Chocolate

“ All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”
~ Lucy, in the cartoon strip “Peanuts,” by Charles M. Schulz

Ah, chocolate. Decadent, creamy and rich. It is no wonder people say, “Forget love … I’d rather fall in chocolate.” Chocolate is the taste that has fueled the palates and imaginations of people around the world for centuries. The ancients called it Elixir of the Gods, and many people today would resoundingly agree.

Long ago, a magical tree grew in what is today Mexico. The ancient Mayan and Aztec civilizations used beans from the tree as money, and cacao beans from the trees’ pods were brewed into a coveted drink. It is said that Montezuma II, Emperor of the Aztecs, was served whipped frothy chocolate in a golden goblet, which he ate with a golden spoon. When the fierce Spanish conqueror Cortes opened the doors to the Aztec treasury, he expected to find gold and jewels, but instead found mounds and mounds of cocoa beans. Cortes brought chocolate and the knowledge of how to prepare it back to Europe, and a few decades later, cocoa mixed with milk and sugar became Europe’s most fashionable drink. The advent of the machine age created chocolate as we know it today, separating the components of the beans, and the technology allowing the creation of the chocolate bar in 1847. Chocolate producers have never looked back, with each generation of chocolate producers bringing more innovation to this ancient gift of nature.

Unlike money, chocolate really does grow on trees. The Theobroma cacao tree, specifically, grows in tropical regions 20 degrees north and 20 degrees south of the Equator. Pods grow directly from the trunk of the tree, and each pod is filled with about forty beans protected by a sweet, sticky pulp. The seeds and pulp are scooped out and fermented together for several days to develop the flavor. The beans are then are dried and roasted. Various methods are used to create different styles of products.

For the past few centuries, large companies have dominated the production of chocolate. These companies invented and perfected methods of producing high-quality chocolate. Nestle, Lindt, Godiva, and Valrhona are examples. It’s big business. About $42 billion of chocolate is consumed annually, and cocoa beans are traded as futures on the stock exchange.
This is an almost revolutionary period in the rich history of chocolate. In the past 20 years, worldwide consumption of chocolate has doubled. Chocolate-loving consumers have reached new levels of sophistication and are demanding, and getting, more from their chocolate experience. Chocolate lovers are chasing intense flavor experiences and seeking out the highest-quality chocolate available, and often looking for local producers.

I brought back a box of handmade chocolates from San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and shared it with my fellow instructors at Johnson & Wales University. We gathered around the box like groupies at a rock concert, tasting, talking about and sharing each exotic piece. Lavender-infused, chili- spiced, salted caramel-flavored bites of incredibly good chocolate, made for an amazing taste experience. This is one of the most exciting trends in chocolate, the combination of excellent-quality chocolate with exciting spices and seasonings.
Amy Felder, Johnson & Wales instructor and author of “Savory Sweets,” is a master of exploring the delicate balance between sweet and savory flavors in desserts. She’s on a mission to find just the right amount of sweet and just the right amount of savory flavors to create exciting, vibrant flavors. Felder thinks of chocolate as a big, bold flavor and likens chocolate to a “bright red oil painting with jagged edges.” Felder prefers to use flavors with enough character to stand up to the chocolate, like ginger and cumin. The habanera chili-spiced chocolate I adored from that San Francisco box makes me think she’s right on.

Consumers are also demanding locally made chocolate. Leslie Vilhelmsen, owner of the Charlotte Chocolate Company, is helping meet that demand. After falling in love with chocolate as a teenager, she spent 25 years as a licensed Customs House broker. After leaving that job, Vilhelmsen began hosting neighborhood teas and serving chocolate, really good chocolate that was a huge hit with her guests. With encouragement from friends, she decided to follow her heart and start a chocolate-making company. Vilhelmsen got serious and studied with some of the best chocolatiers in America. She has developed a line of chocolates for special events and often customizes chocolates for businesses. Vilhelmsen even created one just for Charlotte, a molded chocolate with the imprint of the trolley. Vilhelmsen calls chocolate a “little luxury for oneself,” and she delights in handcrafting that bit of luxury for her customers. Next up is perfecting an old family recipe for a nutty chocolate bar, which she hints is “happiness in a bar.”

