Chocolate San Francisco & 1952 Pillsbury
A trip to the City by the Bay and Snappy Turtle Cookies
San Francisco was the starting point for the Gold Rush in 1849. It was the closest port to Sutter's Mill, where the first gold specks were found. Some came for the gold and discovered miners needed equipment, clothes, and food. This is when Levi Strauss started and many food companies. I thought we would look at the history of chocolate in San Francisco, a few current candy stores, and a few that are long gone and missed.
Secondly, I have continued with the Pillsbury Grand Prize Winner Beatrice Harib of Chicago with her Snappy Turtle Cookies.
Chocolate of San Francisco
If you travel into the city by the Bay by ship or air, you will see the historic chocolate beginnings of the city. Sailing into the city, you can see the bright lights of Ghirardelli Chocolate outlined on top of the former factory at Ghirardelli Square. Flying into San Francisco International Airport, about 2 miles south, you will smell the sweet roasting of cocoa beans at the Guittard factory, in between the Northern See’s Factory and sucker making facilities. Enjoy this trip down memory lane of chocolate.
Ghirardelli Chocolate
1852, founded by Domenico Ghirardelli, an Italian chocolatier, during the gold rush years. First opening in Stockton, CA close to the mining towns, Domenico started selling equipment and confections for the miners. A second location was opened in the city at Broadway and Battery, so he could offer products to the miners once they arrived instead of close to the mines. In 1893, the company buys the Pioneer Woolen Building on the waterfront, which is the present site of Ghirardelli Square. Chocolate manufacturing took place for over 100 years. Today the location is a mixed-use facility with a Ghirardelli Ice Cream store. Today, Ghirardelli is owned by the Lindt & Sprüngli Company.
Guittard Chocolate
1868, Etienne Guittard came over from France to stake his claim in the gold rush, bringing chocolate beans from France. Realizing he could make more money in the chocolate business, Etienne returned to France to work on his craft. He returned to San Francisco to open The Guittard Chocolate Company, at 405 Sansome Street, downtown. Today the 5th generation is at the helm, producing cocoa, chips, and bars of chocolate for home and bakery use. Two plants operate south of San Francisco Airport in Berkeley, CA, and a second manufacturing plant in Fairfield, CA.
Look for the colored foil-wrapped bags of chips at the grocery store. Guittard chips are some of the most flavorful, using real vanilla. Unlike lower-priced chips, which replace the cocoa butter with vegetable oil, Guittard chips contain cocoa butter.
Scharffen Berger Chocolate:
Not just a Scharffen Berger strange name to pronounce, but that of one of the best artisan chocolates manufactured. In 1996, John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg started working with cocoa beans and roasting them in their home kitchens to create rich dark chocolate bars. Opening a café and factory across the Bay Bridge, after 9 years, John and Robert felt they had grown the company as far as they could. The Hershey Company from Hershey, PA, took notice of their rich bars and purchased the company along with Joseph Schmidt Chocolates for 46.1 to 61.1 million dollars. In 2020, Hershey divested Scharffen Berger brand and in 2024, Mail order Harry and David manufacturing and marketing the brand. In the early days, the bars were hand-wrapped in a thick plastic bag with a seal, then placed into cardboard box packaging. Today, the brand is mainly a candy confection brand.
Dandelion Chocolates
Founded in 2010 by Todd Masonis and Camerio Ring in the city's Mission District. The guys were inspired by Sharffen Berger chocolate maker and Mast Brothers from New York. Using the popular phrase, Bean to Bar, Dandelion started a Café as part of the experience. Today, they have expanded across the Pacific and into Japan. If you are not in the Bay area, you can mail order bars and chocolate kits. This is also the only chocolate factory in the area that offers public tours.
Joseph Schmidt Chocolates:
Founded in 1983, Joseph created a large egg-shaped truffle that sold very well. He also used chocolate as an art form. You would stop past his shop on 16th and Sanchez to pick up a box of chocolates and to see what he had been working on. Famous for chocolate edible tulip dishes and his “slicks,” which were thin round, 2-inch discs that sandwiched fresh fruit purees. He sold 3-D chocolate holiday animals in plastic boxes to high-end department stores worldwide. In 2005, Hershey purchased his company. In 2009, Hershey closed the tiny storefront and factory in the Mission district. As of today, Joseph Schmidt chocolates are a faded memory. Many collect the artistic candy boxes to this day.
Recchiuti Chocolates
Opened in 1997, Michael R. Recchiuti, a former musician, created an artisan brand of chocolates. Using fresh herbs and fruits from the local farmers markets. His chocolate caramels are some of the best on the planet. In 2005, Michael penned a beautiful cookbook on chocolate and his creations. Today, Michael has a shop at the Ferry Building where you can find his creations. His factory is not open for tours but in the
“Dogpatch” area of the city.
See’s Candies:
See’s opened a small storefront factory and shop in Los Angeles in 1921. Lawrence See realized that expansion was the way to go. In 1957, See’s built a Northern California Plant in South San Francisco. It is still in operation today.
Chocolat
Founded in 1976, Queen of Chocolate Alice Medrich opened Chocolat, a take-away bakery/café. After Alice had studied in France, and realized that chocolate truffles were perfect with a rich chocolate percentage, other than a sweet milk chocolate. Her chain of bakeries grew to seven locations by 1990. After the Oakland fire that damaged her factory, Alice sold the company and started focusing on teaching and cookbook writing. A multi award-winning author, Alice penned a book on all of the desserts made at Chocolat. My favorite is the flourless torte with fresh raspberry sauce. The new owner could not keep the quality or the locations open.Beatrice Harlib, from Chicago, loved entering cooking contests. She had entered every year since Pillsbury started the Grand National Contest, never winning in the past three years, vying for one of the 100 spots.
Pillsbury 1952 1st Prize Winner Beatrice Harib (1906-2001) of Chicago, IL
One afternoon while working on a brown sugar cookie for the upcoming Pillsbury Grand National Baking Contest. The phone rang in the middle of her recipe development. When she got off the phone, she noticed Joel, one of her 10-year-old twins, had taken the cookie dough and formed legs and a head out of pecans to make it look like a turtle.
Beatrice made some chocolate frosting to coat the turtle “shell” and entered it into the 4th annual 1953 contest in New York City.
Beatrice became one of the 100 contestants (20 Junior bakers, one male, and 79 senior women) who traveled to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan three weeks shy of Christmas.
Her family was so excited that her husband, Peter, a Chicago Police Department sergeant, brought a TV set to the twins’ (Joel and Sam) classroom so everyone could watch the contest.
Beatrice was announced as “the Cook of the Year,” winning the grand prize of $25,000! While her cookies were still warm, the show hosts, Arthur Godfrey and Art Linkletter, could not stop eating her Snappy Turtle Cookies.
Mrs. Pillsbury and Vice President-Elect First Lady Patricia Nixon presented Beatrice with a $25,000 check. In addition to the check, an electric oven on which she baked her award-winning cookies, a kitchen table, chairs, and a mixer were sent to her home.
A few years later, Beatrice won a contest with the Dairy Council, earning another $25,000 for her award-winning casserole.
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