Cadbury

Ever had a Hansel and Gretel inspired fantasy that an entire room was made out of chocolate and you were free to nibble at it?  It may sound far-fetched but you’ll be amazed by what some very clever people are able to do with chocolate.  Discover more in Chocolate art and sculpture. Click here to find out more.

If you love chocolate visit the Chocolate Garden or book yourself in for a chocolate spa treatment and indulge your passion for chocolate without feeling guilty! Click here to find out more.

Or if you need a little cheering up and are resisting the desire to reach for the nearest chocolate bar, take a look at some of the things people have said about chocolate through history and enjoy a bit of a giggle.

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We couldn’t get enough of Hotel Chocolats Chocolate Dipping Adventure here at Daily Grommet. It’s a chic, delicious treat for gourmet chocolate lovers. bit.ly

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Part 2 of 3

Between 20 and 50 cream-colored seeds is the usual yield of a typical pod. The seeds, called beans, are strung in five chains or rows around a single placenta within the pod. Bean size varies with the species. The beans are embedded in a white mucilaginous flesh whose harsh, yet sweet taste is highly appreciated by many animals. In some regions, natives use it for preparing a refreshing drink, as well as a sort of jam. The husk and inner membrane are discarded.

The cacao bean consists of a leathery seed coat, rich in tannin, which envelopes each seed, and itself consists of two halves. It contains cocoa butter, proteins, starch, alkaloids, essential oils and various substances, which will release their aroma at the roasting stage of chocolate making. In fact, the pleasant chocolate aroma is not at all apparent in the fresh seed.

Harvested cacao seeds are placed in piles and covered with banana leaves. This starts the fermentation process, lasting three to nine days, and generating temperatures up to 125° F. The cacao beans themselves do not ferment; the pulp sugars outside the bean are converted into acids, primarily lactic and acetic. At the same time, within the bean, the germ is killed, and hydrolyzing and oxidizing reactions occur which give the cacao bean its characteristic flavor after roasting. After fermenting, the beans are spread on racks to dry in the sun. For protection from the rain, the racks can be slid under roofs, or roofs moved out over the beans.

In some countries beans are dried mechanically in driers of various sizes and types, depending on the size of the operation. Hot air is forced through the beans, which are stirred regularly during the drying period. The process reduces the moisture content of the fermented beans from 60 percent to 5 to 7 percent, and the beans from an average pod weigh less than two ounces; and approximately 400 beans are required to make one pound of chocolate.

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Chocolatiers arrive at their art from a variety of origins.  Some are “born” into a family business and learn the trade from their predecessors.  Others arrive from other artistic endeavors such as chef, painter or sculptor.  Still others make a step change in their career path as a nurse, attorney, or other non-food profession.  Each Chocolatier brings with her/him all of their past experiences, professional and personal, which in some way color their choices as a Chocolatier.  Regardless their starting points, however, Chocolatiers all share a passion for the chocolate arts.

Training is vital to the Chocolatier and encompasses not only the basics of chocolate tempering, recipe development and artistic design, but also of safe food handling, packaging and business acumen.  As with any vital area, new concepts are constantly emerging in the chocolate arts, and the Chocolatier must stay abreast of these developments.

The constant companion to training is experience; it is not enough to have only “book knowledge” in the chocolate arts.  The Chocolatier must invest hours upon hours of  practice, experimentation, trial-and-error, and refinement in order to consistently produce fine chocolate confections.

This combination of passion, training and experience enable the Chocolatier to make the proper technical and artistic decisions that produce fine chocolate.  How well has the Chocolatier selected her core chocolates and non-chocolate ingredients?  How well has the Chocolatier blended his chocolates and ingredients into a finished product?  As you bring the chocolate to your nose do you detect a pleasant aroma?  When you close your eyes and savor the first bite does the chocolate meet your expectations of what its description and presentation promised?  That moment of exquisite pleasure that chocolate lovers experience begins with the Chocolatier.

ARTISTRY AND PRESENTATION

Fine chocolate products such as bonbons, pralines and bars benefit from their presentation, from the shape and finish of the chocolate, to the packaging that contains the chocolate.  Molds may be used with fine hand detail work to present pieces that are like small pieces of sculpture.  Hand-crafted chocolates with irregular surfaces and a more rustic look also meet the presentation requirement of fine chocolate, especially if such products elicit childhood memories or reflect back to simpler time and place.

