Road Trip: Black Mountain Chocolate in Winston-Salem, NC
Earlier this summer our friends J&C (aka Ditch Chicken) invited us to head up 1-40 to Winston-Salem, NC for a leisurely Saturday trip.
"Chocolate Factory tour and winery visit. You available?" they asked.
"Yes, please," Scott and I answered.
They picked us up in Charlotte and 90 minutes later wheeled into the parking lot of Black Mountain Chocolate. We killed a little time before our 11am-ish tour and walked around the area near Trade Street.
As a former Statesville, NC resident during my high school years, Winston-Salem was a larger city that often lured my friends and I there for shopping and restaurants. Sadly most of this occurred not in W-S's now bustling downtown but the Hanes Mall. Yes, I was a "mall rat," buying way too many cargo jeans and oversize flannel shirts and logo sweatshirts at Old Navy and the Gap (Hey, it was the mid to late '90s.) I also knew W-S from annual trips to Old Salem for Christmas shopping, a ritual with my mother that culminated in many Moravian cookie and sugar cake purchases.
So color me happy and surprised to see that Winston-Salem has public art walks and converted tobacco warehouses that are now lofts. Add chocolate factories, breweries and restaurants and it's a far-cry from the mall and "home of Krispy Kreme" and Moravian cookies that I once knew.
The Black Mountain Chocolate factory tour was fast-paced, informative and delicious. I learned never to trust Big Chocolate again - Hershey and the like only make chocolate with about 10-15 percent cacao bean (the seed of a tropical tree!), while the factory produces some types in the 50-70 percent cacao range.
Thanks to a tour discount on their fair-trade, organic chocolate, we walked out with a few Cocoa Nib and Sea Salt and one Ginger-Chili Big Winston Bar. They also gifted us with a freebie for our compost pile:
And now the worms in our compost bin are enjoying the chocolatey bits!
After all the chocolate-buying and touring, we enjoyed burgers and beers at Burger Batch, where a rowdy crew of Arsenal fans were watching their "football" game. Bonus points to BB for the largest order of french fries I've ever seen - sharable for sure.
Post-lunch, we rambled into the Mast Store to browe and then drove out of town to Westbend Winery and Brewery. Having had my fill of beer earlier, I ordered sangria. It was a hot afternoon and the winery was crowded both in and outside. The beverages we all ordered, both wine and beer, were just ok, so we didn't stay long. I have heard good things about the Yadkin wine region but this wasn't a favorable experience.
But if you get the chance to visit a real-deal chocolate factory, go! Raleigh has both Escazu and Videri; Nashville claims Olive & Sinclair; and, alas, Charlotte, to my knowledge, doesn't have one.
"Chocolate Factory tour and winery visit. You available?" they asked.
"Yes, please," Scott and I answered.
They picked us up in Charlotte and 90 minutes later wheeled into the parking lot of Black Mountain Chocolate. We killed a little time before our 11am-ish tour and walked around the area near Trade Street.
As a former Statesville, NC resident during my high school years, Winston-Salem was a larger city that often lured my friends and I there for shopping and restaurants. Sadly most of this occurred not in W-S's now bustling downtown but the Hanes Mall. Yes, I was a "mall rat," buying way too many cargo jeans and oversize flannel shirts and logo sweatshirts at Old Navy and the Gap (Hey, it was the mid to late '90s.) I also knew W-S from annual trips to Old Salem for Christmas shopping, a ritual with my mother that culminated in many Moravian cookie and sugar cake purchases.
So color me happy and surprised to see that Winston-Salem has public art walks and converted tobacco warehouses that are now lofts. Add chocolate factories, breweries and restaurants and it's a far-cry from the mall and "home of Krispy Kreme" and Moravian cookies that I once knew.
The Black Mountain Chocolate factory tour was fast-paced, informative and delicious. I learned never to trust Big Chocolate again - Hershey and the like only make chocolate with about 10-15 percent cacao bean (the seed of a tropical tree!), while the factory produces some types in the 50-70 percent cacao range.
Won't you take me to... Cocotown? |
Thanks to a tour discount on their fair-trade, organic chocolate, we walked out with a few Cocoa Nib and Sea Salt and one Ginger-Chili Big Winston Bar. They also gifted us with a freebie for our compost pile:
One large bag of cocoa bean hulls |
Which Scott loaded into our compost bin |
And now the worms in our compost bin are enjoying the chocolatey bits!
After all the chocolate-buying and touring, we enjoyed burgers and beers at Burger Batch, where a rowdy crew of Arsenal fans were watching their "football" game. Bonus points to BB for the largest order of french fries I've ever seen - sharable for sure.
Post-lunch, we rambled into the Mast Store to browe and then drove out of town to Westbend Winery and Brewery. Having had my fill of beer earlier, I ordered sangria. It was a hot afternoon and the winery was crowded both in and outside. The beverages we all ordered, both wine and beer, were just ok, so we didn't stay long. I have heard good things about the Yadkin wine region but this wasn't a favorable experience.
But if you get the chance to visit a real-deal chocolate factory, go! Raleigh has both Escazu and Videri; Nashville claims Olive & Sinclair; and, alas, Charlotte, to my knowledge, doesn't have one.
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