[Music]
today we're at whetstone chocolates
we're gonna learn how it is made
the properties of chocolate and fingers
crossed I need to try a lot of chocolate
come with me
[Music]
[Applause]
I'm with Virginia whetstone the owner of
whetstone chocolates and today we're
gonna learn a lot about chocolate but
let's start with the history of the
company because it has a very rich
history yes my the Western chocolates
was started by my parents back in 1967
my father used to work for the Army
Corps of Engineers and my mother was a
1st grade school teacher and they wanted
to go into business for themselves so
they looked around st. Augustine they
first opened an ice cream store and then
they thought well what goes well with
ice cream and they said well chocolate
does so then they started making
chocolates and fudge and at home in
their own kitchen and we talk about
what's doing a thing that's really
unique obviously its local because we're
here right now but also it's one of the
oldest family-owned businesses in this
area that's correct
my father's lineage actually goes back
to the Flagler era when Henry Flagler
was in st. Augustine my great
grandfather immigrated in the late 1800s
through Ellis Island in New York he was
a chef and heyday was his family was in
the hotel business and then he met up
with Henry Flagler and he was hired to
become the head chef at the hotel for
Henry Flagler so that's kind of how we
started in st. Augustine that is so neat
and again it's a company with a very
rich history and we're in a place that
has a ton of history being at st.
Augustine now let's talk about chocolate
because there really is a lot of science
tell how everything is made well
chocolate is not an easy process a lot
of people don't even understand where
that comes from and it's actually a
fruit it grows on a tree called the
cacao tree and it's mainly grown along
the equator in the in the world so you
get it from Ecuador you get it from
Indonesia and the fruit is harvested
several times a year and there are cocoa
beans inside the fruit and those are
allowed to dry and firm it and then once
the beans have been
put in burlap bags or shipped to
processors in the United States to then
create chocolate from there and then
when it comes to the quality of
chocolate
what separates place to place look
obviously you guys do an amazing job
with the product that you produce what's
the key to that well the key is first of
all the formulation the formulation of
the products that you intend to produce
the quality of the ingredients and when
it comes to chocolate you can get a
variety you can have very gritty
chocolate you can have chocolate that
doesn't have a very strong flavor so the
quality of the chocolate has a high
percentage of cocoa butter which allows
it to melt and the quicker it melts into
the map in your mouth the higher
percentage of cocoa butter and the
higher cost the product is and one day
it's kind of interesting when you talk
about health trends people are saying
that chocolate is actually good for you
do you find that to be the case oh
absolutely and of course the best
chocolate is what stuck but yes the
higher the cocoa percentage in the
chocolate the healthier it is obviously
you guys have a great product that you
have but you also offer tours and we see
some people behind us so what can
families expect when they come out here
to actually look at the facility well we
do we do chocolate tasting tours and the
whole purpose of our tasting tour is to
educate the public on chocolate and to
educate them on family businesses and
how we got started into the chocolate
business so that we don't really do a
factory tour but the factory is part of
the tour but you're tasting the
difference between milk chocolate white
chocolate a 47% dark chocolate a 72%
dark chocolate we are tasting our fudge
and you're you're also tasting our
signature product our wet stone shells
and that's one of the best sellers right
that's our best seller our shelves I
created that product in the mid-1980s
and we make it in toffee crunch mint
crunch Key Lime Valencia orange so we
make it in about seven and eight
different flavors one of the things you
mentioned is that people could actually
have a little tasting tour we are here I
love chocolate can we taste some
chocolate oh we're gonna taste of
chocolate we're also going to chase some
caramel we just came out we're
introducing a rum caramel in a bourbon
caramel and today we're going to coat
our rum caramel in milk chocolate but
we're going to taste the rum caramel
against our vanilla caramel so love it
me too I'm excited let's go okay
[Music]
