I don't buy chocolate that is made from commercial chocolate because I'm allergic to cockroaches. Same goes for ground coffee.
11 out of 10 women prefer chocolate over any other craving, including s*x. So all the more reason to ditch the SO, and stock up on the delicious pods.
@Richard
Stereotypes are so easy to believe. I used to believe like you that women loved chocolate most. But then, I got a lesson.
Years ago I worked as a barista in my youth. You know who ordered the most mochas? Men. In any given day, the ration of men to women ordering chocolate flavored drinks was close to 5 to 1. In fact, men ordered more sweet drinks or wanted room in their coffees for cream and sugar far more often than women. This was in one of the largest cities in North America, so it wasn't a small sampling.
my favourite small local Belgian chocolatier made delicious chocolates that cost maybe 5 times as much as regular chocolate - but tasted maybe 5 times as good
so were a rare treat
my partner once gifted me one of their creations - a full-sized cacao pod (football shape) - coloured yellow/orange/gold - made out of chocolate - mmmm ...
good articles, I love chocolate,
click to read the best story--https://www.all-story.net/
The single best chocolate I have had is Belgian chocolate at Puccini in Amsterdam.
Now you have me thinking about a trip to Amsterdam, just to go to Puccini!
It really is chocolate to die for.
Dark chocolate, Dutch or Belgian is the best in the world. Nothing comes close.
American chocolate is a waste and so is any chocolate that is not dark chocolate.
@Rax
The Dutch or Belgians never had sole exclusivity in being the best. Making chocolate is the same industrial process anywhere in the world. The difference lies in the quality of the beans that was used to make that chocolate! You will get the best chocolate if you can get the best beans and neither the Belgians nor the Dutch have any exclusivity in having access to the best beans. The last time I looked, I did not see any cocoa tress growing in either country. You still have a lot to learn about the best dark chocolate.
@Rax There are some excellent 40% - 65% milk chocolate (Michel Cluizel, Bonnat, Slitti, to name a few). As the taste trends push for higher percentage and darker chocolate, my preference veer towards a deep chocolate taste balanced with a creaminess that only a milk chocolate can give -- a very rich, very grown-up version of the chocolate bars I had as a kid.
Goldenberg Peanut Chews, Cadbury Fruit and Nut Bars and Mr. Goodbars are high on the list of things that I like most and will miss when I am no longer here.
3
I'm not sure how I missed this excellent article on chocolate when it was printed a week ago - I'm glad I saw it today.
I've been eating dark chocolate bars for about 15 years - favorites are Fruition, Dandelion, Dick and Taylor, Mast, Antidote and Madecasse.
I was somewhat ignorant of the supply chain and even understanding basic terms such as bean to bar and single origin.
Thank you for such an informative article as I'm fixated on dark - I can't even think of ever eating milk chocolate again. It's been fascinating exploring the different dark chocolate bars as I typically eat one a day.
Two-hundred eighty comments on chocolate is a clear sign of the subject touching the strings of the readers' hearts and soul.
I shall only add to my earlier comment that I bought my virious wife two chocolate assortments for Valentine Day. Many were dark chocolate, but with a goopy white or beige filling. She liked them, but I adhere to either pure dark chocolate or a fill or dark chocolate mousse.
Do you want to know a secret? Wikipedia's definition of high-quality chocolate is: “when ingredients are mixed for up to 78 hours, chocolate can be produced with a mild, rich taste. Lower-quality chocolate is conched for as little as 6 hours.” What they fail to disclose is the batch size. We grind 5 pounds they grind hundreds to thousands of pounds in a batch.
Too bad you couldn't take this occasion, Valentine's Day, to highlight nano-batch (5 pounds) chocolate makers, like us Ridgewood Chocolate, that produce healthy chocolate, such as our ancestors described it: 'food of the gods.' Today well-established companies drown out our chocolate message with incessant marketing and platitudes that chocolate is a candy; high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, vanilla flavors are good; rationalize consumers as chocoholics, not sugar-holics. As a result of exploitation, commoditization of the cacao, we increasingly read doctors not recommending chocolate.
According to the gatekeepers in the industry, chocolate is the only consumable that needs 3 days of 24 hours a day relentless oxidation/grinding to reduce the cocoa to a satin, smooth consistency.
Remember the advertising slogan for Godiva chocolate? If you can't taste the chocolate in your mouth in a half-hour, it's not fresh.
$55 for a "handcrafted" bar? Just call it 1% chocolate. I'll settle for footcrafted chocolate for 1/10th of the price.
Sooooo...Unless I missed it, when did soy lecithin become such a major part of chocolate (pretty sure they didn't mention it) and what used to be used as "an emuslifier" prior to left over soy being peddled by the GMO soy producers? PSA: Don't buy ANY chocolate brands still using PALM OIL. Lastly, really? The chocolate industry is overrun as well?
2
We now have Dandelion Chocolate here in Las Vegas, at The Venetian. You can sample all their chocolate bars - all are dark chocolate and most have only two ingredients. Their chocolate is a revelation to an M&M's and Snickers lover like me.
They also have desserts - the S'mores is the best thing I've tasted since our beloved Jean Philippe Maury left town. I plan on trying all of them.
There's another chocolatier in town, located in an industrial section west but not far from The Strip - Jean Marie Auboin. Beautiful, fresh-tasting chocolates.
Opinions about chocolate are as varied as the available varieties, as it seems like one person's favorite is disliked by an equal number of people. It would be helpful to see a discussion of the chromium content in cocoa beans from certain parts of the world.
2
So, Melissa, what's your go-to chocolate?
Before the Kilauea eruption in 2018 a guy on youtube showed how some people in the Leilani Estates made Chocolate bars from their own trees. Sadly the youtuber lost his own home in the area.
As with a lot of farmed products they can be grown in other regions from their native areas. The more we are aware of how our foods are made the better we are on our buying practices.
Put your dollars and time toward your Ethics.
Since cacao originated in Mexico, are there any good chocolates mejicanos in the 21st century? Or must they all be American artesanal stuff for yuppies and the rich?
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@ J Chavez Hong Kong
I think you are gravely mistaken by writing that "any good chocolates ... must ... be American artesanal stuff". I know of no good American chocolate, the best is Swiss chocolate, followed by French and Belgian.
Friends at the NYT, Fair Trade and Fairtrade are two different things. Most of the chocolate that people think of as particularly ethical is in fact Fairtrade, for which the link is here: http://fairtradeamerica.org/Fairtrade-Products/Chocolate, though there are also some Fair Trade brands that can be found on the site to which you link.
1
Awesome article: a bit of science, life, politics (company-wise) and a good chunk of how laborious it is to get that bar to our hand! One thing for a future article based off this *here's hoping* is the use of milk/alternative milk/emulsifiers (soy based and not) to get to the end product. For most of us, while the flavor and mouthfeel of a chocolate is priority #1, with the rise of food allergies/strict cross-contamination guidelines - there's a whole new set of criteria we're taking into consideration. I really hope this is just the first of many and that our work and ingredients get back in the front burner, so to speak :)
Great article! But, contrary to the title, there's still one thing I don't know about chocolate, thought it's a bit more quoditian than high-end chocolate.
Why does Hershey's version of Cadbury's milk chocolate taste so vastly worse than the original, and why do they make it that way? I grew up in England, but even my American friends, when I have them taste-test both, much prefer the real Cadbury's, so why does Hershey's pollute the fine name of Cadbury's and make a poor product?
3
@Peter Davis
Has to do with milk processing. Hershey processes the milk in a way that creates a sour taste. In the UK, they do not do this, so the flavor is sweeter.
The process called controlled lipolysis and it causes the milk fats to produce butyric acid, which gives it a rancid taste.
Wow, I LOVE Dr. Presilla's colorful house! If the rest of it is as great as the part shown in the photo, will the NYT please look into doing a feature story about it, and her?
Great article. I'm glad for the better understanding of one of my major food groups. Thank you!
@anonymous I'm sure everything in that picture was done for the camera.
The Valrhona factory and museum in Tain-l'Hermitage France is a wonderful place to visit if you're a chocolate lover. I have been three times and I am going again in September.
2
Yes great place
I had a consulting gig for them and they are great people totally dedicated to produce the best possible chocolate
The factory shop is a chocolate lovers dream come true
First time I went I ended with 3 full big bags of chocolate
1
Unsweetened baker's chocolate (100% pure cacao) is my addiction - but only 1/4oz daily. An acquired taste (if you can tolerate or like bitter). Not expensive, and might even have health benefits (or so I like to think).
