You probably recognize the surname at the grocery store, high-end candy sections or what reminded me to add him this year…the ice cream/candy place in Las Vegas that is situated between the Linq and Flamingo. It’s a good place to buy an after-dinner shake after an exhausting day of people watching and winning at the craps table.
Domingo becoming a chocolatier seemed inevitable. He was born in 1817 in Rapallo during the pre-Italy days, remember, Italy the state as we know it doesn’t exist until 1861 so the place was ruled by the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. His father was an exotic food importer, no idea what this entails. To Americans, real Italian food is exotic. During his childhood Domingo landed an apprenticeship with Romanengo’s in Genoa, a respected chocolatier.
When he turned 20, he left to seek his fortune in the “new world” like many ambitious young men in the 19th Century. First stop, Uruguay to set up a candy store. Then Peru. South America is where he changed his birth name Domenico to the Spanish version Domingo we all know him for. But the Gold Rush of 1849 led him to the States where he tried his luck at finding a mother lode to become rich. Obviously it didn’t happen so he went back to being a merchant selling supplies to his fellow miners.
California continued to grow with the influx of immigrants and Americans from the East. This probably prompted Domingo to move to San Francisco in 1852. It was the largest city in the young state. Makes sense, it was ground zero for the Gold Rush. Instead of selling general supplies, he went back to running a candy store or the preferred 19th Century term, a confectionary shop. The region had become more “civilized” over the last few years and Domingo learned that the miners did like chocolate. With all the gold they were pulling from the earth, they probably could afford it.
The year 1865 was when Ghirardelli’s trademarked broma process was discovered. I think it’s up for debate whether or not it was an accident or intentional. The Vegas shop promotes the accident story, other sources are neutral. Anyway, the broma process Ghirardelli is famous for entails hanging the cacao beans in a warm environment so the cocoa butter drips out. What remains is ground into powder to make a more intense chocolate flavor. From there, Domingo went on to found a chocolate empire we recognize today and the location of the original store is immortalized in San Francisco…Ghirardelli Square.
Sadly Domingo passed away in 1894, ten years after three of his sons had become partners and took the company farther. However he succeeded in making his name synonymous with higher-quality chocolate.
Another amazing fact regarding Italian resilience. The Ghirardelli factory was operational within 10 days after the infamous 1906 earthquake. I doubt Hershey, Nestle or Mars could do the same!
Today Ghirardelli is a subsidiary of Lindt & Sprüngli, a Swiss corporation and if they’re anything like Nestlé, another Swiss monstrosity starving the world to death, the product’s general quality is questionable given the price tag. Still, I’ll support the Italians over the Swiss any day. Think about, have you ever been to a Swiss restaurant?