July 1, 2009
Posted by Ed Levine, December 27, 2008 at 1:00 PM
How does a serious eater justify a tour of Paris chocolatiers? In the New York Times, Amy Thomas pedals from shop to shop. There's no way she could have burned off all those chocolates, but it's the kind of rationalization I would use.
Where did she pedal?
Patrick Roger, Michel Chaudon, Pierre Hermé, Christian Constant, Jean-Charles Rochoux, Pierre Marcolini, and Michel Cluziel.
Thomas actually quotes the great Paris-based food blogger and pastry chef David Lebovitz, but in typical Times style the piece doesn't link to Lebovitz's blog, which has an incredibly discerning and passionate Paris chocolate section. My guess is that Thomas used David Lebovitz's blog as the jumping-off point for her story.
Posted by Clay Gordon, October 22, 2008 at 5:00 PM
I just got back from a trip to the Dominican Republic, where I was doing research with a client. When traveling to cocoa-producing countries such as the Dominican Republic, one thing I always look for is how locals consume cocoa and chocolate, and manifestations of this "native" form.
Generally, cocoa farmers around the world don't make the kind of chocolate we're used to eating in the United States, in large part because highly refined chocolate requires lots of power and nearly ubiquitous air conditioning and refrigeration. This may work in big cities, but not out on the farm.
For this reason, most chocolate made by farmers in cocoa-producing countries like the Dominican Republic, is consumed as a beverage, not eaten.
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Posted by Clay Gordon, October 15, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
With recent interest surrounding whether chocolate is a health food, I am regularly asked: "Is chocolate a health food?" What's the deal?
It seems like everyday, there's a news report about a medical study confirming chocolate is, in fact, good for heart health, cardiovascular health, and even diabetes. This is added to what we already know about chocolate: it doesn't really cause acne and a chemical inside chocolate actually inhibits the formation of cavities.
Of course, the real answers are not so cut and dry.
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Posted by Clay Gordon, October 8, 2008 at 2:00 PM
A recent headline in the trade press heralded: "Options for chocolate lovers tripled." Cynically, I thought this was a come-on for the release of a raft of new chocolate products from some mass market candy company. Intrigued nonetheless, I clicked on the link to see that current research into cacao genetics is starting to bear fruit (pun intended).
Juan Carlos Montemayor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Germplasm Repository and lead scientist of cocoa genetics at Mars, Incorporated, and his group announced recently that ten genetically distinct varieties of cacao actually exist instead of just three, which have been almost universally recognized by the scientific community for at least 40 years.
Chocolate aficionados are probably aware of the two best-known varieties (criollo and forastero) as well as one originating in Ecuador (nacional), and a common hybrid of criollo and forastero called trinitario, named after the island of Trinidad, where it was developed after a blight devastated the cacao crop in the 1700s. This new research, performed by genotyping 1,241 cocoa samples from different geographical origins, resulted in the identification of ten genetically distinct clusters.
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Posted by Clay Gordon, October 1, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Several advocacy and humanitarian organizations are asking Americans to participate in "reverse trick-or-treating" this Halloween to help build awareness about inequities in the global cocoa industry and alert consumers to Fair Trade chocolate alternatives. For the second year in a row, Co-Op America, Global Exchange, and other non-profits are sending kits to consumers across the U.S. for free, asking them to join in their efforts to raise the profile of Fair Trade chocolate.
The idea is for trick-or-treaters to "give back" Fair Trade chocolates at the houses they visit, "sharing a friendly Fair Trade message with [their] neighbors," according to Co-Op America. Last year, chocolate for reverse trick-or-treating 72,000 households was distributed. (Note: that's less than one-hundredth of one percent of U.S. households.) The chocolate included in the reverse trick-or-treating kits will be donated by Alter Eco, Equal Exchange, La Siembra, and Theo Chocolate.
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