Can you imagine a chocolate bar with just two or three ingredients packed full of minerals, fiber and protein?  On February 9, Hagley Museum’s Victorine’s Valentine’s Day will show how such a creation is possible with Double Spiral Chocolate.  The event is held in honor of Victorine du Pont Bauduy (1792-1861), E. I. du Pont’s eldest daughter, by celebrating Victorian traditions with handmade expressions of love.

Curiosity for a life transition led a Scottish couple, Mhairi and Stuart Craig, to the “bean-to-bar” movement of producing chocolate with whole ingredients and responsible sourcing.  With Stuart’s background in food and nutrition research (he’s a biochemist), he wanted to know if it was possible to make a healthier chocolate bar that people would actually eat.  The answer was yes, but Mhairi, a registered nurse, wondered, “would anyone be interested in buying our chocolate?”

Now living in the artisan enclave of Arden, Delaware, the couple run Double Spiral Chocolate from a converted kitchen above their garage and have more than twenty retail locations in Delaware.  The logo for their company, conjoined Celtic spirals, symbolizes balance in life and aligns with Double Spiral Chocolate’s mission of balancing taste and nutrition “us[ing] as few ingredients as possible.”

Double Spiral’s chocolates are dark varieties containing 70% or higher of cacao, an ingredient with health benefits such as reduced heart disease risk, lower blood pressure and anti-oxidant properties.  Just as important is what is excluded in their process:  nuts, dairy and soy.  Flavor is enhanced with a final whole ingredient such as freeze-dried raspberry, vanilla bean or mint leaves.  Most consumers are used to the sweet taste of milk chocolate, but cacao from regions across the globe provides a variety of notes akin to those of fine wine or single malt scotch.  Double Spiral Chocolate wants to reach the consumer who understands the “connection between what you buy and social and environmental issues in other parts of the world,” explains Stuart.

Learn more about the “bean-to-bar” chocolate making process with Double Spiral Chocolate at Hagley Museum’s Victorine’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday, February 9 from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  This sweet, family-friendly event provides a Victorian-style celebration with activities including verse writing with a quill pen, cookie baking, Valentine’s card creation and hot chocolate bar.  All activities are included with regular admission and are free to Hagley members.  Adults $15; children 6-14 $6; children 5 and under free.  Use Hagley’s main entrance off Route 141.

About Hagley Museum and Library
At Hagley, we invite people of all ages to investigate and experience the unfolding history of American business, technology, and innovation, and its impact on the world, from our home at the historic DuPont powder yards on the banks of the Brandywine. For more information, call (302) 658-2400 weekdays or visit http://www.hagley.org.