Salt & Chocolate

Salt and chocolate is a beautiful combination that is all the rage in the artisan chocolate scene. We must talk it up a fair amount on our Chocolate Tours, because a customer recently asked me if I've had my blood pressure checked. (My acupuncturist continues to marvel at my low blood pressure, so there!) Salt enhances the flavor of most foods, but is a particularly nice match with milk chocolate - cutting some of the sweetness and adding complexity.

When I was growing up, the only salt my mom used was the blue Morton brand with the little blonde umbrella girl. Now the world of gourmet salt is vast and almost overwhelming. Using kosher salt in any good recipe is just about a given, even for my mom. Sea salt was the first artisan salt to capture the attention of American chefs, especially those with French training. Artisan sea salts are typically natural and organic, harvested from the sea with very little treatment or refining. The mineral content and quality of the water is what creates a fine salt. The most common salt added to chocolate is fleur de sel, a type of grey sea salt. It is harvested by hand by "paludiers" in France and named for the aroma of violets created when the salt dries. Like wine, different regions produce fleur de sel of varying styles. The best known are Britanny and the Camargue, where you can horseback ride through the salt flats.

Chocolatiers also experiment with pink salts. Michael Mischer uses a Murray River sea salt, whose pink flakes come from the largest river in Australia. And Katrina Markoff of Vosges likes pink Himalayan salt mined from the Himalayan mountains in Tibet. So enough of the history lesson...What are some of my favorite salty sweet chocolate creations?

1) Charles Chocolate Cashew Bar
I love filled chocolates from Charles, but his widely available bars have never made it into my shopping cart, until now. Chuck Siegel has developed a new "Emeryville Collection" of chocolate bars exclusive to Whole Foods. I guess if you don't live in the Bay Area, Emeryville sounds exotic. Each bar features organic Straus Family cream and butter, nuts and, of course, salt. My favorite is the Cashew Bar, a blend of roasted cashews, fleur de sel and 41% milk chocolate.

2) Domori Latte Sal
This bar has made me an unofficial member of the Domori "Cult Cacao." Domori is an Italian chocolate maker that actually owns their own plantations and focuses solely on the quality of cacao - without adding vanilla or even soy lecithin. At 44% cacao, its flavor is deep and rich. Like most of the bars listed here, the addition of salt (fleur de sel here) is not overpowering and makes the chocolate even more memorably satisfying.

3) Vosges Goji Exotic Candy Bar
This Vosges milk chocolate bar is a tribute to the Himalayas - with pink Himalayan salt and the goji berry, both harvested from the mountains of Tibet. A staple of health food stores, the goji berry (also known as the wolfberry) is believed to be full of astounding nutritional benefits. But whether or not the goji berry will make us live until 252, like a famous goji loving Chinese emperor, I'll still love this Vosges bar.

4) Rococo Dark Sea Salt Artisan Bar
I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I loved Rococo even before trying the chocolate because of its beautifully unique packaging. Chantal Coady is the woman behind this British chocolate company. She specializes in unique flavor combinations (like basil and persian lime), but this simple sea salt and milk chocolate is one of her best. The bar is 37% cacao, all organic. The plastic wrapping displays various antique French molds Coady uses for her bars, and as a bonus, is re-sealable.

5) Michael Mischer Milk Chocolate with Toffee and Murray River Sea Salt
When customers on our Chocolate Tours say they like toffee, I won't hesitate to direct them to this bar. Toffee and chocolate is quite sweet, and so the addition of salt just makes sense. The bar is 38% cacao milk chocolate, made by hand in his small Oakland kitchen. Like all Michael Mischer bars, the clear packaging showcases the beauty of the bar within.

6) Recchiuti Fleur de Sel Caramel
Nearly every modern chocolatier makes a fleur de sel piece. But there are many ways to do this. Some are just too heavy handed with the salt for my taste. Others are quite goopy, when I prefer a thicker ganache center. That is why the Michael Recchiuti fleur de sel is my first choice when I'm looking for a salty sweet filled chocolate. It's a pretty little piece, enrobed in bittersweet chocolate and marbleized with Venezuelan white chocolate.

