I am charmed to see that Ghirardelli chocolate is once again coming to the aid of children in need, probably without even realizing their past contributions. I feel as though I have come full circle with this chocolate which occupies a special place in my heart. It was the chocolate of my childhood and is associated with so many good times they are hard to count. I grew up in San Leandro, across the bay from San Francisco. The De Domenico Family, owners of Golden Grain Macaroni, purchased Ghirardelli in 1967 and moved the operation to their facility in San Leandro, where it still is today. In high school I was the member of a group called Gingko which was a fund raising branch for Oakland Children’s Hospital. (All the branches were very cutely named after trees. I believe there was a branch in Orinda named Acacia). Our meetings were the first Tuesday of the month. The adult sponsor of our group was the wonderful and very elegant Lois De Domenico, or ‘Mrs. D’ as we called her. It was natural that one of our fund raising projects would involve selling Ghirardelli chocolate bars with all proceeds going to the hospital.
It is great to see that Ghirardelli chocolate is helping children in need again. Ghirardelli (now owned by Lindt and Sprungli Chocolate, Switzerland) is helping to support the granting of wishes through a $100,000.00 contribution to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the nation’s largest wish-granting organization for children with life-threatening medical conditions. Starting in October and going through December (prime chocolate baking months), their baking bars and baking chips (my favorite is the 60% cacao) will feature the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s logo. Further details will appear on the Ghirardelli's website in the coming months.
My Ghirardelli Trivia:
Did you know that Alice Medrich used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate for her truffles and baked goods at Cocolat?
FLICKS, manufactured by Ghirardelli, was a favorite of many kids growing up in the 60's. Sold in a foil covered cardboard tube, you had to carefully unfold one end of the tube and then either pour the contents into your hand or fish them out with your index finger. We always made sure we had enough money left over after paying our 50 cent admission fee to the BAL theater to buy a tube. In fact, it was not chocolate at all, but rather a ‘confectionary coating, aka summer coating. Perhaps this explains why so many of them were 'flicked' at the movie screen and at other screaming children.
Ghirardelli Square was one of the first ‘other use’ manufacturing facilities to be renovated. It officially opened as a festival marketplace on November 29, 1964. Be sure to visit the antique chocolate making exhibit at the back of the soda fountain. It is a great way to see how chocolate goes from bean to bar.