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@Grant That's what I eat, too! Though not every day. I do start every day with this drink: Microwave 1/2 cup water for a minute. Stir in a couple spoonfuls of unsweetened cocoa powder. Add 1/2 cup of milk. Sometimes I might add a little sugar or honey and/or vanilla. (Cocoa powder is somewhat hydrophobic and will not mix well in room temperature water. Microwaving water is simpler and less messy than doing it to milk.)
@Grant - i'm surprised you haven't made yourself aware of the health benefits
One very important omission here is that some of the best-tasting and most expensive dark chocolates contain frightening amounts of cadmium and other toxins. Subscribe to Consumerlab, which tests chocolates. I won't list the bad ones here, but you'll be surprised.
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"The past two decades have brought reporting about the use of child labor, sometimes under hazardous conditions, on cacao farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana..." These are facts.
Yet the images portrayed in this article are predominately those of white people as if chocolate is solely one of their domain, a product from Iceland, and cultivated and manufactured, exclusively, to amuse the palate of the white consumer.
1
@Rupert Davis If you want to avoid child labor concerns, then purchase your chocolate from family farm artisanal chocolate producers that are popping up in tropical South America and no doubt in other tropical areas or buy from cooperatives.
I don't touch US produced chocolate since took a bite out of a Hershey bar years ago. Until that moment, I had no clue that anybody would want to "enrich" chocolate with butyric acid for any reason whatsoever. Butyric acid has the outstanding quality and characteristic of having a foul smell of what we humans know as vomit. Apparently, some US American clever business oriented soul working for Hershey, in order to prolong the shelf life of this fine product, decided to add the butyric acid, with that tiny side effect. And eventually, generations of American kids came to think that chocolate is supposed to taste like when you vomit a little in your mouth. Ew.
7
Most mass market chocolate brands like Nestle have palm oil in them, filthy stuff that has led to much devastation of rainforests in places like Indonesia and Malaysia. Avoid it like the plague. Look for the UTZ label on your snack foods. They are partnered with the Rainforest Alliance and ensure the ingredients are sustainably sourced.
https://utz.org/
3
@Mark Crozier third party agencies that certify and label products are bureaucracies as well. Fair Trade doesn't go far enough and has no DIRECT relationship with anyone other than a Cooperative, in fact farmers need to pay in which money they don't have. Fair Trade delivers quantity of beans, NOT quality. Utz is far from perfect and has issues...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/23/chocolate-companies-say-their-cocoa-is-certified-some-farms-use-child-labor-thousands-are-protected-forests/
2
Once I confronted a chocolate bar seller who had it made from my country of origin by calling it fair trade. It’s not fair I said since the growers and the people who made it at your factory still live below poverty level. He was promoting it at a very posh supermarket in the UES of NYC! People were listening and watching our exchange ... he defended( of course) his product and how he treated his growers and workers ( he had it fully made from my country and sell the good in US). I wasn’t proud of my action but something I know so much and couldn’t be quiet . Then one woman who’s heard all of it approached me and ask: what to do? To buy or not to buy? I thought about it and I said maybe you should buy the $12 a pack chocolate because you don’t know the back story or the reality , so people still have their jobs ...but me? I don’t know ! I really have a conflict feeling about it. Back home I didn’t eat chocolate because it’s expensive , my family couldn’t afford it.
5
The best chocolatier is in Paris (mais oui!): www.patrickroger.com
There is still nothing as good as a snickers bar.
1
@Bruce Egert
3 Musketeers?
Snickers are just giant pralines ;)
Some commenters shocked at the seamy underside of the chocolate industry. Others delighted to learn of new ways to feed their chocolate-egos.
3
I gave my aunt a piece of Dove dark chocolate. Her immediate reaction was "This is better than sex!!!" Every time I see Dove chocolate in the stores I always think of my aunt.
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While Scharffenberger may have popularized the bean-to-bar craze, my company, The Omanhene Cocoa Company sold our first bean-to-bar chocolate bar manufactured entirely at origin (Ghana) in 1994, two years before Sharffenberger was founded. We've been noted in two of the books you mentioned, Dr. Maricel Presilla's "The New Taste of Chocolate" and David Lebovitz's "The Great Book of Chocolate" who highlights Omanhene's Humanitarian view of chocolate. Not sure why the New York Times decided not to give credit where credit is due.
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The fruit surrounding the cocoa beans sounds delicious- I assume they just throw it in the trash?
1
@Matt Smith Artisanal chocolate makers such as the one I recently visited in Mindo, Ecuador, can't afford to let anything go to waste. Anything not used for chocolate becomes compost for the cocoa, coffee and other plants on their farms.
1
@Matt Smith
It is a popular ingredient in smoothies and ice cream in Brazil. Subtly sweet and mild (not chocolatey).
2
Preachy and self-righteous exhortations to political correctness and hypocrisy...the very production of cacao is an unnatural product that's predicated on the exclusion of the indigenous plant life from an area. And it's all well and good to pretend it's ethical but what does that really mean? Like the "organic" labels on everything at certain groovy supermarkets now owned by a megacorporation, meaning is diluted until lost. Just enjoy the good stuff that doesn't contain indigestible plastics like Hershey chocolate, now manufactured in Mexico, not Pennsylvania, does...guilt-free, no less.
1
Great choice is Seattle based Theo chocolate: organic, Fair Trade, non-GMO, "Fair for Life" (sustainably produced with benefits to communities of origin). It has few ingredients, no fillers, tastes great. And if you are in the Seattle area, you can go for a great tour of the facility with lots of info and free samples.
Great article and primer on cocoa for those that haven’t really tasted high quality chocolate and don’t really know much about the chocolate making/production. A good follow-up should be about the bean origin and sourcing/sustainability of these nearly 100% penetrated category. From reading some comments, there is belief that a country makes good chocolate and this is where the confusion lie. Yes, a skilled chocolate maker/chocolatier can create deliciousness with couverture in a Bruges storefront or Craft Shop. But there is no difference between Hershey’s, European, or what I’ll call “attribute labeled” chocolate as they use the same commodity sourced beans, many of which add vanilla to smooth out the bitterness and off flavors. The current supply chain for commodity cocoa is broken—chocolate should NOT be as inexpensive as it is. The only path to sustainability is directly through fine flavor cocoa, that is, working directly with farmers as stakeholders from wet bean through drying ensuring quality over quantity. Put the production next to the producer—as one great chef said, food, in this case cocoa, always tastes better when you know where it came from.
3
Missing here is the wonderfully tasting Lindt & Sprungli chocolate from Switzerland. Nothing else comes close in taste.
2
Lindt is good, but Italian chocolate is my fave. Perugina Baci is incredibly good.
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@Lena Rosengren Please try Valrhona. From Tain in the Rhone Valley.
1
You gotta be kidding ? Lindt ?? Even Villars is better.
2
So, the increase in sales of mainstream chocolates like Hershey lag significantly behind premium chocolates. Could it be that mainstream chocolates lag because they have no taste and little quality grade chocolate? How many know that Hershey makes a higher grade of chocolate for European countries. Americans get the lower grade varieties.
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Long-time chocoholic here (who isn't?) - but I quail at wine-snob terms being introduced into the discussion ("notes of berries", etc.).
Let's hear it for responsible, sustainable growth of cacao / cocoa, and for better conditions for those growing it.
Thanks for this article. Yum.
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As soon as I opened the article I smelled the chocolate. Aahhh. Thank you!
Also, eat your chocolate fresh! The fresher the chocolate the better and purer the taste. A silvery gray tinge on chocolate is a sin.
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A “silvery gray tinge” doesn’t necessarily mean chocolate isn’t fresh. It most likely means an undesired temperature fluctuation in the tempering process that causes the cocoa butter to separate from the cacao solids.
2
Wherever it comes from it ruins the taste.
1
Enjoyed the article on chocolates. Currently living in Bologna, Italy - one of the locales that claims to be the oldest European chocolate producer. While we are enjoying sampling the goods from these old, long-time established chocolate producers, our all-time favorite is: Maverick Chocolate based in Cincinnati, OH.
They are a bean-to-bar, fair-trade family owned and operated chocolate company.
You should give their chocolates a try!
1
There is a wonderful area of Costa Rica on the Caribbean side where the Bri Bri make chocolate traditionally, also some foreigners have bought old cocoa farms. I have had the most incredible chocolate there !
I also saw cocoa growing in the rainforest. It is not necessary to clear cut or change the healthy ecosystem to grow cocoa, the pods hang off trees and can be harvested there.
We need to return to smaller farms- smaller production of food so that it is done more ethically,
It will save our ecosystems and honor people.
