Who doesn’t like chocolate? Seriously, chocolate is the perfect food; rich, creamy, scrumptious, and versatile. You can use it for savory cooking, desserts and even in drinks. I must admit to being a bit (okay truthfully a little more than a bit) of a chocoholic. If allowed by the rest of my household, I would smother everything in some form of chocolate. Getting a chance to delve into the delicious delicacies at the Cococo Chocolatiers was an absolute treat for me, it was this chocoholics dream come true.

I walked into the Cococo store in downtown Calgary feeling prepared to learn all there was to know about making chocolate and maybe consuming a bit of it while I was there. I entered the store and these shoes were the first things to catch my eye. Okay, so you had me at chocolate Cococo, but now you pretty much own my attention! Chocolate and shoes? This is the stuff that ladies fantasize about. A girl can never have too many shoes or too much chocolate.

Cococo Chocolatiers are expert manufacturers and retailers of award-winning chocolates. They also own Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut, one of Alberta’s favorite brands. Cococo has 34 retail stores across Canada and the United States and their chocolate factory is found in Calgary, Canada. Kenin and I had a wonderful day learning the art of making the perfect chocolate and seeing the unique spins that Cococo puts into their products.

Looking at the way the chocolate was mixed to perfection and loving piped into molds by hand helped me understand why their product is so delicious. Some of my favorite flavors were the Earl Grey Tea truffle and the Dark Chocolate Habanero Sea Salt bar.

I was hard pressed to find a flavor that I didn’t like. These fun cowboy hats done in white chocolate were festive and I can only imagine how many Calgarian companies order these for the annual Calgary Stampede. I found them to be the prefect edible image of the city of Calgary.

Continuing through the store we came across a giant machine turning molds over and over to create these gorgeous chocolate eggs. The molds are evenly coated and cooled the laid out on the counters to be filled with Easter goodies then sealed. I am impatiently awaiting to see if the Easter Bunny will have some of these for me this year.

Wrapping up our tour, we learned that Cococo does one of our favorite things with their products…they experiment. We came across two of their master chocolatiers in the kitchen sitting in front of a sack of ingredients (super secret stuff) whispering in hushed tones about what to add where and in what quantity to make fun new treats for the chocolate market. After having tasted their award-winning Honey Anise milk chocolate, which took home the silver medal at the International Chocolate Awards held in London, and my favorite the Earl Grey, I was more than willing to try any concoction that these brilliant and creative Chocolate Masters could come up with.

This was the perfect way to spend a day. If you are in the Calgary area, I highly recommend checking out one of the Cococo stores and make sure to bring your sweet tooth!

We’d be honored if you would subscribe to our newsletter or connect with us via social media on Facebook,twitter, +Lauren, tumblr , Pinterest, and YouTube!