JoMart Chocolates

July 30th, 2009
Posted in News

Last night we happily fed beer swilling friends at the 1st annual Good Beer event held at BAM.

Good Beer at BAM is produced by Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan magazines, in partnership with the just-launched Good Beer Seal, July Good Beer Month and GreatBrewers.com, and will benefit Just Food and Added Value.

Suffice to say- the evening was a blast.  We were surrounded by an incredible group of foodies, chefs, writers, beermeisters, beer drinkers, and some of the best food that Brooklyn has to offer.

Beer is never thought of as a beverage to pair with chocolate.  But think about it, the universe of flavor in a beer is as wide the the flavor combinations that can be coaxed from a cacao bean.

JoMart provided 300-500 attendees with tastes of our Venezuela 44, Spiced Hot Chocolate, and our famous Dark Chocolate Vanilla Marshmallows.

We look forward to the 2nd annual Good Beer event.  Stay tuned for further details.

Michael

The goal, beyond curating an incredible selection of great beers in Brookyn, is perfect pairings: We hit up a dozen of our favorite food makers—like Gramercy Tavern, Co. pizzeria, Porchetta, Ici, the Good Fork, No. 7, Palo Santo, Sullivan Street Bakery—for suds-inspired fare. And we asked beer gurus to match those with selections from a dozen nearby breweries, including Brooklyn Brewery, Sixpoint Craft Ales, Southampton Publick House, Allagash, Ommegang, Kelso of Brooklyn, Keeghan Ales and Sly Fox.

You can of course create your own beery match made in heaven at Good Beer, but we think we’ve got five sweet contenders lined up to get you started, including Gramercy Tavern’s own homebrew and their sizzling sausages; pork dumplings from The Good Fork paired with Blue Point Brewery Toasted Lager; Pennsylvania’s Troegs Brewing Company Pale Ale and Vermont’s Clothbound Cabot Cheddar; Widow’s Hole Oysters from Greenport and Left Hand Brewing’s Milk Stout; and Greenmarket veggies served up with the spicy Allagash White.

Plus we’ve lined up beery treats from Bent Spoon, including “Dark Philosophy,” 61 percent chocolate ice cream with cherries and Ommegang’s Three Philosophers, and the Penn Shandy, a lemon, ginger, gin and pilsner cocktail from Back Forty.

Beers by: Brooklyn Brewery, Sixpoint Craft Ales, Southampton Publick House, Kelso of Brooklyn, Blue Point Brewery, Allagash, Troegs, Ommegang, Left Hand, Sierra Nevada, Smuttynose, Magic Hat, Victory, Keeghan Ales, Sly Fox, Peak Organic Brewing Company, Lake Placid, Ithaca Beer Company

Beer bars: Jimmy’s No. 43 and Beer Table

Food by: The Good Fork, Beer Table, Back Forty, Palo Santo, Gramercy Tavern, Jasper Hill, No. 7, Widow’s Hole Oysters, iCi, Porchetta, Co., Rose Water, Brooklyn Greenmarkets, Sullivan Street Bakery, Great Performances, JoMart Chocolates, Bent Spoon and a beer garnishes demonstration by Messermeister

July 24th, 2009
Posted in News

Every year, ‘round about anniversary time, my husband can be seen hunting and pecking in Google. I play dumb-no mean feat-until he turns to me and says, “Do you know the gift for the 14th anniversary?”

“Diamonds,” I respond.

“No. Ivory,” he replies, “And you say ‘diamonds’ every year.”

Well, I think to myself, then why do you ask me? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a major sign of mental illness…but I don’t tell him that. Diamonds it is, and diamonds it shall remain come anniversary time, birthday, Groundhog’s Day, whatever. It isn’t as though I always get them, but that’s what the gift would be, in a perfect world.

But, what to get him? For the most part, he finds presents to be a terrific waste of time (we are a mixed marriage). He’ll hem and haw about a new guitar, but only HE can pick it out. Cashmere socks are absurd, he doesn’t need more sweaters, he wears scrubs at work, he’ll buy his own music, thank you, and the books he gets at the exchange downstairs in our apartment’s basement work for him. Every now and again, he’ll splurge on something for the summer bungalow, but I don’t really think that counts as a gift for him, especially since our daughters hog anything electronic. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

For years I agonized-okay, I didn’t actually agonize, but I was troubled. But now, whatever the occasion I know what to do: I log onto JoMart and order him the halvah steaks dipped in dark chocolate. It’s a no-brainer, and he actually is thrilled when I surprise him with them. He has a ritual whereby, after dinner, he carefully sculpts a section off the huge hunk, places it on a plate, and cuts it into slivers, which he delicately eats. My husband is a big guy with a bigger appetite, so there are few times his culinary actions can be described as “delicate.” The girls and I delight in ordering them for him for no specific occasion, as there are few more delightful family moments than when he starts foraging through the goodies bin and sees an untouched JoMart box. We can actually see the synapse spring into life as his face lights up.

