Local Chocolatier Infuses Passion into Every Bite

Luis Moro, co-owner with his wife, Caryn, of Luis Moro Chocolate in Scotts Valley, discovered he had a passion for plants and herbs.

Instead of taking the logical route to a career as a chef, Moro directed that passion to the making of chocolates.

For Moro, the decision came about “completely by accident.”

He and Caryn were traveling in Southern France and, being in the mood for an adventure, made their way to the small village of St. Remy.

“We were hot and thirsty and looking for a store,” Moro explained, “when we happened to spot a small chocolate boutique called Joel Durand. My wife describes it as walking into heaven. The aroma of the chocolate was intoxicating. We had never tasted such exotic flavors of chocolate!”

That was when Moro decided he wanted “to bring that kind of chocolate experience to Americans here in the Bay Area."

He attended schools in Florida and Chicago, but many of his chocolate flavors are “the result of tinkering around for hours in the kitchen. My wife is particularly proud of our rose chocolate. She says it's the first one she's ever had that didn't taste like soap.”

Exotic Flavors

Pineapple, orange blossoms, pomegranates, green tea and hibiscus are just a few of the exotic ingredients used in Moro’s artisan chocolates. He uses as many local ingredients as possible such as olallieberries from and cream and butter from Bay Area dairies. Most of his base chocolate is imported from France.

Customer favorites?

“Raiatea (Tahitian Vanilla with macadamia nuts) is quite popular,” Moro said. “And people also love our Valencia (orange) chocolate.”

Does Moro have a favorite?

“Indonesia, which is galangal, cardamom and long pepper,” he said. “I'm really happy with the blend of that one, but can't get one of the ingredients at the moment. My wife's new favorite is Persia, which is rose and pistachio.”

Moro is always experimenting with new flavors—currently, sour cherry.

“I even planted a cherry tree so I could harvest my own fruit next year,” he explained. "I have other flavors in the works too.”

How the Chocolates are Made

Moro explained that making chocolate is a long, multi-day process, but he gave me a brief description of the steps required.

First, he makes the ganache (the center of a chocolate), which requires several steps. He boils cream with the herb, fruit or other flavoring. Then melts chocolate and lets it cool.

The next step is tempering the chocolate (cooling it to the proper hardness). Moro said that this is “probably the most difficult part of making chocolate.”

Once the chocolate is tempered, he mixes in the flavored cream, and then blends in the butter.

Next, he pours the ganache into a special frame and smoothes it to the proper thickness. This then sets for 24 hours.

After that, he cuts the ganache into squares, melts more chocolate in a “melter” that holds 26 pounds of chocolate, tempers it and then dips the ganache squares into the tempered chocolate, giving it the outside coating.

The beautiful patterns on his chocolates are done with what is called transfer sheets. He lets the patterns rest on the chocolate to dry, and then pulls them off, transferring the pattern to the chocolate.

Moro sells his chocolates on his website. Check out all his delicious flavors. You’re in for a real treat!