Category Archives: Community

The end of a chapter, but not of the story…

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Dear Customers,
As you probably know, Kerstin’s Chocolates has been bringing great chocolate to Edmonton for the last 8 years, and I would like to thank you, our loyal customers, for your support.  I began my journey offering specialty chocolate through chocolate education workshops in 2004 and then began manufacturing my own brand of bars, called Chocophilia which were sold in specialty shops in Edmonton and around western Canada.  In 2008 I began selling them along with other specialty chocolates in my downtown shop on 112th st.  It has been an exciting ride in which I learned many things and met many wonderful people, but the time has come for me to begin a new chocolate adventure.

It is with a sad heart that I must tell you that Kerstin’s Chocolates will be closing its retail shop on April 14th, 2012.  There are several reasons why I had to make this decision.  The first one is that due to family circumstances, I will be moving to Germany in September. The second reason is that although I enjoyed many aspects of owning a retail store, I don’t feel it fully expresses my potential as a chocolatier.  As my family and I travel around the world this year visiting plantations and chocolate makers, I have been learning more about the sources of great chocolate and the complex web of relationships that exist around chocolate. I hope that I find new ways of using chocolate to make a greater impact on the quality of people’s lives.  There are many impoverished cocoa growing regions out there where there is a potential to develop sustainably through cacao.

I feel that this is not the end of Kerstin’s Chocolates but the beginning of a new journey.  I hope that you will continue to support us as we grow and evolve. Please stay tuned for updates on our web site.

Yours truly,

Kerstin

Closing Sale

Beginning Tuesday, March 13th, we will be discounting items throughout the shop by 15-40%. Stop by the shop to find out what’s on sale and  follow us on Twitter and Facebook for daily specials. Our final day at the shop will be Saturday, April 14th. *Please note that discounts do not apply to Easter items.*

Kick Starting some great chocolate.

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We are backing a project on KickStarter that we really like called “A Edible History of Chocolate“. They are almost there but they need more people in the next 4 days to jump in. If you are interested in tasting some cutting edge chocolate from Mexico by way of Hawaii, sign up!

Here is a little video from the folks at Madre Chocolate:

and the current status:

Big news: We are going to give back in a big way.

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Press Release from Nov 30th, 2010.

Check out our press release about our new profit sharing plan with Change For Children!

Get tickets here for the event on Dec 16th.

Media Release

November 30th, 2010

Kerstin’s Chocolates announces a sharing of its profits with Edmonton-based Change for Children.

Buy local, act global.

Kerstin Roos, Edmonton-based artisan chocolatier and owner of Kerstin’s Chocolates, announced today that, beginning immediately, her company will be donating 10% of its net profits to the Change for Children Association (CFCA).
Continue reading →

Chocolate tasting with Change for Children on Dec 16th (Free tickets!)

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There are a limited number of tickets available for the event, so get them
get by clicking here.

Event Details: Kerstin will be holding a public chocolate tasting workshop for children and parents to explain the issues around sustainable chocolate. Who are the people who grow your cacao? What is their life like? Does their work impact the flavor of the chocolate you eat? How will they be able to improve their standard of living?

During the event, all attendees will taste a selection of delicious chocolates.

Time: 5pm, Thursday, Dec 16th.

Location: McKernan School Gymnasium, 11330 76th Ave

Cost: Free (Donations for Change for Children will be collected at the door.)

Seating will be limited to 100 adults (16 and over). Children under 16 are free.

Get your ticket here.

Chocolate and Child Labor

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stop child labour
Image by Anduze traveller via Flickr

here has been some recent activity relating to the problem of child labor on cacao plantations, and I thought it would be interesting to look at some of it.

Here is a story about the cocoa industries’ goals:

And here is a piece about how Hershey is behind other companies on verifying the labor practices of their suppliers:

There is progress, but not nearly enough for my tastes. If you find out any more info about these issues, please let us know. We want to keep track of the industry’s progress in dealing with child labor!

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Al Fresco with Kerstin’s Chocolates tomorrow.

