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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 8, 2005 Mountains of solace By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings The chocolate came lavendar-infused, in beer and cheese, spiced up with chilies, flowing down a fountain, with toffee or espresso, shaped as animals, layered over a half-dozen berries and fruits, lactose-free, organic and in liquid form as hot chocolate - mild or spicy. And it was only the first year of the Oregon Chocolate Festival. Chocolate from the rocky mountain chocolate factory sits on display at the inaugural Oregon Chocolate Festival over the weekend at the Ashland Springs Hotel. Photo by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings It's small, but there's a lot of variety," chocolate festival attendee Sharon Peterson said. "It's promising." Peterson and her family were in town from the Bay Area to visit family for the weekend. Her sister-in-law suggested they meet at the chocolate festival at the Ashland Springs Hotel and Peterson took no issue with drifting through more than a dozen tables of Oregon-made chocolate products. She was impressed with the way the three beers from the Rogue Ales paired with chocolate products, but with an hour left in the festival on Saturday afternoon, she couldn't identify her favorite sample. "I can't pick just one," Peterson said. "It depends on what I'm going to do with the chocolate." The things chocolatiers from Southern Oregon, Eugene and Portland did with chocolate would embarrass the candy aisle at any grocery store. At the Dagoba Chocolates display, the company's new line of single-origin chocolate highlighted the subtle differences between cacao beans grown in different locations. Central Point-based Dagoba Organic Chocolates now produces chocolates made just of cacao beans harvested in specific locals, like buying Florida-grown naval oranges or Oregon coast crab. The aftertaste of two chocolates made from 68 percent straight dark chocolate - one from Ecuador and one from Costa Rica - varied slightly. Tasting the two single-origin options along with a chocolate made of a hodgepodge of cacao beans revealed the richness of flavor in the single-origin chocolates. Lillie Belle Farms brought their chocolates, toffees and jams in from Jacksonville, as well as the chocolate paintings done by Jeff Shepherd, the co-owner of the company. An artist and chef by trade, he paints with chocolate on a white-chocolate canvas framed in milk and dark chocolate, although he avoids portrait paintings because the medium is just too hard to do exact work with. Rogue Creamery, the only cheese featured at the festival, samples of favorite cheddar and blue cheese, along with three chocolate-cheese blends. Last fall, the creamery started adding random ingredients to mild cheddar cheese. Toasted onion and habenerno proved popular, but company representatives brought chocolate syrup cheddar, cocoa cheddar and a chocolate-pepper cheddar created with Dagoba chocolate to the festival. "Our goal here is just to showcase artisan products that are just Oregon - not California, not Washington," said Becky Neuman, the co-owner of the hotel. "That's why we included the whole state." Eugene-based Euphoria Chocolate Company, as well as chocolatiers from Portland and Grants Pass traveled south for the festival, which is the first fair-type event the Ashland Springs has hosted. "We want it to grow steadily every year," said Ashland Springs Sales and Marketing Manager Karolina Wyszynska, who organized the chocolate festival. About 400 people attended the Friday-Saturday event, according to Wyszynska. Next year, organizers would like to expand to incorporate more of the city and the region into the Oregon Chocolate Festival, which is already slated for March 5 and 6, 2006. Movie showings of films such as "Like Water for Chocolate" and "Chocolat" may be added, along with tours of local wineries where Southern Oregon wines are paired with locally produced chocolates. Demonstrations, chocolate-centered meals at the hotel's soon-to-be-opened restaurant, Lark's Home Kitchen Cuisine, and maybe a chocolate art contest could be on the schedule of events at next year's chocolate festival. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected] . 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