After all how many Americans respect the people growing and picking our food ? The demonized Central Americans pick your fruit for five dollars a day. Here, I believe they make more - but truly if you support trump and are anti immigrant- realize you’re demonizing the people who make it possible for you to eat.
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Brilliant article! Thanks!
1
The take-home message seems to be that there is no way to be ensure that your chocolate is not destroying forests and enslaving children, so why the 'of course' eating it is okay?
3
The perfect antidote to all the politics being flung at us like a Bonobo handshake.
2
The people at Hershey's, Cadbury's, Nestle, Mars et al must be ecstatic at this article, which so casually dismisses the "issues" in the supply chain. A huge proportion of cocoa traded today is produced with child labor and the actual farmers make nothing; they're exploited up and down the supply chain. The big companies with power to do something about this have done the very least possible - just enough to say they've done something. The big companies are making billions and this article sort of shows why: no one holds them to account and it all gets polished and shined by "journalists" unwilling to dig even a tiny bit below the surface. I'm not an advocate but even a goof like me can look a little deeper and realize that there's a big con game going on with cocoa. Very sad. I guess the sweet taste of chocolate is simply too great a joy for so many people that thinking about the bitterness underlying it is too much to ask.
16
There are so many other sources for chocolate that are ethically grown and produced .
1
@Joe Avoid the mass market brands, read the ingredients (avoid anything with palm oil) and look for the UTZ label on your chocolates and other snack foods.
https://utz.org/
1
@Mark Crozier Utz is more about traceability than about benefits for the producer.
Leonidas Belgian Chocolates right here in NYC.
2
Everything You Need to Know About Chocolate:
It caused slavery in the Western Hemisphere.
Why?
Once Europeans discovered it and loved it so much, they needed oceans of people to grow cacao trees and harvest their beans to make chocolate.
4
@VJR
As for chocolate "causing" enslavement: One might as easily lay the blame to coffee, tobacco, indigo, or cotton. But if one is to blame a crop for enslavement, rather than the sheer greed and brutal inhumanity of enslavers, sugar would be that crop.
1
I love chocolate and want to thank the author of this story for generating so many comments that have opened my eyes to so many chocolate makers i was unaware of.
1
“Ideas should be clear, and chocolate thick. “. —Spanish proverb
3
The first encounter between the Europeans and Cacao was during Columbus’ fourth and last voyage while he was at the Island of Guanaj.
Penn has long had a field school in Copan, Honduras—a very important Mayan site. Several of the Penn archaeologists retired to the lovely village of Copan, including David Sedat who ran the Penn Copan archaeology field school fro decades. Now in “retirement”, David is reviving some of the ancient Mayan varieties of cocao, and teaching native women of the region to grow it and other projects.
David convinced a Central American museum to let him chemically analyze an ancient Mayan pot. And he has recreated that precise type of chocolate in his chocolate bars and drinks. ( The bar are combined with boiling water—period!—then the mixture whisked.)
I met him in his home a year ago and had that chocolate. It literally is exactly what the Spaniards first tasted, and what created the European passion for hot chocolate. The flavor is spicy, extremely thick and richly flavorful.
Before this, I thought the top Spanish hot chocolates, some of the best French hot chocolate and Belgian chocolate were the best I ever had. But no more. They are not remotely as flavorful as the amazing hot chocolate David or his daughter prepare for you when you visit their Copan home and business, The Tea and Chocolate Place, open late afternoons in Copan, Honduras.
4
The Bri Bri in Costa Rica make chocolate as they have for hundreds of years. I am moving to this region as soon as possible !
There are some foreign transplants in the community that make chocolate also, incredible mixes of different spices with the chocolate. It’s all sustainable and cocoa requires no rainforest clearing as it doesn’t need a lot of sunshine to grow. We have a lot to learn from the ancients - and contemporary people living w the forests.
1
What is the "dutch" process used for some cocoa powders? What about levels of cadmium, toxic heavy metal, in cocoa products? Why are the "a" & "o" reversed in cacao and cocoa?
1
@kate The Dutch process has been treated with an alkalizing agent to modify its color and give it a milder taste. Cacao is before processing and named cocoa after processing. We make bean to bar in Queens, NY, not mention because the article focused on Brooklyn makers. Ridgewood Chocolate, healthy inside, happy outside.
2
This is a true Valentine, to your Readers. And definitely a
“ SAVE “. Thank you.
2
I still don’t understand how Hershey chocolate is around still. Worse chocolate ever!
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@The Dr. is In
It's not necessary that you understand or approve the taste of others.
3
This piece unfortunately misses an opportunity to give voice to growers and instead shows familiar photos cacao fruits and calls attention to white, U.S. "crafts people" while ignoring the farmers who grow cacao. I agree that to stop eating chocolate as individuals is pointless, but to simply say chocolate is delicious is insulting to the growers and harvesters who face extreme exploitation. I appreciate that the author did link to useful resources.
5
There was a MASH episode in which Charles, the "elite," snobbish physician orders very expensive chocolates from Boston and gives them to a Korean orphanage at Christmas. The gesture means a great deal to him because his family used to eat them on Christmas Eve. Charles becomes angry when he finds out the administrator of the orphanage sold them on the black market instead of giving them to the children. The administrator explains that the children are hungry, and he was able to buy food for them with the money he got for the chocolates.
6
What about the roasting of the nibs? It's like coffee roasting. It's super important. Why did you skip that step?
1
Entirely captivating article about one of my favorite items. Truth be, someone mentions "chocolate" -- whatever brand, whatever form, whatever size -- I'm there. Now I'll be more discerning. Hmmm, maybe I will be...
1
Direct trade purchasing and environmental concern should make a big difference in your selections.
I'll can not forget, back nearly twenty years ago, exploring around the small finca of a friend, high up on the Venezuelan side of the Sierra Perija, and basically colliding with a camp of Motilone indians, who were guarding their small cacao plantation from other indigenous thieves.
To say that it was basic would be an exaggeration.
Tarp tents, hammocks, camp-fire cooking and poverty.
This is too often the case on cacao farms around the world.
Buy the higher priced stuff that claims to help with this.
It makes a big difference.
6
Take away added sweeteners and few would go anywhere near the stuff. Diabetes enormous problem in US and a stroll through any grocery store shows one of the reasons why.
2
Dark chocolate is good for you! Also mole is amazing !!
I love it. I don’t eat super sweet chocolate. Also I make a hot cocoa w turmeric and cinnamon and very little sugar ! So good on a snowy day ( if we ever have snow again.)
4
Thank you for such a wonderful and thorough article on my wife's beloved chocolate. The perfect Valentine's Day gift for her. Very much appreciated and yes roses will be accompanying the article for her as I hope for you as well.
As a cocoa plant agribusiness specialist your article seems to forget that not all cocoa trees need shade. In Ghana cocoa trees are shaded of up tp 50%-60% shade whilst in Ivory Coast cocoa trees receive no shade at all. The trade off between shaded trees and unshaded trees lays in type of plant pests and quality of cocoa beans desired. Ivory Coast cocoa beans are usually of medium size and medium quality whilst Ghanaian cocoa beans are of premium plus (the highest level on the commodity market scale). The premium plus cocoa is disappearing for final pay differences make it less economical for farmers to cultivate. As long growers do not receive an adequate monetary incentive for quality versus kg/hectares there is no reason for them to keep making even less money per hectare than usual. Think of the Coffee industry that does differentiate between Arabica-and Robusta coffee trees and pays producers accordingly and to additional quality aspects.
Also your article fails to mention the European and Swiss chocolate industry in producing mainstream good high quality chocolate bars. Hershy- chocolate- bars do not deserve the name of chocolate as in comparison to Swiss or Belgian mainstream chocolates.
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@JONNY BLUE it's really very difficult to differentiate between Ivoirian and Ghanaian cocoa given all the movement of beans across the border that occurs.
So true about Hershey! Ick. Gradually Americans are learning what real chocolate tastes like, or should taste like. Swiss chocolate is divine.
1
Very good, informative article that, strangely, though, gives relatively short shrift to human rights and environmental issues at the end. Then it abruptly ends cavalierly implying that these are unimportant because of chocolate's other qualities, including it "is life."
If children continue to be exploited, and forests destroyed, what kind of "life" is that?
Saying third party-audits are "only partly effective," or quoting a company that "issues are complicated" doesn't really say much--especially compared to the earlier detail delving into all the ways this product is made so delicious.
It begs for a follow-up. Links are not enough. I'd like to know who the companies are that are trying the hardest. If cacao can be shade grown, why isn't this the norm? If, as it appears, margins are so large, why are most cacao farmers getting so little of it?
