Comments on: Scharffen Berger, we’ll miss you

By: dani

dani — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:18:37 +0000

I know this is an old post, but I just found your blog and have to add my two cents. I work for Hershey, and frankly, I don’t eat very much of the chocolate we sell. The quality of cocoa is bad, and they add too much crap to it. I wish I had tasted SB before we bought it, as Hershey just seems to ruin the companies they buy.

By: Cynthia Furey

Cynthia Furey — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:07:39 +0000

You guys — looks like there’s a chocolate tasting in my future with all of these suggestions!

By: Sarah Peters

Sarah Peters — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:10:43 +0000

I didn’t know the Sharffen Berger factory closed down!!! That is so sad. My sister took me there when she lived in San Francisco. We sat at the back of the room during the introduction part, so the dish of samples would end up with us and we didn’t have to pass them to anyone else

By: Sara

Sara — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 00:48:56 +0000

I love how rustic and homemade your pies look. Nicely done.

Suggestions for chocolate would be Callebaut. Also if you live near a Whole Foods, they normally will sell a few brands of high quality chocolate. I recently bought some El Rey Venezuelan dark chocolate there that was good. There is some hope for good chocolate

By: jiminycub

jiminycub — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:01:43 +0000

I know just what you mean. I was so thrilled to find Sharffen Berger after reading about them in Alice Medrich’s book. I loved the idea that they were a little chocolate maker who believed in quality over quantity and I went nuts when I was able to find it in my local store. Before that I had been ordering it online. Now, all the mystique is gone and its just like using some generic pumped out by the ton brand. I guess I will be searching for a new chocolate as well.

By: anna

anna — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:04:01 +0000

I often just use good old Ghirardelli when I bake because it’s hard to find anything else without driving to the Whole Foods an hour away, and I can’t afford anything better normally. However I do buy slightly more expensive “eating chocolate” and my two favorite brands are Green & Black (especially dark chocolate with ginger) and Dagoba (dark chocolate with lavender and blueberry is definitely the best). Green & Black is good because it’s fairly easy to find in most health food stores since it’s organic.

By: sara

sara — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:04:01 +0000

Yum, these pies look so tasty!
I agree–I was so sad about the closing of the Berkeley factory. I agree with the above poster that Green and Black’s is definitely terrific, as is Phinney 3400 (though they’re more about flavored/nutty/etc. chocolate than baking chocolate). Even so, nothing beats the milk chocolate with salted almonds from Sharffen Berger!

By: Michael Doss

Michael Doss — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:18:18 +0000

I really enjoy Green and Black’s (http://www.greenandblacks.com/) – they have easily the best white chocolate I’ve ever had, and their other stuff has all been good too. Alas, they’re now owned by Cadbury (UK), so they’re not a magical independent either anymore (though it’s “run as a separate business”).