On the rare days when I happen to glimpse my distant and long-ago-life as a child, I remember my love of chocolate - a love that still exists today. I also remember cowboys – mostly through the medium of television. Growing up on the wrong side of the pond, cowboys were an unknown and mystical entity to me. They seemed a pretty hardy breed, likely to be found out in the wilderness somewhere with a horse, a gun and not much else. They didn't usually go hand in hand with gourmet foodstuff of any kind. No chocolate in those movies mixed in with the glorious scenery and monosyllabic, picturesque tough guys to provide a metaphysical feast for the taste buds along with the feast already laid out for the eyes.
Much later and all grown up, I was fortunate enough to move to where some real cowboys live – Cody, Wyoming – and there make a fantastic discovery that would have sent my younger self into ecstatic incomprehension. There lives, in the small town of Meeteetse, population 351, a cowboy chocolatier. This entrepreneur is a genuine cowboy who lives his life, earns his living and has made a name for himself by his prowess as a chocolate creator. Intrigued by this delectable combination, I set off one crisp December morning to meet him.
Tim Kellogg, the Meeteetse Chocolatier, was recently named as one of "Wyoming's 40 under 40" for 2009, proving beyond a doubt that this cowboy knows how to make delicious goodies and turn his knowledge and passion into a successful business operation. He runs both a Meeteetse store and an online business, reaching customers all over the world in the winter months.
Tim's store, in Meeteetse, a Native American word for "Where Chiefs Meet," is a 30-mile drive from Cody and about 50 miles from Thermopolis. The trip to this quaint western town is well worth the effort; the road quiet and scenic, winding through countless mountains and occasional lakes. The store is a charming destination; a gourmet slice of Europe nestled in amongst the western saloons, complete with sidewalk tables to encourage lingering during milder months. Tim can be found there – dressed in true cowboy style – with his signature black hat.
Inside, the chocolates are displayed to good effect with Tim's motto "Fear No Chocolate" inscribed on a blackboard by the door. Eighteen flavors of truffles sit gracefully in their cases, of which two are always seasonal choices. A customer may have cause to remember that motto when some of the options – Chipotle Chili, Sage, Coors or Jack Daniels – are noted. Tim is proud of all his chocolates, some of which, he explains, are the traditional flavors – Kahlua, Baileys, Champagne – found in fine chocolatiers all over the globe, while others are unique local treats, specific to their community and to their creator's cowboy heritage. Certainly, all are delicious – I can personally vouch for the Sage truffle.
Tim fell into chocolate-making by accident in the 1990s, explaining that it was a "way to keep chocolate in the family" after his grandmother passed away. He adds that, despite having no training – formal or otherwise – he's had phenomenal success. Surprisingly, he reveals that his grandmother "did not like having people in her kitchen" and therefore Tim had no concrete knowledge of her culinary arts apart from the all important taste-test.
Thus, in an almost certainly unprecedented move for a cowboy, Tim decided that he would be the baker and chocolate-maker for family occasions, and began to make truffles, brownies and other confections for his friends and family.
In complete juxtaposition to this skill, Tim was (and still occasionally is) a saddle bronc rider. Needing money constantly – or in Tim's more authentic cowboy words – "in the rodeo you have to pay to play," he found himself one summer's morning, encouraged by his mother, finally launching his truffles onto an unsuspecting public at the Cody Art in the Park fair.
To his surprise they were a great success.
Still seeing chocolate as just a means to an end, his heart being firmly stuck in rodeoing, Tim thought the success was probably a fluke until he began to get many repeat orders. From that point, his business grew slowly and almost magically from a family and friends word-of-mouth enterprise into the efficient quality-driven love affair that it is today. Although Tim has been creating chocolate for about ten years, he only bought his current premises – fittingly an old saloon building itself – in 2006.
Tim admits that the learning curve has been a steep and troublesome adventure at times. He laughs as he recalls being "up all night to do a few hundred truffles," only to discard them in the morning, adding wryly "I don't think they were edible." These days, of course, he has no such failures and his chocolates are known for their superior taste and quality. Although Tim's confections are always packaged in his signature plain, brown, corrugated boxes, wrapped with ordinary ranching baling twine, customers liken the excitement of spotting one of these packages to the joy of receiving a Tiffany's blue jewelry box.
Tim is the sole chocolatier in his business, vowing, á la Grandma, that he will never let anyone "but blood relations" into his kitchen or discover his closely-guarded recipes. Although this reticence does mean that Tim's days are long and mostly chocolate-covered, it also ensures that his high standards are continually met. An extremely hard worker, Tim still spends two to four days a week cowboying on a ranch a few miles outside of Meeteetse. However unusual, this combination of roles seems to work for him and furthermore serves to authenticate his unique appeal. Tim's cowboy and rancher friends, we would expect, might find his choice of career slightly odd. Yet, when questioned on this subject, Tim is happy to note that although his friends do find it funny, they have never been negative. He dismisses the concern as he states "I work too hard to care what people think."
Tim's chocolate confections are an amazing find in the midst of the Wyoming wilderness. They should be the province of a lilting French chef, not the concoctions of a tough ranching and rodeoing cowboy. And yet, in a town without its own grocery store, there they are.
Not only do they look good, taste good and make you feel good, these chocolates are almost healthy. They are made with fresh, natural and organic products. The chocolate is imported from Belgium and is made in the European style with a high concentration of cacao. This combination of excellent chocolate – which Tim likens to fine wine, and indeed sometimes pairs with a nice bottle – as well as Tim's knowledge and passion for his work makes any visit to his store a happy and a tasty experience.
Come, sit and relax inside or outside at the café-style tables and stare at the surrounding mountains whilst drinking a coffee or some chocolate tea paired with a fine amaretto truffle, or a slice of cheesecake. Take a break in this tiny Wyoming town to contemplate the inaccuracy of stereotypes, to daydream, and to smile at the general wonder of life when a cowboy and chocolate go hand in hand.
Tara Kunesh, originally from England, now lives in Cody with her husband, two children and two cats. She loves to travel and meet new people and, is very happy to find herself living in this scenic part of America.
