib nut streusel.

San Francisco/Tokyo Dandelion Employee Exchange Program

June 29, 2018 by Kaija Bosket

Kaija is a lead chocolate maker at the Valencia Factory in San Francisco. In February 2018 she lived in Tokyo for a month as part of the DCJ (Dandelion Chocolate Japan) and DCA (Dandelion Chocolate America) employee exchange program. She loves making chocolate, exploring new places, and, of course, eating good food.

Why does Dandelion have an employee exchange program?

Todd, one of our founders, used to do a lot of exchanges when he was growing up (Mexico, Russia) and he learned so much from those experiences. He wants to offer cross-team learning as well as exposure to different culinary palates and team processes.

What were your first impressions of life in Japan?

I was amazed at how clean and quiet the trains and subway stations were! Traveling around was a treat.

What was hard about your life there?

Kaija and the Dandelion Japan delivery van

This is Kaija being much taller than the Dandelion Japan delivery van.

The height difference was my biggest challenge. I’m 5’11, and I felt like a giant by Japanese standards. At work we had to make a few modifications so I could work comfortably.

What else was unexpected?

Communication and transportation were surprisingly easy. People were super nice and helpful and the transportation system was easy to navigate.

How was your job in Japan similar to the work you do as a chocolate maker on Valencia Street?

It was still making chocolate the Dandelion way. It was the same process, values, and team spirit. Everyone puts 110% into their work and everyone loves what they do.

How was the work different?

DCJ works with smaller quantities of cocoa beans at a time than DCA. There is also a different flavor preference for how the chocolate should taste. In the Dandelion Chocolate Japan bars, they like the chocolate to have more sour and fermented notes. We also tend to have different reference points for flavor. For example, when we taste espresso, they often taste tea.

Work life. Kaija makes chocolate with her co-workers in Japan.

What were some highlights of the trip?

Getting to work with the DCJ chocolate makers was such a treat as well as getting to meet other makers at the Craft Chocolate Market, an event hosted by Dandelion that gathers craft chocolate makers from all over the world. We also traveled to Kamakura, Ise, Osaka, and Kyoto and tasted samples from a variety of Japanese confectionaries, bean-to-bar makers, and bakeries. I also saw my first real, growing cacao tree at the Kyoto Botanical Gardens!

Was there a lowlight of the trip?

A few coworkers and I had horse sashimi at an izakaya in Tokyo. Everyone else loved it but it was probably the only thing that I ate in Japan that I didn’t enjoy.

Would you do it again?

Absolutely! It was super inspiring to work with chocolate makers all the way on the other side of the globe. I can’t wait for my next chocolate adventure!

Arigatogozaimashta, Kaija! The Dandelion Kamakura cafe will see you again soon.

We’re Brewing Cacao Nib Coffee at Our SF Valencia Street Café

June 22, 2018 by Jennifer Roy

Jennifer has handled the public relations for Dandelion since 2013, and she’s an avid drinker of coffee in the cafe. For this piece, she spoke with Voga Coffee’s co-founder and CEO Eli Salomon who, along with Josh Avins, CTO and scientist behind the technology, and Jason Sarley, co-founder and Chief Coffee Officer, are the creators of the Ground Control vacuum coffee machine.

Voga Coffee's Cyclops coffee machine in the Dandelion Chocolate cafe

The Ground Control Cyclops coffee brewer behind the counter at the Valencia Street cafe.

If you’ve been in our café on Valencia Street recently, you’ve probably seen a very futuristic-looking machine topped with hand-blown glass bulbs. It’s a new coffee machine called Ground Control® Cyclops from the innovative folks at Oakland-based Voga Coffee. We’re the first café in the world to have this machine, and it just won the Specialty Coffee Association 2018 Best New Product award. We’re thrilled to be serving both brewed coffee and brewed cacao nib coffee with Ritual’s beans.

Why add another machine in our café, and how did we meet the team from Voga? Eli Salomon of Ground Control was testing the machine near our Alabama Street factory, and he asked if he could experiment with brewing some of our cacao nibs. How could we say no? When we finally got to taste our nibs brewed with delicious Ritual coffee, we had an “aha!” moment where we were blown away by the taste. The cacao nib coffee is smooth, nutty, and full-flavored coffee without any kind of bitter aftertaste. Todd, Dandelion’s co-founder and CEO, exclaimed: “How could we not have a machine that brews the most delicious coffee made with our nibs?”

Keep your eye on the Cyclops when you next visit our Valencia café.

Since launching the brewed coffee and the cacao nib brewed coffee at the end of May, 2018, the feedback has been very positive. People love it! Cacao nib coffee makes you less jittery than regular coffee, and it has a more uplifting buzz. Along with the normal caffeine kick, it must be the theobromine from the nibs that helps give your mood a boost.

How does the Cyclops work? Salomon explains, “Traditionally, it’s been impossible to brew cacao nibs, because their high-fat content clogs brewing filters. When we first spoke with Dandelion, our team suggested the possibility of using Ground Control’s high vacuum brewing process to overcome this hurdle that has plagued the chocolate world for hundreds of years. After Voga ran a few brewing experiments, it became clear that our innovative, patented brewing approach was exactly what was needed to coax the delicate, beautiful flavor of Dandelion’s impeccably sourced single-origin cacao. It was through this effort that the world’s first cacao brewer was discovered.”

He adds, “In addition to brewing a delicious cacao-based beverage, Ground Control’s unique multi-stage brewing method extracts multiple layers of flavor from coffee or cacao, resulting in a delicate, multi-dimensional cup. Drinkers of Ground Control brewed beverages have marveled at their smooth, clean cup profile and the significantly pronounced sweetness that soars from the cup. Ground Control’s unique, carefully controlled process not only eliminates harsh bitterness but also presents delicate, nuanced flavors that would otherwise be obscured.”

Currently, we’re offering a Ritual single-origin brewed coffee from Guatemala as well as the cacao nib coffee with our Camino Verde, Ecuador nibs. We look forward to having you come by to try it. Let us know what you think!

Don’t worry; you still get one of our signature shortbread cookies with every cup.