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Non-chocolate ingredients are all those elements that a chocolatier uses to complement the core chocolate, for example: butter, heavy cream, nuts, spices, natural flavoring and colorings in bonbons, pralines and bars.

Only pure flavoring ingredients such as sugar, vanilla, and  soy lecithin ( a stabilizer) are acceptable in dark chocolate bars . If the bar is flavored, it should be done so with natural spices , herbs or fruit extracts. In milk chocolate, milk solids will be added to the mix. Cocoa butter is the only acceptable fat ingredient – fine chocolates contain no vegetable or animal fats, and no artificial flavoring ingredients.

Fine bonbons/pralines should use only the finest and freshest non-chocolate ingredients and little to no chemical preservatives. When made into bon-bons, choose chocolates that use in their ganaches only pure cream, butter, herbs, spices, and glucose. As you become aware of the quality of the ingredients and orgins of your chocolate, so your palette will become more discerning.

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Upon arriving at the bulk chocolate manufacturer, the fermented and dried beans are cleaned and blended – the blending (or not) of bean types is what helps establish the final flavor of the chocolate.  The blended beans are then roasted to remove moisture and further establish the final characteristics, including aroma and flavor.

The shells are separated from the roasted bean (nib), which contains about 50% cocoa butter.  The nibs are crushed and refined into a paste. That paste is conched along with any additional ingredients such as sugar, vanilla and lecithin. After conching the chocolate is tempered and poured into molds to create blocks of bulk chocolate used by the chocolatier to create chocolate products such as bonbons, pralines and bars.

The total percentage of cacao solids and cocoa butter in the chocolate is referred to in the industry as cocoa liquor. The product can be called a number of different terms on a product label such as chocolate liquor, unsweetened chocolate, cacao mass, cocoa mass, chocolate fondant, cocoa beans, cacao beans, chocolate beans, cacao seeds, cocoa seeds, chocolate seeds..

The higher the cacao content, the lower the sugar content. This is important information for the discerning consumer: cocoa percentage simply refects the sweetness of the product. Although a cacao percentage may be high, that does not indicate that the chocolate is a fine chocolate. Given what we have just learned, the origin of the cacao plant, the conditions under which it was grown and harvested and proper fermentation, drying and production practices go a long way in creating a distinctive flavor profile.

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What differentiates fine chocolate from other chocolates? We look at the processing and manufacturing processes that create outstanding products.

The definition of “fine chocolate” can be as elusive as the definition of fine coffee, fine wine or even fine art.  Everyone has their own definition and, of course, they are right, in their opinion, of course.

At the heart of many creations that are considered “fine” is a purely aesthetic expression.  The saying “Art for art’s sake,” for example, means that art which is not intended to be produced in any quantity or widely sold, but is to be shared by anyone who loves art.  However, it doesn’t make sense not to make and sell chocolate because consuming chocolate is really a key purpose of making chocolate in the first place!

Another problem in defining “fine” is the fact that personal subjectivity plays a major role.  You may enjoy a rich roast coffee without any cream or sweetener while your best friend prefers a mild roast with sugar and frothed milk.  The coffee used in both your drink and that of your friend’s may be from the same bean but handled very differently in order to deliver two very distinct beverages.  A high quality coffee bean and roasting processes help ensure that both you and your friend have a very pleasant coffee beverage experience.

Fine chocolate may be defined by both a selection of high quality ingredients and also by the unique artistry that a Chocolatier uses to create chocolates, truffles and other chocolate confections.  In general, there are five areas that combine to define a fine chocolate product:

* cacao origin and processing
* chocolate production practices
* non-chocolate ingredient quality
* chocolatier’s technical expertise
* artistry and presentation

In later articles we will discuss these five areas.  So be sure to come back.

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You have given chocolates before, just never like this!

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In the mid-1800’s during the California gold rush, Frenchman Etienne Guittard journeyed to the Barbary Coast in hopes of discovering gold.

Although he never found it, San Francisco discovered him for the delicious chocolate he had brought from his uncle’s factory in France.  Etienne had brought the delicious French chocolate to trade for mining supplies.  He found that the wealthy miners were very much willing to pay premium prices for this luxurious treat.

