If you are a die hard chocolate fan there is only one place to be on the weekend of Mothers Day: Denver, Colorado. For the ninth sweet year, the Denver Merchandise Mart will be heaven on earth for chocolate aficionados of every stripe. The festival will offer over 80 vendor booths providing between 6,000 and 7,000 attendees with over 80 thousand samples of their innovative and delicious sweets.
If you can sweet dream it up, you can probably find it at the Colorado Chocolate Festival. From insanely rich fudge to even richer truffles, and from Best Chocolate Wedding Cake to Best Chocolate Design, there are samples and booths that will make any chocolate lover’s eyes widen to saucer size. You can wander through this land of sensory delight while you sample toffee, brownies, cupcakes, candies and even the famous Chocolate Martini.
Colorado has become home to some of the most innovative and enticing independent chocolatiers in the country, and all of them are determined to make their mark in this market with special niches of their own. Do you want the most decadent fudge you can find? Here it is. If you are looking to support fair trade, organic chocolate, it’s at the festival. You can sample single-origin chocolate, which means the chocolate used is from only one variety of the cacao plant that has been harvested in one region, and carries the distinct taste of that area. Or you can try blended chocolates, each produced to create a memorable treat that you’ll want more of.
Besides the heavenly chocolate tasting experience, the Colorado Chocolate Festival also features artisan jewelry and clothing, crafts, cooking demonstrations, speakers, live music and lots of contests. Do you want to take the Chocolate Crown Competition more than anything? Then all you have to do is eat more chocolate kisses in one minute than any of your competitors do (there’s also a chocolate pudding eating contest, just in case you haven’t gotten enough of a chocolate fix). If you’re curious about more experimental chocolate adventures, check out the chocolate, cheese and wine pairing.
Whatever your particular favorite chocolate is, you will have your chocolate vistas expanded at the Colorado Chocolate festival. The world of chocolate is growing and finding increasingly interesting ways to use and interpret the ingredient, and producing some of the world’s finest chocolates has become a thriving local industry in Colorado.
The traditional milky chocolate that so many of us thought was the only chocolate is just one thin slice of the chocolate world. From chocolate brownies with bacon in them to chocolate candies infused with tea, from hand painted truffles to towering chocolate wedding cakes, there’s nothing quite like a visit to this festival to keep any chocoholic happy.
