Monday, February 19, 2007

Remember to eat your chocolate

Recent news from the American Association for the Advancement of Science indicates that chocolate may literally be "fuel for thought".

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Sappho, etc.

Our wonderful customer and quasi-resident classicist Willis Barnstone recently informed us that our name is backwards. Imagine our surprise! In his most recent translation of the poems of Sappho, Willis constructs the origin this way:

Sweetbitter
Eros loosener of limbs once again trembles me
A sweetbitter beast irrepressibly creeping in

We always think of ourselves as more sweet than bitter, so this works for us!

Friday, February 09, 2007

We couldn't agree more

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, we get a ton of questions here at Bittersweet about pairing chocolate and wine. While the combination can indeed be a wonderful one, it can be difficult to get it right, and often one flavor ends up dominating or interfering with the other.

In an article from today's SF Chronicle, there's some great feedback on the topic, including Michael Recchiuti's comment that: "There's so much written about Cabernet and chocolate. We ended up tasting it and just couldn't get it to work. It's either a really harsh experience, or the chocolate will take over. One of them is going to steer the ship." Amen.

For a little more advice on the subject, including pairings that we have had consistent success with, check out Bittersweet's FAQ page, and good luck!

So that's what those are for...

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Edible East Bay

One of Bittersweet's fabulous team of bakers has written up a great article for the current edition of Edible East Bay. Check it out, and while you're at it, don't forget to visit her in the blogosphere at:
dessertfirst.typepad.com

Thanks Anita! Keep up the good work...