Photos: Delicious Local Confections From Fairchild's Fifth Annual Chocolate Festival

The crowds demanded chocolate!

​Fairchild's fifth annual chocolate festival this past weekend went, pleasantly, as most of the other Garden's events do -- a themed excuse to buy festival foods and trinkets, of course, check out the gardens. The only downside was the day we attended, Saturday, was marred by gloomy skies and drizzling rain. Oh well. Hedy Goldsmith's packed biscotti- and chocolate jelly-making demo saved the day (recipes here on the Genuine Kitchen blog), as did, as usual, gelato from Dolci Peccati.

The real highlight of the festival, though, was in the garden's indoor pavilion, where local (and not local) chocolate distributors and artisans displayed their wares.

Hordes crowded the tables in the hopes of snagging a few samples or even purchasing wares, which ranged from tiny, spicy truffles, to imported dark bars, to creamsicle-chocolate-filled ice cream cones. Here is some of the locally made deliciousness on display, and where you can get the goods outside of Fairchild.

Romanicos Chocolate
1801 Coral Way, Miami; 305-843-9936; romanicoschocolate.com
This chocolate haven on Coral Way had the most slammed table. That was thanks to generous free samples of their own in-house chocolate bars, which, happily, were free of most allergens (including dairy) and featured flavors from mission fig to even sea salt and soy. Their themed boxes of truffles even upstaged these, though.