Another vendor at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is Annapolis Chocolate Bar’s Cheryl Starr. When she is not at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival, Cheryl Starr splits her time between her store at Maryland Avenue, corporate events, weddings, and other events. Her signature offering at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is sea salt caramels which come wrapped in holiday boxes. Other vendors at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival offer a broad range of chocolate temptations such as bonbons, candies, cookies, fudge, truffles, cakes, and chocolate caramels. Other events that you can find at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival include gluten-free, organic, Non-GMO, kosher, and vegan selections.

The Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is not only about indulging in chocolate treats. Kids also have the opportunity to play in the gigantic gingerbread house. If you would like to make s’mores and roast marshmallows at the fire pit with Annapolis’ finest, the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is the place to be. And you do not have to worry if it is cold, because the Police Department of Annapolis will come to your rescue with their Cocoa with the Popo. This started a few years ago and involves the Police using a customized Airstream trailer to dol out hot chocolate. Since the advent of the tradition, the Police department has handed out more than a thousand cocoa cups.

If you thought that things couldn’t get any better at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival, you will be delightfully surprised to learn that Santa also attends the events. This means that kids can tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Also, Santa encourages attendees to donate hats, new toys, and coats for the We Care & Friends Holiday Party for needy children in the area. Attendees are also encouraged to visit the Hammond-Harwood House prior to the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival if they would like to take a trip through the history of chocolate. The event which is held between 11 am and 1 pm details the history of chocolate dating back to ancient Mesoamerica and the various changes that the chocolate-making process has undergone throughout the years. The program is hands-on and offers attendees the chance to grind cacao beans into chocolate with the use of a Mexican grinding mill. Attendees also have the opportunity to taste chocolate wine, cacao shell tea, cacao nib tea, as well as other various traditional chocolate delights.

Whether you would like to attend the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival to indulge in the various delights, are seeking an event to take your family to, or would like to learn about the history of chocolate, one thing is certain, it is one of the most delightful ways to spend the first Sunday of December and get the Christmas spirit going.…

The Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival gives you the opportunity to learn about this rich chocolate history as well as a variety of cacao-based products. The vendors at the event offer chocolate fountains, truffles, cookies, fudge, caramels, hand-made candies, and a variety of other cacao-based delights. The Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is a family-friendly event with various activities such as karaoke, live entertainment, bubble machines, and a large gingerbread house moon bounce. The event also offers a marshmallow roasting opportunity and a chance to meet the Annapolis Fire Department team. When the yearly event coincides with good weather, the Police Department of Annapolis warms up the attendees by pouring the famous Cocoa with the Popo.

In the Eighteenth Century, only Isaac Navarro used to make chocolate in Annapolis, but today there are many talented chocolate vendors following in his footsteps of the chocolate-making tradition in Annapolis. Some of these chocolate makers are Kathy Walker and Walter Mills of the Wark Barnaby Chocolate. The two started their chocolate-making journey at the Severna Park Farmers Market by selling small-batch sauces, handmade truffles, alongside other delectables. Every year, the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival offers them a great opportunity to showcase their chocolate delights to a broader audience. The chocolate-making process of Wark Barnaby Chocolate starts with fair-trade chocolate crafted to their specification alongside fresh cream made in the traditional French style. The well-chopped chocolate is melted with boiling water and allowed to set. After it becomes firm at room temperature, tiny balls are rolled and allowed to cure for 24 hours. After 24 hours they are rolled again to form a perfect circle, tempered, and allowed to cure for a second time. Usually, it takes 2 to 3 days to make one round of chocolate. Some of the delights that Kathy Walker and Walter Mills offer at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival include the Sexy Vegan crafted with no cream, Distinguished Gentleman which is bourbon-based, and the English toffee-infused Lucky Bastard. Recently Kathy Walker and Walter Mills have experienced fantastic reactions to their products at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival and were happy to see how excited people at the festival were to try out their products. It speaks a great deal about the chocolate-making and consumption tradition in Annapolis.

Another chocolatier who has been a vendor at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is Jessica Zaleskiwicz of Coco Couture. Jessica’s approach to the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is a bit different from that of other vendors. Rather than bring a little bit of everything, Jessica prefers to specialize in a few items and make them to perfection. Some of the items Jessica offers at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival include peppermint bark, peanut butter cups, and her trademark chocolate crabs with Old Bay. Jessica recently added fudge to the list of items she will be offering at the yearly festival. Although Jessica Zaleskiwicz specializes in a few select items at the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival, she has a variety of chocolate-products at her Severna-based shop. This selection includes chocolate-covered wine bottles, truffles, nut clusters, among others.…

The Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is an annual chocolate event held on the first Sunday of December. The event celebrates chocolate with a holiday art market, alongside a variety of fun family activities. At the end of the event, Annapolis Arts District lights its Holiday Canopy. The Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival is the ideal place to go if you are seeking holiday fun, or you want to indulge in some chocolate. The 2020 version of the Annapolis Chocolate Binge Festival will be held on 6th December. More than forty chocolate vendors will attend the event offering a variety of chocolate assortments including pies, brownies, French macaroons, cupcakes, martinis, cookies, cakes, fudges, caramel, bars, chocolate truffles, and much more. The event will also feature local artisans showcasing various products such as wood turnings, clothing, ornaments, candles, jewelry, pottery, and more. The event will run from 12 pm until 5 pm and will also feature live music.

In Annapolis, everything has a history, this includes chocolate. On Sunday 6th December 2020, Annapolis will be celebrating both the pleasure and history of chocolate at the yearly Chocolate Binge Festival held on West Street. It would be a great idea to visit the Hammond-Harwood House if you would like to learn more about the history of chocolate from the experts.

The history of chocolate dates back to pre-Colombian Mesoamericans( today referred to as Central America and Mexico) who are believed to be the first consumers of the cacao bean that is used to make chocolate. As early as 1400 BC Mesoamericans used to make fermented, cacao bean-based alcoholic beverages. The making of cacao bean-based items quickly spread across the world during the colonial period when European nations were scrambling to expand their empires. Following the advancement of manufacturing techniques brought about by the Industrial Revolution, and the addition of sugar to the chocolate-making process, chocolate became even more loved.

One of the earliest chocolate makers in America and the world Isaac Navarro started his chocolate-making journey in Annapolis. At the time it was extremely rare to find a chocolate maker. He had a street store known as Duke of Gloucester (now occupied by a Capital Accounts retail location). In 1748, Isaac Navarro published a notice in the Maryland Gazette proclaiming that the chocolate sold at his store was as good as any that was ever made in England.

According to food historian Joyce White, the founding fathers of the United States were really fond of chocolate, even though the craft of chocolate making wasn’t widespread at the time. On 27th November 1785, in a letter to John Adams, Thomas Jefferson praised chocolate a great deal and predicted that its nourishment and health benefits would soon make it as preferred as coffee and tea in the United States. George Washington was also known to cacao as well as chocolate processed into bars.
Aztecs and Mesoamericans used to consume chocolate as a frothy beverage. During the Eighteenth Century, chocolate was often taken as a hot beverage crafted from cakes of chocolate. At the time, chocolate cakes were in the form of sweetened solid blocks that were usually spiced with vanilla, orange peel, lemon peel, star anise, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper. The cakes used to be scraped into shavings before mixed with hot water to make a beverage, or to create other kinds of recipes.…