If Willy Wonka was to take a vacation to The Bahamas he'd be more than delighted with the Chocolate Factory at Graycliff which offers gourmet chocolate from the bean to the bar showcasing beans that are processed, roasted and blended on property with former "Top Chef: Just Desserts" contestant Chef Erika Davis at the helm. Chef Davis and her five "chocolate babies" are producing chocolates that lay on the tongue. Chocolates that melt so nicely that they practically make you swoon. And it's Chef Davis and her five "chocolate babies" who are bringing all the latest trends in the world of chocolate to the palates of Bahamians and tourists alike. Anything with sea salt or bacon with chocolate, or a tea-infused chocolate is au courant.
Graycliff is right there with the best of them, offering flavors like sea salted caramel, bacon chocolate, an Earl Grey tea, a dark chocolate and Jasmine tea and a chili pepper rum chocolate. A month into the Chocolate Factory's opening, seasonal flavors they currently offer include white chocolate, pineapple and coconut, dark chocolate and Earl Grey tea, Bailey's, mocha latte, dark chocolate and Nutella, white chocolate Christmas, salted caramel, mango and milk chocolate, dark chocolate and gingerbread, dark chocolate and jasmine tea, milk chocolate, white chocolate and almond, dark chocolate and bacon, dark chocolate and peanut butter, dark chocolate and pumpkin spice, white chocolate and orange tea and white chocolate and pistachio.
From spicy to savory, sweet, salty and nutty, there's a chocolate on offer to suit every palate. No chocolate leaves Davis' chocolate laboratory without her tasting it and giving it her stamp of approval. While she loves everything that is produced in her lab, her heart sings for the salted caramel and the dark chocolate and bacon. Graycliff's chocolates are all made with cacao beans that are fair trade and organic, as Chef Davis believes in the farm to table concept. For now, the beans used at the factory are sourced out of Jamaica, but they have plans for a cacao estate in The Bahamas from which they can source their own Bahamian beans.
Take a tour Unique to the Chocolate Factory are the tours that afford guests the opportunity to learn about the rich history of chocolate, engage in a hands-on experience as they learn about the process of making chocolate and create their own masterpiece. The children's tour focuses on the creative side of chocolate and incorporating interactive tools, including the factory's beloved mascot, Captain Choco. As hygiene is of utmost care in the factory, all tours begin with patrons having to get fully dressed -- covering their hair and donning jackets and booties -- just to ensure their safety and to protect the chocolate factory's environs. The tour begins with a talk and pictorial about where chocolate comes from, showing a cocoa tree laden with cocoa pods that haven't matured as yet, before moving on to a mature pod-laden tree with cocoa pods ready to be picked, and then a picture of the beautiful beans that are harvested from the pods.
And of how the beans are fermented and roasted. While Graycliff's current cocoa beans come out of Jamaica, Davis said they will have six different origins before the end of next year. After learning about where cocoa comes from, patrons scrub in clean before they actually move into the chocolate laboratory or any of the party rooms. In the children's room, it's where the youngsters engage in chocolate painting and finding the chocolate coins in the treasure box among the many fun games. They also get to interact with Captain Choco who has his own pirate song. The kids are able to dip fruit, make their own chocolate lollipop in seashell and fish shapes, color and generally have fun. And in the adult party room that can seat up to 25 adults, the action is a little different, but still seriously all about chocolate. They make a truffle, mold chocolate and get to dip a giant chocolate strawberry. The kiddie tour is $34.95 per person.
The adult tour is $49.95 per person. An abridged version is being offered to schools at $10 per student if they take the tour as a class. The Chocolate Factory can even host birthday and Christmas parties. Graycliff roasts their own beans, removes the shells, grinds the beans into nibs from which a chocolate liquor is made. The liquor is then put into a grinder, at which point Chef Davis adds all of the special ingredients to make the chocolate sweet and creamy. The chocolate is then tempered (taken to a high temperature, then dropped to a low temperature]. The chocolate is ready when it shines. At Graycliff they use two different percentages right now. When they're enrobing their chocolate, they use 64 percent chocolate. And when they're doing their chocolate bars they use dark chocolate at 70 percent, so that it has that extra little bite to it.
