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David Lebovitz Archives: Chocolate May 7, 2008 |
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We're mid-week into our Paris Chocolate Tour here and we're having a great time. Everyone's enjoying the unusually fine weather, and of course, the chocolate. I wanted to post a few shots and notes in my spare seven minutes—it's 5:34am so forgive any typos or missed links. I'll catch 'em later...in my free time ; )
  Cheerful, and the amazingly-talented, Jean-Charles Rochoux shows us a chocolate replica of his arm in his laboratory. He made it for a Halloween display at a Parisian department store. The scoop of passionfruit sorbet is from Le Bac à Glaces, an ice cream shop just a few blocks away, where we stopped to cool down.
 At M. Rochoux's swanky boutique, his assistant Murielle, packs up a box of chocolate. Check out the sexy glove. Oh la la! I may need even more sorbet to cool down... If you do stop in, be sure to get a tablet of his chocolate from Peru. This is one of my favorite chocolates in his shop, along with the tablets of caramelized hazelnuts from Piedmont enrobed in chocolate as well as his latest; a bar of chocolate with a unctuous layer of creamy caramel oozing out.
 A light French salad: la salade parisienne. Yes, there is some lettuce tucked under that mountain of ham, but I was more focused on the yummy house-made fries at Le Nemrod that I dove on as soon as they landed. Unfortunately, being the consummate host, I did share a few with my table mates. But not before grabbing all the crispiest specimens. Since my salad was so light, my guests knew I needed the extra nourishment to make it through the afternoon. Did I mention how light it was? Just checking...
 Of course, it's not lunch in Paris without un peu de rosé. I had a little pitcher, which was just enough to carry me through the afternoon. Well, at least until dinner.
 If the above salad looked too light for you, the salad with soft-cooked egg melting over a huge mound of crispy bacon and studly croutons, may be more suitable to carry someone through a week of tasting chocolates. They also make a letter-perfect croque monsieur (and madame), if you're in the neighborhood.
Continue reading "Paris Chocolate Tour" »
May 4, 2008 |
Comments (23)
New chocolate-makers are springing up across America, in the most unlikeliest of places. Like Missouri. Who'd a thunk it?
His company, Patric chocolate, makes bars that are "micro-produced," and he's got two in his line-up, both using cacao from Madagascar. When I asked Alan what attracted him to the cacao from that region, he said "Since the bars are made from cacao that come from one single estate, and since the family there has owned it for quite some time, they really have been able to exert an extremely high level of control on the quality and consistency of the fermentation and drying, which is actually quite rare in the cacao world." Alan proclaims that this isn't pure "criollo" chocolate, a much-touted term for a varietal that almost all chocolate experts say no longer exists in its pure form. (Some chocolate-makers are claiming to the contrary.) Right now, the all the beans for Patric's bars are from a plantation in the Sambirano Valley. Continue reading "Patric Chocolate" »
March 23, 2008 |
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Even in Paris. Speaking of chocolate, when I was doing research for my chocolate book, it was challenging to find people to talk about what they do. I met with one representative from a big chocolate company who said he would only talk to me, and let me visit, if I only wrote about their company in the book. (Uh...sure!) When I was writing my ice cream book, I called a gelato chain here in Paris, asking if I could come in and see how they make their ice cream to include them in the book. After much hemming and hawing, I never heard back. It's always after the book comes out, you become a popular fellow. I seem to be always behind the curve on these things. Continue reading "Taza Chocolate" »
Agave-Sweetened Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe August 27, 2007 |
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For us who write about baking, normally it's, "Can that be frozen?" Since my freezer is usually so crammed with stuff I can't imagine wedging in a multi-layer cake amongst all the rock-hard frozen madness that I call "my freezer"...except for now, because I came home from the country last weekend and found my freezer door had nudged itself open, or more likely I accidentally left it ajar in my haste to get outta town, and when I came home, my freezer looked like an Antarctic blizzard had happened in there and had to be completely cleaned out...so now there's plenty of room and I can start jamming it full all over again. (The upside was I found and extricated a long-lost bottle of Polish vodka completely enveloped in a block of ice, which was a more than satisfactory reward for my efforts.) Anyhow, when you write a book completely devoted to frozen desserts and ice cream you can smugly think to yourself, "Ha! I've nipped that one in the bud." Of course, all ice cream can be frozen. But silly me! Yes, something worse than all those little bottles of hand sanitizer dangling from people's belts... Continue reading "Agave-Sweetened Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe" »
10 Insanely Delicious Things You Shouldn't Miss in Paris August 9, 2007 |
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"We're coming to Paris!"
