Domenico "Domingo" Ghirardelli (; February 21, 1817 – January 17, 1894) was an Italian-born chocolatier who was the founder of the

Ghirardelli Chocolate Company The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is an American confectioner, wholly owned by Swiss confectioner Lindt & Sprüngli. The company was founded by and is named after Italian chocolatier Domenico Ghirardelli, who, after working in South America, move ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Biography

Early life

Domenico Ghirardelli was born on February 21, 1817, in Rapallo,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, to Giuseppe and Maddalena ( Ferretto) Ghirardelli. His father was a spice merchant in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. In his teens, he apprenticed at Romanengo, a noted

chocolatier A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. Education and training Traditionally, chocolatiers, e ...

in Genoa. At about the age of twenty, in 1838, he moved to

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, then in 1838 to

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, where he established a

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

, and began using the Spanish equivalent of his Italian name, Domingo. In 1849 he moved to

on the recommendation of his former neighbor, James Lick, who had brought 600 pounds of chocolate with him to

in 1848. Caught up in the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

, he opened his first store in a mining camp to sell sweets and treats to miners who were lacking the small pleasures of life. Ghirardelli spent a few months in the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

fields near

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

and Jamestown, before becoming a merchant in Hornitos, California.

Career

Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop Inside, SF, CA, jjron 25

In 1852, he moved to San Francisco and established the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company at what would come to be known as

Ghirardelli Square Ghirardelli Square is a landmark public square with shops and restaurants and a 5-star hotel in the Marina area of San Francisco, California. A portion of the area was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as Pioneer Woolen ...

. According to the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' he is San Francisco's most successful chocolatier.SF Chronicle, July 25, 2010. "Where to Find Celebrities' Resting Places" by Charlie Wells Around the year 1865, a worker at the Ghirardelli factory discovered that by hanging a bag of ground cacao beans in a warm room, the

cocoa butter Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter has a cocoa flavor and aroma. Its melti ...

would drip off, leaving behind a residue that could then be converted into ground chocolate. This technique, known as the

Broma process In chocolate making, the Broma process is a method of extracting cocoa butter from roasted cocoa beans, credited to the chocolatier Domingo Ghirardelli. The Broma process involves hanging bags of roasted cocoa beans in a very warm room, above the ...

is now the most common method used for the production of chocolate.

Personal life

Ghirardelli married Elisabetta Corsini (nicknamed "Bettina"), a native of Italy, in 1837. She died in 1846. Ghirardelli married Carmen Alvarado Martin (1830–1887) in

, in 1847. Her first husband had been a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

physician who had been lost at sea, and she had an eight-month-old child, Carmen. He and Carmen had seven children: Virginia (1847-1867); Domenico, Jr. (1849-1932); Joseph Nicholas (1852-1906); Elvira (1856–1908); Louis (1857–1902); Angela (1859-1936); and Eugene Gustave (1860–?).

Death

He died on January 17, 1894 in Rapallo, Italy from influenza. His body was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California along with the rest of his family.

References

;Notes ;Citations

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghirardelli, Domingo 1817 births 1894 deaths Italian emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from San Francisco People of the California Gold Rush Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area Chocolatiers Businesspeople in confectionery 19th-century American inventors Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) 19th-century American businesspeople