Suddenly the banker down the street I live has started to produce some rather pleasant and creative pralines in her kitchen.She has had no experience in chocolate making.She just loved chocolate. It makes me wonder what kind of experience do you really need to become a cholatier, specifically an artisan chocolatier? Can Dick Cheney or Sarah Palin become chocolatiers?
Over in San Francisco,a guy who built vision-tracking systems for NASA space shuttles is now a very respected artisan chocolatier. And don't forget Art Pollard, who studied physics and was a software developer, founded Amano Chocolate up there in the Utah mountains.
The NASA guy is Tim Childs.The quality you need most to be a good chocolatier, he says,"Be obsessed. Be very obsessed."There is hope for me! Tim says he was "seduced by the bean" This quote I love:"On a molecular level, making chocolate is enrapturing".
Tim ignores the usually way of classifying chocolate by the cocoa content or even origin. Imagine, he says, settling down with a good book and a bar of chocolate that says 60% cocoa. What does the number mean? However if you sit down with a good book and a chocolate that says "Nutty" you will immediately anticipate a nutty taste. You have chosen it because you were curious to taste how chocolate on its own can be nutty.
It is obvious, Tim adds, that without context and meaning, complete enjoyment of chocolate is impossible.
Tim sources some of his beans from a Peruvian Cooperative farm discovered accidentally. They were already well experienced in flaor nuances growing coffee. Having decided to grow cocoa alongside, their treated their new crops and beans with love, care and of course obsession. The cocoa not only tastes great but is distinct in genetics and terroir. After much testing and tasting down at the lab Tim coaxed the "Nutty" flavor, stealthily out.
It is my hope that Tim and the new crop of high-tech chocolatiers will travel down this way through the Indonesian archipelago to discover some unique cocoas. I believe that some of our littler plantations are truly destined for artisans.
Tim says that that classifying chocolate bars by cocoa content simply does not equate. Instead he labels his bars as,"Nutty", "Fruity", "Earthy".
, "Floral","Citrus" and "Chocolatey".People buy food and wine by flavor, don't they?
I presume, that is also why the banker down my street, sold out all her pralines.
The bars come in plain brown packs labelled "beta".Curiously it seems to added some intrigue and even appetite appeal. Besides being inviting. Tim, I am happy to say sells his chocolates the way I(and my friend the banker down the road) do, through special, interesting and fun social channels.
This morning's news on the global economy was very bleak. However I take some consolation from Joan Steier, President of Chocolate Marketing LLC, who said," Chocolate is an affordable indulgence. No matter how difficult economic times get, we will always treat ourselves." Eapecially as it never seems to stop being surprising.
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