Celebrate Chocolate At The Farmers Market In Larkspur

Love is blooming and so is chocolate in a celebration of Valentine's Day. Get a fix for your sweet tooth and your sweetie ... and while you're at it, drop by and visit with Larkspur-Corte Madera Patch.

Tell us what you're planning for Valentine's Day, what you love about the holiday ... and what you hate about it. We'll post your comments on our site, so have fun with it.

Good Food Award winner Dandelion Chocolate will be at the Marin Country Mart Farmers' Market in Larkspur this Saturday. Dandelion’s chocolate maker will be conducting a chocolate tasting of roasted beans, nibs, dried cocoa pods and their three chocolate bars, Costa Rica 70% (Good Food Award winner), Venezuela 70%, and Madagascar 70%. Dandelion is a bean-to-bar chocolate company, with a factory set to open in the Mission District of San Francisco later this year. Currently, they make their bars in a small factory in East Palo Alto, where they roast, crack, sort, winnow, grind, conch, and temper small batches of beans and then mold and package each bar by hand. 

Welcome From the Fields
From the Fields is the newest vendor at the Farmers’ Market. Based in Mill Valley, From the Fields specializes in slow roasted artisan granola, made from the highest quality organic ingredients of whole rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and fruit. They use honey and maple syrup for a signature caramelized crunchy sweetness, and they never use refined sugars, cooking aids, or artificial sweeteners. They’ve also added a selection of muesli (a Swiss German breakfast cereal), walnut lavender rye porridge using local biodynamic grown grains from Healdsburg, and oatmeal.
 
St. Valentine's Day Festival at The Farmers' Market
Celebrate a family friendly Saint Valentines day at the Farmers' Market on Saturday, Feb. 11. Activities will include cupcake decorating, old fashioned valentine making, eco art projects, face painting, pony rides, puppets and stories from 9-10 a.m., and Tim Cain's music for kids from 10-11 a.m. Enjoy old-time string band music by Brown Chicken Brown Cow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
               
Chocolate Honey Fondue
6 tablespoons whipping cream
3 tablespoons honey
7 ounces chocolate, chopped
Assorted fresh fruit
 
• Preparation
Bring cream and honey to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Add chocolate; whisk until melted. Remove from heat. Pour fondue into bowl; place on platter. Surround with fruit. Serve with skewers.