"cacao" news and stories

Let's face it: if you take a glace at the rapidly expanding chocolate section of almost any store, there is bound to be at least one product that needs a second (and much closer) look just to figure out the label. In this case, I'm not referring to products with unusual flavor combinations, but to those marked with a cacao percentage.

Consumers and manufacturers alike have gone crazy over chocolates labeled with their cacao percentage in the last year or so, and even though the numbers themselves are clear, not everyone understands what those numbers mean. Often, the percentages are equated with the quality of the chocolate, leading to the idea that the darker the chocolate, the better it will be in spite of the fact that the darkest chocolate - usually unsweetened, 99% cacao- is actually quite unpalatable.

The cacao percentage indicates how much of a given product, by weight, is made up of cocoa solids from the cocoa bean (cacao), like cocoa butter and cocoa powder. The rest of the bar is made up of sugar, vanilla and/or other ingredients, including milk and the occasional emulsifier. This basically means that a bar of chocolate with a higher cacao percentage will usually have more chocolate in it and a stronger cocoa flavor (i.e. it will be more bitter) than one with a lower percentage, but that doesn't necessarily mean that bars of equally high percentages will taste alike.

Caviar seems to represent luxury and good taste, both in food and in life, so caviar fans can rejoice that the global ban on caviar is being lifted this year as stocks of sturgeons are up and caviar-producers can start exporting their wares again. Farmed caviar, and American caviar in general, is still an outstanding alternative for a caviar fan because it is often a good value and seems to be improving in quality every year.

If you're not a fan of the fish eggs, you're not alone. There is an alternative to them that will give you the same classic look, but with a much improved texture and flavor: Chocaviar. This caviar is made with chocolate from the Italian chocolate-maker Venchi, which has been expressing "chocolate's soul" since 1878. Each little piece of chocolate is dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder, which intensifies the flavor (something you might not want with the fishier caviar) and makes the product slightly reminiscent of tiny chocolate truffles.

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We first heard about Cacao Reserve chocolates, the new premium line from Hershey's, a couple of weeks ago. It is the first Hershey's-branded premium chocolate line, since up until this point, all of the gourmet products from the company have been produced by Scharffen Berger or Joseph Schmidt Confections, the two luxury chocolate brands that Hershey's acquired. Cacao Reserve is all-natural and, like so many other new chocolates, is categorized by cacao percentage, not just "milk" or "dark." They seem to carry the full line, although I did not see the "country of origin" bars (with beans from specific countries, at Target and I picked up a couple bars to try.

According to their mission statement, sweetriot's goal is to "create a more just and celebrated multicultural world for our next generation." A fine mission, to be sure, but what they actually do is sell a line of chocolate covered cacao nibs. Appropriately named "peaces", all of their products are all-natural, gmo-free, dairy-free, kosher, gluten-free and feature only fair trade chocolate. In addition to carrying a social cause, they also taste great. The nibs come in three primary flavors, divided and named by the cacao content of the chocolate that enrobes the nibs. Flavor 50 is a mild dark chocolate and almost similar in flavor to milk chocolate, though it is dairy-free. Flavor 65 is a classic dark chocolate and flavor 70 (pictured) is extra dark and boosted with a bit of espresso.

My favorite way to eat them is to mix the three different peace mixes - 50, 65 and 70 - together. The sweeter 50 takes the edge off the dark 70, while leaving a nice espresso taste. Basically, they all just get along - and there's no need to overthink it because it tastes so good.

If you want to give them a taste, the Happy holly-days pack and Hanukah packs deliver one tin of each flavor and also make great little gifts. You can also try the newest flavor, 70cinn, which is a limited edition flavor released just for the holidays.

Fans of Scharffen Berger Chocolates will appreciate this cookbook by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg, the founders of the company. Working with food writer Susie Heller, the pair put together the Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate, a cookbook that is devoted to chocolate for those who really appreciate it. Even though Scharffen Berger is now owned by Hershey's, the chocolates are still produced to their original, gourmet specifications and these recipes reflect that attention to detail. The more than 100 recipes are arranged according to their cacao content and, unlike more generic recipes that just call for "milk" or "dark" chocolate, these are specifically tweaked to work best with the individual chocolates called for. This strategy is a good way to sell more chocolate and a bit of a PITA if you aren't really a chocolate connoisseur, but if you already buy your chocolates this way (and many of us do), this cookbook should give you much better than average results and the recipes will require no tweaking. Recipes include White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache, Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes, Chocolate Ginger Pots de Crème and even a couple of savory recipes that primarily use cocoa powder, like Chile Marinated Flank Steak and Vegetarian Chili.

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