At a dinner at Bonterra Dining and Wine Room, I fell hard for the handcrafted chocolates served there.  Produced by husband-and-wife team Joal Fischer and Deborah Langsam of Barking Dog Chocolatiers in Charlotte, these are gorgeous chocolates with intriguing flavors. I fell even harder when I learned that this couple donates all profits from the candy to the community. Seventy percent of the price of the chocolates goes to local charities, including SupportWorks, a self-help, nonprofit clearinghouse Fischer founded to help people find medical information and support. They also support Friendship Trays and NC MedAssist. This is chocolate with a conscience. Fischer is a retired pediatrician, and Langsam is a retired professor of biology (currently a fiber artist as well) who, along the way, fell in love with chocolate. The pair spent vacations immersed in chocolate, traveling and studying. After a course at the Ecole Ritz Escoffier in Paris, Fischer says, “It was all over … we were totally hooked.” The science appealed, as well as the meditative aspects of creating chocolate. Fischer chuckles, “Slow food? There isn’t anything much slower than chocolate!” The couple recently created a chocolate laboratory at their home, with 50 to 200 pounds of chocolate on hand at any given time. Purists about their ingredients, Fischer comments that “the quality of the groceries used is critical, because great ingredients simply work and taste better.” They source freshly ground spices and select the appropriate chocolate for each flavor, choosing among eight brands. They have painstakingly created their own recipes, with the goal of creating chocolate that is perfectly balanced, with chocolate and flavorings in harmony. Their mission, they say, is to make people smile, and they have certainly achieved that goal, on many levels.

Just like other food these days, people want to know where their chocolate comes from. Traditional chocolate products are often a blend of regions, as chocolate tastes different from different places, but there is a growing interest in single-origin chocolate. Geoff Blount is a certified executive pastry chef and instructor at Central Piedmont Community College. He’s also headed out this month to try out for a coveted spot on the United States Culinary Olympic Pastry team. Blount recently returned from a visit to the Waialua Estate Cacao Plantation, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where he tasted cacao from the pod. Blount came back raving about the experience of seeing the origin of this chocolate, grown, made and produced on American soil. Blount says he is definitely seeing an increase in interest in single-origin, “micro-roast” chocolates on the market.

A new generation of chocolate lovers is diving into the science of making chocolate, and into the art of creating fabulous flavors. Ron Pehoski, instructor at Johnson & Wales University, is teaching a chocolate class for eager students. Pehoski believes this is a particularly exciting time for chocolate lovers. He comments that “anything goes in chocolate right now.” He’s tasted bacon-filled chocolates, chocolates with wine-flavored centers, and even an assortment of chocolates seasoned with five kinds of salt. Watch a chocolate class, and the science is evident. Chocolate is tricky to handle, and students work hard to master the technical skills of tempering (melting) and handling chocolate to ensure that the final product is attractive and delicious. Chocolatiers study and practice for years before they are adept enough at the practice to make truly excellent chocolates, much less before they can create signature flavors.

It’s an exciting time to try something new in chocolate. Eat locally, or branch out and try some of the exotic new flavors on the market. Think of it as research. And what enjoyable research it is.

~ Catherine Rabb

Contact Information:
Charlotte Chocolate Company, Leslie Vilhelmsen
www.charlottechocolate.com
704-577-4772

Barking Dog Chocolates, Deborah Langsam and Joal Fischer
www.woofwoofwoofwoof.org
704 333-1595

Central Piedmont Community College
www.cpcc.edu

Johnson & Wales University
International Baking and Pastry Institute
www.jwu.edu

A little “taste” of chocolate……
After beans are roasted, they are shelled, to expose the centers, called nibs. These nibs are ground into a smooth liquid called chocolate liquor (even though it doesn’t contain any alcohol). It is then cooled and formed into solid blocks. Chocolate liquor is the basis for all chocolate, and has only two parts, the cocoa solids that give the characteristic strong dark flavor, and cocoa butter, which translates to a smooth mouth feel.

Unsweetened Chocolate:
Contains no sugar so it’s about 99% cocoa liquor, and has a very bitter taste.

Semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate:
These types of chocolate contain sugar, with semi-sweet a bit more than bittersweet. Sugar contents vary by producer, however.

Milk Chocolate:
In the U.S., milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 10% chocolate liquor, but in practice the percentage is often higher, and 12% milk solids. It’s different in Europe, where the minimum for chocolate liquor is 30%.

Couverture:
A term for high-quality chocolate that is suitable for candy making.

White chocolate:
It really isn’t chocolate at all because it contains no cocoa solids. It’s made from cocoa butter (the fat from the cocoa beans, sugar, milk and usually vanilla). The hot new trend is to color cocoa butter, and colors from pastels to vibrant jewel tones are all the rage.