"What's there to eat that we shouldn't miss?"
How about a pain aux cereales?
Still, I get this question frequently asked and while I'm usually organized (Can you say pastry chef?) with everything listed in the Category box to your left, I still kinda have to point folks there. And...hey, did you know that we're coming up my 500th post here on the blog? I was thinking of having some kind of contest with really cool prizes, like an all-expense paid trip to Tahiti...but then I thought some of you might balk at shelling out money on a nice trip for me. And to be honest, the thought of relaxing somewhere on the beach being surrounded by oily, lithe, tanned bodies with the scent of vanilla lingering in the air while listening to the sound of the surf isn't exactly paradise compared to all the treats I have access to below. Now is it?  Lemon Tartlets from La Fougasse
And seriously, you shouldn't miss them if you come.
I love les macarons and although I still think the classic ones at Ladurée are tops in town, Over at Pierre Hermé, he's always experimenting with unusual flavor combinations so you never quite know what you'll find here. But if you happen to be there and see pastel-orange cookies the color of apricot with a soft, creamy filling oozing out, hiding a nugget of crackly almond croquant covered with fine pieces of pistachio dust, I urge you to try one. Although each time I go in, the amount of filling seems to be increasing to the point of excess, I can't resist popping one in my mouth. And in fact, when I go in now, my favorite saleswoman there instinctively hands me one over the counter. (And people ask me why I live here all the time as well...) One tip: The shop on the rue Bonaparte is usually mobbed and it's difficult to see anything or linger. Head over to the Pierre Hermé shop at 185, rue Vaugirard, which is much more spacious. And while you're there, stop in at des Gâteaux & du Pain at 63, boulevard Pasteur; the pastries and breads are drop-dead gorgeous there as well.
 Les Baguettes Monge from Kayser
Continue reading "10 Insanely Delicious Things You Shouldn't Miss in Paris" »
April 16, 2007 |
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A blog is an online diary where you can write about what you see and what you eat. It's a marvelous thing that you can use to share your culinary experiences for everyone to read. The flip side of having a blog is that others can, and do, read it. A while back I wrote something about a chocolate shop in the Marais that I once walked by with a friend, a very talented chocolatier from Brussels. He looked in the window and didn't find the presentation all that enticing. So I wrote a few words about the place here on the site, a comment he made in passing, that wasn't necessarily glowing nor was it desultory. (Either way, I'm off the hook. He said it, not me.) But it was enough to invoke an email from someone at the company about a year later. But it wasn't signed by Joséphine Vannier.
Seizing the opportunity, I responded, saying I'd love to come in and get shown around, hopefully by the elusive Joséphine herself, and to be properly introduced to her chocolates with her expert help. Continue reading "Who Is Josephine Vannier?" »
April 6, 2007 |
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I don't like to stir things up too much around here. Last time I did that, I got my ass kicked in the comments. Truth be told, I'm a people-person and try to see the good in everything and everybody no matter what. Heck, I'm even listening to Up With People! as I'm typing right now... I don't like to trash people or companies in general. But sometimes, every once in a while, someone needs to get their pee-pee smacked. And in this case, it's Hershey's.
But one French company insisted (repeatedly, against my better judgment) on sending me a food basket of goodies a while back. Continue reading "Healthy Hershey's" »
April 4, 2007 |
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Don't hate me when I tell you this: Last week I was invited to La Maison du Chocolat.
Robert Linxe, who was born in the Basque region and founded La Maison du Chocolat, was one the major proponents of using ganache in his chocolates; that slightly-airy amalgamation of chocolate and cream. Then he went on to develop a flavor palette of ganache-based chocolates...and the rest is one of the most successful stories in chocolate history. Continue reading "La Maison du Chocolat" »
March 13, 2007 |
Comments (19)
The problem around here is that I buy chocolate in 5 kilo, about 11#, boxes and every afternoon, and sometimes (ok...make that 'often'...) first thing in the morning, I dig my hand deep in the box and pull out a few pistols every time I walk by. People have the impression that I eat chocolate all the time, every day. And although I usually deny it, I would have to admit it's definitely true. Except last night when I was flossing, part of one of my teeth flew out and plinked onto the floor. So today it's like eating and talking with a thumb tack in my mouth, and I'm having a rare, chocolate-free day. Who knew it was possible to floss to hard? Does that make me a 'power-flosser'? (When I called my dentist, I was stumped trying to figure out the verb 'to floss' in French. Ça existe?)
