Welcome to Pure Imagination Chocolatier in Columbus.
- Hours: Tuesday – Friday 9am -7pm; Saturday – 8am – 5pm; Sunday – 12 noon – 5pm
- Location: (Map It) 59 Spruce St. (in the North Market) in Columbus, Ohio
- Phone: 614-221-5433
- Web: click here
The Pure Imagination Chocolatier in Columbus: The first time I met Dan Cooper, owner/operator of Pure Imagination Chocolatier, he was hand-dipping bits of fruit in chocolate, and I couldn’t resist trying one or two. OK, I tried several, along with some dark chocolate drops, and they were fantastic. How did he do it?
His face lit up as he explained. Freshest cocoa beans. Pure cocoa butter. The highest grade of chocolate. His own secret recipe, heated three times at various temperatures. Then he broke off sheepishly. “Sorry, that’s probably more than you wanted to know. I love to talk about chocolate. I’m a chocolate geek!”
He sure is. He left high school to build a chocolate lab in his basement. He worked three jobs to save money for his business. He spent (rare) days off tracking down secondhand equipment, talking to other chocolatiers, and experimenting. And a decade later, his chocolates are a Columbus treasure.
I love his truffles, especially the Twist My Arm (dark chocolate ganache covered in milk chocolate) and the Mousse Au Chocolat Dark (dark ganache crème covered in dark chocolate), but he also has other goodies, too: buckeyes, cherry bombs, macadamia paws, pecan clusters, chocolate-dipped potato chips… yummy!
Dan does it all himself, from preparing the chocolate to hand-dipping the candies, and plans to keep it that way. He should probably hire a helper (besides his grandmother, who waits on customers at the shop), but doing it himself insures quality and keeps his recipes secret. And he only wants one shop. “Quality is a solitary calling,” he says. “Pure Imagination will never be a chain.”