Finally, is climate change, not mentioned here, not a threat to chocolate? If it is, maybe its many fans could be enlisted to help. Their taste buds and emotional centers might make them highly motivated.
14
The names and labels don't always mean much in terms of the taste. I eat a local, but conglomerate produced 85% bar and I've compared it to multiple European and craft bars from around the world. IMHO, it is just as good, if not better than many of them - and it costs a fraction of what the fancy bars often do.
Not saying there isn't good craft chocolate, but automatically saying it's good and corporate bars aren't is a mistake.
I'd never heard of Dandelion, but have now placed an order for the Two Ingredient Peanut Butter Cup. They give you a warning about cadmium in 'cocoa' beans when you purchase. I guess cadmium is part of everything we need to know about chocolate, too.
I was at the store today trying to choose between a Hershey bar and a Baby Ruth and agonized in indecision, wondering which was more ethically produced. So I bought Chuckles.
11
Chocolate comes from cacao beans.
Beans are vegetables.
Therefore, chocolate is a vegetable.
23
@turbot your comments made my day. Now I can eat five servings a day of chocolate with confidence.
9
@turbot Hahaha! Nice line. More technically correct is that 'bean' is a misnomer, and that chocolate is a fruit. I like to eat a lot of fruit!
As a native of Zürich, I find your article somewhat limited. We Swiss still produce the finest in chocolate bars, from Lindt to Tobler to Frigor Callier. Besides using quality beans, it is the blending time that makes much of the difference. Typical American chocolate is blended for 80-100 hours. We blend our mixtures for 800. Try some Swiss types and taste the difference!
21
Your opinion (though seems to be shared and often vigorously defended by every Swiss person I've met). Personally I don't enjoy typical Swiss chocolate bars -- they tend to be too sweet and the creaminess often feels "fake." And often has too many other ingredients for my taste (I like it dark and "neat"). For "traditional" chocolate from Europe I much prefer the Belgian style. IMHO, of course. But aside from that, I do love visiting Switzerland!
1
@Pete
Lindt is nothing special, IMO. Lots of others I prefer.
1
@Max
As with our wines, we prefer to keep the best for ourselves! We Swiss tend to drink three times as much wine as we manage to grow. We struggle on, nevertheless.
My best wishes,
-Pete
2
I've had plenty of expensive chocolate, but find I'm quite happy with the dark Ghirardelli bars from the grocery. Is this sacrilegious?
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@Keith
I don't know, but don't take the last one when I'm in the store.
4
We moved to Belgium 3 years ago and oh my, yes, you should definitely try other chocolates!!!
1
Dandelion put out a book on DIY chocolate, which is how we now have a tabletop melanger. Freshly roasted and conched chocolate right out of the machine is like nothing else. Chocolatealchemy.com was on their supplier list and that's where we buy our nibs: the Alchemist goes to great detail in describing his beans and sources and tests each year's batch before putting it out there. He's also got a lot of videos for people to learn how to do this for themselves.
You can order your nibs (or beans if you prefer) pre-roasted but I prefer to roast my own.
If you ever go to San Francisco, do go to Dandelion, not just for how very good their chocolate is but for what they do with it in their pastries. A favorite outing for us.
7
Dandelion is good, but I'm surprised to see that this article doesn't also mention Askinosie, a company from Missouri that makes (in my opinion) some of the best out there and has open books with its farmers. They also invest in the communities from which they buy their beans. I also really like Creo, a Portland chocolate maker that has been working with one farmer for years (also with delicious results). Fruition (NY) is another good one.
5
Most chocolate lovers need to find a chocolate that they really like and that's widely and consistently available at a low price (so one can eat it often). I like Ghiradelli 72%. There may be better chocolates out there but since I cannot usually find them (I travel a lot) they are largely irrelevant, as is most of the information in this article.
5
Just know that the true costs for the cheap chocolate you feel entitled to are being paid by poor chocolate farmers and their families.
I just toured Lydgate farms, a family owned chocolate farm in Hawaii. Their chocolate can be ordered online, was amazing.
1
@Jmn Thank you! I'd been looking for the perfect anniversary trip!
I love the robust flavor of chocolate made from cacao grown in the Philippines. It’s rich and flavorful while being ethically and sustainably grown.
My favorite? Bean to bar maker Oodaalolly. I put a snap of their tablea into a cup of black coffee pretty much every day. Adds character and nuance to even the most generic coffees.
www.oodaalolly.com
If I want something inexpensive and sweet? Check out your local Aldi supermarket.
3
I haven't had chocolate in a while, and recently bought a 72% cacao bar, fair trade and non gmo I can not remember the company. But it was both deliciously bitter and creamy, and it has reignited my love for chocolate, good chocolate, as a little evening treat. This is a great article, thanks NYT
5
The downfall of See's Candy is tragic. What is the point of expanding the sale of a popular and unique product if by doing so, the product loses its uniqueness and tastes nothing like it was. (I mean, of course, as a point other than money.)
4
I find the comments about child labor interesting. Don't American farms employ child slave labor? Does any kid growing up on a U.S. farm get to opt out of working the fields, milking the cows, or slopping the hogs? No. Parents even have large families so they will have farm hands.
Isn't the reason for a summer break in school so all of those kids can work the fields?
1
@tom harrison Less than 2% of the American population is directly employed in agriculture. There are only about 1/2 million people under 20 years old employed on farms owned by their families. So you might be tuned into some historical notion about farming (i.e. summer break) but are completely out of touch with our contemporary period.
20
@tom harrison you are joking, right? any farm using children today is probably one of those organic farming operations in Vermont; the kids are probably feeding the goats. Most US farms today are big corporate entities; they don't need or want children laborers, it's all mechanized. I'm guessing you are in your late 80s and haven't gotten out of the house in decades nor turned on the TV. Either that or you are simply having a laugh. I hope the latter.
1
Those kids in Africa aren’t going to school at all. They’re going to be stuck in the same cycle of poverty as their parents.
1
Cacao is both native and farmed in the province (Heredia) where we live. When I go hiking in places like Tirimbina and La Selva my guests get to see it growing and sometimes there are tree to final product tours available. Often the high percentage or pure chocolate is too strong for those unaccustomed to it. It was very important to the pre-columbian people of the american tropics, even used as currency when trading.
4
Heh, that reminds me of my first CR coffee "tasting experience." I said "well it doesn't really affect me much, and I like it strong and rich, so give me the dark stuff!" I was still buzzing with nervous energy several hours later... wow!
2
As my grandfather would say, "please do not call it 'white' chocolate." That does not exist. White chocolate is actually the excess cocoa butter that comes from the chocolate making process. In the old days it was the discards of the boiling process I was told. Eventually someone decided to mix it with milk and sugar and sell it, naming it white chocolate.
(My grandfather was the head of Blumenthal Brothers - Goobers and Raisinettes.)
21
In our home, we enjoy a piece of chocolate as a finish to almost every meal, every day. We purchase 70% organic dark chocolate, 10-15 bars at a time when they’re on sale...usually Alter Eco brand, which is reasonably-priced and satisfying. Rarely, we splurge on an artisan brand.
I regard dark chocolate as a medicinal necessity...good for both body and soul. If it’s high quality, a little goes a long way. I suppose that I could live without it...but thankfully I don’t have to!
28
Belgian chocolate is the best.
1
@julia
That is exactly what my Swiss friends said after they served me the best cup of hot chocolate I everdrank made from Swiss chocolate when I visited them in Geneva "But the Belgians have the best chocolate"
1
Have you tried it, or is it hear say? I can recommend brands of both Danish and Swiss artisan chocolates that can beat those Belgian pralines hands down in their sleep. It's not about the country, it's about the chocolatier.
You can find authentic Mayan made great chocolate in the village of San Juan on Lake Atitlán, in the highlands of Guatemala .
5
Aldi has at $1.99 each an exquisite range of chocolate bars, Fair Trade, UTZ (sustainable farming practices), and no child labor. The Moser Roth line (their own) includes Dark Orange Almond, Dark Cranberry, Chili, plain with various percentages of Cocoa, Mint ... and perhaps others. It is made in Germany. No Palm Oil ... cocoa butter. Each 4.4 oz. package include 5 bars which have about 140 calories each. It is a great way for me to regulate my chocolate consumption. So try them, give up the expensive stuff, send what you save to fight climate change. More info https://corporate.aldi.us/en/corporate-responsibility/supply-chain/cocoa-and-coffee/
25
Chocolate always brings back memories. As I read the comments of others, it is clear that for many readers, a chocolate experience while traveling is intense. For me, Belgian chocolate is fine, but even better, the sophisticated and creative forms of chocolate confections available in France remain special. My memories are of treats bought on the Rue Faubourg St Honore in Paris and from a chocolatier on the main square across from the cathedral in Strasbourg.