Chocolate on the Cheap

On our Chocolate Tours you'll usually find us talking about why we should be spending more money on chocolate. Especially if that money is going to companies (like Askinosie) who reward struggling cacao farmers with good wages and a stake in the outcome of the company. Or going to companies (like Dagoba) who spend money on reforesting plantations with heirloom cacao trees. But when times are tough, we can't all spend $10 or more on an artisan chocolate bar that will be gone in just a few hours.

If you need a chocolate fix and have long since sworn off 50 cent candy bars, we have some suggestions. All of the bars below are under $5 at Chocosphere, and the truffles won't cost more than $1 each. If you buy in bulk, you'll save even more. They are perfect everyday chocolate treats. And that means you can save up and buy the $19.95 Bonnat Porcelana bar for a truly special occasion!

1) E. Guittard ($2.50 for 2 oz bar)
Guittard's premium line of blended chocolate bars are named after the company's founder, Etienne Guittard. Many chocolate lovers do not know that Guittard has been around almost as long as Ghirardelli. They source their own beans, and manufacture the bars in their Burlingame factory. We like the Tsarantana 61%, but the bar is also available in 38% and 72% cacao.


2) Chocolove ($2.95 for 3 oz bar)
We've always enjoyed the smooth, creamy textures of Chocolove bars, based in Boulder, Colorado. Although they use Belgian chocolate and are not a true bean to bar company, they have a wide range of flavor options, including a new higher priced single origin line ("Chocolatour"). As a bonus for gift givers, each bar includes a love poem on the wrapper. We like the 65% "rich dark" bar and the "Chilies and Cherries" bar.

3) Dagoba ($2.68 for 2 oz bar)
If you're committed to eating organic, Dagoba is an excellent choice that is kind to your wallet. In fact, you'll often see them on sale at Whole Foods for just $2/bar. Given founder Frederick Schilling's fondness for chocolate "alchemy," there is a wide variety of flavors to choose from: seeds, superfruit, lavender, mint, lime and their most popular "xocolatl." We like the "beaucoup berries" and even include it on our Chocolate and Wine Tour. Dagoba also has a single origin line that is higher priced at $3.95/bar.


4) Ghirardelli Milk Luxe ($3.95 for 3 oz bar)
Most tourists can't leave San Francisco without a Ghirardelli souvenir, or at least a visit to Ghirardelli Square. San Francisco's oldest chocolate maker, Ghirardelli has kept pace with its artisan competitors by offering their "Intense Dark" line and the new "Milk Luxe." If you have a milk chocolate lover in the family, we recommend the Crisp Milk Luxe bar - like a Nestle crunch bar, but much better.

5) Scharffen Berger ($4.15 for 3 oz bar)
Scharffen Berger bars are the most expensive on this list, but they are still well below our $5 threshold. And like Dagoba, Scharffen Berger often discounts the bars at stores like Whole Foods. Since bars can last up to a year, it makes sense to stock up. Your money will buy you a high quality artisan, small batch chocolate bar, made right in their Berkeley factory from a blend of cacao beans. A favorite on our Chocolate Tours is the Nibby bar, available in milk (41%) or dark (62%).

6) Whole Foods 365 ($2.19 or 3 oz bar)
Whole Foods, Safeway and Trader Joes, among others, are getting into the chocolate scene with their own private label brands. No surprise, the Whole Foods bar is one you can feel good about eating. They work with a co-op of small-scale farmers in the Dominican Republic, and say they pay a premium to guarantee organic production. But the chocolate itself it actually made in Switzerland, which means a bigger carbon footprint than some of the other brands we've recommended.

7) Leonidas (truffles approximately $1 apiece)
The Belgians invented filled chocolates, and Leonidas is just the place to go for those creamy, luscious treats - all at $34/pound. If this sounds like a lot to you, step into Richart and get your credit card ready. If you're a hazelnut fan, we recommend anything with praline or gianduja. Their buttercreams are always a big hit on our Chocolate Tours.

7) See's (filled chocolates approximately 50 cents each)
You crave something sweet and a 75% cacao bar is just not going to do it for you. Chances are a See's is right around the corner. Their filled chocolates are priced at an amazing $15/pound - plus they'll always give you one free sample! You won't find any cutting edge exotic flavors, but you'll get chocolate the way grandma likes it. That can be a very good thing.