So, a kiss on the hand might work in some families, but if it ain’t carats or halvah, pass us by. Thanks, guys!

Elise Cagan

Infamy@aol.com

June 30th, 2009
Posted in News

Just when you thought it was safe to have a quiet summer conversation.  Not anymore, you can now follow JoMart Chocolates on Twitter.  That’s right, cancel your subscriptions, disconnect cable and buy a Palm, Blackberry or iPhone. In between comparison shopping, watching re-runs of Grey’s Anatomy, or finding out what Jack Bauer is really up to, you can now follow us on Twitter.  Whether it is my latest blog entry, a daily coupon, a new taste or just to let you know what we are cooking.

Go to our website, you can join our newsletter (more coupons) and sign up to follow us on Facebook or Twitter-or get really crazy and follow us on both-WOW, what a deal.

In keeping with the spirit of the day, time to return to cutting marshmallow.

Peace+Chocolate

Michael

June 2nd, 2009
Posted in News

Several years ago-about 15 to be exact-, Stanley,a friend-actually his family owned Fan-Fan, a wonderful Chinese takeout in Fresh Meadows-asked me what I thought about chocolate as a delivery system.  Perhaps the msg-the naturally occuring one, not the added on-had muddled my brain, or maybe it was the ride on the LIE, but I have to admit I was at a loss for words.

This took place in the old days, 1994 or so.  Those were the days before the establishment of the EU.  Chocolate was not referred to by percentage, dark chocolate was known as semi-sweet or bittersweet, and we hadn’t heard of Monica Lewinsky-yet, but I digress.

Once my brain re-engaged I asked Stanley what he meant.  He felt that because of chocolate’s wide appeal, it would be great to fill with vitamins or specific healthy additives.  I argued that I want people buying and eating chocolate strictly for pleasure.  If people are buying chocolate to help improve their memory or their prostate, it would seem more like medicine, OK, really good tasting medicine.  I wanted no part of it.

JoMart does have a history with chocolate as a delivery system. In the 1950’s my father-Martin, the Mart of JoMart-entered into a working agreement with Endo, a local drug manufacturer.  Each month after my dad washed (with supervision) a 500 lb melter-our current dark 68% dark chocolate- and melted a special dark chocolate-Endo scientists would add aspirin to the chocolate.  Once the aspirin and chocolate was properly mixed, my dad would mold tiny  tablets.  They were little break-up squares consisting of apples.  The parent would break off an apple-or 2, and administer the really good medicine to their ” I hate medicine, it tastes yecchy” child.  Eureka, eat chocolate, get better.

Apparently the folks as Endo, or maybe a focus group decided that this was a bad idea.  Although my dad told this story many times, and I still have the molds!, I never thought much of chocolate has a delivery system.  Though there was that time in sleepaway camp and that package of Exlax….

Today, as if by wizardry, my dad’s stories and Stanley’s idea came back to me.  If you have watched TV lately, you might have seen the Activia yogurt commercials. Somehow buying yogurt  to “keep you regular” AKA-eat yogurt and poop, doesn’t bother me, it seems OK, but chocolate-NEVER!

Clearly I was not asked, but I read today-after I made marshmallow I needed a break- that a probiotic chocolate that has been available in Europe since 2007 is coming to America.  According to Wikepedia (the all knowing source of everything) probiotics strengthen the immune system to combat allergies, excessive alcohol intake, stress, exposure to toxic substances, and other diseases.

The world of food is changing.  Medicine seeks to taste like our favorite fruits, chocolate is filled with herbs, spices, nutrients and additives, and everything else tastes like chicken.

Chocolate as a delivery system.  That’s  like taking an actor and making him president.  Oh well, back to work

May 30th, 2009
Posted in News

Want to make a lousy day great? Easy, make a party!! We’ll make the favors…..

Spring and Summer are the official kick off of party time. It seems like most of our customers are coming in to plan a party-weddings, sweet 16’s, communion, confirmation or a retirement celebration. 

In addition to ready made favors we also cater to the do-it-yourself home candymaker and cake baker/decorator.  For the candymakers we offer the full line of Merckens confectionary “melts”.  Since they contain no cocoa butter, they are much easier to work with, as they do not require tempering.  Just melt, pour or dip-done.  We also offer bags, sticks, molds, ribbon, styrofoam discs, and a variety of decorations-both edible and decorative.