I also want to give credit to the delicious chocolate bars available from the Mayan Riviera. The Yucatan is a fine source for chocolate.
2
I’m glad the NYT publishes this sort of article once in a while because people need a break (an escape!) from the the rest of the news that all pretty much point toward the USA becoming an authoritarian banana republic. Like Bill Maher said in his Real Time editorial last week, a slide into authoritarian dictatorships is gradual; you don’t see it happening overnight; people still walk around and go shopping and watch stuff on TV and eat chocolate. (I’m paraphrasing.) The slide into dictatorship is happening nonetheless. We see it on the news every day.
81
Ethics doesn’t = flavor, even seems to almost guarantee all that effort will be doomed.
2
It must take a recipe of profound hubris and willful ignorance to write a column about “Everything you need to know about chocolate,” beginning with “I’ll bet you thought you knew,” ...then leave out the origins, the etymology and all the ancient recipes from ancient Brazilian civilization since before the last ice age ended with the Younger-Dryas impact to the Olmecs to the Aztecs to the Spanish conquest.
For the record, cocoa was originally cultivated by ancient civilizations in the Amazonian basin, possibly dating back as far as 50,000 years ago. (“America Before,” Graham Hancock, chapter 17 and “1493” by Charles Mann).
The etymology of the word “chocolate” comes from the Aztec language which means “Xocolatl” in native Náuhuatl.
Typically cocoa was ground, mixed with maize to make what Mexicans today call “champurrado.”
Cocoa could be paired with an ancient fermented beer called pulque, which ranchers still make today from the sentry plant or maguey. A rare delicacy before colonial times 500 years ago was to mix cocoa with the honey of a native stingless bee. And of course vanilla and even chiles were traditionally added for flavor.
Only after the Spanish brought distillery and sugar cane cocoa was mixed and paired with mezcal or milk from Swiss cows.
If the author would like to unwind her cognitive dissonance with the origins of cocoa try this recipe on for size;
Mole Poblano; https://www.santabarbarachocolate.com/blog/try-a-4000-year-old-chocolate-recipe/
28
@Pass the MORE Act: 202-224-3121 Excellent point. At what point were plantations in Central Africa established? Why doesn't the article mention more about plantations in Latin America besides Ecuador, and specifically Mexico? Where else in the world does the best cacao come from?
THANK YOU! You wrote exactly what I was thinking, but in a much more artful and articulate way!
The origin story of chocolate is
Incredibly important because it shows that, unlike some new world foods that were completely transformed by their encounter with the old world, chocolate is one of the few foods that transcended the experience. Emperor Moctezuma enjoyed it in exactly the same at Louis the IV did.
What’s more, the bean-to-bar experience started and continues to this day in Mexico with freshly roasted cacao nibs and butter being mixed with sugar, local vanilla, cinnamon, molasses and fresh chiles on demand all over the country in small shops on a daily basis. This is where chocolatiers like Jacques Torres got their ideas to do this in the first place.
Is this chocolate the same as a beautifully constructed truffle? No. It’s a completely different, much more down to earth experience. But is it equally deserving of mention? Absolutely.
I’m very disappointed in you, Melissa. Hitting these highlights was a pretty low-hanging fruit.
3
See's is the very best!
6
Thanks…super thoughtful and transparent.
If a chocolate isn't vegan, it's not ethical. Nonvegan products are complicit in climate change, pollution, animal cruelty, labor abuse, and many other ills.
Unconscionable - and really dated - to omit any mention of veganism in any article about ethical eating.
Here's a list of vegan chocolates, and there are many other companies besides: https://www.peta.org/blog/favorite-vegan-chocolate-boxes/
2
@Hillary Rettig Don't you think you're taking things a bit far. It's not like people are eating chicken chocolate or hamburger chocolate or steak chocolate. I know there is bacon chocolate but there's such a massive surplus of milk that it seems kind of crazy to blame chocolate of all things.
Fishing? Sure. Cattle? Definitely. Chickens. Yup. Almonds? Yeah the water usage for that is insane. But chocolate? No, you're barking up the wrong tree.
Better do avoid chocolate products that contain almonds than to pursue vegan chocolate.
3
American chocolates are horrible. Not sure what they’re doing wrong, but they just are.
1
@NH
Not all American chocolates are horrible we have smaller chocolatiers that make superb candy, if I may still use that word for chocolate.
https://www.grenadachocolate.com/ here's the link
Great article.
Studying abroad and seeing chocolate & coffee production in Central America forever changed how I buy. Not just for flavor, but for ethical reasons.
If you're ever in Monteverde I highly recommend Caburé Chocolates. We got to learn so much about the process, and probably had one of the best meals of the trip (of course there was dessert).
1
I always wonder why the focus on fair trade in commodities like coffee, chocolate, sugar. There are lots of industries even in developed countries where the big companies don’t pay their suppliers enough to make a living wage.
I don’t wanna live in the real economy anymore. I wanna live in a house in Tuscany like in the Merchant Ivory film “Call me by Your Name”.
2
@James It was in Lombardy.
Hershey's milk chocolate is my favorite. You can keep your $55 designer bars.
5
@Alan its about 70% sugar thats why you like it so much beans from west africa forced child labor countries you can keep your Hershey bar
14
@Alan Hershey's is to chocolate as cheese product is to cheese.
24
@Alan It's the Kraft Cheese of chocolate.
2
Sorry guys Grenada Chocolate Company was the first, if you take into account the ethical and organic practices used to make chocolate bars, founded in 1999 they were and still are the most ethical, and caring chocolate company on the planet hands down. Why has the author ignored them? I personally knew 2 of the 3 founders of the company. Doug Browne and Mott Green. I saw the whole thing rise from nothing to what it is today. i knew Doug since i moved to the area(Cottage Grove, Oregon) some 27 years ago and when Mott came out from Philadelphia a year later. Sadly, Doug died of cancer 12 years ago and Mott died in Grenada from electrocution some 4 years ago. The remaining partner a local Grenadian, Brown runs the business now. Same great chocolate as it was 20 years ago. Most of their electricity is generated by solar power and they use locally grown organic beans. They single handly turned the way Grenadian grew cocoa beans from conventional methods to organic methods. Campaigned to end forced child labor in west Africa. I encourage everyone to read about them and watch the video about their company. a short movie was made some years back with Susan Sarandon narrating.
14
This article makes no mention of Palm Oil, an ingredient responsible for rainforest loss and Orangutan deaths.
Palm Oil is found in most chocolate bars, especially the cheaper brands.
33
@Jacob The article mentions that "industrial chocolates may include other ingredients, like vegetable oil..." The focus here is on the more 'artisinal' producers, who would never add palm oil to their creations.
4
This article makes no mention of Palm Oil, an ingredient responsible for rainforest loss and Orangutan deaths.
Palm Oil is found in most chocolate bars, especially the cheaper brands.
2
More needs to be said about Lecithin. It is NOT necessary unless the chocolate maker wants a longer shelf life. It's an industrial additive that is not found in craft chocolate (but sadly, Valhrona adds it.)
Glad Ms. Clark reached out to Drs. Presilla & Leissle, Greg D'Alesandre - all experts in this field. I've had the privilege of hearing them all speak at the NW Chocolate Festival. A fantastic event in Seattle, each November.
3
@YReader - not true lecithin is an emulsifier. molecules that bind fat and water molecules together if you don't add it you have separation, and just imagine what a chocolate bar would then look like.. its called "food chemistry" you really need to have taken food chemistry course or course if you want to venture into food making of any type.
8
@YReader - If you want a local treat, try some coffee at Kakao on Westlake Ave. They not only roast their own beans (even I do that) but they also make their own chocolate from the cacao bean. And they sell bars on site but unless you work at Amazon you probably won't be able to afford them:)
1
@lou andrews as there's no water in chocolate there's no need for an emulsifier. From a food chemistry standpoint chocolate is a suspension, not an emulsion. Craft chocolate makers don't use lecithin for many reasons - one is that it adds off flavors. Another is that it's not necessary, and is used by chocolate companies as a cost cutting measure - it's cheaper than adding more cocoa butter. Pick up any craft bar that doesn't use lecithin and you'll see for yourself it isn't necessary!
1
Every time I try one of these swanky hipster bars, I end up wishing I had just gone to See's for a fraction of the cost.
