Newsletter

Jesse is my neighbor and among the first members of the Chocolate Society. I had forgotten this, but he and his wife were in my living room when I made one of my first pronouncements that I would be starting a Chocolate Society. The funny part is that they hadn't had the "A-ha!" moment about fine chocolate yet, and they thought they had front-row seats to the musings of a slightly mad man.

Anyway, fast-forward about a year, and Jesse, a PhD. candidate in the field of bio-engineering, is a stalwart. I had briefly entertained thoughts of starting a newsletter, but never seriously, when Jesse suddenly threw out the idea of putting together a newsletter from the Chocolate Society. This came right about the time when Art Pollard of Amano let us take a tour of his facility in Orem.

Upon talking with another of the founders of the Chocolate Society, we starting thinking big about the effect a small publication could have on the local scene. We figure that there are lots of Utahns that are only an experience away from being changed forever. And as they discover the products that have changed me, picking up an unassuming little publication next to their chocolate could be the catalyst that distills the experience to their core.

The newsletter will hopefully become a quarterly publication. It will have recipes, science-y information about chocolate, information about the processes that make the products we love, and interviews with people who are making a difference in the local chocolate scene. We are also going to include a section about local places that sell chocolate that meets the snob standard, local chocolate events, and local restaurants that use fine chocolate in ways we deem "worthy."

As neither Jesse nor I stand to make any money from the newsletter, or chocolate in general, and I have a rather broken editing filter (those who come to the meetings know I love to point out whatever wrongness I perceive in chocolate), we won't be selling an ad space. Call it journalistic integrity, but I can't be censored very easily.

Anyway, electronic copies of each issue will go out to the Chocolate Society when they are completed. We hope to try to get retailers of fine chocolate to carry it to sell for a buck or so to their chocolate customers to try and raise awareness of fine chocolate. Also, we want to build some camaraderie among purveyors and advocates of great chocolate. Competition is great, and an educated and eager consumer-base is better. Chocolate doesn't sell itself. I had to be taught why I was tasting a $12 bar, but once I got it, I got bit hard.

Anyway - expect the first copy soon!