The chocolate molds are run through a cooling machine, and popped out and they hit the store's shelves, ready to be consumed by eager chocolate aficionados. Next year, Chef Davis also has plans for them to make their own ice cream using all of the local flavors like guinep, sea grape, mango, coconut rum and butter pecan. She's known for her ice creams as much as she's known for her chocolates. Davis who has 22 years of chocolate experience has high expectations for the Graycliff Chocolate Factory. She expects that in nine months the space they are currently in would be too small for their operation. Graycliff Chocolate Factory President Paolo Garzaroli said plans are already in the works to move the production aspect of the facility into their Heritage Village.
They've already spent $2 million to open the new facility. "What we built is an interactive chocolate factory so people can do the whole experience of the actual chocolate making. But what I built was a facility to make chocolate to a certain degree, but not big enough to do major projects and exports and that kind of stuff, and that's basically what we're faced with," said Garzaroli. "There are places that have said we want this, this and this, so it's to the point where the facilities that I have here aren't going to be big enough, so we're going to have to incorporate the production facility across the street [at Heritage Village]. I've got a company in Canada that's really interested in our chocolates to put into their stores ... just an opening order for 300 stores is a little more than I had anticipated," he said. The meeting Garzaroli is still a little stunned that they were able to snag a pastry chef with the chops of Davis to head up the factory.
"I have no idea of how we managed to pull that one through," he said. Davis whose home base is Atlanta, Georgia, met Graycliff president, Enrico Garzaroli, three years ago at a chef's convention and the rest as people like to say was history. "There was this guy sitting there smoking a thick cigar and handing out cigars, and I was like who is this guy. I'm a pretty friendly person when it comes down to meeting people and we got to talking, and he was like one day you're going to be my chocolatier and I was like 'yeah okay'. I never say no to things I don't know about yet, let's stay in touch. And I loved Enrico for bringing his chefs to New York to learn from what's going on in the States.
In the States, we try to keep up on as many trends as possible, but you never see black chefs, so when I saw some I was like hey. And at the time I had just started my not-for-profit called Culinary Wonders USA, and we showcase black chefs and other minority chefs, so it was great to keep that connection. And he (Enrico) always stayed in touch with me. About a year ago, Paolo gives me a call and says 'Hey my dad said to call you because it's time.' I said 'okay sure, let's get together' and that's when the program started on my end. And once I got here the ball was rolling," she said. Chef Davis who has a passion for chocolate said she hopes it shines through in the product that she puts out with the five "chocolate babies" she currently has and to who she is teaching to have a chocolate trade. She knew at an early age that she would become a pastry chef.
She received her culinary arts degree from Oakland Community College and trained under master chefs. She was named one of the top African American chefs by Black Enterprise. And she always has butter, sugar, salt, chocolate and heavy cream on hand. "When it comes to cooking I was right there in the kitchen at five years old with my grandmother. I was right there in the kitchen with Grandma. She would start cooking for Sunday dinner on Saturday morning, and I wanted to lick the bowl, and the only way for me to lick that bowl was to be in there to make the cakes. And she was famous for her pound cakes, her pies ... whatever Grandma cooked was delicious. And when my mom saw that passion, she opened the world to me to be able to do what I do," she said.
Graycliff's Chocolate Factory's flavors are all seasonal, but Chef Davis plans to keep favorites in the rotation. The proper way to eat chocolate In general Clear you palate: Eating a slice of apple or plain bread and sipping some water will clear the sensory overload Meditate: You need to free yourself of distractions. Use all five senses: Look at, smell, touch listen and finally taste the chocolate. To eat Look: The chocolate should have a glossy shine unless you're eating a truffle that's dusted with cocoa or other flavoring.
Smell: The chocolate aroma should be inhaled through the nose to allow your senses to process the complex fragrances. Listen: As you bite into a bonbon that is enrobed in a chocolate coating, you should hear a crisp snap. Taste: Bite the chocolate into two pieces. With the first bite, press the chocolate to the roof of your mouth and allow it to melt and roll across your tongue before swallowing. To drink Look: Note the depth of the color of the cocoa powder. Smell: Inhale the chocolate aroma through your nose. Taste: Take a sip of the drink and let it cover your palate; swallow. Take a soft breath through your mouth and taste the flavor and aroma of the chocolate.
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