When it comes to celebrations - be it birthdays, graduations, or anniversaries - there is only one dessert worth making, cake. Specifically, chocolate cake. Whether it’s smeared across our faces as toddlers or lovingly fed to us by our significant others, we’ve all had a slice (or two) of chocolate cake in our lifetime. So, when Harper Macaw employee, Amanda, had her birthday earlier this month we knew just what to do. But some of us (aka yours truly) love to dabble in the art of baking with certain dietary restrictions (I’m looking at you, dairy). Which meant, in the end, baking...

Just about every time I’m out with friends or strike up a conversation with a stranger, the topic turns to what each of us does for a living.  This promptly sets a grin to my face every time I say I am a chocolate maker at Harper Macaw here in Washington, DC because I know what the impending reaction will probably be.  As soon as those words leave my mouth I get inundated with questions or comments ranging from “how do you not look 1,000 pounds?” or “so you’re basically Willy Wonka”.  While I think it’s comical even my friends...

Spring has slowly weaved its way into the heart of DC - the bright green, rainy afternoons, and the stunning floral gardens have replaced the chilly mornings of our not so cold winter. And boy am I grateful. Spring is one of the most enjoyable seasons in DC, if not the most beautiful. When I think of Spring I think of fresh citrus, cold mint lemonade, and baked goods straight from the oven, specifically granola. Every time Spring rolls around I get a craving for freshly baked granola to dollop on top of thick Greek yogurt with fresh berries and local honey. Making granola is...

When we think of chocolate, what comes to mind is usually the rich, roasty, and creamy flavors of a dark chocolate bar, or the buttery sweetness of milk chocolate. But chocolate doesn’t start out tasting like ambrosia, on the contrary, as a cacao bean, actually a seed, it is unbearably astringent and bitter - good for defending against hungry forest crawlers, but not for chocolate making. To get the chocolatey flavor we all know and love the cacao seeds must first undergo a process called fermentation. That’s right, like pickles and wine, chocolate is a fermented food. The cacao bean’s...