Chocolate Falls in Love with the Farmers' Market

A guest post from Katie Ricketts, community / market organizer at Southland Farmers' Market Association.

I first met Nina when someone yelled out at the farmers' market, "Hey marshmallow lady!" Marshmallow lady? My curiosity was sparked and I quickly weaved through the crowd to track her down and find out what the story was.

A week later, I and a few others encircled Nina, three chocolate bars, and two packs of specialty flavored marshmallows. Each bar and every marshmallow was handmade, and as I held the box in which she brought them, I considered taking a run for it, ditching the rest of the group, and hoarding them all for myself.  Heaven.

Nina is a young chocolatier who is the brains and the talent behind Bon Bon Homemade Candy Bars, a candy bar company that lends itself not only to making great tasting sweets, but is eco-friendly in practice and product. Nina gleans as much of the product (generally the fruit and nuts) from the Santa Monica Wednesday Farmers' Market, making her item truly and uniquely local to the area. Made on the weekends in an L.A. kitchen, Nina's chocolates and marshmallows are found in trendy places like Joan's on Third and Market Gourmet on Abbot Kinney.

Starting off with the single malt scotch bar (I mean, who wouldn't?) I knew I was in for a serious treat. My favorite was the Malt Bar, which is, simply put, a classic candy bar done perfectly.

We're certainly featuring her in the upcoming Santa Monica Farmers' Market Chef and Farmer Gala Dinner on May 18 at the Fairmont, which will showcase some of L.A's most innovative chefs and celebrated farmers who support the Santa Monica Farmers' Market. Nina will be donating a basket of chocolates and marshmallows for our silent auction… that is, if they make it from my office to the event....

Comments

[CJ]

That sounds delicious! I'm so glad I saw this. I go to the market every week and I never knew to look for a chocolate stand. Mmmmmm.
This is gonna be an expecially great next two weeks; I get a week to try all the chocolate for myself, and then I'll know the perfect thing to get just in time for Mother's Day.
Thanks!