Chocolate Box

So, in a cupboard in my house on a shelf just within my reach I have a little painted tin. And in that little painted tin is chocolate. When this picture was taken my tin contained a lot of vacation chocolates. KK brought me back chocolate from Chicago and I had received a couple candy bars to remember last summer's trip to Norway and Iceland.
Lately I have been trying all kinds of chocolate. I am trying to develop an understanding of what the flavor properties are of the different cocoa percentages, or single origin chocolates, what flavors or seasonings augment the chocolate, and why I don't like the local Taza chocolate.

In a recent trip to the Boston Public Library I took out Alice Medrich's book, Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate. I had no idea how far we have come since the 70's when she started making truffles across from Chez Panisse. If you are interested in learning the basics of chocolate I really recommend looking at this book. She gives personal stories that show how she discovered the ins and outs of chocolate and helped the country discover real chocolate too. Medrich then gives recipes that show what the proceeding story talked about. She opened me up to the possibility that sometimes water may be the best accompaniment to chocolate.
In Brooklyn right now there is an interesting rivalry happening between the Mast Brothers and Fine & Raw chocolates. They both have rich, interesting and idyllically simple chocolate bars to share that are still very noticeably different from each other. The fact that there are these viable little artisanal business is exciting. The revolution around chocolate is still happening! I can't wait to see where we will be in 1, 2, 5, 10 years!

Chocolate from the Source

In Panama we went to a family farm of ex pats called, Green Acres. They were located on the mainland of Bocas del Toro. When Linda and David Cerutti bought this land they didn't think very much about the cocoa trees that covered it. After reading more about them they learned how these trees are essential to the survival of the Rainforest. They began to cultivate the trees in the name of the environment and chocolate!





In a little tin shed at the bottom of a hill Mr. Cerutti turns the pods into chocolate. He cracks open the giant pods and pops out the 30-40 seeds inside. The he ferments the beans and drys them in the sun. Next he roasts them and chops them into nibs. After that he process them down into a liquid. He puts the chocolate into molds and then freezes them. Voila: Unsweetened chocolate right from the source! Of course this has taken years of experimenting and testing and inventing his own equipment to get all of the timing and technique just right on his little secluded part of Panama. Tranquillo Bay makes all of their chocolates desserts from their neighbor's farm.

The fat of the matter is...

This all started when I got biscuit anxiety at work. The dough was crumbly, dry and not coming together. I thought I had lost my touch. Finally, I was alerted that we got cream for a different company and the milk fat was 40% in this brand of heavy cream instead of the typical 35%.

I started wondering about what all of this means... Of course, this meant pumping KK for all that she knows on the matter and then she lent me her book, "Starting with Ingredients, Baking," by Aliza Green. I've learned a lot and am ready to share.

Here are some basic definitions:

Half and Half is 10-18 % fat.
Light Cream is 18-30% fat.
Whipping cream is 30-36% fat.
Heavy cream is over 36% fat.
extra-heavy cream is 40% fat. (interesting to try an ice cream with this one...)

Creme fraiche is heavy cream ripened with a bacterial culture.

Sour Cream is a light cream ripened by a bacteria that thickens it.

Buttermilk is the left over liquid when you make butter and consequently is very low in fat or has none at all.

Speaking of butter...

American butter is 80% clear yellow butterfat, 18% water 2% milk solids

While European butter contains up to 86% butterfat and much less moisture.
- the extra fat means flakier and richer baked goods and that it doesn't burn as easily.

Plugra is the most common brand of European butter and can be found even at the Trader Joe's.
This butter is obviously more expensive. Everything still comes out wonderfully with regular American butter. Save the European butter for when you really want an edge (or money is no object and you insist on living the most decadent high fat content life possible). If you are going to splurge on it, wait till you are making a puff pastry, or maybe more likely, a pie crust. Your pie will have a flakier, nuttier and easier to work with crust.

If you are still interested in butter facts, read on!

I have always wondered why it says sweet cream on most of the butter I buy. The sweet cream label signifies that it is made from pasteurized cream and can be salted or unsalted. Butter used to be made from soured milk so that there would be more butterfat.

If sex and food are not already linked in your mind, maybe this will help. If you are wanting to make butter and use proper terminology, you churn cream or milk until the butter comes.

You'll need 21 pounds of cow's milk to make 1 pound of butter! Now, I am curious about sheep's milk butter.

Next time I make a crust I am going to try a european butter and I am going to ask around if the butter would make a noticeable difference in a shortbread recipe with which I recently fell in love.

Thank you KK and Aliza Green for all the Information!