Many I pick up when traveling, and some I get sent by companies wanting me to try them out. I happily sample them all and love to find something new or especially unusual. Often I taste them systematically by sitting down, snapping off a corner and savoring the flavors. As I roll and chew the chocolate around in my mouth, I ponder the different characteristics, noting origin and the various flavors: Sweet, fruity, acidic, roasty, bitter, citrusy, woodsy—all the various tastes we find in chocolate. And other times, I'm not so good and I rip off the covering and start gnawing away at the chocolate until it's nothing but an empty wrapper with a few crumbs of chocolate left. I never did well in science since I'm lacking in patience. So during the next few weeks, it's your turn to be patient. Continue reading "Chocolate Tasting" »
January 21, 2007 |
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One of my favorite things to do in Paris is just wander around, often in neighborhoods that aren't really known for anything special. There's always something interesting to find; shops specializing in vintage hairbrushes and combs, a locksmith for doors installed only during the reign of Napolean III, or the recently-departed Reptiles World (sic), which was one of my favorite places to pass the time while waiting for a train at the nearby Gare du Nord. And of course, I'm usually on the lookout for food, and am especially keen when I come across a shop specializing in candymaking or chocolate. If I get lucky, I discover some little treasure, often in the most unlikeliest of places.
Sure, their chocolates aren't nearly as sleek or refined as their Left Bank counterparts, but I appreciated their handmade charm all the same. Especially the petits dark squares filled with a crisp morsel of mint fondant cloaked in brusque, dark chocolate. And the chocolates filled with caramel and feuilleté were certainly as delicious as those found in swankier boutiques. One chocolate that picqued my curiosity was flavored with chanvre, a word I wasn't familiar with. Although I've been previously familiar with the green leaf embedded atop the chocolate in my younger days, she offered a sample since she was having difficulty explaining exactly what was inside. (The French word for what I thought it was is a four-letter word in English...madame might not have appreciated my translation.) But then, in that little shop, I learned my Word-For-The-Day: the ganache was infused with hemp. (For the record, I'd advise against overseas shipping.) But should you find yourself near the Gare du Nord or Gare d'Est, and need to pass a bit of time (or want try to get a bit of a buzz)...or if you just want to take a journey to a less-visited quartier of Paris, Le Furet Tanrade certainly makes a tasty stopping point.
John-Charles Rochoux, Parisian Chocolatier January 8, 2007 |
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One of the hardest things about writing about food is coming up with that killer opening sentence. It should start with something that grabs your attention right away, tickles your curiosity, then encourages the reader (which would be you) to follow the writer (which, or course, would be me) deeper into the story. Thankfully when writing about chocolate, I can include pictures to help me get going, so most of the work is already done.
 A Handcarved Rabbit Made of Pure White chocolate.
 Slender Orangettes; strips of candied orange peel flecked with crunchy nougat, dipped in dark chocolate.
 Paris Chocolatier Jean-Charles Rochoux
I was fortunate enough to take some time from my busy schedule to pose for Monsieur Rochoux, so he could create one of the most iconic pieces in the shop: Le torse. Continue reading "John-Charles Rochoux, Parisian Chocolatier" »
December 19, 2006 |
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I don't know how someone would brave getting one of those home on the métro, but I'd surely appreciate their efforts if I found one under my tree!
October 26, 2006 |
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During my recent trip to Italy, I joined an Italian friend of mine at a trattoria for a late night supper. As we hungrily ate our overfilled plates of pasta Carbonara and Cacio e Pepe, a local specialty made with pecorino cheese and lots of spicy, freshly-ground black pepper, mingled with lots of Italian voices were plenty of Americans, making sure they were heard above the din. But Americans aren't just famous for speaking loudly. "Americans are the best!" my friend said,"You just get them drunk and you can have sex with them. Everyone knows that." Who knew? So if you're American and you plan on visiting Rome, depending on the purpose of your vacation, you might want to watch your alcohol consumption, play it safe, and stick to gelato. Or chocolate.
