Will close tomorrow (Saturday) at Noon PT.  They’ll be mailed out on Monday.

But if you live in LA, you can tune in to 94.7 The Wave every day next week during lunch to enter to win BonBonBar candy bars and marshmallows for Mom!

Ok. The caramel update is still forthcoming… and so is the now “weekly…ish” BonBonBar photo post. I don’t know where the time goes… Well, maybe it goes towards running a chocolate business in LA by myself (and have I mentioned how Quickbooks is an interminable odyssey in its own right?). But I LOVED all of the suggestions that I got for the caramels, and was so touched by the creativity and thoughtfulness of the ideas. The downside of my business is that I tend to be either busy or tired, but whenever I get a comment or an email from a reader or customer, I am so deeply touched and grateful… and feel so guilty when I can’t respond right away, and when days slip by. In addition to having the privilege of working with chocolate and sugar on a regular basis, hearing from others (from all over the world!) is my favorite part of having my own business.

And this week was a banner week for that. Here are three takes on my products that talk about them in ways that I never would have imagined…

First, Kevin Vigneault, he of Candy Bar Lab, posted niftily about Learning Product Development from a Candy Maker.

Then, Alice Q .Foodie posted about enjoying my candy bars for her birthday. I always hold my breath a little bit when I start to read a post about my bars, but when it’s for someone’s birthday, I’m more like a deer in headlights than a person looking at a computer screen. But phew…. Alice liked them quite well!

My lungs barely had a chance to recover before I read Ruth Reichl’s write-up on Gourmet’s Weekly Newsletter. One of my beliefs for the company is that everyone is a VIP and wonderful for even considering my confections, but when an author, former New York Times (and LA Times!) restaurant reviewer, and current Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet Magazine raves about your passion fruit marshmallows, it’s hard not to get a little bit more flustered than usual. It doesn’t seem like Gourmet posts its newsletter on its site so I can’t link to it, so here’s a copy of the writeup by Ruth:

As I walked towards the Market Gourmet in Venice on Friday to hand out samples of my BonBonBar products for the first time in a store, I worried about my karma. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d bought a new product after being given a sample by a company’s rep in a store. Granted, I haven’t come across those types of samples much recently in stores and I buy very little prepared foods, but still… If I used myself as a barometer, the forecast was bleak… I inwardly copped to buying mostly out of habit, taking samples and running, and/or averting my eyes… and was willing to forgive anyone who did the same.

When I got into the store, I saw that only a few candy bars out of the 36 that I’d delivered on Monday had sold, and the marshmallows were still well-stocked, too. I’ve learned that introducing a new product with a relatively short shelf, small size, and high price in a store is tricky — how can you make it stand out from ALL the other products? how can you make it sell? how can people know that it’s good and worth it when they’ve never heard of it before? Customers whose eyes skim along the shelves — often in search of something that they know they want — don’t know about my products or me or my blog or website. Talking and tasting is really key in introducing new products.

Now when I go shopping in stores, I consider the hope behind each and every product sitting on the shelves… Behind each of them is a team of people — large or small — that hopes that all of the hard work of design, production, salesmanship, shipping, and so much more will have been worth it and you will want to pick it up, carry it to the register, take out your wallet, and give money in order to own their product.

I also wonder if the products are part of an order that came in months ago or that week — not out of spoilage concerns, but as a measure of how well it sells.

So, I set up a couple cutting boards with my candy bars and marshmallows on a table near the store’s chocolate display, and across from the side of the register. There were samples of the store’s guacamole, pico de gallo, and chips on the table next to mine. The first few customers had eyes only for the chips and dip, which admittedly, were excellent, but this unexpected competition was a little awkward. Sure, my confections could be the “dessert samples” of the table, but most people took a sample and walked away, or if they lingered, I had to time my own “Would you like to sample some candy bars and marshmallows?” in a perky yet unassuming tone just as they seemed to finish chewing.

But then things looked up. Customers came along who wanted my samples. I found that asking “Would you like to try some candy bars and marshmallows?” got a generally positive response, but adding “I make them myself” got an overwhelmingly positive response. People lit up immediately.

And from what I could tell, people generally loved them. And that’s when it’s really fun. That’s when you’re in it together with people — not as seller and customers — but as fellow appreciators, casually conversing. I’ve been very lucky with my products — people often get very excited about them and want to savor them and tell others about them. It reminds me of when I started this blog to tell others about culinary school and the good food that I was sampling, and it completely amazes me that now people are talking and thinking about my own candy bars and marshmallows in the same way.

One office nearby was especially abuzz about the lady giving out samples at the store — you can read Angie’s post about her take on the bars and marshmallows here (written the very same day! and be sure to check out her hair clips and artwork, too). Also, two different people left the store and returned with others to have them try samples.

When I left, my shelf space was proudly barer. And incidentally, when I delivered more bars two days ago, a customer called to have 8 of them put aside for her to pick up this week.

Of course, I’m happy that they sold, but I’m really happy about giving people food that I consider to be good and seeing them enjoy it. I just loved being in the store — I didn’t want the demo to end and I’m looking forward to going back.

And I really didn’t mind if someone sampled them and didn’t buy it, or didn’t want to try a sample, or didn’t like them (I was happy to give as many diff’t samples as people wanted, b/c it’s rare to love a company’s whole product line). It’s awkward for a second, but I know that everyone has their own palate… and they’re new products…. and they’re expensive (honestly, I was afraid that people who sampled and immediately took one, all happy and excited, would return it once they looked at the price on the bottom, but no one did). Maybe they’ll come back and buy another time, or tell someone about it, or fondly remember one nice bite… or not at all. I know what it’s like to sample food in stores, munching and walking away, sometimes remembering and sometimes forgetting about the product.

