We often get asked about our name, Sweet Lollapalooza.  Where did it come from? Why did you settle on that name for your shop? Well, as it turns out, it was a name that found us really.

If you're a fan of late, great jazz vocalist and pianist Blossom Dearie, you might be familiar with a tune she sang, Thou Swell. In the song, she sings about a sweetheart and among the lyrics, these always stood out for us, “…Both thine eyes are cute too, what they do to me. Hear me holler, I choose a sweet lollapalooza in thee…”  

When we thought about opening up our chocolate business in 2003, those lyrics surfaced again and made it difficult for us to think of any other possibilities. So, we did a little digging on the meaning of the term lollapalooza.  Turns out, it’s a word with Gaelic roots that the Merriam Webster dictionary defines as, “one that is extraordinarily impressive; also: an outstanding example.” While our chocolatier, Brett is Australian, he has both Scottish and Irish heritage, so it seemed fitting that the song that wouldn’t elude us with a Gaelic word in the lyrics was lingering for a reason. After all, we strive to create chocolate that is outstanding and extraordinarily impressive. With a name like that to live up to, we’ve been inspired every day to work hard and improve and enhance every morsel we create. 

You can listen to the song that inspired us here.  Thank you to the Blossom Dearie family for allowing us to share this song with you.  If you’d like to learn more about Blossom, you can explore her music and history here: https://www.blossomdearie.com/.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Japan to learn from master craftsmen in Tokyo and Kyoto. I was inspired by their passion and dedication to honing their craft day in and day out, honouring long-established traditions and embracing new traditions as well.

I spent some time at the Valrhona school in Tokyo learning about Japanese ingredients and how to incorporate them into traditional French pastries which gave me a new look at refining what I do back at the chocolate lab.

One of the incredible craftspeople I met was Chikara Mizukami, the owner and master wagashi (Japanese confections) craftsman of the famed Ikkoan in Tokyo Japan.  I spent an afternoon in his workshop learning about his philosophy and approach to creating memorable wagashi confections. While Western confectionary is itself the star in a dessert, wagashi on the other hand, plays a supporting role to Japanese tea. In other words, wagashi's sole purpose is to enhance the taste and enjoyment of Japanese tea. Born into a wagashi-making family, artisan Chikara Mizukami created Ikkoan in 1977, his famed Tokyo shop.  I couldn’t help but be struck by the humble nature of this wagashi artisan and be inspired by his lifelong dedication to continually enhancing his craft.  He challenges himself to translate the seasons (and there are more than 70 in Japan) and the holidays of Japan by drawing inspiration from poetry, art and architecture. What a treat!

Because the ingredients themselves are so important, I also had a chance to travel to the outskirts of Kyoto to meet the artisans behind the famed Japanese matcha and sesame products.

Kiyoharu Tomita, President of the Nanzan-En Tea Corporation, a private matcha/tea manufacturer welcomed us to his plantation and explained the process from growing, picking, drying and grinding the tea leaves.  The employees expressed how proud they were to welcome us and show us how they produced this exceptional tea.  The president himself presided over the traditional tea ceremony and served everyone personally.  What an honour.

The last stop on this incredible journey was a visit with Koichi Yamada, the President of the Yamada Sesame Oil Company, who stubbornly, and thankfully, maintains the traditional way of producing sesame products, which in Japan is called the henko way. He told me he was born into a family who owned the sesame oil business and started helping out with the business when he was in high school.  He has perfected his technique and timing to toast sesame so there is no bitterness. 

Looking back on everything I learned, I’m excited to put this new knowledge into practice with some of our existing products and to create a few new ones as well. 

You can see a few of the highlights by clicking on the photo below. 

Yesterday was Earth Day, a time to connect with nature and think about what we can do to sustain and nurture nature.

While we all have a responsibility to be good stewards of this planet, it seems increasingly difficult to feel like we're making a real difference or having a significant impact.  The changing weather patterns at home and abroad all seem to be part of a larger narrative that there is much more to be done.

While I think we can all agree that there is a lot of work ahead, I don't want to forget to celebrate the successes and the models that are having an impact, not just on the environment, but on the economic conditions of people in regions around the world that will help sustain and promote positive behavioural change long term.

One of the producers we purchase chocolate from in Peru to make our award-winning Pure Nacional chocolates grows the rarest cocoa beans on earth. It's a special place high up in the mountains of Peru where the small team is working hard to establish beneficial direct trade partnerships with farmers and invest in protecting the environment in their region. They also create opportunities for the men, women and families in the community. They're making long-term decisions that will benefit the community, protect the environment and produce a superior product.

‘Chocolamentary’ is a documentary released last week by a company in the U.K. about these rare beans, the farmers who grow them and how Marañón cacao provides a sustainable future for this remote community. It's not a long video and it's time well spent. It will make you feel good about the chocolate choices you're making, especially this week as the attention of the world turns to our planet.

Watch the video here.

 Chocolamentary video takes you into the Maranon valley in Peru to meet the producers behind our Pure Nacional chocolate.

Oriol Balaguer is an award-winning Spanish pastry artist and chocolatier whom I had the great honour of working with in New York a little while back to learn about his passion for chocolate and his techniques for making showpiece eggs. This Easter season, you’ll see Oriol’s influences in my own work on display in our shop, or here online. 

 

I learned that Oriol got interested in the sweet arts at an early age when he watched his father at work in his own bakery while he played alongside him.  After studying and working in some of the best patisseries in Spain and Belgium, Oriol worked for seven years in Ferran Adrià's team at the famed elBulli restaurant in Spain. Adrià has been considered one of the best chefs in the world and defined Oriol as "one of the most all-round professionals in gastronomy". At just 21 years of age (1993) Oriol won the award as Best Artisan Pastry Chef in Spain and many more awards since then.

 

I’ve taken some of his techniques and others I’ve learned along the way to develop interesting egg showpieces that capture the light in interesting ways, hold interesting textures, show off luminous colours and incorporate the very best tasting chocolate from around the world.

We recently received urgent appeals for help from our cocoa producers in Peru. Several of our chocolates come from the region, including the single origin Illanka from the rare Gran Blanco cacao and our Pure Nacional chocolate from the Maranon region.

 

Over the past several weeks, torrential rains have battered northern Peru and thousands of families have been affected by severe flooding, losing their homes and crops. Many areas have also been cut off by landslides. 

 

Help has mobilized to get supplies to as many families in need as possible. 

We have provided some support and we’re proud to work with companies like Valrhona who have provided $10,000 to help the families affected and the people at Maranon Chocolate who are on the ground helping with harvest and have raised more than $14,000 to help local farmers.

 

Our thoughts are with everyone and we thank you for your support of the local community by buying products from that region like those we use to produce our chocolates.

Key roadways have been completely washed away and will take many months to repair.