Looking for even more savings? Join one of our Chocolate Tours and you'll get a Gourmet Walks Chocolate Lover Card. This card entitles you to discounts at 8 different Bay Area chocolate shops, including Scharffen Berger (which also sells Dagoba), Leonidas and Fog City News. Fog City News carries the complete E. Guittard line.

Enjoy!

TCHO "Beta" Store Now Open

"Single origin" is the phrase of choice for most fine chocolate makers right now, but not for TCHO. TCHO, founded by Timothy Childs of Wired Magazine, aims to be flavor-driven. This is good news for the average chocolate enthusiast who walks into a store like Fog City News and is overwhelmed by eight different varieties of Michel Cluizel plantation bars. They're all the same cacao percentage; how do you know which one to choose?

TCHO's 50 gram tablets (all 70% cacao) are now available in "chocolatey," "fruity," "nutty" and "citrus." The beans come Ghana, Peru and Madagasgar (for now) and are processed right in TCHO's Pier 17 facility. Since Ghirardelli and Guittard have moved East and South, TCHO is actually the only bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco. Like most small batch American chocolate makers, TCHO says they are committed to working closely with cacao growers to grow the best possible beans while raising their income for the long-terms. That all sounds very good, but you're probably wondering - how is the chocolate?

Customers on my Chocolate and Wine Tour have been loving the "chocolatey" variety, one which TCHO has had ample time to perfect as consumers emailed in their feedback to tcho.com. A nice democratic touch, and I can't help but wonder what the uber-secretive Valhrona would think! While "fruity" was not to my liking, I've been enjoying the "citrus" variety that just came out a few weeks ago. It makes for an interesting comparison to Scharffen Berger, whose signature bars have citrus flavors. For several months now TCHO has been selling the bars online only ($5 apiece), but the big news as of last week is the new "beta store" at Pier 17.

Pier 17 is not particularly close to anything, so think of it as a destination chocolate shop. The tiny office-like space sells all the TCHO bars (now available in a snazzy orange and gold packaging), and cute, simple t-shirts designed to advertise your personal flavor preference. As in "I am chocolatey." Soon they will be selling coffee (Blue Bottle) and hot chocolate drinks as well. The best part for all Gourmet Walks customers is that our new Chocolate Lover Card entitles you to a 10% discount. Sample TCHO, and we'd love to hear what you think!

Chocolatier Blue in Berkeley

Where can you find the most perfect pistachios? the most flavorful figs? Chocolatier Chris Blue knows and he is willing to pay a premium to bring them to his new chocolate shop on University Ave in Berkeley. The tiny boutique offers 12 varieties of filled chocolates, drinking chocolate and a few Amedei bars. Chris has yet to hire any employees, making each of his chocolates by hand every day in the open kitchen.

Chris settled on Berkeley after working as a chocolatier at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and then Norman Love in Fort Myers, Florida. He believes no other town could match Berkeley's appreciation for fine, fresh food - preferable even over San Francisco. I wish Chris could have secured space closer to the Gourmet Ghetto or even 6th Street. When I left, still nibbling happily on his palet d'or, a woman yelled at me for not being an activist and, truth be told, I did feel a little frivolous on that dingy part of the street. But hey, even activists can enjoy a $1.50 truffle now and then.

Chris is proud of his chocolates, and most of that pride seems to stem from the prime ingredients he hand selects. Apparently he is the only chocolatier in the US able to use Amedei chocolate couverture - quite a coup. He makes an effort to ship in fresh, organic cream and butter from Nebraska, pistachios from Sicily, passionfruit from New Zealand and hazelnuts from Oregon. He laments the fact that the pistachios he uses are $80/pound, but is not willing to compromise with less. I only hope Berkeley denizens can appreciate the difference. I know they'll applaud him for using biodegradable and recycled packaging, even if it looks a little on the amateur side. And the occasional free sample is always a pleasure!

And finally, how did they taste? Aside from the palet d'or, these chocolates are not for purists or those who enjoy just a subtle bit of something extra in their chocolate. The flavors are intense! The lime felt like I was eating a double key lime pie, with only a touch of chocolate. Some of the fillings are too goopy for my taste, like the caramel and the passion fruit. My favorite was the macademia because of its more subtle flavor and pearly white color. I also liked the raspberry because it was not too sweet. Almost all of his chocolates are glossy and iridescent, reflecting the light under the tall glass domes that line his counter.

