Bistro Blog

The Hudson Valley has a new and fabulous chocolate producer called Fruition Chocolate, and we are proud to be selling their delicious bars and chocolate covered cranberries and nuts in our store. Bryan Graham, a former pastry chef and student at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York, opened his own store in 2011 just a few miles up the road from us on Route 28! So what makes their chocolate so special, you might ask? Bryan literally makes his chocolate confections from the cocoa beans themselves!

This from their website: "Bean to bar is the term used to describe chocolate that is made straight from the cocoa bean.  The majority of chocolatiers buy a bulk source of chocolate and melt it down to craft their chocolates.  What's different about Fruition Chocolate is that we craft our own chocolate from the bean, and then use that to create our bars and confections.

We are proud to rank among only a handful of small batch craft chocolate makers in the United States. This is a group of manufacturers whose ultimate goal is excellence in everything they do: finding exceptional ingredients, and carefully coaxing out their fullest potential until a chocolate emerges several days later that stands up as a world class product."

Enjoy this inspiring video clip where Bryan shows you his process of creating chocolate "from bean to bar".

http://yourbgm.tv/yourtv/arts/artist-showcase

The Fruition Chocolate products we are currently carrying in our store are the Signature 66% Dark Chocolate bar, the Classic Milk Chocolate bar, Chocolate Coated Toasted Almonds with Sea Salt, Chocolate Coated Orange Scented Cranberries (my personal fav), and Dark Chocolate Coated Jalapeno Dusted Corn Nuts! Please ask for a sample next time you're in - we hide them in the office!

Fabulous desserts are a hit all year round, especially here at Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go! We are so proud of our fabulous baker, Melinda Champagne for her heroic efforts in putting out desserts of the highest quality! Enjoy these images from the sweetest year on record! (and thanks to Roy Gumpel for the first two images).