Eitenne then sailed back to Tourmus, France to work in his uncle’s chocolate factory till he could afford to buy his own chocolate making equipment.  Already skilled as a chocolate manufacturer, Etienne established the Guittard Chocolate Factory in San Francisco in 1868.

1906 Guittard Chocolate Company was destroyed by the earthquake.  But, Horace, Etienne’s son, who was running the company then quickly rebuilt on Main Street.  Here he introduced coffee, tea and spices as well as chocolate.

The facility was moved from along the San Francisco waterfront where Guittard Chocolates opened for business on prestigious Commercial Street in 1868 to Burlingame, California by Horace’s son Horace A. Guittard.

Horace A. was instrumental in bring the company into the era of automation.  But he continued to operate in old world fashion by producing small batches and tailoring products to his customer needs.  This approach allowed the company to be at the forefront of innovation for several American food trends.

Perhaps Guittard’s earlies and most important innovations was their propiertary Guittard Sweet Ground Chocolate.  San Francisco’s Cliff House used the blend with their Cliff House Vanilla.

Guittard milk chocolate chips, white chips and super-sized chips and the idea of truffles were some of their other innovations.

The Guittard family has continued as the oldest family owned and operated chocolate company in the US to manufacture a great variety of chocolate and chocolate products for chocolatiers and chefs.  And today is only one of ten chocolate makers in the U.S.

Their Gourmet Bittersweet Chocolate, High Sierra White Chocolate and French Vanilla were each awarded 1992 Gold medals by the Chefs in America Awards Foundation.

So, perhaps, Etienne did find his gold.

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Scharffen Berger Chocolate manufacturer was founded in 1996 by wine manufacturer John Scharffenberger and physician Robert Steinberg with one simple goal:  to make the finest chocolates possible using traditional methods and the most flavorful, natural ingredients.  Their goal – to highlight the true flavor of cacao instead of masking it with sugar and other flavors.

The first American company founded in the past 50 years to make chocolate from “bean to bar”, Scharffen Berger primarily produces chocolate bars, using small-batch processing and focusing on dark chocolate varieties with high cocoa solid content.

In 1997 they made the first batch in the South San Francisco factory using vintage European equipment and basic ingredients including Venezuelan criollo beans and whole Tahitian vanilla. Today, Scharffen Berger produces a wide selection of products and makes about a half million pounds (200 tonnes) of chocolate a year.

Scharffen Berger moved to its permanent home, a 27,000-square-foot, 1906 vintage-brick warehouse in Berkeley, California, in 2001.

The Hershey Company, the largest confectionary conglomerate in North America, announced in July of 2005, it had purchased Scharffen Berger Chocolate manufacturer, Inc.

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It takes all of your senses to taste chocolate.  So no more gobbling it down and licking your fingers. Slow down.   Like a fine wine, enjoy all it  has to offer.  Impress your friends with your ability to discern fine chocolates from the cheap ones.

Before we taste the chocolate we must first find real chocolate.  Real chocolate?  Real versus the cheap, full of sugar, on every shelf everywhere chocolate.  The first test is distinguishing between fine chocolates and cheap sugared for the masses chocolates.

Real chocolate is good for you.  It is one of the most nutritious and easily digested foods known to man.  It contains a multitude of vitamins, minerals and complex alkaloids all of which enchance health and well- being.  The iron in chocolate also comes in a form 93 percent useable by the body.

Real chocolate is low in sugar and has a low glycemic index – 49.  There is a naturally occurring anti-depressant in chocolate called phenylethylamine (PEA) which increases the serotonin levels in the brain.  They can induce a euphoric state, as well as boosting energy levels and mental alertness.  High PEA levels are found in “love-addicted” women (pay attention guys!).  Low levels are found in people who are depressed.

The benefits of real chocolate are too many to continue here, so now we will look into how to find it.  Read the wrappings!  Look for a high cocoa content of 35 to 70 percent cocoa solids.  Look to see if it has natural vanilla in it or the cheap substitute vanillin (made from pine trees).  The best way, however, is to find out about the origin and variety of the cocoa beans.   The bean info can sometimes be found on the chocolatiers website, book or possibly the wrappings.

