On the Chocolate Trail

Bartons Chocolate Pops. Bartons Almond Kisses. Do you long for these and other iconic Passover favorites made by Bartons Chocolate? They exist because of the March 12, 1938 Nazi accession of Austria (Anschluss) when Stephen Klein fled Vienna for his life. A Nazi competitor had seized Klein’s chocolate company. He hurriedly left his two children

On St. Patrick’s Day green chocolate took on a whole new meaning for us. Green-garbed celebrants lined up outside of Boston’s Back Bay bars in the middle of the day as Mark and I walked over the Charles River for a quick chocolate factory tour in nearby Somerville. One of just a few “(cocoa) bean

After trying for weeks to get confirmation for our Rosh HaShanah reservation at the Pines in Fire Island–to pray in a new setting, to be with friends, to be at the beach, to have a break–we decided we had better go to our fall back option: Switzerland! So it was chocolate that ultimately escorted us

“Things are seldom as they seem” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore rang true as we explored England’s chocolate in Oxford, Birmingham, the Lake District and York in March of 2009.  Our search for historic and significant chocolate had us schlepping 262 miles to the beautiful but rainy town of Kendal in the Lake District

June 26, 2007 Villajoyosa Then to the Valor Chocolate Factory in Villajoyosa. The largest producer of chocolate in Spain, Valor uses very sensual and almost soft core,“adult” oriented pitches to sell the chocolate. We saw Nederland Cacao powder in the storage area and chocolate beans from Ghana. The audience, mostly families, giggled in appreciation at

June 24, 2007 Sueca In Valencia Province, the outdoor Sueca city map clearly identifies the Comes Chocolate Museum. Owned by fourth generation Comes family member, Pedro Melero, 400,000 people visit the museum each year. He buys his chocolate from a co-op; they decide what is best. It currently comes from Ghana. The Comes-Spanish-only video shows