Arboretum celebrates chocolate

February events at Morton Arboretum celebrate love … of chocolate

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It’s paradise for some — the 5-pound chocolate Easter Bunny in your basket, the chocolate river flowing before your very eyes.

Move over Peeps and Conversation Hearts.

This event is about the one and only, a Valentine’s Day treat that’s delectable on its own, paired with another tasty treat or mixed into a recipe: Chocolate.

The Morton Arboretum’s Chocolate Expo is back for a second year with a subsequent month of events dedicated to the amazingly versatile goodness that is chocolate.

“You’ve died and gone to chocolate heaven,” said expo participant Mario Olivi, who owns The Olive Tap in Downers Grove. “There’s any type of chocolate candy, chocolate sauces, chocolate everything. There’s chocolate left and chocolate right.”

The month’s events embrace chocolate from all angles — from making chocolate truffles to creating pizzas from chocolate candies to trying beers paired with chocolate-based dinners.

“There’s all sorts of different ways to use chocolate and not necessarily in a candy bar,” said Marilyn Baysek, the arboretum’s special events manager.

The second annual Chocolate Expo kicks off the event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 5-6, in the Visitors Center and is free with admission.

More than 20 vendors will share their yummy wares from chocolate syrups to fine Belgium chocolates to chocolate sauce poured over waffles to chocolate milk.

“All the vendors will be doing something,” Baysek said. “They’ll be stirring chocolate, rolling truffles, talking about the benefits of dark chocolate versus milk chocolate. Each one will be telling a different story about chocolate.”

New this year, the expo includes samples of vegan chocolate made without egg, cream or butter products, and which contain beet sugar.

Olivi’s Olive Tap offerings will include samples of its chocolate balsamic vinegar — a flavoring that is hard to imagine without a taste.

“It’s not sweet like Swiss Miss or Hershey’s chocolate,” Olivi said. “It’s going to be a little bit tart and a little bit bitter like a Mexican mole sauce.”

The Olive Tap also will have chocolate coffee and raspberry chocolate coffee beans for sale.

A truffle-making workshop takes place Saturday, Feb. 12, with sessions at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. in the Thornhill Education Center. Learn to design, melt, chill, scoop and roll truffles, and leave with at least a dozen to share. The sessions are $25 per person.

A pre-Valentine’s brunch on Sunday, Feb. 13, has seatings at 9:30 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. Guests can sip champagne, listen to live music and enjoy chocolate-complimented dishes. Tickets are $30 to $42, plus taxes and fees.

Kids can make their own chocolate pizzas on Sunday, Feb. 20, using chocolate “dough” and covering it with a pizza sauce made from red sprinkles and white chocolate shavings as cheese. They can top the pizza with chocolate “pepperoni” gummy bears and take them home in a pizza box.

Pizza-making sessions begin at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. and are $15 per person.

Two Brothers Brewing Company of Warrenville teams up with Graham’s Fine Chocolate of Geneva, as well as The Olive Tap so adults can find out how different types of ales and stouts compliment chocolate-infused foods such as chili, salads, paninis and more.

“Who thinks about putting a chocolate on a salad and who thinks about pairing beer with chocolate?” Olivi said.

The beer-and-chocolate pairings take place from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, and cost $30 per person.

In addition to the larger events, the arboretum store will sell some chocolate items daily. A chocolate exhibit, open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, details the many connections between trees and chocolate.

To reserve your spot for classes or events, visit mortonarb.org/chocolate or call (630) 725-2066. Arboretum members receive discounted rates.

Arboretum admission is $11 adults, $10 seniors, $8 children ages 2 to 17, and children 2 and younger are free.