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Big news: We will have a booth at the 104th St. Block party tomorrow. At the booth, we will be testing out our new summer creation: Frozen Dark Drinking chocolate. We will also have truffles and bars! The weather is going to be great, and the movie of the night will be “Chocolat”, so if you love chocolate, come out and enjoy the event with us!

Chocophilia products available this year in the Good Food Box.

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Have you heard of a local project called Eat Local First? It is a very cool idea, and we are supporting it this year by putting some of our products in their distribution center. This means that you can get local chocolate delivered along with local fruits and vegetables! A few of our products now show up in their catalog. If you are interested in the local food economy, check out Eat Local First, and learn more. The order desk opens today!

Digital Easter Egg Hunt!

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We are having another Easter Egg Hunt this year! Although last year’s event was a huge success, we have decided to make the 2010 hunt digital! Here’s how you can get some ganaches on us:

Pictures of Kerstin and Angie’s chocolate tour around Paris have recently been posted on our blog. There are four eggs hidden throughout the photos in Kerstin’s posts below on Paris (click on the photos to get a closer look). Each egg has a letter on it, and together make a four letter word… in French.

Come tell us the correct answer at the Shop between March 30th and April 3rd, and you will win a box of Michel Cluizel’s Les Criolles ganache cacao pods (retail value $12; while supplies last).

Good luck, and have fun! See you soon!

We’re going to the Olympics!

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Well, I’m not sure if anyone from the Shop will make it out, but our Chocophilia Drinking Chocolate is off to Vancouver!

From February 12-28, Alberta House in Vancouver will be serving Kerstin’s drinking chocolate, along with other food and drink from Alberta, to represent the diverse cuisine the Province has to offer. There will also be free nightly performances of music, dance and theatre, along with an exhibition of visual art from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ collection.

If your off to the Olympics this year, be sure check out Alberta House to see what the Province has to offer… and don’t forget to pick up a cup of Chocophilia! You can find more details here.

2009 Open house and chocolate tasting finals + giving back

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Tuesday Dec 22nd will be our annual Christmas Open House at Kerstin’s Chocolates. Come down to the shop between 3pm and 7pm and enjoy a warming cup of hot drinking chocolate with or without extra “cheer”. There might also be some samples of some of our upcoming products to taste. Then at 7pm, stay on to see the final showdown in our “Name That Origin” competition. The winners of the first phase of the contest along with the randomly chosen wildcard entrants will battle to see who can outlast everyone else in a chocolate taste-off. As noted, the winner will receive a $400 gift certificate to use at the shop. No pressure at all! We will have two celebrity officials observing the competition: Edmonton Journal columnist Scott McKeen and the Edible Prairie’s Jennifer Cockrall King. Come one come all and celebrate with us!

One more thing: We want to give back to the developing world a little this year (since that is where cocoa comes from) so we will be sending 20% of sales of Chocophilia Products on Dec 22nd to one of our favorite local charities, Change for Children. Find out more about them on their website.

Indulgence a big success.

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Thanks to everyone who came out to see us at Indulgence 2009. We had a lot of fun at the event, and we hope that you did too. We create a new recipe for the event, and we were surprised by the response! We called it our “Cassis Chocolate Cup with Praline Crunch” and it was made with ingredients from two local producers: local Honey from Lola Canola Honey and local black currants from Mo Na Foods. Check out the diagram!

Diagram of our desert!

Diagram of our desert!

We hope to post some photos of the event soon.

Easter Egg Hunt Results

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Our thanks go out to everyone who took part in the Easter Egg Hunt. It was not an easy one! There were only so many eggs in the wild, and some people started too late and found that they could not get all the eggs they were looking for. We hope you didn’t get frustrated! To give you an idea of how it worked here is what we did:

We started with 96 eggs of 6 different colors. We mixed them up and distributed them to the 10 locations (All of these locations were our partner retailers who sell our Chocophilia products in their stores. All of them are independent and locally owned!)

Over the course of four days 7 people were able to find 6 different eggs and bring them into the store. Only 3 people came in with 3 eggs.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I hope you all had fun! We will try to do more of this kind of fun activity in the future. If you have any feedback, just leave a comment by clicking on the comment button below.