The Life and Times of CHOCOLATE, Part 2

March 15, 2016

If you missed it, check out Part 1, How Chocolate Is Born

Unroasted cocoa beans taste nothing like chocolate. I know, it’s weird. I guess if you squint your eyes and really pretend, you can kind of taste what will turn into chocolate.

The process of creating chocolate from raw cocoa beans is long and complicated, which is why Ecole Chocolat and I have partnered to put together a four-part series about where the heck chocolate comes from called "The Life and Times of Chocolate." Last month we cartoonized how chocolate is born, and this month we’re tackling how cocoa beans become chocolate. We hope to tell the story as simply as possible, and while we may not capture all of the nuances of the bean-to-bar process, we hope people remember the image.

So without further ado, here it is! First our little cocoa beans get toasted brown and chocolatey in the roaster. Then the beans are cracked and their outer shell winnowed away, getting naked for all the world to see (in an SFW kind of way). The part of the bean that's left is called the nibs. After that it's a trip to the grinder with sugar and sometimes extra cocoa butter for sweetness and flavor. Then the chocolate is tempered, a process that uses temperature and motion to make sure the chocolate hardens shiny and stable. And last but not least, the chocolate is molded into bars! (Thanks to Fernanda Frick for the awesome illustration.) Stay tuned for Part 3 next month!

How to Pair Chocolate With Anything and Everything, According to L.A. Burdick

March 10, 2016

Recently I caught up with Michael Klug from chocolatier L.A. Burdick to talk — what else — chocolate. Beyond working at Michelin-starred restaurants all over the world, he’s a master chocolatier whose bonbons are some of the best in the country.

“Try this one!” he said, pushing a hazelnut bonbon toward me. “Now this one!” A Kenyan milk chocolate with coffee grinds. Then the Richelieu, a dark chocolate cherry truffle with vanilla and a hint of cumin, garnished with a dried red cherry “cap” like the French cardinal likely wore. We continued like that for a while, with me stuffing my face and Michael giving some great advice:

On Cocoa Percentage

“Would you choose wine based on the percentage of alcohol?” Nope, that’s why 85% cacao or 70% cacao doesn’t mean that much in the scheme of things: Balance is everything.

On Tasting Bonbons

“Eat a bonbon slowly. Let it aerate. Cocoa butter melts at body temperature. It’s more interesting when you can discover the subtleties.”

On Making Ice Cream

“Add chocolate at the end, after you’ve made the base.” That way you won’t get frozen chunks of chocolate but a nice creamy frozen treat.

He also brought out some amazing new bonbons that L.A. Burdick will feature in April: Hand-cut elephants with Marcona almond ears. They’re just about the cutest things I’ve ever seen.

The milk chocolate is filled with orange ganache, but it’s the dark chocolate that steals the show: They’re filled with passionfruit and amarula ganache. Turns out elephants in Africa love marula fruit and eat as much of it as they can get their trunks on (it actually makes them lose their balance and act drunk — even though they’re not!). Amarula liqueur is made from the marula fruit, and Michael thought it was the perfect way to honor the elephant. Five percent of the proceeds from the sales will go toward the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to protect African elephants.

As I ate more chocolate bonbons than I thought possible, Michael and I started commiserating about the whole chocolate and red wine pairing thing, and after trying his truffle with MacAllan whiskey and pistachio marzipan, I had a revelation: Why do we keep trying to pair things that don’t go together? In Michael’s words, the acidity of wine and chocolate fight each other rather than harmonize.

That’s why he’s helping me put together a comprehensive pairing guide for my book that will include some pretty nifty and new pairings: tea, coffee, and more, as well as new-school classics like whiskey.

Askinosie Chocolate paired with a delicious-looking latte

I’m super excited about this, since it won’t be the same tired combinations you’ve seen a thousand times.

What other foods and beverages would you like to see paired? Tell me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

Dandelion Chocolate Opens in TOKYO

March 6, 2016

Dandelion Chocolate is about as San Francisco as they come, with its founders’ tech startup roots and an adorable café and factory in the Mission District, but in early February, the amazing chocolate maker opened its first INTERNATIONAL store, in Tokyo. I don’t usually post news here, but this is epic.

There was a line around the block, and apparently by Valentine’s Day they were completely sold out of bars (plus about 650 pastries and 350 drinks per day).

Dandelion sent me some EXCLUSIVE photos from the Tokyo store to show y’all exactly what’s happening over there on the other side of the world.

Pretty soon the Tokyo store will start making their chocolate in-house with the same recipes as in San Francisco, and they’re offering the same crazy-good treats like single-origin brownies and s’mores. Plus they’re teaching classes on chocolate (and how to make it), just like in the States.

And to top it off, Dandelion is working on a much bigger space down the street in the Mission. Stay tuned for more information about that.

In other words, bean-to-bar revolution, folks. Bean-to-bar revolution.

The Molten Lava Cake Wars

February 29, 2016

Photo courtesy Flickr user tzejen — *Photo courtesy Flickr user* *tzejen*

Chocolate lava cake: timeless or tired? Recently I came face-to-face with this (moral?) dilemma at Jean-Georges, where my boyfriend had splurged on a Valentine's Day dinner. The four-part chocolate dessert tasting included the molten mixture — not surprising, since Jean-Georges Vongerichten has served the same prix fixe menu since the restaurant opened, in 1997.