Our cake decorating department features Wilton brand supplies. Pans, decorations, icing, tips, gumpaste, fondant, colors, character pans, cupcake and brownie accessories and so much more.  We carry over 1000 items for the avid cake decorator.

Personalization makes it—–personal.  We offer imprinted ribbon, custom chocolate bars (the wrappers are personalized, the chocolate is custom blended). 

Come discuss your next affair with us.  We guarantee your guests will thank you.

April 24th, 2009
Posted in News

Everyday I hear the number trillion being casually used.  A Federal Reserve injection, bank writeoffs, debt to be forgiven; what does it all mean?

Let’s quantify a trillion; as in ounces of chocolate.  There are 320 million people eating in this country.  Let’s assume tourists are replacing citizens, so the number is relatively constant.

What if we spread a trillion ounces of chocolate equally among all 320,000,000 of us.  Each year the per capita consumption of chocolate in the United States is approximately 11 lbs per person.

1 trillion ounces of chocolate divided by 320 million people is 195 lbs of chocolate.  If we divide that by 11 lbs per year, that is the equivalent of 17 3/4 years.  

The next time you hear someone casually mention a trillion dollars, think about it.

Don’t think about, make a dent, buy a box of chocolate and spread the love.

Michael

April 13th, 2009
Posted in News

April 12th, 2009
Posted in News

First off, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover.  I hope your holidays were sweet and peaceful, maybe with a bit of chaos thrown in.

Granted April 15th is the dreaded day we associate with paying taxes.  We all know how well the folks in D.C, not to mention Albany and NYC spend our cash.

But something that touches all of lives started on April 15, 1946-JoMart Chocolates. (Although by grandfather went into the chocolate business in the 20’s (not sure exactly what year) his company was called The Newport Candy Company ).  That’s right, next week is number 63.  Not sure if this is a birthday or an anniversary?

Be sure to stop by for some in store specials.

See you soon,

Michael

March 23rd, 2009
Posted in News

It’s been a while since this was updated. I came down with bronchitis at the end of February, and it has taken until now to shake. I am back. Time to turn the page on the calender and welcome a big change.

The days are getting longer, the temperature was 24 degrees this morning, Congress is whining and our customers are asking for chocolate bunnies, that must mean spring is here. Actually it is. This week we started preparing for Easter 2009. This year we will have solid bunnies, hollow bunnies, our unique hand-painted Easter rabbits, and our chocolate eggs and chocolate baskets. In addition we will have jelly beans, jelly bellys, teenie beenies, marshmallow peeps, and so much more. We expect this year, we will have our largest selection of Easter chocolates ever. Most items that we make will be available in milk, dark and white chocolate. We will gladly personalize any item that we make. Just give us a call or an email and it will be done. Just give us a little bit of time.

It is very strange working and planning Easter while it’s freezing and the heat is still on. This whole global warming thing is really screwing things up.

This is the place where we introduce new items. We have a new addition to the Caramel Collection;Raspberry Caramel. There are no flavors added to this caramel. We are using pure freeze dried raspberries. No added flavors, stabilizers, nothing. This product is great. It brings a sublime layer of flavor to our caramel. You are going to love it. If you would like a tasting sample, just let me know.

Check back soon for some exciting news.

February 25th, 2009
Posted in News

The New York Times referred to our marshmallow as a bite of heaven.

Every so often, a new group of future customers are introduced to our marshmallows.  It never ceases to amaze me how surprised they are after the first taste.  My family has been making our own marshmallow since the 1920’s when my grandfather Julius became a penny candy manufacturer.  The recipe did not change when my dad opened JoMart in 1946.  Although he set out to make a better quality product, he adopted his father’s marshmallow and made it his own.  There has never been a need to try and improve it.  I realize I could spin a great story about the origin of the recipe.  Truth be told I never found out where the recipe originated. Maybe pirates or vikings developed it.

Our marshmallows are markedly different from the kind that come in a bag, and taste best when set on fire.  They are fluffy, really, really fluffy.  When you pick up one of our freshly made chocolate covered marshmallows, it feels weightless.  Then comes that first bite.  Sweet, but not so much, rich, and oh so satisfying.

The most popular flavor is vanilla.  Where did the phrase plain vanilla come from?  There is nothing plain about it.  We use Madagascar vanilla.  It is as plain as a canvas.  It provides the perfect backdrop to build and build flavor.  Take your time- go slow, savor each and every bite.

Our current flavors are vanilla, vanilla chocolate chip, caramel, brown-bottom, s’mores, chocolate, maple, maple nut, coffee & raspberry jelly.  From time to time we get requests ranging from banana to jalapeno. There are no artificial flavors used in any of our products.