Tasty Image

If you’re into chocolate — and I’m a mom talking to moms, so that’s all of us — Tasty Image is just so the place for you! It offers a truly unique chocolate product. It’s where two of my favorite things come together: adorable pictures of my kids and chocolate. It’s what Willie Wonka would do if he worked at a Fotomat. Tasty Image actually prints your pictures onto its chocolate products.

I went there to experience a chocolate class (which was a great outing), and I left with all my teacher holiday gifts in the bag — and some great goodies for an upcoming birthday. We may even head back for those “business” gifts that can be so stressful: What to get the boss, coworkers, clients? Chocolate with an image that tells your story is a great way to go.

Tasty Image has a chocolate printer that looks just like your ink jet at home — but bigger and open so you can see it working. The ink cartridges are full of food coloring, and they print on a candy shell that is “glued” (with melted chocolate) to an array of items. You can get lollipops, cards, large images in a carved chocolate frame and more. The image quality is definitely impressive. And edible. And — most importantly — delicious.

Tasty Image even takes that show on the road. It made me wish I were planning some big bash. A Tasty Image chocolate pro comes to your party with printer in tow, takes pictures of the guests and turns them into chocolate treats in real time. The company also provides chocolate fountains and buffets to complete the choco-immersion party experience. Alternatively, they’ll host smaller parties in the store. My daughter thought her friends would think a chocolate party is cool. High praise from a tween.

My daughter was my date to the chocolate class. The class was all women (surprise) — a great ladies’ night activity. We learned about how chocolates are made, how to dip and drizzle, and (best of all) we walked out with a ton of chocolates. They packaged up the candy we made (My daughter’s were prettier than mine!), and we each got a box of assorted truffles with our chocolate picture featured in their midst.

I freely admit I’m a huge fan of chocolate. Of just about any kind. No snobbery here.  But the chocolate at Tasty Image — dark, milk and white — is the real deal. It’s just cocoa beans, cocoa butter and sugar in varying amounts. So even though their specialty is printing the edible images, you’re getting a great tasting real-chocolate product. Not that odd, waxy, chocolate-esque stuff that you ignore when you raid your kids’ Halloween stash. 

Tasty Image is in the Montgomery Westfield Mall, which I now know is right where 495 intersects with 270. So even for those of us in NOVA, it’s not really that bad of a “hike” on a weekend. I’d recommend checking it out for holiday gifts. You’ll clear all those thank-you gifts off your list in one sweet stop!

Meet the Reviewer!

Cynda Zurfluh is a mother of three. Her previous life was a corporate blur of meetings and marketing. Her current life, while still a blur, is all about family, writing and small-business consulting. Contact her at cynda[email protected].