Entering the velvet-lined shop, I smelled something delightful in the air, and saw in the small, well-lit backroom, a group of women sitting around chatting and peeling freshly-roasted chestnuts. Being naturally curious, some say a pain-in-the-butt, I wandered back there to take a look. Within minutes a large Italian fellow came lumbering towards me, thankfully without plucked eyebrows or Versace knock-offs (I didn't check out the chest hair 'situation'), he seemed to have no ulterior motives and offered to speak with me about his chocolates.
I feel deeply in love with these marrons glacés, but I doubt anyone would use these candied chestnuts as objects of seduction, although maybe I should. With my brush-cut hair, which requires a bare minimum of gel, and the triumphant return of chest hair, I'm probably not the best candidate for launching an Italian-style romantic entrapment. But I would imagine it beats all that waxing and plucking anyways, don't you think?
Tazza d'Oro L'Albero del Cacao San Crispino Giolitti Pizzarium Volpetti Biscottificio Innocenti
Dagoba Chocolate Partners With Hershey's October 20, 2006 |
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For those of you whose interest has been picqued by my interview with Frederick Schilling of Dagoba chocolate, Frederick sent me the scoop on his new partnership with Artisan Confections, a division of Hershey's chocolate.
"So, what's in store for Dagoba now? Well, for the most part, nothing is going to change. Dagoba will remain in Ashland doing what we've always done. All the employees, as long as they want to stay, will still be there. We'll still be able to wear whatever we want to wear to work. I'll still be in charge of sourcing the cacao and formulating new products. We'll still be using 100% recycled New Leaf Paper for our wrappers. We'll still be using renewable energy for our factory. We'll still be able to do the tradeshows as we want, when we want. We will have manufacturing support from a company that has been making chocolate for almost 100 years, which will be very nice! For those of you who do your own manufacturing, you know that it's not always the easiest thing. Yet it's fun to walk back there and see all this equipment and hear the noises… I love it!..."
Paris Hot Chocolate Address Book October 9, 2006 |
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People come from all over the world to sip le chocolat chaud in the busy and cozy cafés in Paris. Here are some of the top addresses in town to warm up.
This famous hot chocolate salon is getting a well-deserved makeover. But no matter; the place is always packed-full of French society women and tourists side-by-side spooning up their gloriously rich, and impossibly thick, le Chocolat Africain. The service has taken some knocks, but most chocophiles forget any glitches in exchange for the priviledge of sipping the world's most famous hot chocolate.
Pair a mug of frothy hot chocolate with a scoop of Paris' best ice cream for a decadent afternoon snack. Their salon de Thé next door to the ice cream shop has terrific desserts, including perhaps the best, and most perfectly caramelized, tarte Tatin in Paris. Pair it with a scoop of caramel ice cream making it a wedge of heaven. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Overlooking the extraordinary Opéra Garnier, this is the most picturesque spot in Paris to sip hot chocolate. Be sure to request fort en gout (strong flavor), unless you prefer your hot chocolate touché delicate, with a delicate touch. Open late in the evening for those after-the-opera chocolate cravings.
Revitalize in this tiny, modern chocolate shop near bustling Les Halles on the trendy rue Montorgueil with a cup of their dark, bittersweet brew which gushes from their well-polished copper cauldron.
Shoppers make a beeline to delicabar in Le Grand Epicerie to savor chocolate créateur's Sébastian Gaudard's dreamy concoction of chocolate and milk in this hip café. Non-purists (and hedonists) may choose to enhance their chocolat chaud with an optional dose of cassonade, the sticky dark cane sugar. The salty, buttery sablé cookies are delicious, and irresistable, as well.
Unwind in fabulous gilded splendor at this chic address across from the Jardin des Tuileries. The ultimate luxury here is ordering your hot chocolate according to the cru (tropical origin), including fruity Manjari chocolate from Madagascar and intense Guanaja from South America.
Divine hot chocolate is served in the upstairs tearoom. I challenge any die-hard chocoholics not to resist one of the rich, elegant chocolate cakes as well.
