Legacy Chocolates is somewhat of a hidden gem——not to say that it is unknown, but that it is actually sort of difficult to find. Right now, when their address is plugged into a navigation tool, it will take you to a place about five blocks away from the real store, a problem that they are working to fix right now. “It is has been a problem in the past. It used to take people even further away so right now this is an improvement,” said Mark Dixon, Legacy Chocolates co-owner. Though getting there is a bit confusing, this little shop on the corner of 4th and Roberts Street in St. Paul is worth all the difficulty of finding it.

First opened in Menomonie, Wisconsin thirteen years ago, Legacy Chocolate’s current location was opened just last year. Having never worked in the food industry before, Mark and his wife Lorraine decided to dive into a new adventure and bought the shop in 2012. “We’re passionate about whatever we do. Whatever it is we just jump in and learn. We were fortunate enough when we bought the business to have the previous employees teach us,” Dixon said.

All of the chocolates and baked goods sold at Legacy are made completely from scratch–a process that involves grinding up the innards of a cocoa bean,melting it into chocolate, and adding sugar. “Sugar is added to make it sweeter and different intensities. The darker the chocolate the better it is for you: the more antioxidants, the more vitamins, less sugar,” Dixon said.

Behind glass cases are baked goods and rows upon rows of single packaged truffles––Legacy’s specialty. The truffles start out with a 68% ganache center––a common soft filling for chocolate desserts––and then are hand-dipped at different intensities with multiple flavors. Legacy uses quality cream and sugar in their truffles to enhance their policy of providing quality chocolate to their customers. “[Our goal] is to make sure that people know the difference between real chocolate and fast chocolate, or candy chocolate, because the difference is enormous. It is good for you, and it has a bad rap because of big companies making chocolate fast and substituting quality for quantity,” Dixon said.

As well as truffles and baked goods, Legacy sells chocolate bark, chocolate sauce, chocolate wafers, and sipping chocolate––which is the more traditional way of drinking hot chocolate, just a few ounces of it at a time. To pair with authentic chocolate, Legacy provides high quality coffee, ground and poured one cup at a time. “Our coffee is a pour over system, so you pick the bean, we grind it, put the hot water through the filter into your cup, and then we aerate it like a fine wine. One filter, one customer,” Dixon said.

Legacy Chocolate is dedicated to bringing quality chocolate to everyone, and redefining the standards for chocolate by bringing back the craft of authentic chocolate. “This is just a small mom and pop shop that is going to change the way people think about chocolate,” Dixon said.