Sweet news: Sensual Chocolatiers returns
By C. Fenton Sands

Sensual Chocolatiers, purveyor of handmade gourmet chocolate truffles, is pleased to inform San Miguel residents that we will again have a retail store in town.

In the same location that many will remember—sharing a colonial courtyard with China Palace restaurant, Casa de Papel and Border Crossings—the new Sensual Chocolatiers will reopen in two locations: inside the Mesones 57 courtyard as before, as well as in the entryway to the courtyard from the corner of Reloj and Mesones. 

“It’s been a long but fruitful journey returning to San Miguel,” said Michael McKenna, founder of Sensual Chocolatiers. In the last year and a half McKenna has been concentrating on growing the company with financial help from an investor group, formed in 2006, that supports a foundation of franchises and internet sales in the US. Yet, many were still asking for Sensual Chocolatiers’ hand-rolled chocolate truffles in Mexico—from San Miguel to the Baja Peninsula. 

McKenna thinks it is a perfect fit that a member of the original investment group, formed in 2006, is bringing Sensual Chocolatiers back to its roots in San Miguel. “I trust Dina Schillings to oversee our growth and expansion in Mexico.” 

Schillings, who relocated to San Miguel nearly two years ago, shares a story with many super-achievers who originally move here to unwind. “When I arrived, I was suffering from extreme burn out,” said Schillings, who ran a successful real estate appraisal firm in California. “I wanted to find my way to a relaxed space where I could just let life unfold naturally and gracefully. Of course, I always thought my lifelong relationship with quality chocolate was a personal and private one.” After Schillings invested in Sensual Chocolatiers, she learned not only about the company, but also about San Miguel’s local economy. She then became interested in how she might provide economic support and social benefits through the vehicle of Sensual Chocolatiers. Its factory kitchen in the nearby Jalpa Valley provides steady jobs for a group of women.

“San Miguel is famous for its generous charitable contributions and the opportunities they provide,” Schillings said. “I began to see that Sensual Chocolatiers jobs also provide opportunity, as well as greater independence, both of which can be extremely limited in our area. That lack can create social risks to the community. My hope is that by the selling and purchase of our products, perhaps we can indirectly help to reduce those risks. In a way, it’s like providing a ‘leg up’ as opposed to a ‘hand out’. I love the idea that the more chocolate we sell, the more jobs it creates for women in the campo and artisans in the area. By opening the store, I can do my small part to help the community as well. Think about that! Selfishly, I have personal access to fantastically delicious chocolate, but at the same time make a positive contribution to my community. To me it seemed like a good reason to start doing something again.”

As those who were calling for the return of Sensual Chocolatiers to San Miguel remember, the ganaches (centers) are made in the afternoon, hand-rolled and dipped the following morning, and brought to town that same day. “If the truffles don’t sell within ten days they are taken out of inventory,” explains McKenna when describing what he means by “fresh chocolates” made without preservatives, one of the keys to their popularity. Varieties of ganache such as guayaba, chile, chai and tequila, as well as more traditional flavors, often read like artistic prose calling out for refined and inspired combinations. Consider Agave Azul, with its dark chocolate ganache, agave syrup, tequila, rosemary, pecans and a touch of clove, dipped in dark chocolate. It’s a favorite of Michael McKenna, who notes that San Miguel residents will now have the pleasure of testing new products locally before they are introduced to their US franchise stores. For example, Harvest, a new offering based on pumpkin and traditional spices enfolded in white chocolate, can be bought locally this week. 

As McKenna says, “I followed chocolate back to its original roots in Mexico where it was considered a food for the gods. I still think it is. And I was fortunate to have the time and opportunity to perfect my original recipes that some call ‘art to eat’. But I am now even more pleased to find the circle complete in returning to our inspired starting point—San Miguel de Allende.”