This funky tearoom serves their ultra-thick le chocolat chaud in tiny Japanese cups, encouraging you to savor it one chocolaty dose at a time. La Charlotte got a boost from a favorable write-up in The New York Times a few years back, so the cluttered shop can get a bit cramped on weekends.
Only a few locations of La Maison du Chocolat have tasting 'bars' where you can sit in the summer, slurping down a chocolate frappe or during the winter, treat yourself to a steaming mug of hot chocolate made from the world's finest chocolate. The exotic Caracas hot chocolate is not for the timid, nor is the Bacchus, with a rather adult shot of dark rum. Continue reading "Paris Hot Chocolate Address Book" »
Pierre Marcolini's Chocolate-Covered Marshmallows September 30, 2006 |
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The hardest of all foods to photograph, I've learned, are chocolate-covered marshmallows.
I futzed around a bit, trying to figure out how to show the lofty-white cubes in juxtaposition to the coating of pure, dark chocolate. They're such diverse colors and textures that I tried several variations and lighting situations, until I decided that they'd looked best with a piece broked off. So I took a bite out of one. Then I took another bite. And then, I stopped shooting... ...and ate the whole pack. Sorry.
Interview: Frederick Schilling of Dagoba Organic Chocolate August 30, 2006 |
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David: Hey Frederick, I remember meeting you years ago at a Food Show, and was really impressed with both you, and your exceptionally good chocolate. You were so friendly and open about what you were doing, and I saw in you such a passion for producing high-quality chocolate from organically-grown beans. I'm so glad we've kept in touch since then, and you're happy to answer some questions about Dagoba chocolate. While it's everyone's dream to open a chocolate factory, what made Frederick Schilling do it?
Why did you decide to go organic? Frederick: From the beginning of my young adult life, I have been very passionate about sustainability and organics. I was already philosophically aligned with the organic movement before the inception of DAGOBA. So naturally, since I was exploring the idea of creating a food product for the market, it had to be organic. Aside from chocolate bars, you also have a line of other products, all organic, including chocolate chips, cocoa nibs, hot chocolate mix, and chocolate-covered coffee beans. Where are Dagoba chocolates produced, and why did you choose to open your production facility there? Our factory is located in Ashland Oregon. It's a small town in Southern Oregon, just over the California border, in the Rogue Valley. It's absolutely gorgeous here; and that's why we chose to have the factory here. The quality of life is pretty uncompromised. I'm able to ride my bike to work, go mountain biking right out my front door, skiing, hiking, kayaking, rafting... there are a plethora of outdoor activities to partake in around here. The town also has the nations largest Shakespeare Festival, so there is the element of theater wafting thru the streets. Interstate 5 goes right by the town so access for shipping product, while not as easy as being located in a major city, is pretty good. We just purchased 3.5 acres of land in town and will be building a new factory this coming year with completion in the summer of 07'. It's going to have many 'green' aspects to the structure; solar panels up top and permaculture landscaping as a couple of examples. This factory will be open for tours, so make sure you stop by when you're driving thru!
Frederick: We just turned 5 in June and it has been one interesting ride. I started the company in my kitchen, hand made the product for the first 1.5 years and have been pretty much making it up and learning as I go along. So while it's been extremely fun and interesting, the whole experience has a shadow of difficulty because it was founded with blind ambition. Starting a company is just difficult. It takes a lot of time, hard work, patience, faith and a little ignorance too. The ignorance, while makes things a little difficult, also acts as the catalyst for pushing me. I don't know something, so I'm going to dig into it. That ignorance eventually turns to skill and knowledge. Then, with that knowledge and skill I start to create more things, usually burying myself in the process, digging up more things that I'm ignorant on, then learning more, then creating more, realizing how much I don't know, then learning, then creating more, realizing how much I don't know and so on. It's a great cycle and one that the creative mind needs in order to maintain itself. We need elements of difficulty to push us. Yet, as the organic chocolate market starts to gain legs, sourcing enough high quality organic cacao may become very difficult; sooner than later. It's all about the source, right? As more organic chocolate companies start to spring up around the world, or as current companies come out with organic chocolate, a lot of them will be going after the good beans. It's already becoming tight. That's why I'm leaving for Central America in 2 days; to maintain and create new relationships with growers. In 5 years, it's going to be very interesting indeed.
