Golden Chocolate

California's famous candy companies have been making the world a sweeter place since 1849.

- SHERRY MONAHAN

One of California's contributions to our gastronomic history includes Ghirardelli, Guittard and See's chocolates. Ghirardelli and Guittard were born out of the Gold Rush era and are still beloved today. See's is a classic example of family recipes turned into a business.

Domenico Ghirardelli, later known as Domingo, was born in Rapallo, Italy, in 1817 to an exotic food importer and was introduced to the chocolate and confectionary trade at a young age and apprenticed with a local candy maker.

He arrived in America and in 1849 opened a general store in Stockton, California, where he sold supplies and confections to local miners. He opened another store on the corner of Broadway and Battery in San Francisco.

It was 1852 when Domenico opened a confectionery shop under the name of Ghirardelli & Girard at Kearny and Washington streets in San Francisco, which is now the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. Their Broma process for processing chocolate was accidentally discovered in 1856 when a Ghirardelli employee discovered a hanging bag of chocolate mass dripping in a warm room. The cocoa butter dripped out and left a residue that could be processed into ground chocolate that produces a more intense chocolate flavor than other techniques.