Chocolate News

Hershey’s Dumps Artisan Chocolate Factories Amidst 31% Profit Increase

The Hershey Company announced net sales of $1,377,380,000 for the fourth quarter of 2008, compared with $1,342,222,000 compared to 2007. Net income for the quarter was $82,155,000, compared with $54,343,000 for 2007. For the full year 2008, consolidated net sales were $5,132,768,000 compared with $4,946,716,000 in 2007, an increase of 3.8 percent. Net income was $311,405,000, compared with $214,154,000 in 2007, a 31%. Not shabby in this economy. It seems financial troubles find solace in chocolate.

Profits are a nice thing for a company. What is not nice is when they come at the expense of brand integrity. Hershey is winding down its “Global Supply Chain Transformation program,” which aims to increase shareholder value rationalizing and restructuring various operations. To date the company has spent over half a billion dollars on the program. Buried in all this financial information lurks an inconvenient truth:

“During the fourth quarter of 2008, the scope of the Global Supply Chain Transformation program increased modestly to include the closure of two subscale manufacturing facilities of Artisan Confections Company, a wholly owned subsidiary, and consolidation of the associated production into existing U.S. facilities, along with rationalization of other select items.”

Hershey, the nation’s second-biggest candy maker, owns Artisan Confections Company, which in turns owns Dagoba, Joseph Schmidt, and Scharffen Berger chocolate companies. Those two “subscale manufacturing facilities” are bay area chocolate companies Joseph Schmidt and Scharffen Berger. 150 people in the area will lose their jobs.

Mark Bitterman :: Feb.09.2009 :: News :: 2 Comments »

Busy Days of Chocolate Tasting at The Meadow

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about chocolate, and a lot has happened.

The main thing is that we have been eating (ahem, I mean tasting) a lot of chocolate bars.

Our Meadow Salted Chocolates were back in stock for a short while! But no, they are gone again, darn it. If anyone knows a great, secret local chocolatier who can mold and package our salted chocolate, please do tell.

Also made locally, we now carry Sahagun Handmade Chocolates‘ legendary fleur de sel liquid caramels, and an expanded collection of her lovely “barks.” There is the Palomitapapa, the Pepitapapa, the Oregon Bark.

Michael Recchiuti fleur de sel caramels have also landed on the shelves, along with boxes of his wild and delicious chocolates. I confess that part of the reason does not have to do with the fact that his caramels are ridiculously, annoyingly good. Part has to do with the fact that we just love Michael and his wife Jackie so much, we want to be feel their presence in the shop. (I’ll post something on a Japanese fusion salt-festooned dinner we all shared at the Heathman not long ago on Saltnews.org sometime soon!). Local chocolatiers include Sahagun, Xocolatl de David, DePaula Confections, and Lulu’s Chocolate!

Mark Bitterman :: Dec.04.2008 :: Chocolate Happenings, Dark Chocolate, News, Single Origin Chocolates :: 6 Comments »

Xocolatl de Davíd Dinner at Park Kitchen

I really have nothing against chocolate. In its bar form, in fact, it is something I enjoy with all the savor and associations of great wine. In it’s bar form I probably eat half a pound a day, or maybe more when the stars are in alignment.

But chocolate as a theme, as a concept, as a pattern, a fashion, a mode — no. Nay. I do not like it. My initial, invertebrate response when my personal friend and professional chocolate supplier David Briggs said he was making a chocolate dinner was to recoil into a dark crevice somewhere, staring through the briny depths of my eyes with octopus horror. Sucking cold brine through my gills, my brain is reduced to its bivalve origins. Chocolate, my dear friend, is a food.

But immediately after that my knowledge of Dave, who owns and operates Xocolatl de David and is also Sous Chef at Park Kitchen, returned to assure me. Mr. Briggs’s unassuming manner cloaks a sophisticated palate, unflinching creativity, and an ever-expanding set of skills . So why not? A seven course chocolate-based meal paired with seven beverages, served at Park Kitchen, one of Jennifer and my favorite restaurants in town, and a place we freely recommend to out of town visitors and locals alike who visit The Meadow.

If Jennifer had qualms she didn’t express them; she just grabbed my hand and dragged me to Park Kitchen where 14 people (two cowardly louts failed to honor their reservation) were seated with the preliminary awkwardness that inevitably attends such public-private group encounters.

Mark Bitterman :: Sep.19.2008 :: Chocolate Happenings, Chocolate Musings :: 3 Comments »

Uno Mas de Mexicbar: Taza’s Chiapas 75% Limited Edition

Taza Chocolate is a new American bean-to-bar chocolate company that has brought an unusual approach to chocolate-making. Their new, limited edition Chiapas 75% chocolate bar is made from beans from Chiapas, in southern Mexico. It has great earthy-nutty-nutshelly notes and some fruit and spice to boot. The bar is made with Taza’s characteristically coarse grain sugar, which gives the impression of added sweetness for a bar of this cacao content.

