Hello Everyone, 

• Thanks for checking us out at Chocolates and Tomatoes Farm

• 2025 February through mid-May classes are now posted. See blog.

• Check in with us now to schedule private classes for 2025.

  • Click the "Register" link below to get directly to the classes.

• See text below and the blog links here to learn more about our approach to classes:

  • https://www.chocolatesandtomatoes.com/post/2024-cooking-classes-in-review

  • https://www.chocolatesandtomatoes.com/post/cooking-fun-friendship-in-year-1-of-the-learning-kitchen-at-chocolates-and-tomatoes-farm

• Learn more about purchasing and using gift certificates for cooking classes

  
  

Feel free to reach out with questions at chocolatesandtomatoes@gmail.com.

REGISTER HERE FOR COOKING CLASSES!

Or purchase a gift certificate

TASTE WHAT WE GROW ON THE FARM and LEARN HOW TO COOK IT (or expand your recipes and have fun doing it)! Discover your inner chef!

• Sometimes we also have Chef's Inspiration Tasting Dinner where we serve small plates or "tastes" of a variety of sweet and savory dishes -- Whatever Chef Mark is thinking about at the moment

  • Check back periodically -- we expect to have one of these each season

The Learning Kitchen at Chocolates and Tomatoes Farm launched on January 28, 2023. The Learning Kitchen is a dream come true for Chef Mark. He loves to share with others his passion for food, creativity and artistry, and to help others discover their inner creative chef. Register Here

• Chef Mark has a pastry arts degree from L'Academie de Cuisine, and has been cooking professionally for 30+ years.

• He has been making and selling his handcrafted chocolates since 2013.

• He routinely teaches adults as an instructor in the Frederick Community College Hospitality, Culinary, & Tourism program (since 2019). His classes include Advanced Bread Baking, Advanced Artistry, and Garde Manger (includes things like pickling, sausage-making, etc.).

The Learning Kitchen is a space for adults to find their inner chef (teens and tweens may participate with adult partners), learn about confectionary creation (sugar and chocolate), and expand their tastes for fresh, locally seasonal vegetables. Some classes will be for beginners who have never tried to make (and perhaps have never tasted) the featured item. Some classes will be for people who have been experimenting on their own and want to advance their skills.

• Most classes are Hands-On where you participate in making the featured item

  • You can generally expect 6-10 people for hands-on classes.

  • You will get to take home with you featured recipes and a portion of the items made in the class; sometimes these are your own, personal creations.

• Some classes are Demonstration and Tastings, or Tastings Only

  • You can generally expect these to be larger than the hands-on classes.

• During all the classes, we have free hot coffee and tea, and cold water for participants to drink while there. And, you will get to taste whatever is being made. You are welcome to bring your own non-alcoholic beverages to drink.

Class types

• NEW for 2025: "Inspired by" classes that focus on the key flavors and iconic dishes of various cuisines and cultures.

  • Demonstration and Tasting classes where you watch, listen, and eat

  • Hands-On classes where you participate in making (this is the style of most of our classes)

• Chocolates and confections: tempering/creating the snap, melt-aways, rolled truffle, coloring and filling truffles, caramels and gummies

• Veggies: offerings are seasonal depending on what is reading for harvesting on the farm; examples are Seasonal Salads and Slaws; Pickling and Quickaling; Root Vegetable Variations; Cooking with Winter Squash; Salsa with the Pepper Rainbow

• Tastings: For all tastings, you will have the opportunity to sample several varieties of the same fruit or vegetable to learn about the range flavors. Chef Mark will demonstrate how to make beautiful, delicious dishes. We will help you sample and appreciate the rainbow of tomatoes (red, purple, orange, yellow, green) as harvests permit.

• Breads and Pastas: Pretzels, Sourdough, Pizza, and Pasta from scratch

• Desserts: Eclairs, Pies, Mousse Cakes (entremets), Gingerbread Houses

• Chef's Inspiration: Where Chef Mark shares his cooking talent through inspired dishes for you to enjoy

Private Classes for Team-Building and Celebrations

You can also contact Chef Mark if you would like to have a private, adults-only cooking class or gathering in The Learning Kitchen OR a family gathering with folks of all ages.

• Pricing will be determined based on the length of time, prices of ingredients, and number of people expected. We require a $250 minimum for 1.5-2 hours, more for additional time.

• Number of people is based on the activities requested, but 5-7 is generally the minimum and 12-20 is generally our maximum.

• Contact us to talk about your cooking interests and gathering goals. We will work with you to figure out if we have what you are looking for, and if so to find a date and time that works.

• NOTE: We do NOT specialize in children's birthday parties. If your teen or tween wants to celebrate by having a few friends and supportive adults take a class with them, we are happy to talk about options. We are not a full-service party destination.