Claire and the Chocolate Factory
Condiment Grá Chocolates Collab is OUT TODAY!
Thank you SO much for your immense support of The Condiment Book! Your orders should all ship soon and bookstores should restock before the end of the month. We are reprinting as fast as we can yipeeeee!!!
Click here to order The Condiment Box !
The Condiment Box
Honey Dijon (m)
Tomato Vanilla Jam & Basil Ganache (m)
Pear Miso (w)
Peach Tonka (w)
Blackberry Balsamic (d)
Salty Cinnamon Peanut Butter & Grape Jelly (m)
My Experience at the Chocolate Factory
There’s a high chance you grew up reading or watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (real ones will know that the original was actually called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). This August, I was lucky enough to be invited by Grá Chocolates to spend a day at their chocolate factory in Galway, Ireland. I am so excited to finally have the time to sit down and write about this experience of a lifetime for you!
To my Irish peeps! I am planning a few pop ups with Grá in Dublin and Galway in October. Stay tuned for more info, I can’t wait to meet you all!
Although I was evidently giddy at the thought of cosplaying Charlie for the day, I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate so I was definitely more intrigued by the process as well as their flavor combinations. Little did I know, I do in fact love chocolate if it’s the tip-top quality chocolate and if the balance between sweet, acid, and a tad of salt is perfect. Grá Chocolates manages to do just that in each and every one of their chocolates and I am a converted FAN GIRL.
My entire time in Galway was a whopping 29 hours but my goodness, did it feel like a 2-week intense educational session on the ins and outs of chocolate. The adventure begins at LHR on August 19th with a delayed flight and an eager beaver (me) pacing at the gate. Luckily for me, the flight is quick and the Shannon airport is tiny, so upon arrival I hopped in my uber and made my way into town staring at cows and sheep under the drizzling rain. Truly obsessed.
I had actually been to Galway once before with my friends Nicola and Kathryn and had the time of my LIFE. I was so excited to come back for not only the food and scenery, but also the people. Everyone I’ve ever met in Galway is kind, interesting, and more importantly interested. They ask questions, they’re curious, and they love their city.
Upon arrival to my hotel room, I kid you not, I froze for a solid 10 seconds looking at the boxes and boxes and boxes of chocolates awaiting me. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and was also starting to brainstorm where to get a cheap suitcase before tomorrow’s flight to bring these all home.
That first evening, I actually met Gráinne Mullins, the head of Grá Chocolates, for the first time! We had spoken loads during the summer about different flavor combinations but never seen each other in real life. When I tell you we had a 3.5 hour dinner… The only reason we parted ways was because we had an early morning at the chocolate factory. We feasted at Rúibín on fried chicken, pickles, steak tartare and more (Galway city guide here) and I had one of the best cocktails I’ve ever had (definitely top 10) which was called the Eastern Punch (sake/gin/orange blossom/cherry/lemon/goat’s yogurt) clarified with milk. SO WILD.
Ok enough about non-chocolate related things I just had the best time with Gráinne and had to share a tidbit about this dreamy evening with you!!!!
OK SLEEP TIME NIGHT NIGHT!
OK GOOD MORNING LET’S GO TO THE CHOC FACTORY!!
The Factory
I packed up my not-so-little-anymore bag and waited in the lobby for my new friend Gráinne to pick me up. I felt like a kid going to school for the first time in September waiting to meet my new friends (the condiment chocolates).
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Gráinne loves the color pink so I should’ve expected this but when you walk into their factory, the doors at HOT PINK. I am so obsessed. The moment those iconic door open, you are hit with the sweet, warming, nutty smell of chocolate. There are chocolates of every color, in many shapes, literally everywhere. I really felt like I was in a film! They were also prepping their Christmas chocolates so I got to get a peak at their advent calendar and omg you guys are going to LOVE IT. I got the meet the lovely team, each member as interested in chocolate, flavor combos, and the business itself.
The Design
First things first, I put my lovely apron on to pretend I did in fact work here and wasn’t a rogue Oompa Loompa wandering the Grá Factory. We began at the painting station and I was told I got to design my own chocolates?? EXCUSE ME?! I was taught all about the different brushes, splatter sizes, and paint strokes. After a few unaesthetic attempts, I let myself just have fun with it and that’s when it all worked out.
We decided on a red, white, and yellow trio to evoke ketchup, mayo, and mustard’s iconic colors. A lovely deep red for the tomato vanilla, white with bright splatters for what we thought would be our one white chocolate (surprise we couldn’t choose so we now have two in the box), yellow for the spicy honey dijon, a sexy dark purple and blue for the blackberry balsamic and an absolutely chaotic mini splatter of colors for the childish pb&j of my dreams.
The Molds
Okay so I won’t lie to you, creating the casing for each chocolate is an ART. I ended up doing all of the chocolate molds myself with 5 set of eyes just standing there staring at me get chocolate all over myself. I won’t lie to you, this was STRESSFUL but all of my paparazzi smiled the entire time - how Irish and jolly of them - andreally made me feel so comfortable despite horribly messing up. I really loved that they let me take my time to learn the process rather than just say “hey dw we’ll take over from here”!!! This was a real stage day people!
The Fillings
Patricia, one of the Grá chefs (and illustrator extraordinaire), had already prepped all of the filling prior to my arrival. Although we had an idea of what the top chocolate picks would be, there were so many extras made for us to test. Turns out, we went rogue and picked a few for the box that weren’t in the original list!
Pizza Intermission…
…. from the one and only Dough Bros. If you’re ever in Galway (city guide here) make sure to come here and try their banana soda + all of their condiments obviously (notable mention goes out to the jalapeño mayo.
The Taste Test
This process was fascinating and the most flavor-informative of the day! Basically we not only tried all of the fillings but we also tried them in different chocolates (white, milk and dark). I did not realize that each filling would taste so different depending on the chocolate casing. I am personally a huge fan of dark chocolate so I expected most of the 5 in the box to be dark chocolates. Spoiler alert there is only ONE dark chocolate in the box!
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We also tasted a few variations of flavors : honey alongside the honey dijon ganache, miso pear, miso yuzu, boozy cajeta, cajeta + goat cheese (which was unbelievable) and more…
Let’s just say picking the final five flavors was SO impossible that we simply didn’t. WE PICKED SIX!
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!!!
Grá’s chocolate box of 10 chocolates will include 6 instead of 5 flavors and I feel so very happy about this! We decided to include two white chocolates, peach tonka as well as yuzu miso, because it would have been too sad to part ways with either one. Although many chocolates did not make the cut, I hope you all enjoy the ones that DID!
What Now!?
Nothing to do but ENJOY! You can buy the chocolates as of TODAY!
So sad shipping to the US is more than the chocolate itself. Off to Ireland, BRB!
I had a chance to get an early taste and these are so delicious.