This is an intellectually welcome and culinarily exciting addition to the small but fundamentally key (a gourmand of no less magnitude than Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin repeatedly refers to the unsurpassed drinking chocolates originating in the “sokonusco” region of Mexico. Askinosie Chocolate not long ago introduced its own Soconusco chocolate bar from a small band of growers in Mexico. taza chocolate grinder

According to Larry Slotnick, co-founder of Taza with Alex Whitmore, the beans in the Chiapas bar are from the farm community of San Felipe in Southern Chiapas. Only 1,392 bars were made, and each is hand numbered. Larry and Alex don’t give cellaring recommendations, but I think the bar is eating pretty nicely right now. (I’m kidding around…)

The Taza guys say this about the bar: “We carefully blended the chocolate as a 75% dark that is a perfect balance of sweetness allowing the very unique flavor characteristics of this bean to shine. The beans exhibit a very nutty flavor profile and a dry, tannic finish not found in most chocolate bars.”

Some background on Taza: Pulling some very old technology from the shadowy recesses of history, they have resurrected ye olde grinding stone (molino) to create a more rustic, less processed chocolate.

Taza’s mission is stated: “Taza is a true bean-to-bar chocolate maker located in Somerville, Massachusetts, and is the only maker of 100% stone ground chocolate in the United States. Taza sources organically grown cacao beans directly from small farmer cooperatives ensuring those farmers receive more than fair trade prices for their high quality cacao. Taza is uniquely positioned as one of the only independently owned, socially and environmentally responsible chocolate makers in the country.”

In addition to the rougher grind and lack of conching of the chocolate, Taza roasts their cacao beans lighter than many, leaving more intense fruity acidity.

Mark Bitterman :: Aug.13.2008 :: Single Origin Chocolates :: 2 Comments »

Very Dark and Nibby Chocolate Fondue

Butter, margarine, confectioners sugar, heavy cream, evaporated milk, condensed milk, brandy, vanilla extract. What do all these things have to do with chocolate? Why not add Eye of Newt to the mixture?

Fondue recipes proliferate. Many are unduly fancy. Some are simply mired in preconceived notions about food inherited from the roly-poly days when butter and flavorings were the esteemed foundations upon which we constructed our culinary fantasies. Sometimes it’s nice to dispense with the curlycues, or more savagely, just take those crusty habits out to pasture and put them out of their misery.

The other day at our Himalayan Salt Block Cooking Class we made an original sort of chocolate fondue. More viscous, richer, more complex, and, (of all things) crunchier than your typical fondue, we ate fondue was at once more sophisticated and yummier. The only ingredient in the fondue is chocolate.

No good pictures of our Himalayan Salt Block Very Dark & Nibby Chocolate Fondue have survived for posterity, but a shot taken that evening (right) gives an idea of the basic setup. The Himalayan salt block works like a double boiler, protecting the chocolate from excessive heat while contributing the temperature stability necessary to work the melting chocolate without allowing it to separate into oil and solids. The salt block also makes a beautiful serving platter. Because there is virtually no moisture in chocolate, the Himalayan salt block does not add any perceptible amount of saltiness to the chocolate. To prepare this dish, you will need the following:

Mark Bitterman :: May.11.2008 :: Dark Chocolate, Single Origin Chocolates :: 1 Comment »

Claudio Corallo Featured in Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel, the popular German magazine and website, has published a great story based on a visit to Claudio Corallo at his plantation on Sao Tome and Principe. The story communicates pretty nicely the general impression one gets that Corallo harbors little love for the chocolate industry in general, and, perhaps, the gourmet chocolate industry in particular. I definitely recommend reading it if you are interested in learning about Claudio Corallos quest for the intense and true flavors in chocolate.

Striving for the World’s Best Chocolate

In a remote corner of the global village, an Italian believes he’s developed the best of all chocolate recipes. Claudio Corallo lives on an island off Nigeria and ships his small-batch chocolate around the world.

Most people, says Claudio Corallo, don’t have the slightest idea what chocolate is — or what it can be. The article continues>>

Mark Bitterman :: Feb.28.2008 :: Dark Chocolate, News, Single Origin Chocolates :: 1 Comment »

Amedei Chocolate Takes the “Golden Bean” Best Bean to Bar Award

After an examination by a committee of experts of the London Academy of Chocolate, Amedei (Tuscany, Italy) has won the Golden Bean award for “the best bean to bar chocolate in the world.” That has a nice ring to it. Once someone told me my Cassoulet de Castelnaudary was “the best cassoulet in the world,” my chest still gets puffy when I think of it (it is puffy now).