Frederick: For the most part, everyone I've met in the industry is really nice. For the most part, everyone has always spoken to me with openness and really helped me figure this industry out. Yet, I've never been a threat to them. I was always considered as this little organic chocolate company - "Oh, how sweet, he's making organic chocolate". The chocolate makers/companies that I always spoke to were not making organic chocolate so they were willing to share their knowledge. YET, now that things are changing, DAGOBA is growing and more companies want to move into the organic chocolate market, lips are tightening a bit and vest are being buttoned. As for being competitive, I don't think it's any more competitive than any other industry. Company secrets are company secrets. A lot of the hush-hush attitude that does permeate our industry probably has its roots from the Mars and Hershey dysfunctional relationship from years ago. The thing is though, when you're talking about pure chocolate, there aren't any real secrets. Everyone knows how to make it. Everyone knows what kind of equipment the others use. Everyone knows where cacao comes from. Now, companies are even saying what farm the cacao comes from! So, transparency is actually becoming the "new thing", right?
Frederick: A very good question. On the corporate organic movement; is it wrong to have organics at chain stores? Big box stores? Isn't this what we, the believers of true food, wanted? To get rid of the artificial food chain? Just because the stores that we now buy our food from are larger than most South Pacific islands, is it wrong that they are providing the people with organic food? This is what the people want. Now I personally don't shop at the large box stores, but ultimately, I believe this is a move in the right direction. Would I rather see an industrial farm being grown conventionally or organically? The industrial farming model isn't going away anytime soon, so in my opinion, it's a move in the right direction; to cut back on the amount of chemicals being applied to the soil. Perhaps in 10 years, the consumer will 'urge by purchase' the corporate growers to move back to a "biodiverse" farming model, which is more sustaining to the land. Ultimately it's up to the consumer to dictate what happens in the marketplace. In 10 years, if the big box consumer, after being educated on what organic means, wants food that comes from an even more sustaining farming model, the big boxes will respond as will the industrial farming operations. Cacao grows in the tropics, so I'm forced to rely on fossil fuels to get our raw material to us; until I'm able to charter a fleet of large sail boats to transport my cacao to port and then move the beans via biodiesel fueled trucks to our new solar powered factory. As you know, DAGOBA is a company that makes every effort to be as "eco-minded" as possible. We use 100% alternative energy at the factory; use 100% recycled content paper for our wrappers and office paper, we compost our kitchen waste and many other small things. Are we perfect? Far from it. Yet, we're making the conscious decision to be aware of what we do and how we can improve upon it.
As you know David, cacao is very different than other crops. The vast majority of cacao is grown on small family farms, where they also grow many other crops and fruit trees. Cacao, by default, is already being grown very sustainably in bio-diverse settings. If we can further this model, because of consumer demand, by replanting deforested areas then I can only say I'd be a hypocrite if we didn't do business with box stores. We all need to be the Lorax in this day and age.
Frederick: Both are true. Methyl Bromide is the fumigant of choice for cacao, and this is where the pesticide gets applied. The cacao doesn't get sprayed on the farm level; it's at the ports where the cacao gets sprayed. When a container of cacao leaves a countries port, there's gonna be insects in that cacao, so they fumigate. When the container arrives into port, say in the US, and there is any sign of insects, they fumigate again. I've heard that cacao is actually one of the most heavily fumigated commodities in the world. I have a friend in the industry that used to work at a very large chocolate company and his job was to, every Thursday, fumigate the cacao warehouse with Methyl Bromide. He had to have a special handling license to carry out this task. I hear murmur in industry that methyl bromide may be getting phased out of use, which is a good thing, as it's nasty stuff.
Frederick: To the professionals that say this, I would say, in a blind taste test of the San Francisco Chronicle, we beat Scharffenberger and Valrhona. We were awarded 'best dark chocolate' - the first time an organic chocolate ever won this award. Taste, is of course, subjective. I personally don't like a brand of French chocolate that people do back flips over for. To me, it tastes over roasted and the particle size is actually too small, therefore making it feel slimy on my palate. Other people go gaga over it. No right or wrong. I personally don't enjoy it. There really is no difference between conventional and organic chocolate when it comes to quality. Taste is taste and conventional chocolates all taste differently. Organic chocolates all taste differently. I would be more than happy to sit down with the professionals that say that organic isn't as good as conventional and conduct a blind taste test and have them tell me which is organic and which is conventional. Our biggest market is thru retailers. Our retail bars are what drive our business. We're a small company and we just can't compete on price with the big boys for food service business. We do sell our chocolate to a great many elite restaurants who brand us on the menu. But outside of that tiny niche, we don't sell much in the food service sector. Plus, for the retail bars, it allows me to create more and experiment with flavor infusions, which I really love doing.
