9 Facts You Need To Know About The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company

According to chefs, Ghirardelli is a chocolate brand that consistently uses the highest quality ingredients. The company's commitment to superior products transcends the science behind why we love chocolate and has in many ways reshaped our perception of what decadent cocoa-based treats can be. Proudly California-based since the early frontier days of the Gold Rush, Ghirardelli is one of America's oldest chocolate manufacturers, and a company that champions history as much as it has historically emphasized innovation. 

From humble mining camp roots in the mid-19th century to the internationally recognized premium cocoa products it produces today, Ghirardelli has evolved throughout nearly 200 years of business to become a well-loved and widely-craved chocolate brand. There's a lot to be said about how the company came to be, how it has changed throughout history, and what makes its operations unique. Here are nine facts about the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company you definitely need to know.

Chocolate drove founder Domingo Ghirardelli across three continents before the company became the eponymous confectionary business that lives on today. Ghirardelli's origins as a chocolatier began in early 19th century Italy, where he grew up and apprenticed in the field before moving to South America. There, he eventually started up a confectionery business in Lima, Peru. Ghirardelli found even more success, however, pivoting on a business hunch. His friendship with the American businessman James Lick, who had a store next door to Ghirardelli's chocolate shop in Lima, evolved into a profitable partnership when Lick decided to return to the States in the mid-1840s. Legend has it that Lick brought 600 pounds of Ghirardelli's chocolate with him. Whether that was true or not, Lick sent word to Ghirardelli to come to Northern California once gold was discovered in the region. Ghirardelli did just that in 1849 and opened a general store with Lick. They sold supplies to miners and made good money with little luxuries — namely coffee and chocolate.

Seeing there was certainly a market for sweet tooths, Ghirardelli pivoted again to set up several businesses on his own. He opened shops in nearby San Francisco to sell a variety of goods, but chocolate won out over other business interests. Thanks to good timing and a monopoly on a product in high demand, Ghirardelli quickly became a recognized name in chocolate that has kept its roots in San Francisco ever since.

Officially founded in 1852, Ghirardelli in San Francisco is one of three chocolate makers in the United States that existed before the Civil War. The brand is preceded only by Baker's Chocolate from Boston, which got its start in 1780, and Whitman's Chocolate, founded in Philadelphia in 1842. Ghirardelli's longevity is particularly remarkable because the brand established a name for itself in the early days of the West. Rising out of the Gold Rush that promoted westward settlement, the company expanded to an industrial scale at a time when the West Coast was still the frontier. Since then, Ghirardelli has also survived numerous tribulations, natural disasters, and shifts of focus in order to remain a recognized name in chocolate nearly two centuries later.

Widespread fires burned down several of Ghirardelli's facilities in 1851 as the first of many business shocks in the decades to come, but these enterprises had been profitable enough that Ghirardelli rebuilt. Then in 1906, the infamous earthquake that destroyed much of San Francisco left the chocolate factory off the harbor remarkably intact. During and immediately after WWII, Ghirardelli faced a decline in business because a newer rival, Pennsylvania-based Hershey's, had signed the contract to exclusively produce chocolate for soldiers' rations, turning the country over to Hershey's. This heralded the era of Ghirardelli Square, opened in 1964, transforming the San Francisco factory into a tourism destination and solidifying Ghirardelli as a name synonymous with West Coast heritage.

Despite the company's immediate success in the confectionary business, the proper pronunciation of Ghirardelli's name was not as easy to catch on as the flavors of its premium chocolate products. Frequently mis-spelled and mispronounced, journalists and advertisers never seemed to get it right. While an unusual family name didn't detract from business, the company launched an ad campaign in the early 1900s as an attempt to help everyone say Ghirardelli correctly.

Becoming a recognizable motif associated with the Ghirardelli name in the following decades, a parrot turned into the new mascot, introduced between 1910 and 1916 and paired with the phrase, "Say "Gear-ar-delly." Though the chocolate brand's logo has always been an eagle, the parrot was another recognizable symbol for a few decades thanks to these widespread advertisements. But the tropical bird doesn't feature in branding anymore, and as a result, the proper pronunciation of Ghirardelli remains a mystery to many who have never known the mascot's slogan.

Ghirardelli oversees every stage of chocolate production, which ensures the brand is able to maintain a superior taste and texture as a premium chocolate manufacturer. Following the bean to bar principle, the company makes its chocolate from scratch, sourcing and testing the best beans from international sources and blending different types of cacao to select for an optimal flavor profile. In order to adhere to the brand's high quality standards, selecting cacao beans is a rigorous process. Hand selecting only the best, Ghirardelli rejects up to 40% of the beans it inspects, selling any rejected cacao to other chocolate manufacturers that are less choosy. 

