| company name | Dandelion Chocolate | |
| website | http://www.dandelionchocolate.com | |
| info@dandelionchocolate.com | ||
| chocolate makers |  (left to right) | |
| factory location | (coming spring 2012) 740 Valencia St San Francisco, CA 94110 | |
| factory tours | starting spring 2012 | |
| direct online purchase | Dandelion | |
| direct stores | (coming spring 2012) 740 Valencia St San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 349-0942 Mission Community Market (Thursday evenings) Noe Valley Farmers Market (Saturday mornings) | |
| retail store purchase | Dandelion locations | |
| selling bars since | 2010 | |
| plantation bars | Camino Verde, Ecuador 100% | |
| single origin bars | Butuo, Liberia Colombia Elvesia, Dominican Republic Mantuano, Venezuela Maya Mountain, Belize Ocumare, Venezuela Papua New Guinea Patanemo, Venezuela Rio Caribe, Venezuela Sambirano, Madagascar Upala, Costa Rica | |
| blend bars | none | |
| production cycle | bean to bar | |
| added fat | none | |
| sweetener | sugar | |
| flavoring | none | |
| emulsifier | none | |
| organic | no | |
| sustainable | no | |
| economics | see text | |
| last updated | December 13, 2011 | |
Last year Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring started Dandelion Chocolate, their bean to bar chocolate company, in California. With a garage factory in East Palo Alto and a shared commercial kitchen in San Jose, Dandelion uniquely crafts each small production run. Just this month they moved to a temporary location in the Dogpatch neighborhood in east San Francisco until their new factory and store are completed. They intend to keep their batches small even after they move to the new factory next year.
Dandelion sources high quality cacao beans and then experiments with them to adjust their process to bring out the best from each batch of beans. For example, they try a series of roastings, and then have a group tasting and decide by consensus which roasting process suits that batch.
At present, they purchase Madagascar cacao from Åkesson's, Venezuelan cacao from Cacao San José, and Costa Rica cacao from the Upala region from a broker. Eventually, they hope to establish direct relationships with specific farmers.
Dandelion makes their chocolate using only cacao beans and cane sugar, with no added cocoa butter, emulsifier, or flavoring. While many of their beans are certified organic, not all are. Dandelion has been seeking an organic sugar, but has not yet found one with a neutral taste that will not alter the flavor of the chocolate.
While not yet having any sustainability or trade practices, Dandelion wants to build direct trade relationships with farmers and become knowledgeable enough to support responsible and sustainable cacao farming and chocolate making.
Even before their factory opens next spring, you can directly buy Dandelion chocolate online. Dandelion chocolate can be purchased in person at the Mission Community Market on Thursdays and Noe Valley Farmer's Market on Saturdays, as well as at some retail stores in the San Francisco Bay area and at Chocolopolis in Seattle.
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