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the notebook

This newsletter is not my review of a movie starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling but rather a share of the DWN 'bible.' I was inspired to write this newsletter by my friend Tommy Aird, who recently opened a whole-grain bakery in Vancouver. Chefs are notoriously secretive about their recipes, so I thought that I would share a little bit about the brown notebook that is always moving around the factory.The notebook was a gift from my friend Michelle, and it's where the first six recipes that launched DWN were created. The front few pages include bar mold sizes and the weights for each tumble, followed by recipes transcribed from the craft chocolate class I took with Mackenzie Rivers. I then added tabs for almonds and hazelnuts thinking...

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cozy up with this year’s festive indulgences and gift ideas

The warming smell of holiday spices have been swirling around  the factory for the last two months in preparation for the upcoming holidays. We are delighted to share this year's seasonal additions. Returning this year is the eggnog bar; rum-soaked cocoa nibs ground into a spiced mylk chocolate. Cranberry powder and juniper-infused cocoa butter are ground with cocoa nibs to create the cranberry juniper orange bar, garnished with candied orange pieces to create an explosion of seasonal flavours. Both bars are naturally dairy-free as well as our other seasonal favourites; the black forest bar, the dark chocolate spearmint bar and the forest bar. In the fall, we created two flavours that have become pretty popular and will stick around for a while. The cinnamon toast bar is a rich cinnamony milk chocolate with crispy...

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purple chocolate

This topic has been on my mind for a while since I realized that we make three chocolate bars that present in a very similar colour but have different genetic make up.The original purple DWN bar is the black currant and cardamom bar, which is classified as a fruit bar. The colour occurs naturally from the amount of freeze-dried black currant powder that forms its base, which is ground with cocoa butter and organic cane sugar. There is no cocoa bean in this chocolate. The berry fizz bar starts in the same way as any dark chocolate with cocoa butter, cocoa nibs and sugar. However, the juicy colour of this chocolate comes from the addition of freeze-dried berry powders. I really like this technique...

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it was an honour just to be nominated

This past Saturday, the awards ceremony for the International Chocolate Awards for the Americas took place. DWN had three products chosen as jury selections as potential award contenders, however, we did not end up winning. As a small chocolate maker located in a small town, these types of awards are a great promotional tool because it shows that great craftsmanship can be found anywhere regardless of production size and operational budget. As a solo entrepreneur who shows up every day to continue producing and improving, it is nice to occasionally be recognized by one's peers.However, we can't let awards affect our ego too much because they are not the only indicator of taste. For the past two years, we have submitted...

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chocolate meant to evoke a feeling or emotion

I was inspired to write this newsletter after reading this passage from Mackenzie Rivers (Map Chocolate) when she talks about creating inclusion bars; "It’s about taking an idea, deconstructing that idea (a favorite food, a beloved food memory, a riff on a cuisine or dish) and figuring out how to get that idea into chocolate form."A lot of people ask where I get my ideas and it is usually one of two inspirations; ingredients or memory. I worked for several years as a pastry chef for one of Canada's farm-to table pioneers, which strengthened my determination to work with local ingredients. This is a value that I bring to the chocolate that I make whether it is a fresh ingredient from the...

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