Website Tracks How Far Blommer Chocolate Plant Smells Carry

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Oct 9, 2014 9:30PM

Blommer Chocolate/Courtesy of Rachelle Bowden

Depending on your mindset, the smells emanating from the Blommer Chocolate Factory are either pleasant reminders of the simple things in life or they’re unnecessary air pollutants. On a day when the wind is briskly blowing, a very sensitive nose can smell chocolate in the air as far north as Division and Halsted.

So we are absolutely fascinated by “Chicago Cocoa Smell,” a new Tumblr site that tracks the range the smells from the Blommer plant are carried by the winds on a day-to-day basis. Now in its second week, the site already has varying areas of cocoa scented air. Here's the map from Oct. 1, with brisk South-southeast winds.

The site's founder, Ian Petchenik, told DNAInfo Chicago there's no concrete methodology to determine the range of the chocolate smell in the air. He's relying on speed and direction of the wind, as well as historic and crowdsourced reports via Twitter to get his reports up by 10 a.m. each day.

Now we need to pick a different wine or beer to go with the chocolate smell.