The first sense is sight.  The chocolate should have a silky matte sheen and even texture.  Break a bar of chocolate and look at the texture in the break.  It should resemble, slightly, the bark of a tree.  No bloom should be seen.  Bloom is the white/grayish coating that develops when the chocolate has been exposed to moisture/condensation (like going from refridgerator to kitchen counter).  It is caused by the sugar in the chocolate.

The second is touch.  It should have a smooth and silky surface.  It should melt when held in the hand for a few seconds.  The reason for this is that cocoa butter is solid and crystalline at 92 degrees, but melts at 94 degrees.  The speed of melting is an indicator of what proportion of cocoa butter the chocolate contains.

Third is sound.  Yes I  said sound.  A clean distinctive snap is a sign of good quality.  Cheap chocolate has no sound or a dull thud.

Fourth is smell.  There can be up to 400 pleasant and intense aromas.  Yes, up to 400.  How many can you detect?  Give it a try the next time you eat fine chocolate, stop to smell the aromas.  It should have a well-balanced pleasing smell.

And fifth, but most important, the taste.  Didn’t think I’d get to that did you.  The taste should be a intensely satisfying flavor.  Savor the moment, let your taste buds revel in delight as the taste should linger deliciously in your mouth.    If there is a greasy residue it means the chocolate contain fats other than cocoa butter (think cheap).  The chocolate should feel smooth, very fine on your tongue.  And while it’s melting in your mouth it should be releasing more aromas…aahhh.

Suffice to say that eating chocolate is an experience, not something to stop hunger pains before your next meal.  But, if you must control the hunger, indulge in fine chocolates and practice the art of ‘Tasting Chocolate’.

Here is one way to practice (and a good excuse to eat lots of chocolate).  Buy 4 or 5 chocolate bars with varying degrees of cocoa solid content from 35 – 70 percent.  Starting with the highest content and working your way down try to taste test each and see if you can tell the differences in each.  Make sure your mouth is clean before tasting the next bar (like in wine tasting).

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Got too much chocolate, don’t want to share and can’t eat it all? Bought too much, couldn’t use it all at once? Not to fear. It is actually very easy to store your chocolate…well maybe. All you have to do is store it in a cool, dry place and keep it away from strong odors.

Fine dark chocolate likes to be cool and dry – heat and humidity can wreak havoc on
chocolate.  Some people like to keep their chocolate in the refrigerator, which is cool but not the dry.  About 16 degrees Celsius is a good temperature making the fridge too cold. Keeping fine chocolate in the refrigerator is only recommended if you live in a hot environment without air conditioning, otherwise, it is generally discouraged.  Some people like to eat chocolate straight from the fridge because it becomes harder and tastes different.  Well there’s a reason why it taste different.

Remember chocolate should be a taste experience, the experience the chocolatier intended for you to have.   Fine dark chocolate should be quite hard at room temperature, with a clear snap when you break off a piece, and the flavors  can only be tasted properly at room temperature.

While keeping chocolate in the fridge may be okay for a few people, it presents a host of problems for the majority:

The Smell Factor. Most people’s refrigerators contain food items other than
chocolate, so your chocolate may end up tasting like last night’s poorly covered leftovers or that
delicious smelly cheese you like so much.  Fine dark chocolate contains a lot of fat (in the form of heart-healthy cocoa butter), so it can easily take on aromas to which it has been exposed.

Humidity.  The humidity inside a fridge is typically higher than the ideal humidity
for storing chocolate.  Relative humidity should be under 50%.  Few people have any idea what the relative humidity is in their refrigerator.

Altered Taste and Texture. The cold and humidity can alter the taste and texture
of the chocolate.  Not something you want to happen to your expensive fine chocolate.

Development of Sugar Bloom. When cold chocolate is brought out of the refrigerator, it attracts moisture from the warmer air resulting in condensation that leads to sugar bloom.  That’s the grayish-white coating on the surface of the chocolate.

If you live in a hot place, or you simply insist on keeping your chocolate in the fridge, then when
you are ready to eat it allow it to come to room temperature before opening up the wrapping.
This will take about an hour or so depending on the size of the bar and the temperature of
the room.  This requires some patience and forethought.  If you do, it will help avoid the
development of bloom from water droplets on the inside of the package caused by the
condensation.