And if I want to splurge, I'll head down to Teuscher for a box of Champagne Truffles.
5
@GCT Grenada Chocolate bars are about $6 a bar no need to buy those $50 bars overpriced they do have to pay for rent in San Francisco or NYC i suppose
1
@GCT : thank you for mentioning See's! I used to love it when I lived in California! at least some of their stores (back then) were tiny pink cottages!
A few years go, my great aunt sent me a box -- I hadn't had it in 25 years -- and it was just outstanding -- fresh, delightful fillings -- both the milk and dark were wonderful.
I love European chocolate too, but it is just snobbery to overlook some of the many fine American chocolate companies.
@GCT See's uses Guittard chocolate
From a chocolate aficionado: for outstanding, readily available, and affordable chocolate - go to Belgium.
10
I thought I could never break my chocolate habit till I discovered Medjool dates!
4
@Farnaz : I love dates, especially Medjools.
Every had one dipped in chocolate?
Seriously, try it. It's awesome.
1
@Concerned Citizen
Dates stuffed with almonds, then dipped in chocolate.
Divine.
2
What a great article, Ms. Clark. Chocolate is the perfect example of eating quality over quantity. Buy the best as described in this article for all the right reasons, pay up for it, and eat it less frequently a little at a time. Savour. There's Zen in that practice that will help place you in harmony with Mother Nature. A warm hug from life itself. P.S. Eat nothing from the conglomerates. They're in it for the money. Especially the ones like Hershey who bought - and misrepresent - the good name of Scharffen Berger. John Scharffenberger has a right to sell. You just don't have to eat it once it passes from the artisan's hands. It is not the same product. No matter what they say.
9
There is an excellent small US nonprofit called the Food Empowerment Project. One of their major projects is compiling the “Chocolate List” on their website and also as a handy app. They contact chocolatiers and confirm whether their chocolate is sourced from countries with known child slave labor. The list shows which companies have been contacted, whether they have responded, and what their answer was. It’s handy to use and though I don’t always make the best choice, it helps me know that there is almost always a better choice.
Here’s the link - https://foodispower.org/chocolate-list/
The Food Empowerment Project is concerned about the exploitation of human (children or adults) and non-human animals (such as cows and goats), so everything they list is vegan. The chocolate I have tried from the green list has all been excellent. Many of the small bean-to-bar chocolatiers extend their care and concern in this way as well, which is heartwarming.
6
@Jenny Lee - One could argue that American farms are run by child slave labor. Does any child growing up on an American farm get a choice about working in the fields or milking the cows before school?
Not eating chocolate solves most of the problems.
2
@Eric Reichenbach
I always thought eating chocolate solved most of the problems.
44
@Marge Keller
MK: Chocolate is the best Medicine for PMS. And now, it’s also the best for Menopause.
Just saying.
2
Stellar article, thank you so much for the detailed information. Wonderful !!
5
Lydgate Farms, on Kauai, grow their own cacao in the USA. Their chocolate is delicious! No child labor concerns and clearly bean to bar.
3
@MB sorry i tried hawaiian chocolate years ago.. god awful!! as for the high price: labor.. costs way more to hire labor in Hawaii than say in Costa Rica or Venezuela.
1
I saw Dandelion mentioned so read the article. They make a S'more to die for.
2
The article speaks of fermentation, but fails to tell us what that means.
@WJA
The cacao beans are fermented (just like grapes for wine is fermented) after they are picked, and before they are dried. This develops flavor.
As much as i love chocolate I just won't ever bring myself to pay $50 for a bar of cholate
16
@Martino
I know what you mean. I buy ethically sourced dark chocolate bars in the supermarket for $2.00 and feel extravagant. They're in the organic foods section. I think my favorite brand is called "Loving"? Each bar has a sonnet about love printed on the inside of the wrapper (Shakespeare, John Donne, etc.). Emotionally, intellectually, and gustatorially satisfying.
2
Thanks for the informative, well written article.
In a (few) words, I love Melissa Clark—almost as much as I love chocolate.
And Melissa's excellent report here is appropriately titled, which is in stark contrast to the titles The New York Times gives to the pieces written by its fierce army of corporate-approved (i.e., corporate-sponsored) ideologues working in its Opinion Section.
But my love for Melissa must also be shared with the entire crew of The New York Times, for they introduced me to Melissa in the first place, and they continue to deepen my love for her by stringing me along with this report on one of the deepest loves of my life: Chocolate.
So to the wonderful ending quote here by Dr. Presilla, "Where there is cacao, there is life," I would add, "and there is love."
2
I was SURE that white chocolate was NOT from cacao. I stand corrected, if still confused ;-) Thanks for the insights. We should have more on the ethical practices.
2
It's worth mentioning the difference between the types of fair trade organizations (and even the difference between Fairtrade and fair trade)! The certification organization "Fair Trade Certified" linked in this article is different from Fairtrade America, the US arm of Fairtrade international which is the leading Fairtrade certification in the world. Both have a slightly different focus and different standards for what constitutes a fair trade product.
Last year, a centenarian man was asked which food he ate so much that may have contributed to his longevity, said chocolate. The article did not say much about this factor to whatever good health Cacao contributes.
3
I recently asked some Swiss contacts what brand they prefer and the consensus was Läderach. Absolutely fabulous chocolate. I sent boxes of that to clients as holiday gifts and they were very much appreciated. In the US, I think they have a store in New York. Well worth a visit.
3
@Anders I used to love Läderach too, being Swiss myself. However the owners of Läderach came under heavy scrutiny lately in Switzerland because of the CEO's public statements and actions against abortion and LGBT rights. I decided to avoid Läderach chocolate from now on.
13
@Anders In the US you can purchase Milkboy Swiss Chocolates. They have won many awards and represent the best in Swiss chocolate bars.
May I suggest that you try NZ's Whittaker's Chocolate, made in NZ by the same family since 1896. Their chocolate does not contain any palm oil nor GMOs, and is made from ethically traded cocoa, cocoa butter, and for the milk chocolate, NZ dairy milk from our free range, grass-fed cows. What's not to love? There are a number of delicious varieties to sample, and my sister was excited to discover a range of them on sale in Vancouver, Canada. Who knows? They might sell Whittaker's Chocolate where you live.
2
I just found it at my local grocery store! Thanks for the recommendation
1
If you want to explore the slave-free side of this story in more depth, there is a Dutch company called Tony's Chocolonely that works openly to end the forced or slave labor in west African cacao production. The chocolate is being sold in the U.S. and the American office is in Portland,Oregon. It isn't super fancy chocolate (high cacao, etc.) but is well made and very reasonably priced.
15
@Joe Guth Yes! It's much better quality than a Hershey bar, and roughly the same price (the bars are much bigger and $4 each). You can get them at Whole Foods and local candy stores. Tony's also does Halloween candy in biodegradable wrappers.
1
@Joe Guth https://www.grenadachocolate.com/ try them they were the first over 20 years ago check out the link
@lou andrews
Thanks for the info and link!
Everything we wanted to know about chocolate...except no mention of toxic heavy metals (such as lead and cadmium) present in most chocolate bars...
6
it should be known that Joe Whinney was the first person to go from bean to bar with organic, fair trade chocolate in the U.S. He was also the first to do the same with single origin chocolate as well. He is best known for starting theo chocolate
1
I enjoyed the reading of this article. However, for those interested in more specifics about process and sourcing information, I suggest the corporate website of Barry Callebout, the giant of the chocolate industry, which has been sourcing fine quality for almost 200 years (www.cacao-barry.com). Also noteworthy, PACARÍ, from Guayaquil, Ecuador, an example that combines local sourcing to market at finest quality.
It seems remiss in a feature article about a boutique product not to mention comparative prices in the list of luxury brands that ends the article. Ms. Clark does mention that prices can rise to "as much as $55 a bar," but that is spare information for the readers who, if they have read this far, would surely want some guidance as to comparative pricing (including non-luxury brands) should they actually wish to purchase these nonpareils of conspicuous consumption.
2
@Daniel : well, here is a hint...really really fine chocolate is very expensive (though I've never seen any for $55 a bar!). Imported costs a LOT more than local US chocolate.
Handmade, or "ethical" chocolates cost a LOT more than that Hershey bar at the drugstore.
Yes, the article would be far more useful if they listed prices for all that yummy stuff....but it is part of media deception that I call "The Big Lie". This is when they tout luxury products to you, and tell you how fantastic they are -- but don't give pricing. So you get your heart set on that great apartment, cool hipster neighborhood, stylish designer fashions, fantastic tech gear or premium wine/chocolate/etc. -- only to find out, there is no way you could EVER afford it, short of selling your first born male child.
