Ashland's gone cuckoo for cocoa with chocolate facials, martinis, wine pairings and more

 Drink it, eat it, bath in it: Everything's good with chocolate

Oh, what would a chocolate festival be without everyone acting like Aztec royalty and indulging in chocolate baths, admiring art while consuming chocolate candies or drinking wine with chicken mole?

Cuckoo for cocoa? You’ve found the right place. Experience a weekend of cocoa overload at the 6th Annual Oregon Chocolate Festival March 5-7 at the Ashland Springs Hotel.

You’ll be able to sample from 30 chocolatiers. Learn from scientists, chocolate experts and chefs on how beans become chocolate bars that can be made into Mexican hot chocolate, chocolate soufflé and chocolate-dipped strawberries. And you’ll see just how fine Oregon blackberry wine, ports and Syrah go with Eugene's Baba Joon's Chocolate Chewies, Ashland's Branson's Chocolate and Dagoba Organic Chocolate, and Central Point's Lillie Belle Farms Hand Made Chocolates.

Pouring during the three-day festival are Devitt Winery and Quady North from Jacksonville, EdenVale Winery from Medford and Ashland, HV Cellars Winery near Roseburg and Slagle Creek Vineyard in Grants Pass.

In this cocoa-crazy weekend, there will also be a grand dinner with bittersweet chocolate-rubbed game hen, chocolate facial spa parties with chocolate skin products, an art and chocolate walk, a chocolate themed movie (guess which one?), half-priced Shakespeare tickets if you mention the word "chocolate," and a chocolate evaluation class lead by Charlie Douglas, a third generation candymaker who has been a chocolatier for Medford-based Harry and David for 30 years. After learning how and why chocolate affects us emotionally and physically, you’ll be tempted to order a chocolate martini or two. Too many, and you’ll become a bona fide member of the Oregon Chocolate Club (yes, it exists outside your dreams!).

There is an incredible Chocolate Maker’s Dinner set for the first night of the festival in the Ashland Springs Hotel’s grand ballroom. The cocoa conjuring comes from Damon Jones, executive chef at the hotel’s Larks Restaurant:

• First course: Cocoa nib-cinnamon roasted beets with olive oil, queso fresco and balsamic reduction
• Second course: Roasted pumpkin-polenta tamale with green chile-Dagoba Organic Chocolate mole and green onion creme
• Third course: Your choice of either Noble Coffee Roasting Co.'s rubbed game hen with bittersweet chocolate pan jus, or poblano pepper stuffed with sweet potatoes, white chocolate and cheddar cheese. Both are served with smoky black beans and citrus cabbage slaw
• Fourth course (you’ve been waiting for the dessert, haven’t you?): Dagoba Organic Chocolate-Amaretto flan

Also on Friday, there will be Wine and Chocolate Tasting at Allyson’s Kitchen (where you can view the chocolate sculpture).

Here’s a quick look of The 6th Annual Oregon Chocolate Festival:

FRIDAY, MARCH 5

• Wine and Chocolate Tasting at Allyson's Kitchen (times, cost to be announced). For reservations, contact Cooking School Coordinator Crista Minneci at cristam@allysonskitchen.com or (541) 482-2884
• Chocolate Maker's Dinner at Larks Restaurant in the Ashland Springs Hotel at 6:30 p.m. ($47 per person including tax and gratuity). Executive Chef Damon Jones uses cocoa beans in each of the four course. Speakers include Sarah Leoni of Portland's Coco & Co. and Jared Rennie of Ashland's  Noble Coffee Roasting Co.

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, MARCH 5-6

• Chocolate Facial Spa Party in the Ashland Springs Hotel's Crystal Room at 4:30 p.m. ($25). Waterstone Spa's esthetician teaches the supreme indulgence of a self-applied chocolate facial while drinking a chocolate martini. Call (541) 488-0325

SATURDAY, MARCH 6

• Chocolate Sculpture Demonstration at Allyson's Kitchen from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (free). Chef Dina Tuck demonstrates her skills in chocolate tempering, sculpture and decorating
• Healthy Chocolate for Your Healthy Body seminar at the Ashland Springs Hotel at 12:30 p.m. Waterstone Spa's esthetician explains about African healers' and German researchers' opinions about the benefits of chocolate
• Chocolate: Unlocking The Mystery And Goodness From Bean To Bar seminar at the Ashland Springs Hotel at 2 p.m. Chocolate expert Melissa Schweisguth of Dagoba Organic Chocolate offers a hands-on session to teach how chocolate is made and offers a tasting of cacao beans, nibs, chocolate made of different cacao contents and TAZA chocolates
• Chocolate Baguette Baking Class at Deux Chats Bakery from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. ($65). Deux Chats' bakers show how to mix, shape and bake their signature chocolate baguettes, then pair the baguettes with fruits and spreads. Call (541) 255-2274

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MARCH 6-7

• World's Best Dark Chocolates Tasting Class at the Ashland Springs Hotel ($5). Harry and David's chocolatier Charlie Douglas offers tastes of some of the top ten rated chocolates with a vitural tour of the best cocoa growing regions, including Ecuador, Jamaica, Sao Tome and Venezuela

SUNDAY, MARCH 7

• Learn How To Taste Fine Chocolates at the Ashland Springs Hotel (time to be announced). Brandon Kirkland of the Enchanted Florist and founder of the Oregon Chocolate Club explains how to pull subtle flavors from the finest chocolate
• Family Chocolate Event at ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. ($2.50). Explore the world of chocolate, from cocoa farms to chocolate bars
• Cooking with Chocolate Class at Allyson's Kitchen from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ($45). Chef Jeff Zydel shows how to make Mexican hot chocolate, chicken mole, chocolate soufflé with warm fudge sauce and tuxedo chocolate-dipped strawberries. For reservations, contact Cooking School Coordinator Crista Minneci at cristam@allysonskitchen.com or (541) 482-2884
• Coffee Cupping & Educational Session at Noble Coffee Roasting Co. from 7 a.m.- 8:30 a.m. Tour the roasting facility, learn about the journey of coffee from seed to cup and enjoy a cupping (tasting) of coffe from the world's major coffee-producing regions. (541) 488-3288.

ALL WEEK

• Spa Chocolate Treatments at the Waterstone Spa, Sunday-Thursday from 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday-Saturday from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Enjoy chocolate soaks, massages and other rejuvenating treatments during the Oregon Chocolate Festival. Call (541) 488-0325.

Read more on the festival here