By: Jecca Berta

Our very first factory tours and chocolate-tasting classes took place on Valencia Street. Since opening on 16^th Street, we’ve grown our education curriculum quite a bit, and leading those efforts are Stephen Durfee and Kayla Locascio. Kayla joins us just three days before a trip to Japan (where she’ll no doubt visit Dandelion), to talk about our education evolution, and what we’ve got in the hopper — or melanger, as it were. 

Kayla, how has Chocolate Education grown at Dandelion?

From my perspective, we’ve always wanted education to be a part of Dandelion. A lot of the time, people don’t know very much about craft chocolate, and they don’t understand what it takes to make the chocolate that we eat. So education comes hand-in-hand with serving you a bar or a chocolate drink — explaining where the beans come from, our approach to roasting beans, and recipe development. It started as a really small program of just tours at Valencia. It was always about bringing people into the process and connecting the community. 

Which of our classes are the most popular? 

Truffle Making and Chocolate Making, for sure. Our Make Your Own Caramel Bonbons class, though, I think will quickly become very popular. This is the first time we’re using a bonbon mold in class, similar to what our Confections team uses. We’ve hosted this class twice so far, and the feedback has been so fantastic that we’re excited to continue to offer it.

What can you tell us about the upcoming, second annual Summer Series?

Stephen will be hosting three brunches this year — alongside chefs from Pasta Supply Co., Waterbar, Hadeem, AyDea, Baklavastory, and several others. Brunch With Chef Durfee & Friends will take place at 11 a.m. on June 22^nd, July 20^th, and August 10^th (all Sundays). Each prix fixe menu will highlight seasonal ingredients and will include chocolate drinks, baked goods, an entrée, a coffee pairing, and dessert.

Saturday, July 12^th will welcome both a matinée and an evening of All Things Frozen — Ice Cream & a Movie. So families can bring the kids to watch Disney’s Frozen while enjoying house-made sundaes (with a Dandelion toppings bar), plus popcorn, truffles, and chocolate drinks. On Thursday, July 17^th, we’ll host a storytelling event: Unwrapped. Guests will take the stage to share true stories of their love affair with chocolate. 

Are tickets already on sale? 

Yes, tickets are available for purchase. Last year’s events sold out quickly, so we always suggest securing your spot sooner than later. 

You teach several classes at Dandelion. Do you have a favorite? 

Music & Chocolate is my favorite event. I really enjoyed developing that class because it was so challenging, but when we put it together, it actually made sense. It’s one of those things you have to experience to understand — pairing classical musical pieces with chocolate desserts. When you experience it and hear it and taste it, it’s cohesive. It’s elevated and beautiful. 

Our partner in that is Tertulia Chamber Music. They came to the factory one day to talk to us about playing music in Bloom. My immediate thought was: sound matters when you’re tasting something — so let’s pair this together and see what happens. It’s always interesting to incorporate different senses. They chose the musical pieces, then Stephen and I listened together, tried to figure out what it felt like, and decided what food would make sense for each piece. A lot of times we would come to the same conclusion. 

When’s the next Music & Chocolate event? 

We’ll be adding some more this fall. We had forty people attend the most recent one, and it sold out three or four weeks in advance. 

Do you have a standout class memory? 

Generally what’s exciting to me is how interested people become. I sat down in a public tasting recently, and there were so many technical questions that it ended up being 40 minutes before we started actually tasting! I had to stop the questions. We share a lot of heavy content, but people are interested to learn about something they’ve consumed their entire lives but may have no idea where it comes from. Our job is to show you where it comes from and how we get it to you. 

Despite all of the class offerings, the team is pretty small. Who teaches what? 

Stephen does the more technical classes, like Chocolate Tempering and Caramel Bonbons. Then Stephen, Graham (Stephen’s son), and I, and a few others, teach the rest of the classes. 

For folks who aren’t in the Bay Area, what can you tell us about our online classes? 

Our online experiences give people who work remotely or whose families live far away an opportunity to connect with each other in a delicious way. Right now we offer our online tasting, and we’re developing a new online class that’ll launch this fall. People will make their own chocolate bars with Dandelion molds, foil, and paper, just like we use at the factory.

Very fun.

So if you’re feeling envious that you don’t get to come to the factory, we’re doing everything we can to bring the factory to you. We’re still sharing all of those resources and content and knowledge. 

How will people make chocolate bars at home? 

It’s a tempering demonstration, so we’ll send participants Dandelion chocolate chips, and then we’ll talk them through melting, tempering and putting it in a mold, and finally foiling and wrapping. All you need is a heat source and a bowl. We provide everything else, including a spatula and thermometer.

Tell us more about the private events we offer.

Corporate events are what we do the most often — a forty-person Truffle Making class, for example. We’ve done several parties and weddings, and events as large as 150 people. That’s the max we do.  

Any other new classes we can look forward to?  

We’re finalizing the details  on a three-day chocolate-making workshop to be held at our original factory on Valencia Street. You’re with Stephen Durfee for three whole days — making chocolate, making truffles, almost like taking all the classes at once but in a high-touch, intimate experience. We’ll launch that in August. It’s the first time we’re doing a class that extensive. 

That sounds incredible. Thank you, Kayla. Reader, you can view our upcoming classes and events here.