I did some eye-averting of my own, though. It didn’t seem right to stare and smile at people as they ate the samples. It’s awkward, and I think it affects how they taste. I want them to taste it fully before reacting, and I don’t want to rush that. I’m actually a little wary of people who immediately start praising them once it hits their tongue — how could they process all the flavors so quickly? Maybe the marshmallows can hold up to that — their flavors are quite up front — but chocolates work more on a time-release of taste principle, I think.

And my sales-speak usually focuses on the origin of the ingredients and a bit about technique. I need to focus more on what interests each individual person. I don’t want to chatter away, but I do want to talk about what matters to them.

And the most dangerous part of doing a demo? Having hours to discover new products myself in the store that looked so good. I got a buttermilk blue cheese from Wisconsin that was amazing on whole wheat bread.

More BonBonBars are available in more stores than ever this week…

Market Gourmet in Venice is carrying my entire line available for retail — Caramel Nut Bars, Orange Bars, Scotch Bars, Vanilla Marshmallows, and Passion Fruit Marshmallows. I will also be in the store to do a demo this Friday, April 11, giving out samples during lunchtime, starting around 11:30am.

Joan’s on Third (between the Beverly Center and The Grove) now has my Caramel Nut Bars, Orange Bars, Vanilla Marshmallows, and Passion Fruit Marshmallows.

Chefmakers in the Pacific Palisades will be restocked with my Caramel Nut Bars, Vanilla Marshmallows, and Passion Fruit Marshmallows on Wednesday. I’ll be working there this Friday afternoon and evening, too.

And in San Francisco, The Candy Store will have my Orange Bars this week in addition to the Caramel Nut Bars and Vanilla Marshmallows that they already carry.

I’m honored to have my confections in each of these stores — surrounded by other interesting, quality products that have been assembled by the friendly and enthusiastic people who make the stores happen.

And for those outside of LA and SF, you can always get my candy bars and marshmallows through the BonBonBar website. Please note that the Malt Bar is only available through my website… and also that hot weather is on the way, which means that soon I will only ship candy bars Ground and Priority Mail to Southern California. All other destinations will have to go Next Day. All packages will have to be insulated and with gel packs, which I’m trying to make as eco-friendly as possible, but it’s tough. I may develop a line of caramels that can ship more slowly during the summer… but while tasty, they won’t exactly be handmade candy bars.

Enjoy!

This is the chocolate melter that I use for my tempered chocolate. If you’re not familiar with the process of how to temper chocolate, here’s a video demo. The melter fits 6kg of chocolate — that’s 13.2 lbs (and mine is a smaller model). I say that I use if for my tempered chocolate because it’s not exactly a tempering machine, which agitates the chocolate and cycles through the requisite temperatures during a certain period of time. Instead, my melter is more like a heating pad shaped as an open-faced box — it keeps a steady temperature, based on I turn the knob to, and I have to stir myself. There’s something like a stainless steel hotel pan that fits into the melter, which is which the chocolate goes in; I drape plastic wrap btw the melter and the pan to make cleaning up easier.

A tempering machine isn’t foolproof and it’s quite noisy and heavy, so I opted for the melter. It’s more control through slightly more work. I begin by melting chocolate in it through constant heat, at about 115F. I don’t have to chop the chocolate that I put in, b/c chopped or not, it takes hours to melt the chocolate; it’ s best to do it overnight or well ahead of when I need it. So, little effort, but lots of time. There’s also the option of melting the chocolate in a double boiler to speed things up, though even that takes time and attention.

When it’s ready and I need tempered dark chocolate, I remove the pan of chocolate from the melter (or pour double-boiler-melted chocolate at 115), add the seed, and let it cool to 90F; I also turn down the heat of the melter to about 32C (b/c it’s European and has no Fahrenheit markings) so that it’ll be ready to maintain the temp.

Adding seed is a little nerve-racking when dealing with large quantities. I don’t want to over- or under-seed, b/c if the temper is bad after all this time, I might have to begin again. So… let’s say I begin with my melter at about half full, with about 7 pounds of chocolate at 115F. I have to add about 25-30% of that as the seed chocolate that will help temper it. So, maybe another 2.1 pounds of chocolate that goes in. Now that’s 9.1 pounds in the melter… which is a lot of chocolate. Btw, I don’t weigh when temperin. I visually estimate by pouring the seed chocolate over 1/3 of the melter and letting it go to the bottom, too. I let it sit, and stir as it cools down, more so as it gets closer to 90F. I usually move the pan around the table to help it cool, so that it goes on fresh cool surfaces. The amount of time it takes to cool down depending on the ambient temp, as well.

So, after all that time and stirring and chocolate, if the temper is unfixable (sometimes, if it’s underseeded, it just needs more time and agitation), you have to reheat the chocolate to 115 and start again. That would mean bringing some water to a boil on the stovetop… and reheating 9.1# of chocolate in a bowl (or perhaps, bowls). Then… pouring it back into the pan, adding seed (which would be another 2.7 pounds of chocolate, bring it up to 11.8#… stir carefully, b/c that’ll splash over the sides! or you could pour out some of the chocolate onto parchment), and starting it all over again. I don’t have a ton of chocolate around, so even though untempered extra chocolate won’t go to waste, it means I have less factory-tempered chocolate that I can use as seed.

Or if the process works to begin with, then you feel pretty thrilled.

I could go on and on about the topic of tempered chocolate, but I’ll save it for future posts. And I’ve already talked about the issue of keeping a good temper at the end of this post.

Anyway, have I mentioned a theory I have? There would be soooo many more chocolatiers if tempering wasn’t involved.