Update to Tess' Cupcakes

I've had this post saved for a while and finally have the info to finish it!

Tess' mom told me that her daughter recently was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. I told her I don't use nuts in my recipes but the fine print on a lot of chocolate says something along the lines of "made in a facility that processes nuts." I use Valrhona cocoa powder for my chocolate cake but the bulk box I had didn't say anything about it. I bought it from Chocosphere (best price around, and I looked everywhere), so I called and spoke with Jerry Kryszek, owner of the company. He thought it was safe, but to be sure contacted his Valrhona contact in the US. That person wasn't completely positive so was going to contact the main office in France. Since I didn't have a lot of time, and wasn't 100% sure it was nut-free, I used Hershey's cocoa, which was ok to use (at least from an allergy standpoint). I was happy to see that they still turned out pretty good, they were just missing that deep dark chocolate taste that makes Valhrona and other premium brands so special.

I got this email today from Jerry:
Hello Sara,

Good news! I just received the following from Valrhona yesterday:

"As I mentioned to you last week by phone re. your inquiry on the cocoa powder, I received the confirmation from the QC dept. that the Valrhona cocoa powder is free from peanuts and product thereof. I hope that your customer will be satisfied by this information. "

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can assist further in any way!

With very best regards,
Jerry

So there you have it. If you need great chocolate, great prices, and more importantly, great customer service - go to Chocosphere!