Most businesses have a story, but Cioccolatier and Jojo’s Sriracha is one of passion and flavor. Both local businesses were crafted from a desire to pair quality ingredients with a love of food.
Founded in 2019 as an online chocolate store, Cioccolatier opened a storefront at 300 Josephine St. in December of 2021 in addition to a factory in Castle Rock.
Cioccolatier’s mission is to pair the world’s best chocolate with the American Dream, Brazilian cocoa and Italian inspiration. Owner Silvia Valentoni and Chief Marketing Officer Ronald Peach were born in Brazil but now call Castle Rock home. As an homage to Silvia’s family from Italy, she named the store after the Italian word for “chocolatier.”
“Although Denver has a rich gastronomic scene, we found that a real luxury, white-glove chocolate store was missing,” Ronald says. “Also, we have a passion for the cocoa farms that produce extraordinary chocolates in the Amazonian and Atlantic forests of Brazil. And Silvia is a tremendous chef, so she wanted to put her talent into something new, where she could apply all her techniques and creativity.”
Ronald and Silvia are trained chocolatiers from Brazil, but Ronald says Silvia is a better one because she was an oral surgeon for 30 years and has an “exceptional ability with her hands. She applies all the techniques of painting in tiny spaces to make some chocolates a work of art.”
At Cioccolatier, guests will find delicately painted pralines, chocolates filled with a variety of flavors, marzipan and so much more. But they will only find customer-approved, decadent chocolate made from the best beans. Ronald says when they develop a new recipe, samples are provided to customers and their neighbors in Castle Rock. Only flavors with four- or five-star ratings make it to production.
“We take meticulous care of every part of the production, from the selection of the nibs to the final product. We don't add chemicals, artificial flavors or fats, and all fruits are natural and fresh,” Ronald says. “The way we sell it, with love and care, brings our customers to the cocoa farm environment.”
Jojo’s Sriracha also pays careful attention to ingredients so consumers can enjoy sriracha alongside a healthy lifestyle, something CEO and founder Jojo Collins sought before founding Jojo’s in 2012.
“I started making sriracha when I did a cleanse in yoga teacher training and took refined sugar out of my diet. That’s when I realized the squeeze bottle sriracha that I used on everything is full of refined sugar, salt and a host of preservatives,” she says. “I had never made hot sauce or fermented before, but I was determined to make a sriracha that had simple, real ingredients.”
The process to make Jojo’s Sriracha starts with fresh chile peppers grown right here in Pueblo. After adding garlic, sea salt and palm sugar, the fermentation process begins. When Jojo deems it’s complete, she adds raw, organic apple cider vinegar, blends it all up, heats it and then jars it. Jojo says the process can take as little as a week or much longer—the Bourbon Barrel-Aged Sriracha takes six months to a year and a half.
Some of Jojo’s flavors are made from only red or green chiles, like the OG and GR, others are blended together to make a mix of both red and green sriracha, like the Unicorn Blend. As a self-proclaimed foodie who's obsessed with flavors, Jojo is constantly experimenting with new offerings, so be sure to check her website regularly.
But her work doesn’t stop there.
“I’m also inspired by the journey that it has been to create a product and bring it to market. I’ve learned so much about myself and business that I never knew before,” Jojo says. “I love learning and I get to do that every day.”