I'll return to Chocolatier Blue to try one of his drinking chocolates. Chris does not use a powder, so that's a good start. A cup costs $3.50 and comes in espresso, cinnamon and chili, dark and peppermint. I must confess that I had a tummy ache the day I visited him and needed to put a limit on my indulgences. Yes, even the leader of chocolate tours can have too much chocolate!

Chocolate Milk: The Remix

It's birthday party time again and what mother doesn't get anxious over planning the menu? As for drinks, soda is a definite "no no" and juice boxes now irk the environmentalists and the health conscious. I even heard one mom saying that cold drinks are no good for kids. Who knew? At my son's next party, I'm going to go out on a limb and offer up an old drink with a new spin - Got Milk Chocolate Flavored Straws by the San Francisco Chocolate Factory.

To keep my party on the greener side, I'll give each kid a clear plastic cup (BPA free of course) filled with cold, organic skim milk. And then for the good stuff - a plastic straw filled with tiny chocolate beads. Insert into milk and watch it transform from white to brown. Et voila - chocolate milk! That's what my son calls a "special treat."

I must be a little bit picky and say that the taste is not as rich and chocolatey as premixed chocolate milk. (In April, the SF Chronicle Taster's Choice deemed Berkeley Farms chocolate milk the best of the bunch.) In fact, I'd suggest small cups of milk to be sure you'll taste enough chocolate. Admittedly, it's a gimmick, but a very cute one. Given the effort it will demand from preschoolers, it almost counts as an activity. Combine that with a bouncy house and you've got an instant party!

The Perfect Wine to Pair with Chocolate

Last Thursday I found myself with a tray of 18 different chocolates, ranging from a sweet milk truffle to an extra dark artisan bar. The task? To find the perfect wine to pair with chocolate. As an expert panelist at the Taste TV "Chocolate Seizure" event, I had to put aside my fussy concerns about the differences among the various chocolates that made the selection of one perfect wine impossible. And I needed to get over the fact that port was not an option - my favorite wine for chocolate pairings. Instead, I cast my vote for one of the three "pre-approved" red wines created at Crushpad: the merlot, the cabernet or the zinfandel. We were making history, since this is supposed to be the first red wine specifically designed for consuming with chocolate.

I applaud Taste TV for once more rallying together this city's chocophiles and oenophiles for another sold-out chocolate event. Unlike the SF International Chocolate Salon this spring, the guest list for Chocolate Seizure was limited and so there was a bit of breathing room. And the price for the general public was a very reasonable $40. Many of San Francisco's small time chocolatiers benefit from the exposure in Taste TV events. Present Thursday night were the usual suspects: Jade Chocolate, Amano, New Tree, Coco Delice, Saratoga and the Tea Room. Appearing for the first time was TCHO, drumming up support for their "beta" chocolate experience. The best piece of chocolate I tasted that night was the Jade Hawaiian sea salt bar. But back to the wine...

If you haven't been to Crushpad yet, make a beeline. Or at least make a beeline to the wealthiest person you know and get them to sponsor your creation. We're talking $5700 to $10,700 a barrel. Crushpad sources the best grapes from local Napa and Sonoma vineyards. They'll meet with you to determine what kind of a wine you want to make, and then you can be involved in the process (from grape-crushing to designing the bottle) as little or as much as you want. For the busy salaryman, the Crushpad web cam offers a live connection to your grapes. And it was through this process that the three options for the 08 "Domaine de Taste Amerique" were born.

It was a close call, but the Cabernet ultimately prevailed. It wasn't my vote; I just couldn't get past its almost effervescent quality, since Crushpad decided to pour the cab well before it was ready. And I'm told it could be at least another year! But when that time comes, a future reserve bottle of this "cult, boutique" wine should be making its way to my home. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the wines we're pairing with chocolate on our new San Francisco Gourmet Chocolate and Wine Tour.

