Each month here at Jilly Chicago we be bringing you information on what we feel to be some of the industry’s leading companies. We do this in hopes to bring to light a company you may not know that much about and to bask them in the glory they so richly deserve. If you have any great companies that you feel should get the nod please email them to us at Jillys.
As one of the year’s most chocolate obsessed holidays fast approaches (February) we felt it would be just to entice you with one of the nation’s premier artisan chocolatiers, Torn Ranch.
The beginnings of Torn Ranch are similar to that of many purveyors of gourmet specialty foods. Torn Ranch began as a small retail store located in Marin County. As a warm welcome, the store owner (whose name really was Torn) would place a jumbo cashew in each customers hand as they entered his store. Eventually as the demand for his products increased rapidly, Torn closed his retail store to focus on the wholesale gourmet specialty market.
Today, appropriately nestled between San Francisco and Napa Valley, with the leadership of Dean and Sue Morrow, they boast over 100 employees and have become well known as leading innovators in the gourmet industry. Their unparalleled commitments to the highest standard for product quality and gift design, Torn Ranch chocolatiers have quickly become known for their artisan chocolate.
Torn Ranch took the food world by storm with the creation of their tea infused truffles. They appeared in the Wall Street Journal among other publications, which helped them create national reorganization. For the past 30 years Torn Ranch has hand crafted their artisanal truffles which now feature such delicacies as wine infused and fruit ganache. It has long been known that the pairing of wine and chocolate is a perfect match. Torn Ranch has taken it one step further by infusing rare vintage port wine, sparkling champagne, buttery chardonnay and a full bodied cabernet together with their signature milk chocolate; a wine connoisseurs dream!
Their artisan fruit ganache truffles are equally delectable with the addition of succulent passion fruit, guava, tangelo, pear, pineapple, coconut and other exotic fruits! Each artisan truffle is then hand-painted with their signature milk chocolate. Torn Ranch didn’t just stop there. They went on to create many other delectable confections such as snappy ginger cookies, chocolate dipped glaced apricots and chocolate glaced orange slices! Drooling yet? I know I am! I had an opportunity to get my hands on some of these delectable treats but I will save that for another post! Torn Ranch can only be found at high end retailers and is well worth the search!