Alice Medrich is a

businesswoman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

and

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

with a particular interest in

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

. She founded the Cocolat"Madam Cocolat" "New York Times", 25 Sep 1988
/ref> chain of chocolate stores, has authored numerous cookbooks, and is referred to as the First Lady of Chocolate."Alice Medrich: Way beyond chocolate" ''Los Angeles Times'', 24 Oct 2007

/ref>

California truffles

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that "Chocolate truffles were virtually unknown in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

when, in 1973, Alice Medrich started making and selling them from her home in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

." Because Medrich's truffles have soft centers, when coated they have a characteristic larger, "lumpy" shape compared to French truffles, and have come to be known as California truffles.

Books

Alice Medrich's cookbooks include ''Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts'' (Warner Books, 1990), ''Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts'' (Warner Books, 1994), ''Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies'' (Warner Books, 1999), ''Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate'' (Artisan, 2003), ''Chocolate Holidays'' (Artisan, 2005; originally published as ''A Year in Chocolate''

arner Books, 2001 Arner is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Elias Arnér (born 1966), Swedish biochemist *Gwen Arner, American television director and actress * James G. Arner (born 1951), American judge * Sivar Arnér (1909–1997), Swedish wri ...

, ''Pure Dessert'' (Artisan, 2007), ''Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies'' (Artisan, 2010), and "Flavor Flours" (Artisan, 2014). She is one of the authors of ''A Baker's Dozen Cookbook'' (HarperCollins Publishers, 2001) and contributed to the 1997 ''

Joy of Cooking ''Joy of Cooking'', often known as "''The Joy of Cooking''", is one of the United States' most-published cookbooks. It has been in print continuously since 1936 and has sold more than 20 million copies. It was published privately during 1931 by ...

'' (Simon and Schuster, 1997). ''Cocolat'' won the Cookbook of the Year and Perrier Best Food Photography awards from the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

, and the Julia Child Award: Best First Cookbook and the Best Book: Bread, Other Baking and Sweets award from IACP; it was also named one of the best thirteen baking books by the Beard Foundation in 2010. ''Chocolate and the Art'' won the Cookbook of the Year Award from the James Beard Foundation, and was named one of the best books of the last fifteen years by Epicurious.com in 2010. ''Bittersweet'' won the Cookbook of the Year and Best Book: Single Subject awards from IACP. ''Chewy Gooey'' won the Best Book: Baking Sweet or Savory award from IACP. ''Cookies and Brownies'', ''Bittersweet'', and ''Chewy Gooey'' all won Best of the Best Awards from ''

Food and Wine Magazine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and se ...

''.

Cocolat

Medrich founded the Cocolat chain of chocolate stores in 1976. By 1990, Cocolat had expanded to seven stores in the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

area. However, the company got into financial difficulty after a deliberately lit fire destroyed its Berkeley headquarters in 1991, causing damages estimated at $2 million, and after the embezzlement of $500,000 by an employee. The latter forced Medrich to sell her interest in the company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medrich, Alice American bakers American chefs American cookbook writers Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area Living people Writers from Berkeley, California Women food writers Women cookbook writers Businesspeople from Berkeley, California James Beard Foundation Award winners American women non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women