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Incredible Chocolate News |
May 2015 |
| What’s New? | Bargain Basement |
| Mother's Day | Newsletter |
| Incr‘Edible’ Chocolate Deal… | Recipe Corner |
| Guido Gobino Sauce | Facebook Friends Ask… |
| Kosher | Customer Service |
Guido Gobino Fave di Cacao Jar. Guido put this little jar of treats on my desk (actually, I wish he did it personally, he's a really nice guy!) and I could not stop eating them. These little crunchy whole cacao beans are covered in delicious chocolate and just a touch of sugar. I didn't share :-)
You still have time to give the lovely ladies in your life a Chocosphere Basket. The Mother's Day Basket is only $74.95 and filled with scrumptious chocolate treats. Show her you care and send a basket today. You can view the basket under "Gifts and Collections" at the top brown bar and Holiday Collections on the pull down tab. Select Mother's Day and you will get 2 pages of wonderful gifts including the Promotional Basket. There are lots of other options under the Gifts and Collections tab or under Product Type at the Brown Bar and Gift Items on the pull down menu. Another great option is the Chocolate of the Month Club. Who wouldn't love to get a delicious chocolate gift every month?
The Mother's Day basket is the best deal. We can tailor it to anyone, not just Mom. Let us know in the Comments section at checkout and we can make the basket appropriate for that 'Heman" in your life Special 'fellas deserve good chocolate too!
This may be your last time to enjoy a Fearless chocolate bar. The company is no longer operating and we have a few bars left. They are offered at a 20% discount until they are gone. Molded with a bite already taken from the bar (the faux teeth marks are there to prove it, you must be brave to try it).
Also going away are the Blanxart, Pacari and Kallari brands. So get some while you can.
And most of the Ritter and Guido Gobino chocolate bars are 20% off. This is the time to try some new-to-you premium chocolate or just some really good chocolate treats.
Shipping Special
The prior shipping special has ended. But here is some good news: We have a new Limited Time Shipping Special available to Newsletter friends until May 7th, 2015 on all chocolate bars 500 grams or smaller. The total order value must be over $50.00. If your order only contains qualified prducts (i.e. chocolate bars of 500g and smaller) and you place the order online, you will get free shipping as described below. If your order contains a mix of qualified and non-qualified products, the shipping charge is computed based on the value of the non-qualified products only.
The contents of the shipment must be physically small enough to ship in one of the special postal-rate boxes or padded envelopes. It is possible that we may send the package by ground, or select another shipping method, if that is the least expensive option. Ground shipping can take up to a week, depending on the shipping location. If it doesn't fit, we will contact you with information on other shipping options that will incur extra cost, and if we cannot reach you promptly it may delay processing of your order.
We will include styro and gel ice at no extra charge if we feel it is needed and it fits.
We will pack into the smallest box that your chocolate will fit in, to minimize our shipping cost and if there is chocolate breakage (with wrappers remaining intact), you have to be okay with it. After all, you have to break it to eat it.
This option is only available on orders shipped to mainland U.S., Hawaii, and Alaska addresses. Not available for the Chocolate Clubs. Also, this offer can not be combined with any other offers.
Shipping will be either by ground or Priority Mail and will be selected by Chocosphere. You must give us a shipping address that can be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service within the United States. To get the advantage of free shipping, select local pick up as the shipping option if the order contains only qualified products. In the comments section write, "free shipping on all chocolate bars 500 grams or less." Order must be placed online to qualify. If your order contains non-qualified products, select the shipping option that you need, you will be charged the entire shipping amount online at the time you place the order and we will refund the shipping charge allocated to the qualifying products manually very shortly after shipping your order.
We have Kosher products at Chocosphere There are many different ways to find kosher products at Chocosphere. To see them all, just go to the search box at the upper right corner of any page on the site, and type the word "Kosher" Oy, vey… so much chocolate! Then you can use the blue bar at the left side of the page to narrow your selection. Another way to do it is to use the tools of our web site to narrow the selection of chocolate shown (by brand or type or cacao percentage or other selectors from the top brown drop-down menu) and then use the blue bar at the left side of the page to select only kosher products. The blue side-bar also allows you to select products that are kosher-pareve or koher-dairy. Brands that are all or mostly Kosher are Bonnat, Chocolove, Dagoba, Guittard, Pacari, Taza, Santander, Scharffenberger, Valrhona, Waialua. Some Callebaut products are Kosher as well. Since our facility has not been Kosher Certified, all items repackaged by Chocosphere do not carry a kosher mark.
