Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
The fight continues in the decision whether the use of vegetable fat as substitute for cocoa butter in the production of chocolate in the U.S. will become the new standard or not. In Europe, it took 30 years to resolve the same issue.
The argument brought to the table by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Chocolate Manufacturers Association and other food industry groups involved is modernizing the standard which could save them more money in the long run - vegetable fat is cheaper than cocoa butter. With this proposal, the livelihoods of millions of cacao farmers are at stake. How will chocolate taste with the ‘recipe’ change? Will it ever be the same? As a consumer, I guess, I will never know the difference unless disclosed on the wrapper. I just hope that quality will prevail over quantity or price in the end. I’d rather enjoy a good bar of chocolate than waste my precious, precious hard-earned money over a bad one.
Read article here (Thanks T!).
Monday, July 23rd, 2007
Two weekends ago, Adam and I went to the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon. It was a good excuse for us to get away from the 90°F heat in L.A. My aunt and uncle were kind enough to let us stay in their gorgeous home (overlooking the city!).
It is not often that a chocolate event like this happens in the West Coast. Apparently, this was a first in two decades. I wish the event was held in L.A., but SF was close enough. I was excited and happy to be part of a chocolate event (my first). Held in one of the halls of the historic Fort Mason Center, it was quite an overwhelming experience being in the hall with professional tasters, pastry chefs and chocolate fans. Aside from chocolate and chocolate products tasting, there were demos, talks, and pairings with wine. After our booth hopping and chocolate tasting, we narrowed down our favorites to:
Amano Artisan Chocolates. Founded by Art Pollard, Amano, which means “by hand” and “they love” in Italian, is located in Utah’s Wasatch Mountain range. They make single origin bars with 70% cocoa solids. We got the Cuyagua premium dark chocolate.
Theo Chocolates. Based in Seattle, WA, Theo only uses organic cacao beans to make their exquisite chocolate bars. After tasting the Venezuela 91% cacao, I couldn’t resist getting a bar for myself and the Ghana 84%.
Charles Chocolates. Owned by Charles Siegel (he was actually there at the Salon) and is based in San Francisco. It was fun tasting a few of his decadent confections but we loved the 65% bittersweet chocolate with hazelnuts and candied orange peel!
L’Artisan du Chocolat. Based in Los Angeles, this chocolatier makes chocolates using traditional French techniques. We had fun tasting the Surprise box we got from the event. It was filled with confections infused with exciting and exotic flavors. I think I may be visiting their shop for more!
Thursday, July 5th, 2007
Yesterday, I volunteered to bring dessert for an early dinner get-together at T and K’s. I wanted to make something easy and ready within a few hours. Because it’s summertime, I try to make desserts that do not involve preheating the oven. I always enjoy recipes from Bittersweet, by Alice Medrich, and a few recipes of chocolate mousses caught my attention. Each chocolate recipe has notes on measures of ingredients when using certain types of chocolates and variations of the recipe which I think are unique features. For an amateur baker/dessert maker like me, it gives me confidence doing my own variations of the recipes as well.
So, I made the triple chocolate mousse based on the recipe from Medrich’s book. This was also an opportunity for me to use white chocolate as an ingredient and I hope to make more use of white chocolate in my dessert making and tasting adventure in the future. I made the dark chocolate mousse first and worked my way up – the dark chocolate mousse in the bottom, milk chocolate mousse with espresso in the middle and topped with white chocolate mousse laced with Grand Marnier. To save myself from the stress of dessert presentation, I layered the three mousses on clear plastic cups and skipped the caramelized hazelnut. I started making the dessert a little after one in the afternoon and was done by three in the afternoon!…and that included washing and drying my utensils.
I rewarded myself with enjoying my own cup of the layered mousse. It was fun to taste the different flavors (from light and zesty to rich and dark) as I savored every bite.
Saturday, June 23rd, 2007
After months of busy tax work, preparing for our wedding part II in the Philippines, taking Italian language classes and moving over to a new job, I am finally back to my blogging. I know I missed a few opportunities to post interesting chocolate-related issues. For one, this link Tim forwarded me about a proposal to change the basic formula of chocolate - using vegetable fat substitutes in place of cocoa butter.
An excerpt from Don’t Mess with Our Chocolate site:
“Recently, the U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA), along with 11 other food industry associations, have joined with the Grocery Manufacturers Association(GMA) in supporting what is called a citizen’s petition asking the FDA for approval to change current requirements for a number of food categories, of which chocolate is included. The petition has been recorded with the FDA as Docket # 2007P-0085.
While the FDA has heard from the chocolate industry, they encourage consumers to weigh in as well in order to obtain a balanced viewpoint on any such topic. If you want the standard of identity for chocolate to remain the same, please communicate your opinion to the FDA by going to the “How to Help” tab on this site. Your opinion is important and needs to be heard along with the collective voices from other consumers. We hope this effort will have a favorable impact on the FDA’s decision-making process and will cause it to reject the proposed changes recommended for chocolate.” More…
Saturday, February 17th, 2007
After breakfast today, Adam and I ventured out to the farmer’s market to stock up on veggies and apples from Mr. Ha. While in the area, we got a few more of those energy-saving light bulbs at a hardware/home store and headed out to Cost Plus to check out an item that we thought might go well with our new shelf in the bathroom. We ended up getting out of the store with these.
(From top left)
Tasting notes will be posted soon.
Thursday, February 15th, 2007
You know that feeling…you’re at a specialty store or chocolate shop and you find a really good chocolate bar that you’ve always wanted to try or an enticing truffle delicately placed on a platter among other equally delicious truffles that is just waiting for you to say “I’d like to get a few of those please!” Then, you stop and think again, “Nah, I’m on a diet. Darn!” Well, think again. Avoiding too much, chocolate as one of them, will make you crave for more. Recent study shows that dieting can lead to high cravings for the very foods people are trying to avoid. So, indulge yourself a piece of chocolate once in a while - and don’t forget to exercise.
