The (Food) Science Of 'Shareable Happiness': Inside Colorado's Chocolate Makers

There’s nostalgia inherent in chocolate. Our own personal histories with candy hearken to simpler times, and yet candy itself is not a simple thing.

Confections are exacting, prone to particularities. “Honestly, confectionery is material science,” says Alpen Confections owner Lin McKay. “Chemistry,” clarifies his partner and husband Mike Shafer.

Our own personal histories with candy hearken to simpler times, and yet candy itself is not a simple thing.

It is McKay and Shafer’s sensitivities to scientific minutiae that allows them to succeed in the chocolate business. They juggle concepts like “toffee evaporation rates” and “crystallization of beta-V polymorphs in chocolate” with ease. Their nature, inherently meticulous and curious, has allowed them to adapt and refine their process, which is requisite in Colorado.

As with high-altitude baking, confections in Colorado are subject to different environmental influences than those at sea level. “Atmospheric pressure, boiling point, oxygen and humidity” are all impacted by Alpen Confection’s Montrose location.

When managing delicate variables, scalability becomes a key safeguard for consistency. Once the recipe or formula is perfected, producing larger batches ensures more uniform results.

At Grand Junction institution Enstrom Candies, after 60-plus years of growth and success, consistency at scale is paramount. The volumes are boggling, with numbers like 250,000 pounds of liquid chocolate, 200-pound bags of sugar and mountainous blocks of butter.

The only continuous conveyor toffee maker in the world. Photos by Nickolas Paullus

“We run the only continuous conveyor toffee maker in the world,” beams Enstrom owner and vice-president Jim Simons. The name is exactly as it sounds: an impressive feat of science and technology. The machine heats a slurry of sugar and butter to 400 degrees Fahrenheit before sending the molten candy onto a self-cooling conveyor, which helps the toffee harden before reaching the chocolate enrober.

“It took over two years of research and development” before they committed to order the state-of-the-art machinery, says owner Doug Simons Sr. Once the tech was in place, the computer-controlled frequency drives allowed the company to scale up to volumes unimaginable prior to the technological advancement.

“Take our chocolate depositor for example. With 60 cavities on 325 molds, we can make nearly 36,000 pieces of shell molded chocolate an hour,” continues Simons Sr. The technology is exacting, from the tempering machine that stirs and cools the heated chocolate to 90 degrees Fahrenheit in order to properly distribute fat globules throughout, to the impressive “one shot machine” that can fill a center and outer layer to a truffle in one go.

This consistency has allowed them to branch out into private labeling, as well as supplying larger contracts such as QVC and Costco. This scalability is hard earned, a result of decades of technological growth.

Back in Montrose, the duo at Alpen Confections is butting up against the margins of their own scalability as they tackle new client Clark’s Market throughout the region’s mountain towns (Aspen, Telluride and others). With upwards of 400% growth as a result of this endeavor, McKay and Shafer are enlisting the help of some technological wizardry.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs like ChatGPT are a boon to small companies. With their ability to sift through and compile massive amounts of data, AI can lighten the workload for creatives, allowing them to focus on their craft. Alpen Confections has AI assistants working on scaling and converting recipes, while also using the program to sift through dense academic literature.

“Just today, for example, we were looking into the implications of combining pectin with non-hydrous [ingredients],” says Shafer. Something so particular is for all intents and purposes “non-searchable” on regular search engines. ChatGPT, however, acts as a massive filter of information.

“We also have [AI] assistants that help with delivery and social media. It weighs machine efficiency, compares data points,” and allows McKay and Shafer to focus on their deeper connections to confections.

There’s an artistry to their bon-bons. “Synesthetic,” as they say — their multi dimensional chocolates are at once a reflection of novel taste and a lens for seeing.

“We lead with color,” says McKay, as the sheen and hue convey emotion and flavor simultaneously. Their shapes, reminiscent of the Uncompahgre Plateau or the Grand Mesa, vessels of utility and beauty.

“There’s a lot of dissonance in the world right now, and confection allows us to bring together our love of food and science,” begins McKay, as Shafer concludes, “to make something shareable. Happiness, I suppose. Shareable happiness.”

Originally published in the Winter 2024-25 issue of Spoke+Blossom.