Got to love chocolate!

It just isn't Valentine's Day without chocolate, but chocolate and gifts didn't enter the Valentine's Day scene until the second half of the 20th century. Before then hand written notes were exchanged. After her graduation from Mount Holyoke College in 1847, Esther Howland of Worcester, Massachusetts had received her first English Valentine. She was interested in making similar Valentines and her father owned a large book and stationery store. She imported the paper lace and floral decorations from England and began taking orders for Valentines. Demand was so great she had friends assist her and issued her first ad in a Worcester newspaper and created a thriving business. It later became popular to exchange gifts and not just cards, including roses and chocolates packed in red satin heart shaped boxes.

We've moved beyond the red satin boxes and the chocolate selections have grown up since Cadbury's first first heart shaped chocolate box of 1861. So what have we got for you or your Valentine this year?

Red Collection - 9 Piece Box

Our 9-Piece Box is filled with 5 beautifully decorated hearts and 4 hand-dipped bonbons specially decorated for the occasion. The flavors included in this collection are raspberry, ginger, caramelized white chocolate, bourbon caramel, peanut butter, cherry, milk chocolate creme fraiche, passionfruit, and Ceylon cinnamon. This collection comes to you in our signature black box wrapped in a red Japanese paper sleeve and is sealed with a wax heart.

Orders to be shipped can be placed through Sunday, February 6 at midnight and will be shipped USPS Priority Mail Tuesday, February 8 (2-3 day delivery time.) Orders to be shipped placed after February 6 at midnight will be shipped on Tuesday, February 15.

Local orders for pickup can be placed through Friday, February 11 at midnight and can be picked up Monday, February 14 between 10am and 5pm.

Red Collection - 5 Piece Box

Our 5-piece box is filled with beautifully decorated hearts. The flavors included in this collection are raspberry, ginger, caramelized white chocolate, bourbon caramel, and peanut butter. The hearts are nestled in a unique handmade cocoa leaf box with a window to admire each heart. The boxes are made by artisans in remote villages using sustainable materials.

Orders to be shipped can be placed through Sunday, February 6 at midnight and will be shipped USPS Priority Mail Tuesday, February 8 (2-3 day delivery time.) Orders to be shipped placed after February 6 at midnight will be shipped on Tuesday, February 15.

Local orders for pickup can be placed through Friday, February 11 at midnight and can be picked up Monday, February 14 between 10am and 5pm.

New Year! New Chocolates!

We are back in the kitchen with new seasonal sweets for you to enjoy and quite a few new venues where our chocolates can be found. The January Chocolate Club is in full swing with treats that reflect the season available exclusively for Chocolate Club members. Feast your eyes on this month's Chef's Choice:

• Caramelized White Chocolate - Valrhona Ivoire with warm tones of butterscotch and dulce de leche
• Hot Chocolate - Winter classic has dark chocolate ganache flavored with a hint of creme de cacao and topped with handmade marshmallow
• Vanilla – A dark chocolate ganache infused with fresh vanilla bean
• Cayenne / 5 Spice – A savory dark chocolate ganache flavored with Chinese five spice and the heat of cayenne
• Honey Caramel - Floral tones of wildflower honey in a soft caramel, balanced with
• fleur de sel
• Passion Fruit - A white chocolate ganache with the tart and tangy presence of passion fruit
• Confection of the Month: Maple Bourbon Pecan Clusters

Should you feel that you just can't be left out this month, you can still join the January Chocolate Club, but you have only a short few days. The deadline for this month is January 9th at the stroke of midnight. Click here to become a member.

Local Finds
We are starting to pop in on local neighborhood shops and make ourselves at home. Look for us at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge. On the shelves they'll have bags of confections, and 9 piece boxed collections of both our Three Teas and Caramel Trio. Behind the chocolate display case, you'll find individual bonbons available a la carte. Grab a bottle of Champagne, some cheese and wine, a selection of charcuterie and a baguette and you have the perfect last minute feast!

A little closer to the source, our local bean to bar chocolate friends, Taza Chocolates, will be selling a classic truffle that we have made for them with a ganache based on Taza’s 70% Stone Ground Chocolate, hand dipped in Taza 80% dark. It's fruity and dark with delicious tones of cherries. The truffles can be found at Taza's new retail shop downstairs from our kitchen at 561 Windsor St. Somerville. They'll also have samples of all their chocolates, and take a peek through the windows at their expanded production facility!

In the News

Public Radio Kitchen
"New Sweety in Town - Fate threw Elaine Hsieh and Catharine Sweeney together over ten years ago when a mutual friend asked them to make a wedding cake (their first). The two are still talking, and they’re even in business together with the brand spankin’ new Elaine Hsieh Chocolatier in Somerville. Check out these beautiful chocolates (did I mention there’s a monthly chocolate club membership?)."

Weekly Dig
"SOMERVILLE AS HERSHEY: IS THAT A LOCAL FIRST AMUSEMENT PARK? - In October, chocolatier extraordinaire Elaine Hsieh set up shop on Taza’s second floor. She, along with cofounder Catharine Sweeney, makes confections that fall just a smidgen short of adultery in guilty bliss. Their Pecan Clusters ($18.95), dripping with dark chocolate and bourbon-infused caramel, are the closest you can come to absolutely ecstasy without oxygen deprivation."