A customer called recently about the Guido sauce separating. This will happen for most wonderful Italian chocolate sauces with hazelnuts. The oil comes to the top and this is normal. You can put the jar in 175 to 200 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes before opening and then stir. I don't refrigerate. If the sauce separates again, you can heat it up in the microwave oven with the lid off the jar for about 15 seconds and stir. Another 15 seconds may be required if the jar is almost full. This is not at all like the chocolate and hazelnut sauces that you buy at your local store. Thanks to the lovely customer who called, I opened one each of the Guido sauces and Jerry and I have been ecstatically consuming them at lunch here in the Chocosphere!
What makes chocolate semi-bitter and extra bitter sweet?
The 'sweet spot" between semi and bitter sweet is 60 to 61%. Anything under is semi-sweet and over is bitter sweet. Extra bitter-sweet is generally 75% and above.
Liquor in chocolate? This gets confusing because 100% unsweetened baking chocolate is sometimes called chocolate liquor or cocoa liquor. While some chocolates have alchohol as an ingredient, we only carry a few products and the one that comes immediately to mind is the Venchi Cuba Rum. It is not liquid filled but is infused with a poweful rum flavor and worth a try.
Of course we are happy to help over the phone, but we do appreciate it when you place your order on line. It helps us to give the most prompt and accurate service. If you don’t feel comfortable giving your credit card number over the internet, just click the box for "Please Call for Credit Card Info" and we will call you. But when you need help, we are here for you. There is generally someone answering the phones between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. PST, Monday through Friday.
There are five of us answering phones at Chocosphere, where we speak fluent Chocospherian. We try hard to answer all calls personally during normal business hours, but occasionally one slips over to voice mail. If you call and end up in voice mail, please leave a message. We will do our very best to call back promptly.
We each have varying levels of experience. It is our goal to happily serve you the very best chocolate!!
Finally, and very importantly, our web site lists our service committments as to when we ship an order based on when the order is placed. However, we certainly understand there are circumstances where you may want us to process an order faster, when you need your chocolate "now"! If you need to have us ship your order out faster than our listed service commitment, please place your order online letting us know of your need in the "Comments" section, and then please call us (503-692-3323 x 0 for Customer Service) to let us know. We can't guarantee early shipping, but we always try hard to provide chocolate happiness to our valued customers.
There are quite a few items on the Bargain Basement right now, so it is a great time to do some shopping for yourself.
We have a few of the Valrhona Ballotins left. Unfortunately by the time you get them, they will be past the 'best by' date. Lucky you… because they are 2 for the price of 1. We've tried them recently and they're still oh so delicious!
Please remember that the Bargain Basement contains products that may be past the best-by date, so it is a great place to treat yourself at a great price, but it may not be appropriate to give a gift from the Bargain basement.
If you want the best deal of all, try the $100.00 Grab bag for $39.95. The Chef Grab Bag is back in stock while we have product.
If you want us to send a copy as an email every time there is a new issue or to tell you about special offers, please create an account at chocosphere.com and check the newsletter box.
Mycryo is a Cacao Barry product and can be used for Savory cooking or to make tempering chocolate so much easier. It's $19.95 and you will find amazing uses for it.
Mycryo Fish (No flour or corn)
Bet you never thought you'd see a fish recipe in the Chocospherian.
Ingredients:
fish filets (cod, salmon, halibut, etc.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dill
1/4 cup of mycryo
2 T. oil
Always salt your fish! Beat the egg and place in a dish. Mix the remaining ingredients in another dish. Dip the fish in the egg and then in the Mycryo mixture. Heat skillet to medium, add oil. The first side should cook about 4 minutes. This depends on the thickness f the fish, so really watch it. Turn and cook about 3 minutes on the other side. If you use a nonstick pan, you don't need the additional oil. Your fish will stay moist because of the mycryo.
Topics:
If you have a topic you would like us to cover in the newsletter, please drop us a line: customer‑service@chocosphere.com and we will be happy to include it in a future edition.
Contact us at 503-692-3323 and press 0 for Customer Service
Fax 503-692-1494