Since she always enjoyed baking , Trish decided to enroll in a culinary school to perfect her pastry making skills .
“ I was the oldest kid in the class ,” she noted . “ Part of the curriculum included a chocolate module . I fell in love with the science of making chocolate . With chocolate making , everything needs to be in perfect balance , or rather , be in ‘ temper ’ ( the right temperature ). First , you must bring the mixture out of temper ; then bring it back into to temper . The crystals have to form together perfectly . When it ’ s done properly ; it ’ s magic !”
After learning to perfect her pastry skills and receiving her diploma from culinary school , Trish pursued her new passion for chocolate . “ I signed up for additional chocolate classes and started making chocolates for my family and friends .”
Andy Mariani of Andy ’ s Orchard tasted Trish ’ s chocolate and purchased some for his Christmas Fair last year . It quickly sold out . “ I ’ ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to show and bring my work to the community of Morgan Hill and Gilroy ,” Trish said .
A typical box of Ór Dubh chocolates contains eight different kinds . No two are the same . Each chocolate is a work of art , swirled with bright colors of cocoa butter . And although a complete list of ingredients is noted on the box , you will need to taste each chocolate to see which ingredient may be inside .
As Trish explained , “ We eat with our eyes first , and then with our perception of the taste we think we are going to get . If we eat without any preconceptions of what we should taste we will enjoy the experience more and in fact be able to determine what is in the bon-bon .”
Trish always recommends cutting each chocolate in half and sharing it . “ Typically , my red colored bon-bons will taste like cherry or some red fruit , and purple ones will taste like blueberry . And when I am in a blue mood , I ’ ll make a lot of blue colored bon-bons . It really depends on my mood on the day .”
Working with chocolate and making bon-bons was just one facet of the O ’ Dwyer ’ s chocolate passion . They became curious to know where chocolate originated from , who was the first to discover it , and the many uses of chocolate .
With this in mind both Michael and Trish began looking at making ‘ bean to bar ’ chocolate in addition to their bonbons . They started with organic cacao beans that are directtraded from small fermentation plants in South / Central America , Nigeria , Tanzania , Dominican Republic , Costa Rica , Bolivia and Ecuador . The process of taking chocolate from
’ bean to bar ’ is labor- and time-intensive . Using teamwork , they roast and crack the beans by hand in order to get the nibs out — a slow and painful process . Then the nibs are put into a melanger ( made of two stone wheels ) which pulverizes them into a liquid . The mixture rests in between stages of the process .
After taking a one-day course in Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco , and after many trials , they got what they wanted . A two-ingredient chocolate : cacao beans ( 70 %) and sugar ( 30 %). A simple combination that brought the ‘ magical smile ’ to their faces . Some of the bars may have a higher percentage of cocoa to sugar ( e . g . 75 % or 80 %). When they taste the beans in their raw form they decide if more or less sugar is needed to bring out their many flavors .
Michael and Trish traveled to the Dominican Republic last year to meet the farmers and visit the fermentation plants ; to see the whole process from the tiny flower to the beautiful beans .
“ Chocolate making is similar to wine making ,” Trish said . “ Like wine grapes , cacao beans have vintages which produce distinctive flavors from year-to-year . Flavors can range from a fruity blackberry to a citrusy-orange or even smoky notes . Some people ask me , ‘ How did you get the fruit flavors into the bar ?’ That ’ s the gold dust [ magic ] to me . Let the chocolate slowly melt on your tongue so you can experience all the complex flavors .”
This holds true for the Ór Dubh bon-bons and their bean to bar chocolate .
Ór Dubh , the name of the company , translates to “ black gold ” in Irish . And their logo is an ogham — a symbol derived from the ancient Celtic alphabet . Danielle Zappa , from Accurate Print Pro , makes all their labels , placing a flag on the wrappers to indicate the country of origin of the cacao beans .
“ It ’ s not always possible to make chocolate ; it depends on the weather . Even with air conditioning we don ’ t usually make chocolate during the warm summer months .”
“ We ’ re not interested in growing our company into something big — rather , we want to stay ‘ boutique ,’” Trish said . “ For me , making chocolates is not about making money . It ’ s about bringing a little happiness to people ’ s lives . Life is so much easier when you ’ re smiling .”
Trish is a member of the San Francisco Professional Food Society and Bakers Dozen , also in San Francisco . From bean to bar to bon-bon , Trish and Michael sell their divine chocolates through word-of-mouth and online .
The website , coming soon , is ordubhchocolate . com .
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2018 gmhtoday . com
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