Monday night a jam-packed Lane Room audience, drawn in by the promise of a chocolate tasting, heard Amy Guittard talk about the history and quality of her family's business. Amy is a fifth-generation Guittard and current Director of Marketing at the long-time Burlingame business that provides the sweet smells that often waft through our little burg. Amy started the history lesson with her great-great grandfather Etienne who realized there was opportunity amongst the gold miners for something other than picks, shovels and whiskey. She then walked the Historical Society membership through the early days in EssEff and the eventual move to B'game in 1955. As their website notes
Guittard remained on Main Street until selling the property to the city to make room for the Embarcadero Freeway. It was at that time, that Horace A. moved the company to Burlingame, California
The audience got an education in the growing of cocoa around the world and the stringent quality control and product development that is on-going at Guittard. The public only sees a small portion of the company's output since a lot goes to other consumer brands like See's and to chefs around the world. I was struck by how similar a rigorous tasting of chocolate is to wine tasting. Here's Amy with the step-by-step Chocolate 101 lesson
This was a fabulous night at the library.
Posted by: Becca | March 06, 2019 at 01:54 PM