A day to celebrate love and chocolate? Every day!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Your friend in chocolate,
Valerie
Valerie Beck
Chocolate Uplift Founder
Professor Valerie Beck Tutoring and Coaching
Happy Valentine’s Day!
California Valentine: Chocolate Tasting for East Sacramento Rotary Club
Happy Valentine’s Day!
What a pleasure to hold a virtual craft chocolate tasting for the East Sacramento Rotary Club!
Rotary International’s values of environmental protection and peace have always resonated, and the East Sacramento club’s anti-trafficking projects parallel anti-slavery work in cacao. Thank you to club President Jim Fritzsche for inviting me!
Quick notes from “backstage”:
For millennia, chocolate has been associated with matters of the heart, health-wise and love-wise.
- The Aztecs, Maya, and other indigenous people understood cacao’s physical and emotional benefits.
- Contemporary studies have identified compounds in cacao that protect the heart and elevate the mood.
- Sometimes one taste is all it takes to uplift our outlook.
Slides — see the comments section for links, videos, and information.
See photo above for the menu, including two made-in-California bars, and here for links to the chocolate makers —
- 9th & Larkin Chocolate of San Francisco, California: 72% Tanzania Kokoa Kamili and corresponding cocoa bean https://www.9thandlarkin.com/
- Xocolatl Chocolate of Atlanta, Georgia: Love & Happiness 60% Peru Pangoa and corresponding cacao nibs https://xocolatlchocolate.com/
- Dick Taylor Chocolate of Eureka, California: Chocolate Dipped Strawberries & Cream bar on 72% Belize https://dicktaylorchocolate.com/
— and remember to Look, Sniff, Taste to identify and enjoy craft chocolate that is: slavery-free, soy-free and synthetic additive-free, sustainable and soil-regenerative, small-batch, and scrumptious!
Here’s to an East Sacramento Rotary Club motto: “We are serious about what we do, but not always serious while doing it.” Onward and upward!
Your friend in chocolate,
Valerie
Valerie Beck
Chocolate Uplift Founder
Professor Valerie Beck Tutoring and Coaching
Article: 5 Ethically-Sourced Chocolates to Buy This Chocolate Season, by Simran Sethi for Epicurious
Happy Valentine’s Day season!
Click for a wonderful and timely article by dear Simran Sethi (whom I first met on a cacao farm in Ecuador!) for Epicurious titled “5 Ethically-Sourced Chocolates to Buy This Chocolate Season.”
Her article gives information about the terrible human rights and planetary problems in the chocolate industry, such as child labor and deforestation — Ivory Coast has lost 90% of its forests due to bulk cacao cultivation using environmentally harmful methods — which we see in the commoditized cacao supply chains used by big chocolate brands that are found in grocery stores and other large outlets.
Happily, the article doesn’t stop at the problem as some other stories on these grave topics do; Simran shares some exciting solutions or alternatives in the form of slavery-free, sustainable chocolate options for Valentine’s Day and beyond, made from ethically-sourced specialty cacao that so many of us rave about (and that I love to put on my grapefruit : ) .
For example, the article highlights the delicious Dick Taylor drinking chocolate in my photo at the top of this post — made from just 2 ingredients: organic cacao and organic sugar, all you need! — plus other choices by chocolate makers I’m also honored to call clients or friends!
You know that all of the craft chocolate brands I represent as a broker, consultant, or distributor meet my 5 Ss:
- slavery-free
- sustainable
- soy-free and lecithin-free
- small-batch
- scrumptious!
Enjoy Simran’s excellent article. Chocolate is love!
Your friend in chocolate,
Valerie
Valerie Beck
http://www.chocolateuplift.com
chocolateuplift@gmail.com
Instagram @chocolateuplift
Chocolate is love: Valentine gift sets
Hello!
Chocolate is love: I’ve assembled a small number of retail Valentine’s Day craft chocolate gift sets, and I’d love to send one to you or your gift recipient if you wish! The chocolate in these sets is, as always,
- sustainable
- slaveryfree
- soy-free and lecithin-free
- smallbatch and
- scrumptious!
The sets are $50 each at www.paypal.me/chocolateuplift.
Which bar would you taste first:
♡Hot Pink by Chocolatasm,
♡Love and Happiness by Xocolatl Chocolate,
♡Hacienda Azul by Dandelion Chocolate, or
♡Vanilla Raspberry by Dick Taylor Chocolate?
Happy Valentine’s season!
Your friend in chocolate,
Valerie
Valerie Beck
Founder and CEO Chocolate Uplift
Craft Chocolate Wholesale and Retail Distribution, Consulting, Talks, Tastings
Valentine’s Chocolate Tastings in Chicago and Los Angeles
Hello there!
Happy Valentine’s Day season! To celebrate, I’m holding seated chocolate tastings, and I hope you’ll join me!
