Chef Rieko Wada created Chocolatines with the vision of chocolates that reflect masterful artistry and leave an impression beyond the palate.

The company’s founder and chocolate designer,
Chef Rieko Wada, is a graduate of the French Pastry School and has apprenticed for world pastry champions and master chocolatiers. Her chocolate perfections depict the intersection of her Japanese heritage and Old World pastry methods, resulting in chocolates of unique flavor and design. Having owned a travel agency for more than 15 years, Chef Rieko’s creations reflect her journeys from the pyramids in Egypt to Taj Mahal in India and the Great Wall of China to the Moai on Easter Island.

With each chocolate, Chef Rieko takes much time and care to create the perfect pleasure, so that her consumers can savor the experience—from the first bite to the last.

100% natural, naturally
At Sweet Endeavours, our chocolates are made with only the finest natural ingredients, which are all imported from Europe. While many chocolatiers use extracts and oils, Sweet Endeavours uses only real fruits, purées and preserves, spices and nuts, premium liqueurs, teas and coffees, and no preservatives or artificial flavorings.

Only the highest quality dark chocolate with high cocoa content, cocoa butter and powder, European butter and fresh cream are used. As a result, our chocolate pleasures should be stored in a cool, dry environment (out of sunlight and between 63 degrees and 65 degrees Fahrenheit). Should the chocolates be stored in the refrigerator, they must be kept in an airtight container.

Theobroma Cacao

Greek for "Food of the Gods," cocao was kept a Spanish secret for nearly a century by its monks until the mid-16th century. The cultivation of cocoa began in MesoAmerica (pre-Colombian) with the Mayans in 600 A.D., who used cacao beans as a form of currency as well as an unit of calculation. The Aztecs believed that the seeds had been brought from Paradise and that consuming fruits from the cacao tree led to great power and wisdom.
 

Twenty to 50 cacao beans can be extracted from one pod. Close to 400 beans are required to make one pound of chocolate.

During this time, cocoa was consumed as a drink called, "xocoatl" which meant warm liquid. Reportedly, the Aztec ruler Emperor Moctezuma, is said to have drunken 50 or more portions daily. Until 1492, the Old World knew nothing about chocolate and cocao beans. When Christopher Columbus returned from American with cocao beans, the King and Queen of Spain did not realize the commercial significance it would have on the rest of the Old World. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés brought chocolate back from his conquest to Spain, where it stayed hidden in the monasteries for about 100 years.

A New World Luxury
In the early 1600s, with the decline of Spain as a power, the knowledge of chocolate spread through France, Italy, Germany and England. In the Court of France, xocoatl reigned as the official drink, and when the Spanish Princess María Teresa was betrothed to Louis XIV of France in 1615, she gave him chocolates as an engagement gift.

In London where cocoa cost 10 to 15 shillings per pound (In 1657 10 shillings had the same buying power as $98.88 current dollars.), only the rich and noble could afford the expensive drink. As the process for manufacturing chocolate advanced and the steam engine resulted in the mass production of the product, the price of chocolate dropped and all were able to obtain it. In 1828, the invention of the cocoa press further dropped the price of chocolate.

Fifty years later, an English company introduced the first solid “eating chocolate” with the development of fondant chocolate. Then in 1876, in Switzerland, Daniel Peter created milk chocolate by adding milk to the chocolate.