Once the cacao has been sourced and inspected, Ghirardelli oversees each step of the chocolate-making process in-house. This entails fermenting and drying the cacao beans, extracting cacao nibs, and refining them through many detailed and time-consuming steps. The results are signature chocolate products with rich, bold flavors and unparalleled melt-in-your mouth texture.

The Broma process revolutionized the world of chocolate manufacturing and consumption when Ghirardelli employees accidentally discovered it in the 1860s. This occurred when cocoa butter naturally separated from some cocoa paste after it was left unmonitored in a hot room. When the cocoa butter dripped onto the floor, it unintentionally removed all the natural grease from the paste, leaving a solid that could be ground into powder. Not only did this process create cocoa with a more concentrated chocolate flavor, but it also paved the way for cocoa powder, which revolutionized baking, and instant hot chocolate, which could be made from sweetening the powdered cocoa.

After this accidental (and very lucrative) discovery, the Broma process has become an essential operation within the chocolate-making industry, though it retains the same basic principles. Bags of roasted cocoa beans today are still left to hang in a warm room in order to separate butter from cocoa. Cocoa butter gradually drips off the beans in this time-consuming process and gets collected so that chocolate's most expensive ingredient can be utilized in other ways.

Ghirardelli was a family business for generations, but in 1965, more than 100 years after its inception, the brand merged with Golden Grain Macaroni Company. Widely renowned for its Rice-A-Roni products, Golden Grain nevertheless succeeded in expanding the kinds of chocolate Ghirardelli produced. But it wasn't until two decades later, when the company changed hands again, that Ghirardelli became a widely recognized chocolate brand. This was under the ownership of Quaker Oats, which bought Golden Grain in 1986, thereby acquiring Ghirardelli.

The chocolate manufacturer didn't stay with Quaker Oats long — in 1992 it gained new ownership with a private investment group. But in 1998, yet another company acquired Ghirardelli. This was Lindt & Sprüngli, a Swiss chocolate maker that has maintained ownership of Ghirardelli amongst its portfolio of premium chocolate brands ever since. Partnered with this world-renowned chocolatier, Ghirardelli's products have evolved into internationally enjoyed confections.

Ghirardelli chocolate gets its signature taste from a manufacturing strategy: roasting exclusively the nib – the heart of the cacao bean — which makes for a more consistent flavor. In order to prepare cacao nibs, they must first be removed from the outer shell of the cocoa bean before they are roasted. The time and temperature for the roasting process varies depending on the type of chocolate being produced. Milk chocolate, for example, entails roasting cacao nibs for less time and at a lower temperature than dark chocolate.

Once roasted, cacao nibs are ground to release the cocoa butter, transforming the mixture into chocolate liquor, a liquidy substance. From here, the chocolate is refined to a smooth and creamy texture. Finally, the chocolate is conched, a process that entails mechanically circulating the liquor through rollers, introducing air and minimizing moisture to eliminate any potential bitterness and lock in a bold, consistent flavor.

Nearly 150 years after Ghirardelli was founded, new operations under the parent company Lindt & Sprüngli paved the way for a new era of chocolates. Popular fillings for the now iconic Ghirardelli squares include caramel, raspberry, and mint, making for the highly craveable servings of delight that have became a signature association with the brand. While these filled chocolates are considered the face of Ghirardelli for many consumers, they are a fairly recent addition to the brand's product line. 

It wasn't until 1999 that the company launched its individually-wrapped chocolate squares defined by decadent fillings, long after Ghirardelli had already made its name with bars of chocolate, baking bars, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, hot cocoa, and chocolate and caramel sauces. For true aficionados, the Ghirardelli Chocolate Experience confectionary shop at the Ghirardelli Square factory in San Francisco is said to offer the widest variety of squares, both seasonal and perennial, with as many as 40 different kinds available during the holidays.

Avid sweet tooths can satisfy their cravings at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco all year, where The Original Ghirardelli Chocolate and Ice Cream Shop offers all manner of chocolate products and sumptuous hot fudge sundaes. But for the seriously committed chocolate lovers, Ghirardelli also puts on a chocolate-themed festival each year in September. The event, held annually since 1996, attracts international visitors and offers unparalleled opportunities for tastings and pairings. Among the cocoa confections available for sampling are often limited edition Ghirardelli creations, reason enough to attract ardent fans of the brand.

Beyond samples, however, the festival also hosts demonstrations that showcase the versatility of baking and cooking with chocolate, during which confectioners craft desserts and chefs showcase chocolate in dishes both sweet and savory. Festival attendees can also try creating sweet treats themselves with workshops that dive into the art of chocolate making and possibly reveal some of Ghirardelli's recipe secrets.