We began the chefs chocolate series last spring as an initiative to offer our support and solidarity with furloughed local restaurant staff. For six months we reinvested 50% of sales into staff funds. Restaurant employees, especially "Back of House" employees represent some of our most vulnerable community. Many people in the restaurant industry were never able to get government assistance during this difficult year. Thank you to everyone who supported this initiative, we appreciate you. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

During this difficult year and beyond - we are listening, learning and we are taking action. The possible future is created when we step into the spaces between us; at the border, at the table, in the streets and on the farms. It is created when we choose to connect with each other. When we choose to hold each other up, to stand next to each other and to build alongside each other. We choose engagement as an act of radical love for our world, ourselves and for you.⠀

Simple research can provide introductory information about ingredients that we think of as common. Appreciating origin includes more than just flavor or price, but also can lead us to appreciate culture and provide us with a wider lens of understanding when we eat. Let’s look at a few of the ingredients the Chef’s chose to represent their teams.⠀

Spiced Orange Peel & Dark Chocolate

The earliest mention of the sweet orange in Chinese literature nearly 2,500 years ago. Traveling across Asia and into Europe through the Italian and Iberian peninsulas during the 9th & 10th centuries. By 1646 oranges were a well known luxury for European elite. "Louis XIV of France had a great love of orange trees, and built the grandest of all royal Orangeries at the Palace of Versailles. At Versailles potted orange trees in solid silver tubs were placed throughout the rooms of the palace, while the Orangerie allowed year-round cultivation of the fruit to supply the court." Orange trees were planted in 1707 by the invading Spanish missionaries in Arizona and then spread to other missions in Southern California. In 1872 orange trees were planted in Florida via New Orleans *most likely as a colonial legacy of French settlers.⠀

Roasted Benne (white sesame) & White Chocolate

Sesame seed is one of the oldest oilseed crops known and most variants of the species are wild, native to sub-Saharan Africa. The cultivated type of the species originated in India and some claim first domesticated in the Indian subcontinent dating to 5500 years ago. Sesame is tolerant to drought-like conditions, growing where other crops fail for this reason sesame has been called a survivor crop. The seeds we use are cultivated in South Carolina. It is said that the cultivation of Benne seeds in the Southern United States began with seeds brought across the ocean, sewn into clothing and grown in the secret gardens of enslaved Africans fighting to maintain food pathways and the health of their communities.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Puffed Quinoa & Milk Chocolate

Quinoa originates from the Andean regions of South America. During Spanish occupation cultivation and consumption of quinoa was banned due to its important medicinal, social and religious roles for the indigenous people. Indigenous small-scale resistance growers continued to cultivate quinoa in what is now Peru and Bolivia, and in the Mapuche communities of moden day Chile and Argentina.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

"Mapuche society in Araucanía and Patagonia remained independent until the late nineteenth century, when Chile occupied Araucanía and Argentina conquered Puelmapu. Since then the Mapuche have become subjects, and then nationals and citizens of the respective states. Today, many Mapuche and Mapuche communities are engaged in conflict over land and indigenous rights in both Argentina and in Chile." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Thousands of hectares in Chile for example have been planted with non-native species of trees to supply the international timber industry. Chile exports wood to the United States, almost all of which comes from this southern region, with an annual value of around $600 million.

Sea Salted Vegetable Ash & Dark Chocolate

Flavor includes three sensory elements; taste, physical sensation and smell. The elemental and ancient flavor of 'smoke' in this case vegetable ash, strongly triggers our sense of smell. Our sense of smell is connected to our limbic system, a part of the brain that also houses long-term memory and emotion. The process of smoking initiates the Maillard reaction (named after French chemist Louis Camille Maillard, who first described it in 1912 while attempting to reproduce biological protein synthesis) which occurs when heat on a dry surface breaks down elements like sugars and amino acids. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

"In the cooking process, Maillard reactions can produce hundreds of different flavor compounds depending on the chemical constituents in the food, the temperature, the cooking time, and the presence of air. These compounds, in turn, often break down to form yet more flavor compounds".⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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Mucuna adaptogen & Dark Chocolate

mucuna pruriens; "a tropical legume native to some regions of Africa & tropical Asia, widely cultivated. The seeds have been used traditionally in both Ayurvedic (Modern Day India) and Unani (Perso-Arabic) medicinal cultures for centuries" ⠀

Grow velvet bean in you garden: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

"Plant velvet beans in spring after all danger of frost and give them something they can climb – just be aware that they will completely cover small trees and shrubs. Even moderately large trees can get overwhelmed with their strong, twisting vines. They can tolerate some shade but do best in full sun. Poor soil isn’t a big deal – they can handle it, thanks to their nitrogen-fixing ability"⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