Tony Caputo’s Market
314 W. 300 South
Monday-Friday: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
801-531-TONY or www.caputosdeli.com
Tony Caputo’s Market and Deli (founded in 1997) got serious about chocolate four years ago. Its “Chocolate Central” has since grown to house over 300 different chocolate bars8212;the largest selection of ultra premium chocolate in the United States. Prices range from $1.60 to $19 per bar, with most bars costing around $7.
“We have chocolate for everybody,” said Matt Caputo, Tony’s son.
This variety includes milk chocolates from Scharffen Berger, 100 percent cacao dark chocolates, Amano Chocolate (made in Orem), and specialty chocolates with ingredients such as salt, chili powder or bacon. In fact, Mo’s Bacon Bar, made by U.S.-based Vosges Haut Chocolate, is the market’s second-best seller.
“The novelty factor is what gets people to pick it up,” said Matt. “But then they try it, they like it, and they keep buying it.”
Caputo’s is Utah’s only purveyor of the highly exclusive, Tuscany-based Amedei Chocolates, which the Academy of Chocolate in London has awarded several years in a row. The best that Amedei has to offer is the Chuao bar, a 70 percent dark chocolate bar made from Venezuelan beans.
Amedei chocolate is also the main ingredient in the market’s outstanding filled chocolate selection from Chocolatier Blue. Hand-made in Berkeley, these truffles incorporate only the highest quality ingredients: Amedei chocolate, 77 percent butterfat (that’s more butterfat than your average butter), non-pasteurized cream, and only the ripest organic fruits and nuts. Chocolatier Blue’s passion fruit caramel truffle, which Matt said is “hands-down the best seller, by far,” is the result of a 36-hour process, requiring an entire passion fruit for each chocolate. Most amazingly, Caputo’s Market sells these little masterpieces for $2 each.
For a unique Valentine’s gift, or for amateur chocoholics, Caputo’s offers chocolate tasting classes at three different levels for $25 per person. Students learn why chocolate made from an Indonesian bean is smoky and leathery, while a genetically identical bean from Madagascar produces a bright, tart and fruity chocolate. Taught by Matt, classes are held the second Monday of every month, and some (one per semester) are available through the U.
Even if you can’t make it to one of the classes, you can taste any of the market’s chocolate bars from its “chocolate file,” while employees like Matt or Nick fill you in on the history of every company and cocoa bean variety they’ve come into contact with.
“If customers have the time, we’d love to find them a bar that they like so they can go home happy,” Matt said.
Hatch Family Chocolates
390 E. 4th Avenue (corner of E street and 4th Avenue)
Monday-Saturday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Closed Sundays
801-532-4912
Hatch Family Chocolates is owned and operated by Jerry Hatch, his son Steve, and Steve’s wife Katie Masterson. They opened the store in 2003, but their chocolate-making history dates back to the early 1900s when Jerry’s mother, at age 13, began hand-dipping chocolates in factories throughout Utah. She taught Jerry everything she knew, and for most of his life he made chocolates as a hobby for holiday gifts or small batches sold at boutiques. In 2001, after attending pastry school, Katie moved to Salt Lake City from Chicago and began helping Jerry and learning the ropes. Soon after, the three of them got serious, found an Avenues location they loved, and set up shop.
The Hatch-Masterson crew prides itself on hand-dipping all of its chocolates, a labor-intensive process that yields a thicker layer of chocolate than commercially-produced sweets. It still uses many of Grandma Hatch’s original recipes for its top-selling caramels, but also experiments, as with the popular peanut butter truffle8212;a Jerry and Katie creation that has a little bit of sea salt sprinkled on top to bring out the peanut flavor.
“We still evolve things,” Steve Hatch said. “We’re always taking recommendations.”
Chocolates run $22.99 per pound, or about $1 to $1.50 each, and are made with Guittard Chocolate from San Francisco. Steve’s favorites are the crème centers, with bits of raspberry seed or finely-chopped lemon or orange zest. Katie likes the nut-rolled apricot crèmes, and Jerry prefers the fudge-like panache, with its caramel-brown sugar flavor and a bit of a crunch.
“He’s old-school,” teased Steve. “He still likes milk chocolate.”
The shop also offers hot chocolate, coffee, espresso and desserts, or try a scoop of Ogden-based Farr’s ice cream with homemade Hatch Family caramel or fudge sauce. The shop is open late, inspired by traditional Belgian chocolate shops the family saw while visiting Katie’s family.
“We just want people to be able to congregate here, in a neighborhood setting, after they go out to dinner or a movie,” Steve said. “It’s a place people come to be social and enjoy homemade chocolate.”
Cummings Studio Chocolates
679 E. 900 South
Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Friday-Saturday: 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday 801-328-4858 or www.cummingschocolates.com
Since 1924, Cummings Studio Chocolates has been satisfying Salt Lake City’s sweet tooth.
“We do everything by hand, and we’ve been doing it for 85 years,” said owner Marion Cummings.
Victor Clyde Cummings, founder and Marion’s father-in-law, fell into the role of chocolatier by accident after enrolling in a high school cooking class to try to meet girls. Instead, he discovered a lifelong passion for chocolate, which he later passed on to his son, Paul Cummings. Marion and Paul ran the business together for many years before Paul’s death, and Marion said she is proud to keep the tradition alive.
“My father-in-law found this particular chocolate and told my husband not to change, and my husband told me not to change. So we just don’t change,” she said. “We use the same products we’ve always used, and we use local products when we can.”
That particular kind of chocolate is Tehuanapec, a dark chocolate processed for almost 72 hours, which gives it a unique and rich flavor. For its milk chocolate, Cummings uses Geneva. It receives both varieties as specially made 10 lb. blocks from Merkins Chocolates, out of Cambridge, Mass. Chocolatiers then transform the raw slabs into chocolates and truffles with names such as Poll-E-Wog, Beckie Crisp, Seafoam, Fuzzy and Slowpoke. Assorted boxed chocolates run $25.25 per pound (more for heart-shaped boxes) and can also include caramels, crèmes, nut clusters and brittles.
Cummings is probably best known, however, for its fresh, chocolate-dipped strawberries, cherries and grapes. Marion said the strawberries are by far the most popular this time of year. They’re available individually ($3.50 each for large, and about $1.35 each for small), or as part of a Strawberry Rose bouquet (from $25 to $85, depending upon size).
Brave the Valentine’s Day rush8212;which requires a policeman in the parking lot to direct traffic8212;in order to give your sweetheart a delicious piece of Utah chocolate-making history. And don’t forget to pick up a free sample for yourself.
Tony Caputo’s Market
Hatch Family Chocolates
Cummings Studio Chocolates