At Sahagún Handmade Chocolates, they believe your first bite should always taste like your first bite, and that food should taste the way your buds tell you it tastes, not the way you see it, smell it, or think it to be. Owner Elizabeth Montes sees her creations as self-serving, only whatever tastes good to her makes the cut. Luckily for us, the Portland chocolatier has fabulous taste buds that give us truly exquisite chocolate and recently, the world’s first single-origin coffee bar, KA-POW!.
What made you want to become a chocolatier, and how did the company begin?
“I wanted to become a chocolatier because I love chocolate. It was that easy. In ’95, I had moved to NYC around Valentine’s Day and saw all the chocolate shops featured in the Dining section and going to those little chocolate palaces inspired me to want to be surrounded by chocolate always.”
How did you come up with the name for your company and what does it represent?
“Stole the name from my boyfriend who was going to name his Mexican restaurant Sahagún (say sahw-goon). He had Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s collection of writings (General History of the Things of New Spain), which he compiled during the conquest (16 c.) wherein he describes all parts of Aztec culture. He also describes chocolate’s place in society as told to him by his subjects — how valuable it was, how special it was, that cacao was used as money, that it was counterfeited, how people counterfeited it, how it was consumed, early recipes — all told to him by one of the earliest civilizations to cultivate cacao. Also, the missionary himself inspired me from his anthropological work during this horrendous time. He may have been collecting information for conversion, possibly, but because of his work, we know a lot about this culture and cacao.
“I have an all-American line I like to explore, the rule is that all ingredients are of American origin like: Palomitapapá (exploded corn, chile, ecuadorian chocolate), Pepitapapa´(toasted pumpkin seeds, dominican chocolate, chile), Salt Peanuts, (peanuts, chile, salt, venezuelan chocolate), as well as working with sunflower seeds as of late. I think this goes back to my interest in Fray Bernardino’s work.”
What inspires you when it comes to making new chocolaty concoctions?
“I don’t know what inspires me. I don’t really think of that. I just get inspired and either by being hungry and jamming things together just for something to eat and then finding out it tasted good. Sometimes I have a dreamy idea that I pluck from some fantasy, I stick it in my book and eventually think of how to bring it into the world. Other times, I have a perfect name that smashes the main flavors together then the construction of it arises later. Sometimes, I get an assignment, then I do brainstorming and anxious brain wracking and come up with stuff to to bring about. Tasting something without pre-thoughts inspires me. That is ecstasy in my book. Not knowing anything, going through a sense experience while baffled, without point of reference. What de-inspires me is when I am told everything about the thing I am about to experience, that is a perversion and I feel my adventure has been robbed.”
How ingredient-driven is your candy?
“I just want it to taste good. I guess mainly to me, (how selfish, oh well…). I love to imagine new combinations but not at the risk of it not tasting good to me. I still want people to like it, to buy it. I like using stuff around my vicinity as well if I think it’s not being appreciated in a certain way. That isn’t my ultimate rule though, I use hazelnuts because it would be dumb not to (in Oregon), they are great and fresh and in abundance. But I’m not a local only person that gets boring. I use an ingredient because it tastes good and I can afford to use it in my work and sometimes.”
What is your favorite candy to eat?
“I like barks. I think the flavor of the particular chocolate carries through well, you have more control while pairing it with other ingredients either contrasting or enhancing, with each bite you get different amounts of other flavors: a stray sour cherry here, a burst of citrus there; it’s more naturalistic.”
What do you see for your company in the future?
“I just started doing a lot more wholesale and I really like having a bigger audience. My shop was really difficult to find … now the stuff is in each part of the city. That is satisfying. Also, I see doing more with KA-POW! I have some variations of that in my eye for the future as well as using it as couverture for some other pieces I make. Also, I would like to offer some pieces only seasonally because I have too many ideas for things but don’t want to run a factory, or have a gillion products.”
If you weren’t a chocolatier what would you be doing?
“I might be a massage therapist. These are my favorite people. It’s a lot like the chocolate experience, a little heaven for a little time, supreme pleasure.”
Iced Cocoa Recipe
Mix 1 can coconut milk + 3 cans water, put in fridge. Put 1 heaping tbsp cocoa powder in small glass pyrex. Pour in 1- 2 oz hot water over it; blend with smallish whisk till looks like diluted/watery frosting, (use whisk like a molinillo). Pour in coconut/water mix till 8 or so oz. Whisk up really well or use hand immersion blender. Tastes good unsweetened but you can add sugar syrup.
Pour over ice. Drink with a long narrow straw, (it lasts longer). You can also make a hot version of this.
This interview is the sixth installment of The Sweet Life series, in which we profile some of today’s most extraordinary independent candymakers.