It's a big tease, and it is very unfair. Cut it out!
I am a celiac who learned just learned that chocolate aggravates all my celiac symptoms. I had no idea, but I have found since I gave it up, I am so much healthier and no longer need Valtrex to suppress the celiac hives no one could explain for years.
Apparently, there is a relationship between celiac disease and a chocolate allergy. Just a helpful hint for those with food allergies etc In fact, I have become more tolerant of certain grains that would have sent me over the edge even a few months ago. Thank God I love vanilla too!
5
Years ago, was in Belgium and tried, among others, Neuhaus dark chocolate--fantastic! I don't know the source of its chocolate. Here in my area, the best I've found is from the Honduras Chocolate Company, which claims only two ingredients, cacao and natural cane sugar. They have 70, 75, and 80% dark chocolate bars, all delicious, and with a good "mouth feel." I don't know this company's sourcing, either.
1
If you want fabulous hand crafted chocolate then visit Grocer's Daughter Chocolate in Empire Michigan (and Online). None better that I have experienced in 56 years!
They buy directly from small scale farms and annual tours to Ecuador.
If I had to choose a last meal - Grocers Daughter without hesitation.
1
Cacao Prieto is lamentably closed. I went to their location two months ago and found a whiskey operation in the premises. Apparently they closed without informing their fans and their website and social media accounts are still up and running like nothing happened.
It was a little bit deflating to travel all the way to Red Hook and find that they are no longer in business. I wonder what happened to them.
One of the best, most delicious, and most ethical chocolate bar makers is Equal Exchange. They only source organically grown ingredients from small-scale farmer cooperatives on Fair Trade terms or better. And their chocolate is delicious.
5
Interesting article - thank you!
In the same way that the best pizza in New York is in New Jersey, the best chocolate anywhere is also in New Jersey. Visit Genevieve's Chocolates, 174 Ray Street, Garfield, NJ. For more than 60 years, the same family has been making it all by hand. The milk chocolate is especially to die for: creamy, mellow and flavorful, with no weird aftertaste.
2
The best tasting chocolate I've had was in Bruges, Belgium it's a Belgian chocolate hot spot with an incredible number of chocolatiers and shops.
25
@Stan Costco had Belgian chocolates during the Christmas season and they were great! We loved the chocolates when we were in Belgium and these sure tasted the same. Unfortunately I haven't seen them in the last month but hopefully they will be available again.
@sarajane
There is a difference between «Belgian» chocolate and chocolate that was made in Belgium.
Many low cost chocolate companies use the word as a sales pitch. The Costco type may have been made anywhere in the world and branded as «Belgian». Anyone buying boxes labeled «Belgian» should read the details on the box. If the ones you bought were really made in Belgium, good for you!
Theo Chocolate, made in Seattle - the best! Ethically sourced and fair-trade. Try their 45% milk chocolate bar, you'll never look back.
8
@DB Grenada Chocolate Company way better and was the first with ethically sourced, organic fair trade way before it became niche!!
I don't know. I like Milky Ways and I'm not even sure there is real chocolate in them. Oh well.
47
@Tom
You are a person after my own heart.
Love that comment!!!
10
@Tom
Funny, I was devouring a mini Milk Way when I first read your comment. They sure do hit the spot.
9
@Tom
Yes Milky Way Dark - yummmm.
7
I read somewhere that bitter chocolate 72% has anti oxidants that helps to fight cancer. Is it true?
4
I'm a sucker for anything that is at least 85% cacao and is fair trade. Fortunately one of my favs - Valrhona - is inexpensive and easy to procure at Trader Joe's.
Wish that the article at least mentioned briefly some of the health benefits of chocolate - DARK chocolate with minimal sugar. See, for example, this article from Harvard: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/dark-chocolate/
5
The last time I ate chocolate was Easter Day, 1999. Chocolate is a disgusting mess of the artificial, we don't know what its purest really is. I once got kicked out of an anti-globalisation rally for trying to sign people up to boycott chocolate. They accused me of being a splitter!
1
@J9snow
I hope you have some other guilty little pleasure. Scones with butter and jam? A good ale, beer, or wine? Pistachios? Macadamia nuts? Something.
Cacao is an excellent, nutritious food. But almost all the chocolate that people actually eat is packed with sugar. And sugar is toxic.
4
@Chuck Burton - sugar, like water, is only toxic in large quantities.
4
@Chuck Burton : how long have people been eating chocolate? like "hundreds of years"?
Anyone died from eating chocolate (short of some unusual allergy)? Kinda doubt that.
Chocolate is a delicious, wonderful treat. Nobody is remotely suggesting you eat it all day, or in huge amounts -- for starters, more than a small serving is likely to upset one's stomach (all that theobromine!).
Cacao is nutritious but without sugar (or another sweetener), it is almost too bitter to eat. My mom used to keep a bar of baking chocolate -- no sugar at all -- in the cupboard and I would taste it once in a while and EGADS, it tasted worse than medicine.
1
ScharffenBerger has been my go to chocolate for many years. Taza provides an interesting alternative; it has a lot of chocolate, and it does not have a lot of sugar. Taza has a mouth-feel that is different from most other chocolate bars.
3
@Bruce I second Taza, produced locally in my town! Very unique mouth feel (crunchy / grainy) and excellent flavor. Definitely worth trying!
2
@Bruce : Scharffen Berger (it is actually two words, though the founder's name is one long word) is among my very very favorite American chocolate -- and just as you say, because it is less sweet. I don't like too-sweet chocolate, and that's why I am not crazy for Nestle (though I'll eat a Nestle crunch bar if I am in the right mood, especially the tiny "fun size" ones!). I find it way too sweet.
Scharffen Berger is a bit drier, less sweet (without bitterness) and has a clean, light "mouth feel". I have a bag of their bittersweet chocolate chips, and I can't wait for a chance to make Toll House cookies out of them!
1
I went to a chocolate tasting party a few years ago. There were 10 types of dark chocolates on trays, cut up into small chunks to disguise what kind they were. Each was numbered. The unanimous winner was one of the less expensive ones from Trader Joe’s. A few expensive brands didn’t fare well. It was surprising and very interesting.
29
Valrhona is fine, I’d add Bonnat to the list.
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Spending your money with ethical producers is a better investment than charity. For starters, buy organic in spite of the price. It is not a sure thing but the producer is much more likely to be a good steward of the land and a decent employer. Put big agribusiness out of business.
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@Teal Effectuate your last sentence, and millions are dead. The system is broke. I vote for the meteor option.
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As a lifelong chocaholic, I'm sad to say that most of the chocolate I've been tasting lately isn't very good. Since the global shortage of cacao hit a couple of years ago, what's being passed off as chocolate in this country doesn't taste anything like the chocolate I grew up loving.
If I want a chocolate fix, I have to find something from Europe. Most of us already know that European chocolate is far superior to American chocolate.
I want a Belgian chocolatier as my Valentine.
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@Pamela L. : you know...this article was wasted on you if you think that.
It's like someone still insisting, in 2020, that ONLY European wines are any good, and any wine from the USA is inferior -- when California wines stand proudly among the best in the world today!
Belgian chocolate is fantastic, BTW. But for most people, it is inaccessible or pointlessly expensive.
OF COURSE a common Hershey bar (at roughly 89 CENTS) is not going to be as fine a chocolate or produced in small batches, as a Belgian or Swiss chocolate bar, that is smaller and costs $4-$5!!!! Duh! and guess what? a Chevy Cruze isn't as fine an automobile as a Ferrari or Rolls Royce!
Frankly, I think Hershey's with ALMONDS (roasted!) is quite a fine candy bar and a real bargain at 89 cents. The almonds really lift it out of the ordinary IMHO.
And I can't believe you've never had Scharffen Berger -- I think it is the best chocolate made in the US, and am thrilled when I find it (it's hard to source in the Midwest).
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To each their own, my favorite chocolate is still a plain Hershey Bar.
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@Mkm I may be slightly biased, having lived in both Belgium and Switzerland, and having grown up with Cadbury (pre-Kraft Foods acquisition), but I think I can safely that whatever that company from Pennsylvania calls it, it isn't chocolate...
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@Mkm Hershey chocolate is American taste. Europeans will disagree vehemently.
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@Mkm Ethical consumption is important. "Slaves to chocolate: the child labour in your Hershey's bar." Please consider this when touting Hershey. https://nowtoronto.com/news/chocolate-child-labour-slavery-hersheys/
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The mere mention of ‘chocolate’ brings Alice Medrich of Berkeley CA to my mind, immediately followed by the scent of chocolate as she performs her magic.
