June 24th, Sunday – Lake Champlain Chocolate Company

Today is another so-so weather day.  Overcast skies, some rain, and temperatures no higher than the mid 60’s.  We’re not really looking forward to moving further West into the heart of the heat that we’ve been hearing about but so be it.  Given the weather and the current state of my back, we’re going to stay put today and probably for the next couple of days.

We finally finished up the mini series The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson.  By 11 pm last night, we still had several more episodes to go so we called it a night and picked

 

up where we left off this morning.  What’s amazing is the fact that most campgrounds discourage those in the park from using their WiFi for streaming movies.  Yet, here they encourage it.  So we’re going to be streaming movies until we leave.

Let’s go back a couple of days now and get caught up on what we visited on Friday.  We’ve already covered The Vermont Teddy Bear Company so let’s go now to The Lake Champlain Chocolate Company in Shelburne, Vermont.

Once parked we made our way to the front door.

And then we got ready for the through the window factory tour. During the tour we got

a direct view of the factory floor as our tour guide explained the company’s history, the cacao-to-chocolate process, and what typically happens in the factory. The tour incorporates a slide show of images, props to pass around, a chocolate tasting, a short factory video, and, oh yea, a final chocolate sampling.  Delicious.

Our guide for the tour was Patty, a former college professor, and substitute kindergarten teacher.

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She started out by sharing with us that Lake Champlain Chocolate began in 1983 in the kitchen of the Ice House Restaurant, owned by Jim Lampman in Burlington, Vermont.

At the holidays, Jim would buy fancy chocolates to give out to his staff. Until one Christmas, when his pastry chef confessed what he really thought of those chocolates. “All right, then you do better!” Jim replied. The result was a batch of hand-rolled truffles so smooth and creamy, so deep in pure chocolate flavor — after just one bite, Jim knew they were onto something. Within a year the restaurant was sold, Lake Champlain Chocolates was born, and a new era in American chocolate had begun.

At the start, Jim’s idea was to sell the truffles wholesale to just a few specialty stores. Tucked away in a tiny alley behind Floyd’s lawnmower service, the store was sort of difficult to find. And yet, there came a constant knocking at the door — chocolate lovers who had tracked the company down in search of truffles!

In 1998, a proper factory of 24,000 square-feet was built on Pine Street in Shelburne.  This is where they still make all their chocolates today. Lake Champlain Chocolates are now in 2,000 specialty stores across the US and through mail order and internet sales they continue to grow.

These are pictures of the actual factory floor at the facility on Pine Street.

 

Where you might ask are all the employees?  Since this is the slow season, Patty explained, that they were given a three-day weekend.

As to how chocolate is actually made?  Chocolate begins with the cacao tree which grows within 20° north and south of the Equator and thrives on a mix of hot temperatures, rain, and shade.  Each tree bears oval fruits, or pods, which are about 5–12 inches long. Each pod contains 30–50 seeds, and it’s these seeds the world knows as cacao (or cocoa) beans.

From the cacao tree, the steps to an actual bar of chocolate are many and varied.  They include

• Harvesting – Cacao pods are ripe when they turn a vibrant yellow/orange color. Hanging from the trunk and largest branches on small stems, the ripening pods are typically harvested twice per year
• Fermentation – this occurs in one of two ways: the “heap method” is popular in Africa, where beans are heaped in piles on the ground; and in Latin America, a system of cascading boxes is favored. In both methods, beans are covered with banana leaves. During the 2–9 days of fermentation, beans begin to take on color and some of the flavors you would recognize as “chocolate.”
• Drying & Shipping – Fermented beans must be carefully dried. They are placed either on wooden boards or bamboo mats for anywhere from 7 to 14 days under the hot sun and are continually raked and turned over for consistent drying. Once dried, the beans are graded, packed into sacks, bundled, and checked for quality. They are then shipped and traded on the international mark
• Producing Chocolate – Once received by the processor, beans are cleaned, then roasted at low temperatures to develop flavor. Shells are separated from the nibs (the “meat” of the bean) by a process called winnowing. Nibs are finely ground into cocoa mass
• Conching – this is a careful process of rolling, kneading, heating, and aeration. A conche is a large agitator that stirs and smooths the mixture under heat. This is an important step in the process of producing consistent, pure, and delicious gourmet chocolate— and it is here that the final aroma and flavor are defined

• Tempering – The chocolate is now finished and ready for final processing. It is now put into small blocks ready to be delivered to companies around the world. Of course, the chocolate doesn’t stay in this form. Around the world, chocolatiers, bakers, chefs, and pastry experts use this highly versatile, delicious food in countless applications and preparations, from simple to elaborate.

That was our day at The Lake Champlain Chocolate Company.  Perhaps the best part was, of course, the samples.  Absolutely delicious!  We enjoyed every minute of our time there and every bite of every sample.

Overall, our day was a quiet one.  Time to rest, nap, read a book, finish our mini series and not much more.  Not that I’m complaining one bit.  A few more days like this and perhaps, just perhaps, I’ll be back in tip-top shape physically.  At least that’s my hope and prayer.

As the day now comes to a close, let me share a closing thought for all of us to ponder:

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries, let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and eventually some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before