We visited the Scharffen Berger factory today. You're actually not allowed to use those two words (Scharffen/Berger) in the same space. Louis Vuitton could sue you. Allow me to explain...John Scharffenberger (it would be really embarrassing if I misspelled this, considering it's clearly printed in the picture above...) was primarily a well-established vintner (read: wine maker). His sparkling white wine was used to toast the end of the Cold War. He was also a business man, and when his friend Robert Steinberg presented to him the idea of beginning a chocolate company, he readily agreed. He had sold his wine company to Louis Vuitton prior to starting the chocolate company, however, and along with the wine agreement had gone his name...so he wasn't allowed to use his own last name. This is how the name separation was born.
Factory tour! Kind of amazing, considering it was prefaced with bowls of chocolate. Unfortunately I was sitting between an old fat man without teeth and a large woman (?) with copious amounts of facial hair and they were both watching me closely as I took my ONE chocolate sample. The toothless man held the chocolate in his sweaty palms until it started to melt before placing it between his gums and sucking on it throughout the rest of the tour.
"Our chocolate comes primarily from [SSSseeeewwwp!] and Central America. The fat is removed and you can rub it all over your skin [ssssewwwp ssssseewwwp ssssewwwwp]."
When the tour guide came around to offer us hairnets, he instructed the men with beards to wear them on their faces as well as their heads. He paused at the woman next to me, uncertain if he should offer her one or two. She glared up at him and he wavered for a moment, and then moved on. The man next to me coughed loudly and for a moment I thought he had started choking on his chocolate sample, but he was trying to get the attention of the tour guide.
"You didn't give me one, mister," he said. Keep in mind that this man was bald.
"Oh," said the tour guide.
"Yeah," said the old man. I mean, really bald. Like if he went on a long hike with his family no one would want to walk behind him because of sun glare.
The guide politely handed him a hairnet and the man snapped it on over his shiny pate. It rode up the entire tour and I swear if the tour had been any longer it would have shot off his head and someone would be eating bits of tissuey fabric with their semisweet nibby.
On that note, I do recommend Scharffen Berger (it's a really small factory and if you live in the Bay Area you should take a tour!). I would be careful choosing their chocolate, however; most of it is really bitter and although I don't like milk chocolate their milk chocolate is dark enough for me. I recommend their milk chocolate nibby, because it's crunchy and not too sweet.
http://www.scharffenberger.com/products.asp?dept=2
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