Frederick: Honestly, not off the top of my head. I don't pay attention to this, even though I probably should. I like what I do and often times get very tunnel visioned in my passion, meaning I don't pay attention to the "who's and the what's" as much as I probably should.
Frederick: I think it started erupting when the health benefits of dark chocolate started to get announced by the media. This is when the public really started to pay attention to the cocoa content, as they were all looking for 70% or higher, regardless of what it tasted like. I think percentages are important as they act as a kind of barometer for how dark chocolate is. It will rest on the flavor of the chocolate for me, but I'm much more apt to purchase a 65% or higher, so I personally appreciate knowing how much cacao is in the bar. Yet, we must also remember that cacao percentage is defined as how much cacao is in there, not just cacao solids. So the percentage can include cocoa butter, which will dilute the flavor. So we can have a 85% dark bar that has an extra 20% cocoa butter added, making that 85% bar very mild; and probably pretty nasty too.
Frederick: I create the products, usually after a bottle of really good wine. The Chai is actually one of my favorites too. Some people say it's too strong on the spices, but it's the way I like my chai tea - spicy! I like a lot of cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, anise in my chai tea, so that's how I wanted to create this bar. I experimented with a dark chocolate chai bar, but the bitters of the dark bar really suppressed the spices. Once the new factory is up and running with the tours, I'm sure we'll have the "tasting trial table", where people can try some of my new creations and write comments. Ever had a milk bar with bacon bits and sun dried figs? It's so good.
Frederick: What we did is use vegetable glycerin as the solvent base instead of alcohol, so there is an inherent sweetness to the elixirs. Then, the primary botanical in the elixir is cacao; which we extracted from organic Ecuadorian Arriba Nacional nibs. From there, we built on the botanicals for each formula. THEY ARE SOOOOOOO GOOD!!! The plain Cacao Elixir is like getting your chocolate craving without eating chocolate. There is no cocoa butter, so you're not eating the fat (nothing wrong with cocoa butter though!). The Antioxidant Elixir is made with copious amounts of berries, so it's really rich in flavor. Horny goat weed? Exactly!
Frederick: If it's got a cork in it, I like it.
Frederick: Ocumare is expensive and rare. We'll also be bringing in some other very special cacao from Venezuela. I happened to be at the right place at the right time and secured some cacao from Puerto Ayacucho. A few times a year, Indians from the Cepai tribe come down from the headwaters of the Orinoco River with wild harvested cacao. It takes them about 15 days in their canoes to bring the cacao to Puerto Ayachucho. If the river is low, they have to go over land on donkeys, which takes about 30 days - one way! They only bring about 3,000lbs per trip, so the supply is extremely limited. The flavor is very unique and I'm really excited to be able to make chocolate from this cacao and offer it to people.
Frederick: Yes, it is actually our #1 selling bar. And yes, it's paying homage to the Aztecs beverage, Xocoatl. I never expected it to be our #1 selling bar, to be honest. I just wanted to show respect to what had come before me and for allowing me to make chocolate. I think it's great that it's our #1 bar, as it just shows that consumers are wanting to try unique things.
Frederick: Oh boy, that's a big question and even bigger answer. People can always go to our website and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter. We report on everything that is happening in our universe and what new products are coming out. In short, I'm really looking forward to coming out with some really unique single origin chocolates. I just secured some amazing Criollo-Trinitario cacao from the Philippines, so that should be out by the first of the year. A bar made from cacao of Bali. A single estate chocolate from Nicaragua. A bar made from cacao from the Napo of Ecuador. Right now, I'm all about digging down as far as I can go with source and bring these unique origins to the people; instead of blending it. I so love the ability to taste the terroir of cacao from each region, as it is so truly distinct. It's a great journey and I'm having fun doing it. And thanks to our customers for giving me the opportunity to do what I do. Thanks David!