all right Virginia what's first on the
list okay how about let's try our
vanilla caramel against our rum caramel
that we just made now we're not we're
gonna try it without the chocolate to
see how you can taste it all right so
which is which okay this is the rum and
this is the vanilla
[Music]
I put the whole thing on top that is
excellent
[Music]
I can't talk right now that's why I'm
asking you the question what should I be
well the rum caramel if you notice it's
not it's Stewie but it's not sticking to
your teeth didn't stick to your teeth a
caramel should have a nice pull when you
bite into it it actually leaves teeth
marks and has just a clean bite it has a
nice flavor it's not too strong but yet
you know it's rum I like it and you're
insane
Augustin there's pirates all over the
place so rum is a good route to go ROM
is a great route to go next up is the
vanilla just a plain vanilla now you'll
notice it again when you bite it it's
not sticking it's a clean bite
[Music]
I like this a lot is this more
traditional this is your traditional
caramel sullen yeah it's it's not a dry
texture either okay it's got its got a
nice robust flavor to it so it's great
when it's plain we unfortunately we
don't sell it uncoated we'd probably
need to start doing it because I love to
eat them this way but we will then add
some Yelp shock ilat to it I think it's
a good route to go put chocolate on top
of it a little sea salt whoo sea salt
caramels are quickly taken over the
caramel it's the most popular now that's
the key just keep throwing ingredients
on top of it exactly all right so what's
nuts let's go try it with a chocolate
mmm let's go
[Music]
alright what's next on the menu okay
next on the menu is our milk chocolate
sea salt caramel link tunnel so as soon
as it comes up she's got one up for you
try one off the cart got a little sea
salt on top and it's loaded with milk
chocolates our same vanilla caramel
[Music]
my favorite so far yeah that was really
popular
what's last on the list last on that
list we're going to foil wrap some of
our milk chocolate shells so you'll see
how we apply foil to our chocolate sea
shells and then you'll get to taste it
all right well let's go that way
all right now we're at the sea shells in
Virginia you actually created these back
in the 80s yeah back in ninth about 1985
I thought we needed a new product and I
created the sea shells and probably the
most popular flavor is our milk
chocolate with toffee crunch we now make
them in about seven different flavors
Wow and then right now I see them in
front and then is this machine that
wraps them yeah this is what we have on
this card this is our de Leon dark
chocolate shell it's a forty fifty seven
percent cocoa and we're going to put
them in the Machine and we're going to
put the foil on it gets a dark blue foil
on it so you'll see how that's made all
right let's see it done okay
[Music]
okay so what we're doing here I have to
put it in each little holes and it goes
into the Machine and then
yep the foil gets pulled and then it
gets cut and then it gets put on top of
the shell and then it gets tucked and
wrapped well Virginia I'm gonna leave
you for one second because I'm gonna go
follow those shells so it might as well
unwrap it right
[Music]
Wow good job Virginia the rapping look
excellent too
[Music]
Virginia thank you so much for the tour
and all the topic I learned a lot today
I learned that I'm a better chocolate
eater than maker of chocolate now people
want to learn more about what's in
chocolates what's the best route best
route go to our website
WWE don't Rock let's calm alright thanks
again and if you don't mind I think I
need to buy some more chocolate sounds
good we'll fill you up
[Music]
[Applause]
I like chocolate that was you guys here
that little segment was your calorie
intake for like a week man that was a
lot of chocolate going down it was a lot
and no matter what just all around you
just kept grabbing it was so good I wish
you go I'm looking for like the
chocolate oh I see you're trying to pull
off a ranch right there's two left
that's empty yeah we're gonna try some
of the products oh my gosh no you did
not put it back in there are these
shells that she talked about good so
each one's a different flavor based on
that's right
gonna wrap and then this one is brittle
what is when the world is chipotle lime
brittle it's delicious and I learned so
much while I was there so definitely go
check it out to learn more go to our
website we proceed alive tv.com and I
just want to finish up these last two
why not I started sick around where to
come right after this