Chocolate entrepreneurs show off their flavorful creations at the Northwest Chocolate Festival

Tamara Kelly
Staff Writer

Chocolate is usually a dessert that can be filled with rich cream or drizzled over pretzels or cinnamon gummy bears, but at the Northwest Chocolate Festival in downtown Seattle, chocolatiers are taking it even further.

These chocolate entrepreneurs start by mixing unique flavors together for a sweet and salty taste that can surprise even the most adventurous consumer with a variety of mouthwatering experiences.

There are flavors like white chocolate and Balsamic vinegar, Habaneros with dark chocolate, and this year’s fastest seller, bacon flavored chocolate.
One of these new age chocolate thinkers is Caleb Smith, an assistant with Carter’s chocolates and ice cream. He had this to say about the bacon chocolate. “That was a big seller; we sold out within a few hours.”
While bacon flavored chocolate and strips of cooked bacon dipped in chocolate were sold from three different vendors, one suggested we try adding some in a homemade soup.

Chocolatier and Chef Karen Neugebauer has taken an unconventional approach to chocolate, simply by adding it to her entries. Infusing her signature white chocolate with lemon and pepper into a candy bar and adding it to a basic Alfredo sauce.

Neugebauer featured her chocolates at this year’s Northwest Chocolate Festival on Saturday, Sept. 29 during a kitchen demonstration. This proved to audience members that her flavors combine well together for a dinner delight.

“I’m giving a new outlook on what you can do with chocolate, and we celebrate life through chocolate.” Neugebauer said.

Once the sugar shock began to take over from all the samplings, there were a multitude of informative vendors and displays that any participant could experience. From roasting the coco beans to grinding them down into powder, it becomes a hands-on venture for anyone who was willing to try.

John Nanci from Chocolate Alchemy taught an informative class on the roasting process. Passing around freshly roasted nips to smell, touch, and taste involves the senses in the chocolate making process and brings about a better understanding of the time and effort that goes into making chocolate into the processed forms consumers are used to.

Both Neugebauer and Smith agreed that the chocolate-making community from the Northwest is very close and works collectively to help each other.

Smith said, “There’s little to no competition.” And Neugebauer, added, “The chocolate community is all about helping each other.”

It’s easy to see by the combined efforts of vendors why this year’s fourth annual chocolate festival was rich with spice, tradition and a sense of a unified community.