As I was shopping, really munching my way through the samples at Whole Foods in the Bowery, I saw a woman setting up a sample table. It was chocolate! And graham crackers! And fresh marshmallows! I zeroed in on the chocolate, contemplating if it would be safe to try the chocolate, even though it was being displayed with the graham crackers. I readied my battery of questions to see if the chocolate would be safe for me. It started something like this: “those look great, but they’re not gluten free are they?”“It is”, she smiled back “my facility is dedicated gluten free and Kosher certified!” And that’s how I met the bright and indefatigable Heather, owner and artisan choclatier of Azure Chocolat. I explained my blog and sampling mission to her and decided to hang around to learn more about her operation. I ended up gorging myself on Beauty Bark, Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers and Fresh Marshmallows.
As she got busier I put on a pair of gloves and started to help her out. I learned all about her store and her products. The items she had at Whole Foods were only representations of her products that Whole Foods carries. The Beauty Bark is her own concoction of all the things you should be eating a little bit of everyday: 70% Belgian dark chocolate, walnuts, blueberries, cocoa nibs, golden flax and a little bit of sea salt. It’s great, I think that a lot of people were surprised at how well all the flavors blended together.
Whole Foods also carries her Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers and S’Mores Bars. Both come covered in either milk or dark chocolate. The S’Mores bar has graham cracker, fresh marshmallow, and a layer of ganache and is then smothered in chocolate.
Heather had little bits of fresh graham cracker with chocolate and fresh marshmallow to represent the S’Mores bar. And when I say ‘fresh marshmallows’ I mean made that morning, gooey, sticky, sweet, melts on your tongue marshmallows. As a marshmallow devotee, read ‘fiend’, I have never had a truly fresh marshmallow. I have been ruined for store bought marshmallows. And I’m not sorry.
Along with the items carried by Whole Foods Heather also makes fresh cream truffles, toffee, chocolate covered fresh marshmallows, caramel de sel and short bread cookies. These can be ordered on line or purchased at the store in Centerport, LI. I look forward to working with Heather again. Until then I can only wish that I’d made my left over graham cracker crumbs last longer.