I imagine Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri, the brother and sister founders of Amedei, were drowning in Champagne on the night of the announcement. Nonetheless, they managed to comment: “We are very proud of this award. Our objective shall always remain that of producing the best chocolate in the world, dedicating it to all our supporters. We thank the Academy of Chocolate for this award, and for the seriousness and passion it puts in its worldwide work in search of good quality chocolate.”

Here is their announcement, edited slightly, because while I respect their palates, “harbouring” all those “colourful” extra ‘u’s hogs up RAM on my “computour.”

Mark Bitterman :: Feb.22.2008 :: Dark Chocolate, Flavored Chocolate Bars, Milk Chocolate, News, Single Origin Chocolates :: 3 Comments »

Vosges Mo’s Bacon Chocolate Bar

Bacon and Chocolate. To explore the latest Vosges entry, Mo’s Bacon Bar, my mind drifts, my soul swells, nostalgia and the unrequited passions of my youth swim in the deep glittery motes of my doe-like eyes. “Love, sweet love.” These most beautiful words, the plaintiff yet serene voice, the cap and robe, taken together, emblematize the luscious serenity of our most sacred of emotions. The also expose the lurking absurdity of it all, especially when you are incapably of ever uttering them, or any close derivative, without flashing back to the brilliant priest played by Peter Cook in The Princess Bride, who intones: “And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva.”

With these words ripe on the tongue, bite into the Vosges Bacon Chocolate Bar, officially known as Mo’s Bacon Bar. The bacon bar is a dark milk chocolate, combined with applewood smoked bacon, alder smoked salt, and 41% deep milk chocolate.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat is rightly famed for the witty and trendy blends concocted by Vosges founder Katrina Markoff, who possesses that rare blend of skills that ranges from concocting to packaging to marketing chocolate. As the list of chocolate candy bars grows (and I will always take off my hat to Katrina for making flavored chocolate bars and calling them “candy bars.” Humility? Playfulness?), the genesis and of ever-more daring and bold entries seems inevitable. My personal feelings toward the incessant perfection of the Vosges candy bar has gone from weariness to resignation to acceptance to embrace to enthusiasm. Vosges candy bars exhibit the clarity of purpose and democratic elegance of a backyard chicken coop.

So what does it taste like?

Mark Bitterman :: Feb.02.2008 :: Flavored Chocolate Bars, Milk Chocolate :: 6 Comments »

Domori Blacksal Killed by The Machine

I have it from a friend that the famed, fiery, and furious Blacksal Salted Chocolate Bar by Domori has been discontinued! Blacksal, long a favorite of mine, combined a Ecuadorian 75% dark chocolate with pink Andean salt also from Ecuador. The result is a big bang of tobacco and heavily roasted tropical nuts brooding over a delicate and airy saltiness. Domori is also discontinuing the Vanilla bar (Madagascar Bourbon vanilla with cacao from Madagascar.)

What diabolical corporate machinations could be responsible for such a tragedy?After much digging, I found the answer: managerial comparison engines.Yes indeed, managerial comparison engines are to blame.If you are not familiar with this form of apparatus, I should clarify that these engines of the are the intellectual sort: there are no now managerial comparison engine powered electric toothbrushes or managerial comparison mid-engine powered Maserati MC12s.

So, to find the explanation for the mysteriously disappearing Domori Blacksal, we go to last years news that Domori was acquired by GRUPPO ILLY SPA, the monster espresso company.Illy took 80% of Domori’s shares for an undisclosed amount, with Domori retaining 20% ownership. Presumeably Domori retained substantial control over the direction and quality of its chocolate production.So why kill something so poetic as Ecuador cacao spangled with Andean salt?

Mark Bitterman :: Jan.24.2008 :: Dark Chocolate, News :: 6 Comments »

Salted Chocolate by The Meadow

There is so much to say about the combination of salt and chocolate that I will just stare, paralyzed, at the computer screen for three hours of insect brain-deadness… Salt and dark chocolate, salt and milk chocolate, salted chocolate, chocolated salt (I actually do have both).

But as with everything in life, the devil is in the detail. Salted 80% dark Italian blended chocolate (Salinae bar by Antica Dolceria Bonajuto) has nothing to do with 80% dark Italian Ecuadorian chocolate a chocolate (Blacksal by Domori), which in turn has virtually nothing in common with a 74% dark Italian blended chocolate served up side by side with Trapani and Cervia sea salts (Cioccolato Fondente al Sale di Cervia by Cioccolato di BruCo).

The power of salt to coax out, elucidate, and expand on the flavor of food does not stop with the savory. Actually, the idea that sweet and savory are somehow opposite is strange, and actually at odds with our natural affinity for diversity and complexity in food. Eat Ethiopian and you will find your fingers plunged in sugar on lamb with tamarind; eat dim sum and half the time you are eating donuts and pork. My grandpa was in love with apple pie with cheddar cheese. At any rate, chocolate is not even a sweet until after it is sweetened, and that can be done with much more deftness than is common.