Back then lava cake was all the rage. Chocolatier Jacques Torres claims to have invented the dish, but Jean-Georges Vongerichten disputes him vehemently, saying that he accidentally pulled a chocolate sponge cake out of the oven before it was finished and discovered a runny center. It was so delicious that he decided to invent a cake that was intentionally molten in the center. Voila! The famed lava cake. (It's worth noting that Lucky Peach's history of the dish says that it dates back to a 1966 Pillsbury bake-off in which the second-place winner was called the Tunnel of Fudge Cake.)

These days molten lava cake will make most people think not of high-end cuisine but of Chili’s. As I I cut into the soft chocolate exterior of the dense chocolate cake, and beautiful, rich chocolate spilled out onto the plate (and quickly made its way to my mouth), I couldn’t help but think of that movie Chef. A food critic has written that he’d “much rather have the chef sit on his face on a warm day after a brisk walk in the park than have to take another bite of his uninspired chocolate lava cake.” The chef then completely loses his sh*t on the critic in a full-fledged meltdown.

So what do you think: Does molten lava cake pass the test of time, or would you rather eat your chocolate cake in a more experimental form?

I'm Writing a BOOK!

February 23, 2016

Decadent chocolate liquor at Dandelion Chocolate

I am BEYOND EXCITED to announce that I’m writing a book about the American craft chocolate movement! As my publisher, Storey, described it this morning on Publisher’s Marketplace, it’s a luscious bean-to-bar celebration of the process and craft of American chocolate and the artisans fueling its rise.

In other words, it’s everything you need to know about bean-to-bar chocolate, from the chocolate-making process to profiles of the best makers in the country to mouthwatering recipes from chefs and chocolate makers like chocolate cups with balsamic strawberries and salted brown butter pecan caramel brownies, with gorgeous photos to boot. It will be published in 2017, and look out for pre-ordering coming soon!

Thanks to Clay Gordon for the mouthwatering recipe!

Get an inside look at the sometimes inadvertently hilarious process of writing a book, recipe testing, and eating chocolate day in and day out here on the Musings section of Chocolate Noise. Now, guys and gals, get back to tasting your regularly scheduled breakfast chocolate bar!

Jungle M&Ms, and Other Adventures

February 19, 2016

Our tour guide, Cuthbert Monroque, at Hotel Chocolat. Photo by Jenny Sathngam. — *Our tour guide, Cuthbert Monroque, at Hotel Chocolat. Photo by Jenny Sathngam.*

In the lush jungle of Saint Lucia, cacao grows everywhere. I visited the island in June with my photographer friend Jenny Sathngam, and we ate more than our fair share of chocolate, cacao nibs, and cacao fruit, which tastes kind of like a mangosteen or lychee. The Dallas Morning News has just published a big feature on our trip. Here's a short excerpt and a few of Jenny's gorgeous photos.

"Our tour guide, Cuthbert Monroque, practically shouts through his three remaining teeth, “Do you know what type of cocoa tree this is from?” He’s holding a vibrant purple pod about the size of a Nerf football as we stand next to a cluster of trees, all of which are different.

"Monroque has just plucked a pod from a Trinitario tree, so that’s what each of us starts guessing, ever eager to be good students. Turns out it’s criollo, one of the rare trees that grows delicate-tasting cacao considered to be the best in the world. He hacks it open with a machete and lo and behold, it’s not filled with liquid chocolate but instead a fruity white pulp encasing about 50 cocoa beans. With frenetic energy, he passes it around, and we each pluck one bean from the cone and suck on the pulp.

“'Jungle M&M’S,'” he says with a charming grin."

Workers care for tiny cacao plants at Hotel Chocolat's nursery, convincing them to grow into tall trees. Photo by Jenny Sathngam.

*At plantation Fond Doux, cacao beans dry in the sun in these giant racks. When it rains, workers slide the racks back under cover to protect the beans. Photo by Jenny Sathngam*

Everything relates back to chocolate at Hotel Chocolat, even the burger. The bun is shaped like a cacao pod, and the burger is made with cacao nibs and served with a cacao nib vinaigrette on the side. Meanwhile the porter is made with cacao shells. … — Everything relates back to chocolate at Hotel Chocolat, even the burger. The bun is shaped like a cacao pod, and the burger is made with cacao nibs and served with a cacao nib vinaigrette on the side. Meanwhile the porter is made with cacao shells. Photo by Jenny Sathngam

Read the full story here.

The Life and Times of CHOCOLATE, Part 1

February 15, 2016

Despite what most of us think, chocolate doesn’t appear fully formed out of thin air, a gift of the flavor gods to us gluttons. Instead, it starts as a cacao flower and pod on a TREE. (While this has convinced some people that chocolate is technically salad, this isn’t quite the case.) The process of creating chocolate from that tree pod is long and complicated, which is why Ecole Chocolat and I have partnered to put together a four-part series about where the heck chocolate comes from. We hope to tell the story as simply as possible, and while we may not capture all of the nuances of post-harvest and factory processes, we hope people remember the image.

Here’s the first stage of the process, before the chocolate maker even gets his or her hands on the beans. First the ripe cacao pods are cracked open and the beans are harvested. Then our friend the cacao bean gets chocolate-wasted off fermented cacao-pulp martinis and tans in the sun until he’s all dried out. (Thanks to Fernanda Frick for the awesome illustration.) Stay tuned for Part 2 next month!

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