If you use chocolate for baking, some pastry chefs recommend keeping it in a tightly sealed
plastic container or Ziploc bag in the freezer for longevity.  Keeping it cool and dry works just as well if not best.  Only use the freezer if you have no cool, dry place.

Dark chocolate can keep up to about 1 1/2 years.   So, where should you keep your fine chocolate? A clean, odor-free, dark, cool closet or cupboard, on a dark shelf or any cool area of your house!  Of course, if you plan on eating your chocolate within a couple of weeks – just keep it within easy reach and enjoy a piece whenever you want!

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Valrhona is a French chocolate manufacturer based in the small town of Tain L’Hermitage in Hermitage, a wine growing district near Lyon. Valrhona  produces 10 tons of product per day as compared to 100 – 150 tons for a large, European manufacturer.

Known in the industry as a supplier of high quality raw chocolate for chocolatiers they took the name Valrhona (from valley and Rhone) in the early 1950s. Valrhona has been producing fine chocolate couvertures since 1922.

Couverture is easiest to understand as a coating, shell or covering.  But in reality the topic is as complex as making chocolate is.

Famous with chefs the world over, Valrhona formerly known as La Chocolaterie de Vivarais – was founded by Monsieur Guironnet, a pastry chef from the Rhone valley in 1924.

Valrhona focuses mainly on top-quality luxury chocolate marketed for professional as well as for private consumption.  Though considered one of the finest chocolate makers in the world, it is roughly in line price wise with Godiva and Neuhaus.

To maintain their top quality chocolates their buyer searches the cocoa-cultivating nations for special cocoa beans.  If a country grows 500,000 tons of beans in a year but only 50 tons are good, it is Valrhona’s mission to find those 50 tons and leave the rest behind.

Valrhona pioneered the production of high quality chocolate from carefully controlled sources and started the trend of featuring the percentage of the cocoa solids in chocolate.

With the introduction of their ‘grand cru’ chocolates in the eighties they led the way towards chocolate from known origins and quality beans.

The company also maintains the Ecole du Grand Chocolat.  This is a school for professional chefs with a focus on chocolate-based dishes and pastries.

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A Great Gift Idea for Your Loved Ones!  

If you are having any trouble thinking of a gift idea for your wife’s birthday, on mother’s day or Valentine’s Day, you should consider getting one that everyone will love. One kind of a great gift idea is chocolates.  You can’t ignore the fact that everyone loves to eat chocolates.

Ever since chocolate was discovered in the Americas, people have cherish and love them.  Even considering them as food of the gods.   Chocolates, in some form, have been around for centuries and  today are still very popular candies that everyone loves and loves to receive.

Diet fanatics use to consider chocolates as a dieting nightmare because they could never stop eating them when they were on a diet.  Often saying to themselves that they will eat only one piece but before they know it they have consumed a whole box.  Not a worry today as there are sugar free chocolates to be had.

Delicious chocolate candies can be addicting.   However, the regular chocolates you see in your regular store are nothing compared to eating one of the world’s finest chocolates called Belgian chocolates.

Belgium has been producing the same chocolate (with a much more refined process today)  that had been discovered by the Spanish in the Americas.  The original chocolate, a slightly bitter drink,  is still available and this refreshing slightly bitter (versus sugary sweet of today’s cheap chocolate candies) can still be tasted through Belgian chocolates.   Belgian chocolate candies are one of the most popular in the world and it is also one of the finest chocolates available.

Belgian Chocolates offers fine tasting chocolate that many people have claimed to be something to be treasured and one that they cannot get enough of.  

Unlike the cheap brands of chocolates which you can easily get sick of, Belgian chocolate candies offers a one-of-a-kind taste that will make you crave for more.  Chocolate lovers from all over the world have testified that Belgian chocolates are indeed the finest chocolate in the world.

If you let it melt in your mouth and savor the taste of Belgian chocolates, you can be sure that you will end up wanting more.  You may end up like this chocolate lover  when she was given a Belgian chocolate as a gift.  She planned on consuming it for five days, one for each day.  However, when she ate the first one for an  after dinner desert, she just couldn’t get enough of the Belgian chocolate.    The whole box of five Belgian chocolates were consumed in less than thirty minutes, savoring each chocolate as it melted in her mouth.

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