I am currently at my home base in St. Louis, MO but that doesn’t mean I can’t still be a tourist. And what is more fun than a chocolate factory.
On the way to visit “Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate, I simply couldn’t help but think about the infamous “I Love Lucy” episode. My wife had given me a Valentine’s gift to tour the chocolate factory in St. Louis and while the chocolate making might be a little more orderly without Lucy, I knew it would be a treat. The place is located near the Hill neighborhood in an unassuming building.
We were all given chocolatier hats to wear (it is an FDA facility so it was that or hair nets) and the smell wafting up from the floor made a short wait quite pleasant.
The Abel family opened the original Chocolate store in 1981 after Dan spent years studying the art of handcrafting small batches of premium chocolates. That stores is located on Chippewa, near Ted Drewes. Today, Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate is a second generation company. Along the way, they purchased the world famous Bissingers, a company with roots in Europe that had later moved to St. Louis.
Chocolate comes from cacao seeds which are roasted and ground. The tour guide told us that all of their cacao comes from the Ivory Coast and is certified fair trade.
They produce a variety and that day, we watched them making dark chocolate caramel truffles sprinkled with sea salt.
Dark chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and (sometimes) vanilla
Milk chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, milk or milk powder, and vanilla
White chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, and vanilla
The tour and a small tasting are both free but you are almost certainly going to buy chocolate before you leave. The best deal is a small packet of their '“mistakes” that is very reasonably priced for such high quality product.
I will also note that this was not my first chocolate factory tour. Below are photos from Ghirardelli in San Francisco, a trip I took in 2019.