Sometimes food is more than food. Sometimes it is a postcard from the past, a reminder that before there were parking lots and hotel towers, this part of Southern California was nothing but rows of strawberries stretching toward the horizon. You could smell them on the wind. You could taste the earth in them. That is what we wanted to bring back when Marriott came knocking.
We started with white chocolate, but not the cloying stuff most people have had. I wanted something cleaner, silkier, something that would let the strawberries speak without being drowned in sugar. Coconut gave us the canvas. Then came the fruit itself. Real strawberries, slow and careful, folded in so the flavor blooms gently instead of shouting at you. On top, slices of dried strawberry. They are there to surprise you, to bite back a little, to remind you that flavor should have texture, attitude, and a story.
The result is a bar that does not taste like candy. It tastes like a place. Like walking through those old fields with the sun on your back. Like pulling a berry straight off the vine and realizing nothing you’ve eaten since has ever come close.
And here is the part I love most: this bar is not meant to sit behind glass or on a pedestal. It is meant to be eaten, broken with your hands, passed to a friend, argued over, savored in silence, whatever the moment calls for. That is the fun of it.
I, Chef Jeffray, will be at the Marsatta Chocolate Experience Centre (1321 Post Ave, Torrance, CA) today, from 1 pm to 6 pm, handing out samples. Come by. Let’s talk, laugh, and taste together. Because food is supposed to be shared, and this one has a story worth sharing.
—Chef Jeffray
Share:
How We Crafted a Bar That Reflects Marriott
No Sugar. No Shortcuts. Just Chocolate.