With all this talk about pairing wine and chocolate, I can't help but think of Chloe Doutre-Roussel, whose little pink book The Chocolate Connoisseur is a favorite among my tour guides. For her, warm water is what you drink with chocolate. At 6 am, when your taste buds are most fresh. Sorry Chloe, but the people have spoken.

Artisan Chocolate Maker Roundtable

So you think you wanna become a bean-to-bar artisanal chocolate maker? I’d have second thoughts after listening to five chocolate manufacturers share their struggles at an event sponsored by Slow Food Nation on Labor Day. Present was the criminal lawyer turned chocolate maker Shawn Askinosie, the laid-back Art Pollard of Amano Chocolate, the articulate Mexicanophile Alex Whitmore of Taza Chocolate, ex-glassmaker Steve De Vries of De Vries Chocolate and the ultimate perfectionist Alan McClure of Patric Chocolate. With only a few jokes made in the almost 3 hour long panel discussion, these guys take their chocolate very seriously. The panel was moderated by Alexander Morozoff, publisher of the glossy Cocoaroma Magazine.

What’s so hard about making your own chocolate? You get the best leftovers, you’re loved by all the women and you’re raking in the dough given the recent surge in dark chocolate sales. Ask Shawn Askinosie just how challenging it is to source cacao, especially from farmers who are certified organic. He once wired $28,000 to a Venezualan pastor and not a single cacao bean made its way back to his Missouri factory. And then there is the tempering; many of these guys still have burns on their hands from mistakes made with this grueling aspect of the cacao production process. There are also very few resources out there to guide young chocolate entrepreneurs. Art Pollard’s “new” antique conching machine came with a simple 1 page “instruction manual.” Steve De Vries tried to learn about making chocolate from library books; they all started with the phrase “melt chocolate.”

These chocolate artisans are proud of what they make, but there was a fair amount of frustration in the air. For one, why is every major chocolate company latching onto the term “artisan” in the hopes it will buffet their sales? Most panelists agreed that in order to be called artisan, a company must have one expert who manages the entire process of making chocolate. In that case, it is a bit of a Catch 22. Artisan chocolate makers need to make money by selling more chocolate; if they sell a lot of chocolate, they’ll need to hire more help and perhaps sacrifice the quality of their beans. At some point, they won’t truly be artisan but they will be profitable. And there is the problem that the American public, raised on sweet milk chocolate bars, will never truly appreciate what they do and still aren’t ready to fork over $10 for a chocolate bar.

Some panelists made light of the concern that artisan chocolate may be perceived as an elite food, like arugula and other foods that plague Democratic presidential candidates. According to De Vries, anyone should be able to afford a $10 chocolate bar. And as I say on my Chocolate Tours, the very best chocolate bar costs far, far less than the very best bottle of wine. But that doesn’t really address the problem. Americans are used to buying $1 candy bars. If artisan donuts suddenly cost $10 apiece, only a real food snob is going to think the cost is worth it. Shawn Askinosie expressly wants to stay away from chocolate snobs, instead aiming at “chocolate geeks.” For that reason, he decided to make a white chocolate bar, even with added nuts. For the rest of the chocolate purists on the panel, many of whom eschew soy lecithin, vanilla and even cocoa butter, that is taking things a little too far.

The real reason chocolate bars should cost $10 (or even more) is not to put money in the pockets of “elite” chocolate makers. Rather, it is to fairly reward the farmers who grow the beans that are essential to quality cacao. The panelists all make an effort to pay the cacao farmers they partner with prices that are above fair trade, with Askinosie even giving his farmers a “stake in the outcome.” And this is what Slow Food is all about – recognizing the agricultural ties inherent in everything we eat, including a chocolate bar.

So while listening to these artisan chocolate makers reaffirmed my own career choice, it seems I’m not the only woman choosing to enjoy fine chocolate rather than make it. It’s an observation I’ve made before, but why are there so few women in the bean-to-bar chocolate world? These guys talked about the importance of understanding science and engineering, so maybe the lack of female representation in these fields is part of the problem. Or maybe, like me, women are just too busy feeding the kids to make weekly trips to plantations from Africa to Equador. Alex Whitmore said that if they have another Artisan Chocolate Roundtable next year, there will be 5 times the number of participants. I hope so, and I hope at least one of them is a woman!