Chocotenango
I thought I knew chocolate. After years of eating, baking with and learning about chocolate, I really believed I had a good grasp on the subject. That was until I met Ismael, the owner of Chocotenango. He has taught me more about the complexities, intricacies and important aspects of chocolate-making than I ever knew. Ismael knows more about the subject than anyone I’ve ever had the pleasure to interview, and while I’d love to tell you all everything I learned, this is a blog and I must refrain from turning it into a novel! So instead, I’ll tell you all about Ismael and his delicious chocolates that can be found every Sunday at the Bethesda Central Farm Market.
Ismael is originally from Algeria. Since 1994, he has worked as a professional chef doing pastry, savory and chocolate work for prestigious restaurants in London, DC and Boston. In 2002, he and his wife moved to Guatemala where Ismael volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and worked at a few restaurants, while his wife settled into an international health job. One day, he realized “This town has no chocolate!” He decided to use this as an opportunity to create his own business, and six months later Chocotenango got it’s start.
The name has a very simple meaning. In Guatemala, a lot of the towns end with the word “-tenango” which translates to “place of.” While taste-testing and brainstorming with friends, he came up with the name Chocotenango, which literally means “place of chocolate!” This is quite fitting as the Mayans were the first civilization to discover chocolate and created its many uses we know today. From 2004 to 2008, Ismael taught himself everything he needed to know in order to start and maintain a successful chocolate business.In 2008, Ismael was awarded 1st place at the 13th International Gastronomy Festival of Guatemala for his famous cardamom truffle. Soon after, he sold his company to a friend (who has successfully continued the business since), and took a year and half off to travel the world with his wife. They traveled from Chile to Colombia and from Cape Town to Egypt. Ismael used these travels as inspiration for the next iteration of his business. In 2010, Ismael’s wife got a job and the two of them moved to DC.
Ismael spent some time as a chef at The Four Seasons, but when Union Kitchen opened in 2013, he jumped at the chance to continue his passion of chocolate-making. For the first 6 months, he worked both at the restaurant and on his chocolates. He soon realized that if he wanted it done right, he’d have to put his entire self into it. He now spends all of his time painstakingly handling every step of the process himself- from recipe creation to packaging. It takes him 2 whole days to make 800 bars of chocolate. His filled chocolates originally came in 18 different flavors, which he is slowly reducing to 9. Everything is done by hand, much of his time spent working in the walk-in refrigerator so as to keep the product as cold resulting in a very high quality!
At the markets, Ismael sells his signature chocolate bars in 4 flavors; two milk and two dark. He also sells boxed chocolates in various delicious flavors (like Chipotle Chili and Seven Spices), hot chocolate mixes, chocolate lollipops and more. Recently, he has added a new product to the mix, something he created using a method called “panning.” It is essentially a way for chocolatiers to evenly cover objects with a delicious layer of chocolate. Ismael will have panned goji berries, hickory smoked almonds, salted coffee caramel, espresso beans and dried blueberries at his stand from now on.
Ismael sells his products to a few small shops in the area, but farm markets are where he really shines. The sheer knowledge this man has about his product is a drawing point to his stand. I implore you to start a conversation with him- ask him anything you have ever wanted to know about chocolate- from the history to the harvest, I promise he will blow you away with his insight. Stop by his stand for a taste- he always has his chocolate ready for a customer to try it and love it.
And now you know all about Ismael and his business. Next time I’ll have time to talk to you about the chocolate itself! Stay tuned…
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