Etienne Guittard, with chocolate from his uncle’s plant, came to the new world in the mid-1800s with the hopes of striking it rich during the California Gold Rush. He discovered those getting rich were the merchants with the miners willing to pay top dollar for his premium chocolates.
This was the start of one the nation’s oldest chocolate companies, Guittard Chocolate Company based in San Francisco. In the latest segment of The Kamla Show, host Kamla Bhatt, sits down with Director of Marketing Amy Guittard, who is the great-great granddaughter of Etienne Guittard. The segment premieres on WKTV Channel 25 Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. It will show again on Feb. 14 at 11:30 a.m. and Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.
The factory still makes it home in San Francisco, operating 24 days, seven days a week and creates a whole range of chocolate products — about 200 different products — from chocolate chips to huge chocolate slabs. There is about 200 various products.
Guittard discusses the chocolate making process, which starts with cacao.
“It grows on a tree and that is where it starts,” Guittard said during the interview. “It grows 10 degrees either side of the equator in what we call the cocoa belt.
“What happens on the farm is a really critical component to flavor development. Lots of times people think chocolate becomes chocolate when it arrives at a factory which is very true. But a lot of the flavor development happens at origin. So that seed starts off in a variety of different genetics much like a Green apple, a Braeburn or a Pink Lady. There are different types of cacao. So that is inherent in the first flavor notes but also how the farmer ferments the beans and dries the beans is a really important component to flavor development.”
Guittard also discusses a variety of other topics such as the concept of “bean to bar,” owning the entire process from sourcing to finish chocolate; the issue of child labor in the cocoa fields; her own journey in coming to work at the family company; and her cookbook, “Guittard Chocolate Cookbook: Decadent Recipes from San Francisco’s premium Bean-to-Bar Chocolate Company.”
According to Guittard, the ultimate reward is being able to work in a field that allows so much creativity.
“I was in a restaurant in San Francisco and the chef brought me the flourless chocolate cake and he put it down and said ‘This is you.’ I was like ‘No, it’s you. It’s our farmers. It’s this whole beautiful amalgamation of creativity and that’s like so humbling and pretty cool.”
