Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Taza Chocolate x Batch Ice Cream

Local purveyors joined forces this past Sunday to offer a free sampling of their products in the form of ice cream sundaes. Batch provided the ice cream and Taza Chocolate provided the toppings as well as hosted the event at their factory store located at 561 Windsor Street in Somerville, just outside of Inman Square. I ventured over with a few other bloggers around to learn about the products and sample the sundaes before the event opened to the public.
We were introduced to Susie and Veronica the duo behind Batch as well as a number of friendly Taza employees. Taza produces 100% organic direct trade stone ground Mexican Chocolate. Stone grinding the beans is a traditional method of producing chocolate that involves minimal processing and gives the Taza bars their distinctive rustic texture.
Batch ice cream is produced one batch at a time at Crop Circle Kitchen in Jamaica Plain. The owners pride themselves on locally sourced, organic and fair trade ingredients. The milk and cream come from a dairy farm in Tiverton, Rhode Island, the sea salt and butter are from Maine and the coffee beans are from a company out of Orange, MA. The chocolate and the vanilla beans are sourced direct from farms in Costa Rica.
The ingredients on the applied-by-hand labels are all ones you can pronounce, foregoing any stabilizers that are often found in commercial ice creams. While this makes their product at little more expensive (cartons retail for about $7) it also allows for a superior taste, an incomparable freshness, a spoonful of the purest, creamiest, most luxurious quality ice cream you can ever recall tasting.Today we sampled the vanilla and coffee. The vanilla is made with seeds from the beans split open by hand, never with vanilla extract. Vanilla gets a plane-jane wrap but this stuff is so fresh and creamy you will want to eat it plain! The coffee carton boasting a tiny coffee cup as its logo is made from freshly ground beans providing a taste that is a flawless balance somewhere in between bitter and sweet. The toppings provided by Taza ranged from just made chocolate sauce, to roasted cacao nibs to chocolate covered cacao nibs. All were a welcome addition to the made-from-scratch ice cream.Gotta love the Taza bike cart!
The marriage of these two relatively new products proved quite a treat. Taza was founded in 2006 and Batch is coming up on its one year anniversary - founded in May 2010.
Offering high quality ingredients manufactured in a sustainable, socially responsible way results in a superior tasting product and one you feel good about eating. I was happy to have the opportunity to learn more about them both as well as check out the Taza factory store!
Above: Hand chiseled authentic Mexican stones used for grinding the chocolate. Below: looks to be some larger stone grinding machinery.
While inside I sampled three new Taza flavors - Orange, Ginger and Chipoltle Chili.
The flavors really shine through in their chocolate disks. Have your chocolate any way you like, sweet, potent or spicy.
Back outside: The event had quite a turnout!
Special thanks to Carol for providing us each with a bag of treats to take home including pints of salted caramel and coffee ice cream, a batch tee shirt, a Taza 80% dark chocolate bar and a can of chocolate covered cacao nibs.
Want some of your own? You can purchase Batch at a number of shops in Boston and surrounding towns. Taza Chocolates can be purchased at the factory, online and at shops in 40 states nationwide.

25 comments:

  1. I love both Batch and Taza and think that they pair perfectly together!

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  2. That looks delicious. I want ice cream!

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  3. I might have to give that ice cream a shot! It looks fantastic. :)

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  4. Love both of their stuff and have decided I will have to have a Taza tour for the gift shop alone!

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  5. Wow, I totally adore their packaging.

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  6. I am getting addicted to the chocolate covered cacao nibs! And the Batch salted caramel flavor is out of this world amazing. So great seeing you as usual!

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  7. I so wanted to go to this! I obsessed with Taza AND Batch. I have been living of that salted caramel ice cream lately, its amazing. What a perfect combination!

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  8. AH! I wish I had scored an invite to this! Chocolate and ice cream are two of my primary food groups! Thanks for the great recap and the mouth-watering photos!

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  9. I love ice cream!!!!!

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  10. This was such a fun way to spend the afternoon! And I feel so spoiled by the goodies we took home.

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  11. Thanks a lot. Now all I can think about is ice cream. Salted caramel ice cream to be exact! :)

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  12. oh how i loved reading this! I moved from Somerville to Denver! I miss Boston, can't wait to follow your updates!

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  13. i must try the salted caramel! i love the packaging.

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  14. i do love me some ice cream but 7 bucks..thats a bit pricey

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  15. Vanilla ice cream is one of my favorites especially with rich chocolate sauce but that salted caramel is a must try. Ok ~ Mother's Day celebration is ... Bergmots then Batch & Taza Chocolate...Can't wait!

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  16. YUM! I love that concept! One batch at a time? You can't get much more handmade/homemade than that!

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  17. Have I ever told you that I drool everytime I visit your blog?? It's really embarrassing at work, too ;-)

    Happy Thursday Darling! xo

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  18. I love the containers. So cute. Very aesthetically pleasing!

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  19. SO jealosu that I wasn't at this event but love reading the reviews... ice cream & chocolate, match made in Heaven!

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  20. Looks like a fun way to enjoy a Sunday.

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  21. Wow those look sinfully delicious!! I wish I could try some!

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  22. I got to try Taza's new Ginger Chocolate at Taste the Nation. Mmm, it was really good! I still need to make it out to Somerville to tour the Taza factory.

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