Did you hear about the dentist who’s now a chocolatier?
It almost sounds like the set-up for a joke, and Cioccolatier owner Silvia Valentoni leans into that, quipping that the goal of both of her careers has been to “make people smile.”
Valentoni and her husband, Ronald Peach, are the forces behind Cioccolatier, a gourmet chocolate shop that has locations in both Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Denver and Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree. Originally from São Paulo, the couple sources their cacao from farms in Brazil and they use Italian techniques to make ganache flavors like lemon pie, cachaça, cognac and more in their Castle Rock chocolate factory.
Valentoni had worked as a dentist in both Brazil and the United States. (She has a master’s of science in implantology and prosthesis from Goethe University in Frankfurt.) He was an engineer and owned a furniture factory in São Paolo. Opening the chocolate shop was a dream she and Peach had shared for years, but they wanted to do it the right way. After they retired, they began learning about cacao and the methods of making chocolate.
Prior to opening their first Cioccolatier location in December 2021, the pair visited cocoa farms and toured European cities highly revered for chocolate making. They soon started crafting chocolates, testing flavors on their friends and neighbors. Everything that received four or five stars from their tasting panels made it into their inaugural shop cases.
Over the past couple of years, they’ve expanded from offering 11 flavors to more than two dozen, and Valentoni does a weekly chef’s choice with flavors and fillings that have piqued her interest. Most recently, she crafted a dark chocolate with a tart tamarind filling, which joins a chocolate lineup with flavors like salted caramel, passionfruit, cayenne pepper, and an orange and ginger combination.
“We’re always experimenting with new flavors,” Peach said.
The shops also sell pralines and gourmet Brigadeiros, a scrumptious Brazilian dessert that’s akin to bonbons and has a fudge-like texture. The Cherry Creek store is also about to debut “Cioccolata,” a hot, velvety cocoa; the Park Meadows shop will soon be expanding with more gourmet treats like panettone and gelato.
Valentoni and Peach, who live in Castle Rock, are also beginning to make chocolates for weddings, and to partner with local hotels and chefs.
In addition to boxes (eight assorted chocolates for $26.50), chocolate lovers can select their own custom mix. For Valentine’s Day, Valentoni has created some special treats like heart-shaped, gold-dusted marzipan candies, a heart-shaped box with gourmet rosette chocolates, and a large heart-shaped chocolate decorated with roses.
Passionate about chocolate, Valentoni and Peach are educating customers about the terroir of cacao. Just like different wine grapes yield different varieties of vino, there’s a variety of cacao species. Also like wine, cacao has terroir (you may just pick up on a slight banana note if the cacao is grown near the fruit, for example).
To honor the nuances of cacao, Cioccolatier has a forthcoming “Grand Cru” line of chocolates that will have subtle variations based on origin, vintage, the variety of cacao and the fermentation and roasting of the nibs.
Valentoni also hand paints the chocolates, so there are slight variations among them, and the chocolate shop uses natural colors that are extracted from fruits and vegetables so that each bonbon is a mini masterpiece.
“I make them one by one, and as I’m making each one, I think: ‘I hope this chocolate makes someone very happy,’” she said.
Cioccolatier Cherry Creek Shopping Center: 3000 E. First Avenue, #218, Denver; Cioccolatier Park Meadows Mall: 8401 Park Meadows Center Drive, Lone Tree; cioccolatier.com
Brittany Anas is a freelance writer specializing in travel and food.