Details for Chicago chocolate tastings:
What: This Valentine’s Day season, tour the world of chocolate without leaving your seat, during this 90-minute chocolate tasting led by chocolate expert and original chocolate tours founder Valerie Beck. Why is chocolate associated with love? Why does it lift our mood? We’ll focus on the answers, and on sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate. And we’ll taste a lot of top craft chocolate brands at this fun, fascinating, and delicious seated chocolate tasting! Great for couples, singles, or girls’ day out!
When: Friday and Saturday, February 1 and 2, 2019, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm.
Cost: $45 per person, or $35 per student or senior. Includes chocolate samples. You can purchase tickets for the chocolate tastings directly through Valerie’s PayPal link.
Details for Los Angeles chocolate tasting, including Letterpress Chocolate micro-factory tour:
What: This Valentine’s Day, explore the world of chocolate at LA’s local small-batch artisan chocolate manufactory, Letterpress Chocolate, during this 90-minute chocolate tasting event led by chocolate expert and original chocolate tours founder Valerie Beck. Why is chocolate associated with love? Why does it lift our mood? We’ll focus on the answers, and on sustainable bean-to-bar chocolate made onsite. And we’ll taste a lot of luscious Letterpress Chocolate at this fun, fascinating, and delicious chocolate tasting and factory tour! Great for couples, singles, or girls’ night out!
When: Thursday, February 14, 2019, 6:00 pm.
Where: Letterpress Chocolate, 2835 S Robertson Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034.
Cost: $50 per person, or $45 per student or senior. Includes chocolate samples. You can purchase tickets for the chocolate tastings directly through Valerie’s PayPal link.
Throwback: click for the story of how I started the original chocolate tours, and view a video montage from the old tour days!
Thank you, and happy Valentine’s Day!
Your friend in chocolate,
Valerie
Valerie Beck
Founder/CEO Chocolate Uplift
Instagram @chocolateuplift
Sweet Talk
~ New: click for the video of my interview on tastytrade web tv, about chocolate health benefits and the business of Valentine’s Day, and see some of the pastries we’ll sample today at the below tasting! ~
Come hear about the history and health benefits of chocolate, while sampling fine chocolate and pastry this Valentine’s Day:
I’m hosting a seated chocolate tasting open to the public at 12:45 pm on Valentine’s Day, Saturday 2/14, at new Alliance Patisserie, 615 N. State Street, Chicago, and a few spots remain!
$40/person, http://www.chicagochocolatetours.com/buy.
Chocolate is love!
Valerie Beck, Chocolate Expert
chocolateuplift@gmail.com
How Did Valentine’s Day Get So Chocolatey?
How Did Valentine’s Day Get So Chocolatey?
by Valerie Beck, chocolate expert
Valentine’s Day is the holiday of love, whether romantic, platonic, or spiritual. But where did it come from, and how did chocolate (thankfully!) become associated with it?
The holiday began as an ancient Roman fertility festival, was Christianized with St. Valentine who according to legend married star-crossed lovers in secret against the wishes of Roman emperor Claudius II, became a day to celebrate romance during the rise of courtly love during the 14th century, and has since spread throughout the world, in various permutations. On Valentine’s Day in Japan for example, women give chocolate to men!
Chocolate has long been associated with love, from Mayan times onward, because of its mood elevating properties. Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? Scientists disagree, but throughout history people have embraced this idea.
For instance, Aztec emperor Montezuma drank golden goblets of chocolate before visiting his harem. Famed ladies’ man Casanova wrote that chocolate was more effective in the seductive arts than Champagne. Note though that these two historical chocolate lovers enjoyed their chocolate themselves, and didn’t share it with the women in their lives! This may have been a mistake, because today researchers have found that chocolate affects men and women differently, due to different brain chemistry, which may explain why women report craving chocolate more than men do.
On that note, a recent poll showed that 50% of women surveyed said that they prefer chocolate to, ahem, something else.
In contemporary times, the week of Valentine’s Day is a big season for chocolate purchases. Let’s face it: chocolate is love!
Your friend in chocolate,
Valerie
Want more chocolate insights, plus a chocolate tasting? Book me as your group’s “sweet speaker!” Click here for speaking engagement topics, fees, testimonials, and videos, or contact me at chocolateuplift@gmail.com.
Instagram, twitter, and Facebook: @chocolateuplift
Sweet & Chic
Sweet & Chic
Chocolate + a scarf, tote, or cosmetics pouch = sweet & chic!
My new Sweet & Chic gift sets are now available for purchase online anytime for anyone, or at my speaking engagements to add value for attendees and provide a delicious and memorable takeaway.
I’m seeking additional chocolate makers and accessories crafters to be featured. Bean-to-bar or fair trade preferred!
Click here for info on my speaking engagements, or contact me at chocolateuplift@gmail.com with questions or if you’re interested in having your chocolate or accessories featured.
Onward and upward!
Your friend in chocolate (and style),
Valerie
Chocolate Uplift 