If you wait until Valentine’s Day to give your sweetheart or yourself the gift of chocolate, you are missing out on 364 days of experiencing one of life’s greatest pleasures. 

That’s especially true in New Mexico, where a small group of artisanal chocolatiers creatively and passionately ply their trade. Some celebrate chocolate’s Mesoamerican roots (archaeologists have traced chocolate use back 1,000 years at Chaco Canyon); others draw inspiration from the great European chocolate masters or local New Mexico produce, such as chile and piñon. The common ground they all share is devotion to their craft and the daily satisfaction of putting a smile on their customers’ faces.