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@Paul G Medrich's rum truffles in the 70s/80s(?) were nonpareil, but haven't heard tell of them after arson took out the factory. Who makes (an approximation) to them now?
I fondly associate a number of sounds and aromas among the grand pleasures of living in the Bay Area—the clang of cable car bells, the foghorns, the smell of garlic in North Beach or sourdough bread baking, the unique chirping of the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill, to name a few; however, whenever I exit or enter the Millbrae Bart station, or am otherwise in the vicinity, there is nothing to compare with being enveloped by the glorious, voluptuous scent of chocolate being made at the nearby Guittard chocolatier. Although I have never pinned down its precise location, and while it must be miles away, it is as if one had been magically immersed in a vat of its bean-to-bar richness. Heavenly!
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Speaking of Valrhona, there was a shop at the international airport in Brussels that sold nothing but Valrhona. You didn't even have to buy anything. Just walking through the shop and inhaling was sufficient to satisfy the craving.
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There are many products that Americans and Europeans have loved and consumed at greater and greater quantities, over time, that are produced through practices that are tough on the people involved, as well as the environment. More so all the time.
Like other issues that involve changing the consumer public's mind to create responsible change, it will be, as they say, a tough row to hoe.
Specialty chocolate companies that cater to the wealthy may thrive, as long as they stay relatively small, but corporations like Hershey's, Nestle, Mars, Cadbury's and others don't care how many children pick the beans, they want quantity and ultimately, big profits.
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"By 2001, [people's-NOT-"consumer"] outrage had prompted the major chocolate companies to pledge to end the worst forms of child labor in the cacao industry."
A corporate pledge and $1.50 won't even buy you a chocolate bar, but it will be completely meaningless and forgotten long before its by-year. Actions speak louder!
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I was Zurich Switzerland last year, and bought a chocolate bar that I will have to say was pretty amazing, even though I paid almost $8 for it.
It was made with a new low temperature vacuum process. I don’t remember the brand name it was being sold under, but this was a new technology that was developed and patented at the University of Zurich.
I have long since eaten the chocolate bar, and can’t remember the brand, but if somebody is in Zurich, it is worth finding!
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@Dan Mullendore It may have been Sprüngli or Laderach. Both are light years better than any chocolate manufactured in the States. Laderach recently opened a shop in Manhattan. Writing about chocolate without mentioning the Swiss is like writing about cars without noting the Germans. And Swiss chocolate is readily available everywhere in the US, with supermarkets and Duane Reed and CVS carrying: Lindt, Toblerone, etc.
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@Scott Haas Unfortunately, Lindt sold in America is now made in America. That is to say, your basic bar of Lindt 70 that you buy here is *only* very good. It's better than most of what you get outside of specialty shops. But when we did a double-blind test of American vs. French Lindt 70, the difference was night and day.
I was not surprised. I once participated in a charity benefit chocolate tasting, where we sampled some 40 chocolates from all over the world. Lindt 70 came in third behind two boutique chocolates whose names are sadly lost to memory.
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@Ed H. That's really interesting, didn't know that the manufacturing was now stateside (New Hampshire). One can order many EU and Swiss chocolates online, too; from World Wide and others...
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I closed my eyes after reading this deliciously detailed article and
began to smile as the tastes and aromas of indulgence took their effect. Ensuring the ethics of chocolate production match up to the satisfaction of the product is a key ingredient that hopefully will be included as well.
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The article says that in production, cacao/cacao butter are mixed with "chocolate liquor" or "chocolate paste," but does not say where those come from or how they are made. That seems an omission in understanding the process since neither of those comes off the plant in its raw form...
Note that "direct trade" is also widely known as "fair trade" whether in chocolate, coffee, olive oil or other products. They are certainly more expensive than the grocery store, but provide a real profit for the farmers or producers who often belong to co-operatives which do the actual packaging and selling.
I received a variety of darks for Christmas including one bar of 100% cacao (no sugar). It was an interesting experience.
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Not sure how you missed this part: “Chocolate makers grind the nibs into what’s called chocolate liquor, or chocolate paste. This liquor is ground again, along with sugar and other ingredients that might include milk powder to make milk chocolate, lecithin to smooth the texture, or vanilla for flavor. Sometimes extra cocoa butter is mixed in to give creaminess to dark chocolate..”
The chocolate paste is made by grinding the husked nibs of the cacao beans. This breaks down the cocoa solids and releases the cocoa butter to form a rich, slushy mixture that’s later conched and tempered to form chocolate.
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@Anne-Marie Hislop The key to 100%, beyond a brand that processes good beans well (e.g. La Maison du Chocolat), is letting the piece melt, ever so slowly, without biting. You're tasting purely for chocolate, like unsweetened coffee, and that can be difficult to do when we've been conditioned since childhood to think "chocolate" equals "sweet."
No mention of varieties? Criollo and forastero beans are very different.
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What about caffeine? Does eating chocolate keep one up at night?
Yes, the caffeine in chocolate can keep me awake at night. Sad to skip chocolate mousse!
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@George Jochnowitz theobromine is the culprit not caffeine
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I just had some of the 2nd place winning beans from the Salon du Chocolat made in my chocolate lab, they are kind, gentle and caring in flavor.
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Made in your chocolate lab? Don't do that - chocolate is poisonous for dogs! 😃
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@ABC, funny comment. It took me a moment to get it.
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My great grandfather had a cacao plantation in Brazil. As a young child, I remember tasting the different fresh varieties of the cacao fruit. There was a decent amount of variation between the types. Both in appearance and flavor. I used to like it quite a bit. I have always wondered why that part is rarely used or really seen at all for purchase commercially. I haven't had any since I was a kid.
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@Still Waiting... I wondered that too. I would guess it's eaten locally or used as animal feed.
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A company called Repurposed Pod makes cacao juice at origin. It’s delicious!
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Do you have a specialty produce market nearby? We often have fresh cacao fruits for sale at specialty markets here in Houston.
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Amazing that the best chocolate is made in the countries that have to import cocoa beans. My favorite is dark chocolate, of not less than 70% cocoa, mostly of Lindt-Sprüngli.
@Tuvw Xyz Make sure your Lindt is made in Europe ( France, Belgium , Germany) and not in New Hampshire.
The new 78 % is divine. Not as bitter as 85% and a nice change from the 70%
@Tuvw Xyz I'm a 90% Lindt Excellence lover. Smooth texture, open flavor, not the least bit bitter. Yum.
@Tuvw Xyz not Grenada Chocolate Company all locally grown and organic.. they were the first regarding using locally grown organic and rallied and brought to the world's attention about forced child labor used to harvest the beans
One of the best things about Valentine's Day are the articles about chocolate and the photographs. I can't ever get enough of either, although I do prefer more photos than words.
Great article Melissa Clark and spectacular photography Erin Lubin. How does that chocolate not melt under those hot lights during a photo shoot?
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Excellent story. Nice that you write about Bernachon. In the mid nineties, nobody believed, he was some kind of resistant. You could write also about Pierre Marcolini. In 95, Pierre became world champion of pâtisserie in Lyon. He met at that occasion Bernachon. Pierre was already famous at the time in Belgium but he didn’t know that you could make chocolate by yourself. Helped by Bernachon, he started to transform his company into Bean to barre, the first one in Belgium (that is supposed to be the land of chocolate), but it took him 15 years to meet good producers and to find enough quality beans. His chocolate is the best.
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@René Sépul good point. Perhaps, it must add the healthy effects about Belgium chocolate. I am in the understanding that this chocolate delivers the flavonoids which have beneficial benefits in health. While this is not the case about the cocoa processed with alkali, commonly called "dutched" cocoa, which is not unsafe, but may offer less health benefit due to a reduction in flavanoids. Source, see Harvard University studies. As well the magazine Consumer Report informs about this.
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Excellent article. I will no longer take fine chocolate for granted.
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Sicily was part of the Spanish empire when chocolate came back from the new world. The town of Modica, in Sicily, was the center of chocolate production for Spain; it still produces chocolate using only cocoa mass and sugar. It's wonderful and quite different from most other chocolates.
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@Howard Fischer and virtually identical to Mexican chocolate, in that it is grainy and not smooth.
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@Ellen Tabor
"chocolate, in that it is grainy and not smooth."
Gosh, that is the perfect description of the fudge my mother would make. It was akin to chocolate sand.
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@Howard Fischer Totally agree with your comments about the chocolate from Modica. As we learned during our visit to Modica last year, each chocolate shop makes its product in house. Delightful stuff.
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