The Art Of Making Chocolate And 6 Of The Best Places To Order For Valentine’s Day

When I think of making chocolate, my mind immediately goes to that famous episode of the I Love Lucy show where she and her side-kick try their hands at entering the workforce. While the dynamic duo of Lucy and Ethel may have left our bellies sore from laughter with all of their mishaps at Kramer’s Kandy Kitchen, making chocolate, especially Valentine’s Day treats, is a skilled task and a delicious blend of art and science.

From roasting cacao beans to the velvety smoothness of hand-tempered chocolate, every step in the chocolate-making process is a testament to the chocolatier’s skill and creativity. It’s also a unique form of craftsmanship that combines ancient traditions with precise techniques to create culinary magic. Pastry Chef Kevin Gravito can attest to the taste of magic. With over 16 years of experience, he shares that whether you’re looking for savory, salty, or sweet chocolate, a good piece incorporates multiple textures and hits a few different notes.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, you still have time to elevate your chocolate gift-giving game and wow your gal pals and significant other beyond those quick-grab boxes at the register and grocery-store end caps.

Fairmont Empress Month of Love Chocolate Offerings

At the Fairmont Empress, Executive Pastry Chef Gerald Tan has been curating one-of-a-kind sweets and treats for guests for a while. In preparation for the Month of Love, Gerald traveled to Louviers, France, to the Cacao Barry Headquarters to experiment with different beans, sugars, and fruits to offer the best selection of irresistible chocolates. The new dark and milk chocolate creations embody the Fairmont Empress, incorporating locally sourced ingredients and elements on the property, including honey produced by their bees.

What To Order:

The velvet texture of dark chocolate, influenced by the Pacific Northwest, has notes of bark, rose, and red berries. The chef describes it as decadent and alluring, seeming to bloom like a flower under the cover of night.

The creamy texture of the milk chocolate brings together notes of honey (harvested from the hotel’s bee apiary), salt, caramel, and selenite salt, which the chef promises to leave you glowing much like the hotel as the sun graces the front of the castle at dusk. It’s a subtle reminder of the golden hour at Canada’s Castle on the Coast in chocolate form.

You’ll also find a creative combination of dark and milk chocolate in Chef’s bonbons. The flavors are Earl Grey with Midnight Bloom Dark Chocolate, Empress Honey with Caramelized White Chocolate, Hazelnut Praline with Golden Aura Milk Chocolate, and Saanich Berry with White Chocolate

Bissinger’s Handcrafted Valentine’s Day Chocolates

Dan Abel Jr is the Chief Chocolate Officer with a family passion for chocolate making. He and his siblings learned the craft from their parents, who were both chocolatiers. Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolate is more than 350 years old, proudly using the entire world as their marketplace to source the finest ingredients and crafting over 6,000 bars of chocolate and 15,000 confections daily by hand with a team of artisan chocolatiers. They pair these ingredients, recipes, and techniques handed down to us over generations, spanning hundreds of years.

What To Order:

J’Adore Bissinger’s Collection: Every last piece was a little bite of heaven. This limited-edition collection features flavors such as Pistachio Toffee, Red Velvet Truffles, Rose Truffles, Chocolate Strawberry Truffles, and Amore Caramels.

Chocolate-Covered Valentine’s Day Cookies: These were a sweet treat for my kiddos who love chocolate-covered cookies! Each cookie was topped with a conversation heart, making it fun and festive.

Strawberry Bark: The bark is one of the best I have tasted. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate swirled with pink strawberry chocolate and freeze-dried strawberries.

Compartés Chocolate

Compartés Chocolate focuses on sourcing the highest-quality ingredients globally and prioritizing local suppliers as often as possible. Jonathan Grahm, the chocolatier behind Compartés, crafts small-batch chocolates from California farmer’s markets using fresh produce, such as berries and citrus.

What To Order:

Compartés x Woodford Reserve Bar: Infused with Woodford Reserve’s Double Oaked bourbon, the bar carries subtle hints of orange, offering a nod to the classic Old Fashioned cocktail. It’s a delicious fusion of cherry, cranberry, and maple syrup that mirrors the drink’s essence in chocolate form.

Chef Jacques Torres Valentine’s Day Chocolate Collection

Producing over a ton of chocolate a week, Jacques Torres (also known as Mr. Chocolate) and his team have made small-batch bean-to-bar chocolates using beans from their cocoa farm in Yucatán, Mexico (and purchasing Belgian chocolates). They draw inspiration from classic French recipes, flavors, and everyday activities like vacations, dining with friends and nature.

What To Order:

Valentine’s Truffles Heart Box: While you’re gift-giving and shopping for others, this is a sweet treat to savor just for yourself. It’s seven of the most delicious truffles, including orange ganache in white chocolate and a filling raspberry ganache in milk chocolate.

Eternal Love Tower: You’re in for a roller coaster of flavors as you unwrap each heart-shaped box of the love tower. It’s filled with their signature bonbons, heart truffles, and foiled hearts, all made from the finest ingredients.

The Swiss Deliciousness of LOVO Chocolate

Many regions worldwide are known for their chocolates, but Switzerland is home to milk chocolate. LOVO blends Swiss chocolate-making techniques with modern manufacturing and premium ingredients to create creamy, smooth, vegan, plant-based, melt-in-your-mouth milk chocolate bars. Instead of traditional cow milk, LOVO uses almond, coconut, hazelnut, and oat milk as a base for its bars.

What To Order:

Each flavor is available in a four-pack, but your best bet is to order the variety pack, allowing you to taste each milk chocolate option. My favorite is the hazelnut milk bar, but they’re all tasty!

The Art of Eating Chocolate According to Delysia Chocolatier

Nicole Patel, owner of Delysia Chocolatier, also knows a thing or two about making chocolate. With an engineering background and innovation as a motivator, she uses her keen sense of smell to craft each confection, but she is allergic to chocolate. How ironic.

Their Valentine’s Day-inspired collection is a tasteful blend of sweet and spicy flavors, such as raspberry rose hibiscus, pomegranate strawberry, and almond honey fig. However, you’ll be in for a real surprise with the Taste of the South collection. The chocolate truffles are infused with flavors of sweet tea vodka, hummingbird cake, banana pudding, cajun fried chicken, and green chili queso. How’s that for innovation? You can even up your gift-giving game by booking one of the online tastings!

While biting right into that chocolate is tempting, Nicole suggests we pause and explore the textures, aromas, and intricate flavors that make chocolate more than a treat.

She further explains that chocolate is an experience to savor alone or perfectly paired with your favorite wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or even cheese. Whether the floral notes of a Pinot Noir enhance a Raspberry Rose truffle or the tannins of a Cabernet Sauvignon balance the richness of dark chocolate, every pairing is a journey—one where flavors evolve, surprise, and tell a unique story.

Nicole’s Tips for Tasting Chocolate

1. Make sure your chocolate is at room temperature before enjoying it.
2. Take multiple bites to enjoy the chocolate. You will taste just a hint of the flavors in the first bite. In the second bite, you will dive deeper into the creation, discovering the many vibrant tastes.
3. Do not chew. Let the chocolate melt in your mouth. Enjoy the lingering flavors.
4. When tasting several chocolates, it is best to start with plain chocolate and then move on to flavored varieties like fruits, followed by spirits and wines, and finally, spices.

Once you gift these Valentine’s Day chocolates for yourself or a loved one, you’ll never want to repurchase those basic chocolates!