Celebrate Winter

Many local food folks are celebrating because on Saturday, January 8th the Somerville Winter Farmer's Market makes its début. Come visit us at the Somerville Winter Farmer's Market, January through March, 2011! The market will be held at the Arts at the Armory building.

Open House Celebration

You have been over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving, and now it is time we invite you into ours! Elaine Hsieh Chocolatier and Albertine Press can't wait to throw their doors open and invite you in for some delicious chocolate tastings and antique letterpress demonstrations. This will be some of the most "tasteful" shopping you will get to do this season.

We’re hosting an Open House from 12:00-4:00pm in our new location at 561 Windsor St. B-206 Somerville, MA. We are celebrating with our neighbors, Albertine Press, a design and letterpress print shop. Start or complete all your holiday shopping at once! There will be samples, boxed chocolates, and beautiful holiday cards available.

See you all soon!

Season of giving....chocolate

Yes, where is that chocolate? So many of you have enthusiastically asked and patiently waited...and waited...and waited.

We have chocolate - and lots of it! Our new kitchen, and we, are up and running. The shelves are brimming with chocolate, cream and butter and we can't wait to share our chocolates with you once again.




Due to ''technical difficulties'', our shopping cart is not quite ready to accept orders. We will have the new shopping cart up and running soon and appreciate your continued support and patience. While the site is under construction, we have set up "shop" at etsy to accept your chocolate orders!


So what's new for this year? Well, in addition to the Chocolate Club memberships, we have expanded our menu to include boxed collections that are always available, like the Bourbon Caramel Pecan Clusters and our Three Teas Collection. For the week of Thanksgiving, our boxed collections are available to ship on Tuesday, order by midnight Monday - expect arrival by Friday or Saturday. We're also offering pick-up from our new space. Just let us know by email, and we'll have it ready for you for Tuesday!

Thank Goodness We Don't Say: Chocolate

Production Photo by Dan Orlow

Cheese wins when it comes to having your photo taken. I don't think you would like the results if you said "chocolate" unless you are going for that startled, slightly stunned look. Not a problem here because we are not photographing ourselves (okay so Dan took a few production photos but we were just an "aside".) The models for this shoot were all ganache. No make up needed. No fake food here and no melt downs either. We recently headed to local photographer Ellen Callaway's studio for some new "chocolate portraits" in preparation for the next phase of Elaine Hsieh Chocolatier.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but, when it comes to food, the picture needs to be worth a thousand flavors, textures, aromas and tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, spicy, and perhaps umami. This is not that easy to achieve. With the explosion of food blogs, flickr groups, and food photography sites you can find everything from photos of horrid looking food to mouthwatering shots. You might have a delicious bite in front of you, but if you can't capture it well on film, there is no convincing anyone that it tastes better than the photograph looks unless they can smell the aromas and take a bite. Here are some of our favorite sites that are mouthwatering and delicious to just plain ridiculous.

Mouthwatering & Delicious

Food Gawker
TasteSpotting
Food Porn Daily
Food Porn
Photo Grazing
Rezimo
Foodie Views
Liqurious


Local Food Bloggers with delicious Photos
La Tartine Gourmande
Erin Cooks
17 and Baking
Boston Food & Whine
Food on the Food
Tiny Urban Kitchen
Once Upon A Small Boston Kitchen
My Camera Eats Food
Poor Girl Gourmet
Eat Boutique
(a little less local but definitely worth looking at) Smitten Kitchen

Ridiculous & Entertaining
Cake Wrecks
Baked goods gone wrong. Spelling and grammar snafus, ridiculous cake designs, and "what were they thinking?" treats.
Fancy Fast Food
Extreme makeovers of real fast food "meals". You will not believe your eyes. This is not a make fast food healthy site. It is actual fast food transformed into fine dining type meals.
Airplanefood.net
Photographs of airline meals from travelers.

Happy browsing and enjoy the feast for your eyes. We can't wait to share our new photos with you but they are not quite ready yet. Keep your eyes peeled.

No Tricks But Plenty of Treats

There is no denying that Hershey's, Nestle, and Mars have it in the bag when it comes to trick or treating. They are the perfect companions for the colored Carnauba wax covered candies that melt, crunch, stick, and pop between your teeth after an evening of staying up past your bedtime and spending time knocking on neighbors doors.

As chocolate makers and creators of confection we can't let the month of October end without a little nod to the sugar filled celebration of Halloween. This year, according to the LA Times, Avatar will be one of the hot costumes hand made or store bought. On that theme, we thought we'd let you in on some of the secrets behind our avatar. Okay so this is a little more trick than treat. We don't mean the movie character here, but rather our little picture that represents Elaine Hsieh Chocolatier on Facebook and Twitter.

Nothing says Halloween like a little "black" and orange. The photo we are using is of our orange zest ganache. We infuse fresh orange zest into the cream for the ganache. The chocolate is a Michel Cluizel single plantation Vila Gracinda 67% dark. Once ready, the ganache is cut on a guitar and each square of ganache is then hand enrobed in Valhrona 70% Guanaja. The orange sliver on top is a slice of candied orange peel. One more trick...this chocolate is one of our chef's choice chocolates available just a few weeks each year and it is not available at the moment.

We do have a wonderful treat though, we will officially be open for business in less than a fortnight! We have passed our inspection and starting soon we will be making some of the best treats in town (or so we've heard).

And this is....a chocolate business?

This may take a while....