A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting Rodelle headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado with some other brand ambassadors. There was a small group of us, including:

• Sarah from Snixy Kitchen
• Nicole from Baking Bites
• Aimee from Shugary Sweets
• Peabody from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
• Lyuba from Will Cook for Smiles

We stayed at The Armstrong Hotel downtown. It was a quaint and comfortable in a wonderful location with updated amenities.We had about half an hour to settle in before we headed to Pateros Brewery.

We got to taste a flight of beer and had heavy hors d’oeuvres. 

I’m not that much of a beer drinker, so I mostly sipped each drink.

After that, we got to go chocolate tasting at Nuance Chocolate.

This shop was dreamy as can be. Just take a look at that beautiful brick wall, original restored wood floors, and ceiling!

They’re one of the few shops that make chocolate directly from bean to bar. Everything is made in small batches and done locally.

We had a little presentation on how chocolate is made from the owner.

Here’s chocolate in all of its forms!

We tasted a flight of dark chocolate. The water crackers were to cleanse our palette after each taste.

My personal favorites were the Ghana and Venezuela. All of the chocolates here are made without any preservatives. The ingredients on a dark chocolate bar read “organic cacao, cane sugar.” That’s it. Just two simple ingredients.

We also got to taste a raspberry truffle. Oh. My. Goodness. This was by far the best truffle that I’ve ever had. It was also the most rich truffle I’ve ever had. I couldn’t even finish it.

I came home with a couple of bars to share with my DH. The coffee bean bar had no coffee flavor to us at all.

We walked back to our hotel and woke up bright and early the next day to visit Rodelle.

Here are just some of my favorite Rodelle products:

We had breakfast prepared for us there while we enjoyed a mini presentation on vanilla and cocoa.

Did you know that vanilla extract is the only extract regulated by the FDA? It must have a minimum of 35% alcohol per gallon of water. You also have to use 13.35 oz of vanilla beans to make one gallon of vanilla beans. You can add sugar to sweeten the extract, but Rodelle doesn’t use any additional sweeteners. It’s purely the good stuff.

Have you ever smelled a vanilla bean? Oh, that aroma is something I’d like in my house 24:7.

Later in the day, we also had a tour of the packing facilities. Cameras weren’t allowed so I don’t have anything to share from that (just be assured that it was very impressive!). We did, however, do a little vanilla tasting ourselves of vanillas from different regions of the world. It’s crazy how different each one tasted. We tried ones from Uganda, Madagascar, Mexico, and Pacific New Guinea.

One of the most exciting things that we learned about during our trip was a new product called Rodelle Reserve. It’s a French Oak Aged Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract made from vanilla beans that are extracted in double strength small batches and aged in French Oak Barrels for months.

It is one beautiful bottle and I can’t wait to use it in the kitchen! Look… I even got “Batch No. 1!” 

Last but not least, we left on full stomachs, thanks to the Rodelle Kitchen.

Thank you so much to the Rodelle team for hosting us with such hospitality. I had a wonderful time and must visit again soon!

You can also buy Rodelle items online:

• Rodelle Pure Vanilla Extract, 8-Ounce
• Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa, 1.54 pound
• Rodelle Vanilla Beans, 2 Count Jar
• Rodelle Vanilla Paste, 4 Ounce