A Visit to Parisian Chocolatier Jean-Charles Rochoux July 7, 2006 |
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This was an easy post! If you'd like to know what it's like to visit Jean-Charles Rochoux with me, one of my favorite chocolatiers in Paris, go visit Too Many Chefs for Meg's write-up of our visit.
June 21, 2006 |
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Summer is here in Paris. It arrived without warning last week and was brutal. It was hot, and it hit around 31°(about 88°) and so humid, I faced a real-meltdown of chocolate. And just about everything else around here, including me, suffered the same fate. Just when no one couldn't bear it anymore, it stopped. Then we had rain and cool weather. It's so other-worldly (hey...am I back in San Francisco?), but summer arriving means a lot less clothes, and since I'm now European, it's obligatory that they're much, much tighter. Damn Europeans and their fine-tailoring. So that means it's time to pay for the last 8 months of eating too many pastries, tasting too many chocolates, snacking on too many macarons, and drinking perhaps a bit too much vin rouge. I don't know if I can hold my stomach in consecutively for the next three months, but I'm going to try. I've unpacked my shorts for summer and they definitely are un peu serré.
But the American Embassy is great: I can argue back with impunity and get huffy with them. Hey, why not? I'm on equal turf, and I'm an American and my English is just as good as theirs. So there I was, on the rue St. Florentin, where I waited, stood in line, got scanned, went through the metal detector, then had my water bottle confiscated (I guess it's a threat to national security), then headed to the IRS office. Being a foreign resident you get an automatic extension for paying your taxes, which comes in handy when the mail isn't very reliable. I guess somehow they caught on and give us expats a break. So in my bid to help fight the war on terror and make the world a safer place (though things don't quite appear to be quite heading in that direction) I sat under the over-sized, overly-glossy, and over-polished pictures of George and Dick (whose has a rather curious smirk on his face for an 'official' portrait), and the Only Uptight Black Woman In The World, and wrote my checks. And prayed things wouldn't get any worse. A whole lot better.
I had stopped at a bakery down the street for bread and noticed les palets Breton, delicate buttery cookies made from salted butter, so I bought a stack. Four was the minimum for some reason... this from the country where you can buy half a baguette for 42 centimes, and when madame wants to buy one fig, madame will be given the same courtesy and service (and take as much time) as, say, an American pastry chef trying to race through the market buying a flat of figs or a few kilos of nectarines to test recipes. So I bought four, but M. Genin was happy to relieve me of half of them. In exchange, he swooped his hands into the tray he was wrapping of caramels and stuffed them in my bag (and those caramels are as precious as gold, since you can't buy them in stores.) As you can see, each caramel is buttery, tender, and keeps its shape just long enough to get it into your mouth, where it dissolves into an explosion of creamy-smooth sweet goo, slightly tangy from the passion fruit, with exactly enough of the tropical pulp to offset the restrained sweetness of the caramel. So I can't say I'm going to get any thinner, or my shorts will soon fit better, or when I hit the beach in August, I'll be turning any heads. But when you have a guy like Jacques Genin feeding you chocolates and handing you caramels, who cares if your belt needs to be loosened out a notch. Or two.
(Not a store. Call before visiting...and pray he's available.)
June 19, 2006 |
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Want to know what's it like to visit one of Paris' finest chocolate shops?
 Les Itinéraires des Beaux Jours: Richart's Exquisite Upcoming Chocolate Collection
(Stores worldwide or visit them online.
Chocolate That's "Too Good To Use" June 17, 2006 |
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Once upon a time, I worked in a restaurant that was well-known for using ingredients of exceptional quality. The most magnificent fruits and vegetables would come barrelling through our kitchen door every day, from plump, rare black raspberries to teeny-tiny wild strawberries, fraises des bois. While I can't really guess the psychology behind it, we would often treat these marvels like precious jewels, reserving them for the perfect moment. Or we'd just forget about them, then throw them away. Unfortunately, because they were so fragile, they'd often last no longer than a day or so, and we'd arrive the next morning to find they hadn't been used the previous evening and had to be tossed. While I don't want to apologize or make excuses for this inexcusable behavior, restaurants are odd places full of strange people acting unusual...and no, it's not just the customers. There's mis-communications, too much going on all at once, and frankly, things don't always happen like they should. And don't tell me that you haven't let something accidentially spoil in under your eagle-eye either. Because I'm not buying it.
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