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| Woodhouse
Chocolate |
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Tracy Wood Anderson, husband
John and their daughters went from wine to chocolate in the heart
of Napa Valley. While their ingredients are the bounty of the valley,
their vision, presentation and chocolates reflect their love of traditional
European chocolate making. |
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What motivated you to open a chocolate business? |
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We first discovered Belgian
(and French) chocolates in college during a semester spent in Europe.
From living on an enormous chocolate bunny for three days in Venice
when food money had run out, to literally stopping a London play with
our not-so-quiet consumption of some Belgian pralines, chocolate has
woven its way through our lives ever since.
We began developing an idea for a chocolate related product in the
early 1980s, but instead chose to devote ourselves to John’s
family’s winery until its sale in 2002. During the year or so
it took to finalize the sale of the winery, we attended a showing
of the movie “Chocolat” and the rest, as they say, is
history. The movie rekindled our interest in making chocolate and
after a multi-year period of research and hard work, we opened Woodhouse
Chocolate in April of 2004. |
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If you are an almond
lover like I am, you will appreciate Woodhouse Chocolate's ode to
the nut. Take a chocolate dipped almond and then nestle it in a milk
chocolate shell surrounded by Amaretto flavored milk chocolate ganache. |
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Did you have any formal training in chocolate making? |
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With the sale of the winery,
I attended the Barry Callebaut Institute in Montreal, Canada, as well
as received confectionery training from Terry Richardson, University
of California at Davis. I then spent over two years painstakingly
developing my recipes. |
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Where
do you get your inspiration for the different flavors and textures
you include in your chocolates? |
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Inspiration comes from every
direction. Meals enjoyed in restaurants, cookbooks, magazines, movies,
childhood memories; all are jumping-off points for specific chocolates.
Blending sparkling wine gave me a good memory for flavors and the
ability to recognize obscure ingredients, which makes realizing my
ideas easier. |
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If you
had to describe your product line in a couple of sentences, what would
that be? |
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Woodhouse chocolates are traditional
European-style chocolates with a dash of American innovation. They
are little chocolate jewels filled with pure luscious flavors. |
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What
is your personal favorite out of all the products you make and why? |
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Every week I have a different
favorite, but if pressed I suppose it would have to be our Pecan Caramel.
This one is based on a pecan recipe handed down to me by my mother
in law. It is a very personal chocolate based on family memories and
I haven’t tasting one like it anywhere else! |
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