Preliminary Wine and Chocolate Pairings at Crushpad

August 30, 2008 at 4:41 am (Chocolate Friends, Shows and Samplings, Uncategorized)
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In late August, TasteTV organized a gathering of chocolatiers, chocolate makers and Crushpad.  Crushpad, located in San Francisco, is a place where ordinary people  can custom create wines, have it bottled and labeled, all to your exact standards.  Amongst the tasters were from front left to left back: Patrick Hurley of Crushpad, Nina Luttinger of Tcho, Carly Baumann of Cosmic Chocolate,  and Hayden Moulds of Crushpad. From right front to right back is Andre Krump of TasteTV, Dominik Schieweck of Schoggi, Charlotte of Schoggi, and Michael Zitzloff of Crushpad.  Not pictured are me, Mindy of Jade Chocolates, who was busy taking this photo, and Art Pollard and Mr. Goble of Amano.  They were late as they were getting in all the way from Utah.

The task at hand was to narrow down a sampling of 11 wines to the chosen few that paired best with everyone’s chocolates.  It’s a tough job, but we were all ready for it….one white wine, a few merlots, syrahs, zinfandels, cabs, and even a pinot blanc were tasted all the while nibbling on chocolate bars and truffles.  

My favorite was a Merlot by Alder Springs, but the majority of people favored the Late Harvest Cabernet from Vineyard X. 

Chocolate Seizure will be held on September 11th at Crushpad.  Join us and sample the chosen wines and see which wine you’d like to see bottled for chocolate pairings.  Along with the admission into the event, you’ll get a reserved bottle of wine for Chocolate Seizure 2008.

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Our Newest Friends, Downey Chocolates and our Booth Neighbors

August 27, 2008 at 5:30 am (Chocolate Friends)
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My relationship with Downey Chocolates began with a simple phone call to Tracey Downey.  I knew that she had participated in the same food show in Anaheim last year, and since I was not getting phone calls and emails answered by the event coordinator, I resorted to calling Tracey.  And I’m so glad I did.  Although I just met her once, I know that this is only the beginning of our friendship.  She’s EXTREMELY nice and not only did she answer my questions regarding the food show but she also answered all of my curious questions about the chocolate business.  I asked ton of questions, especially on the production of truffles.  I tasted her raspberry symphony truffle, and believe me, the liquid center is killer!

After the Anaheim event, Tracey invited me to her chocolate cafe in Laguna Nigel, CA.  Here’s a photo of her cafe, after hours. She offered to show me her cafe, despite the fact that we both just spent 3 exhausting days pushing our own chocolates back in Anaheim.  An hour after the food show was through, I found myself in her cafe, and am so appreciative that she went out of her way to do this for me.  I had the privilege of getting a behind the scenes tour of what it takes to run a brick and mortar operation.  Since Jade Chocolates is a new start-up with just under a year under our belt, Tracey’s knowledge and insight are golden.  I walked away knowing much more than I did.  Participating in these gourmet food events are great to spread the word out to consumers.  But forming relationships with other business owners is great as well. 

SIDENOTE:  I’ve found out that being a part of the chocolate business is like being part of a community.  For the most part, one chocolatier or chocolate maker helps out another.  More on this in a later post.

Here’s my new friend fixing up a quadruple shot of espresso for me and my assistant, for the long ride home back to San Francisco.  (By the way, she’s the daughter of Morton Downey, Jr. You can see a photo on him on the back wall in the photo of the cafe.)

Downey Chocolates and Jade Chocolates will both be participating in this year’s Los Angeles Chocolate Salon on October 5th at the Pasadena Convention Center.   If you’re in town, stop by both of our booths.

I also wanted to mention a little something about our booth neighbors back at the food event in Anaheim.  To the right of us was Intensity Academy, a couple who came all the way from Florida to sell their famous Chai Chipotle Chup. This ketchup had previously won a scovie award.  Here’s a photo of Michele getting a TV interview.  Their ketchup sold out the second day of the show.

And to the left of us, were two companies, The Hampton Popcorn Company, and Chipotle Texas.  The popcorn company from upstate New York came together with Chipotle Texas and created a few spiced up flavors of popcorn.  In the photo is a very serious Gale Carr, manager of Chipotle Texas, his son in the middle, and the very serious Arthur Kerr, VP for The Hampton Popcorn Company.

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Ace of Cakes and Aaron of Hell’s Kitchen in Anaheim

August 23, 2008 at 4:53 am (Shows and Samplings)
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If it wasn’t for the popularity of the Ace of Cakes team, the Food Event in Anaheim would have been just another hum drum convention.  The vendors, including Jade Chocolates, owes a bit of gratitude to Duff, Geoff and Mary Alice for they drew in the big crowds.  Saturday was jammed packed.  There were a sea of giddy girls wearing homemade ‘I love Geoff’  and ‘I love Duff’ t-shirts.  Who would of thought that a team of cakemakers would attract the hearts of so many? We caught sight of Geoff and got a quick photo off of our cell phone.  Geoff’s a nice guy, by the way, very much like himself on television.  

The next morning we gave them a few of our chocolates and had Duff sign our new Mahal bar, which we debuted at this event.  We did a short run ‘beta batch’ of this bar.  The response of this bar was so great, that we probably won’t mess with the recipe too much and hopefully we’ll get the Mahal bar to market within a few months.  One of the ingredients in this new bar is ylang ylang, which is more commonly used as an aromatic in perfumes.

Jade Chocolates won 2nd place for best packaging for our Chocolate Fan Samplers at the event. 

 

 Also at the event was Aaron, famous for his role in last season’s Hell’s kitchen.  He stopped by our booth and was glad to see what we were up to. Here’s a photo of Chef Aaron doing a demo for the audience.

Along with chef demonstations, there was a cake contest.  Here’s a photo of the winner, a cake dedicated to Las Vegas and another photo of a close winner, the Liberty Bell.  The participants of the cake contest were all culinary students.

       

We met a lot of great people at the Anaheim event, watch for the next posting on Downey Chocolates.

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Road Trip to Anaheim

August 21, 2008 at 1:56 am (Shows and Samplings)
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We were excited for our big road trip to Anaheim for the 3-day long America’s Best Food event. We had to prepare what we needed to bring as far as chocolate goes, so we were up until midnight on  Wednesday packaging bars and putting them in the coolers. In total, we had five coolers and a couple of bags for table displays and such. 

At 4am we were on the road.

My assistant and I were quite tired from the night before but we were excited for what was in store for us. With five CDs in the CD player and two bags of snacks in the car, we were on our way. Danna slept most of the time which left me a little restless. As we were driving on I-5 I thought that the monotony of 250 miles of straight driving on a two-lane highway was the worst that could happen; but apparently not! As we approached the Grapevine just outside of LA, our car decided to shut down.  I revved the engine, but the car kept going slower and slower until we found ourselves on the shoulder. 

The noon sun was slowly rising and it was turning out to be as hot as Spring Break in Mexico.  And we had five coolers filled with chocolates! My insurance insisted that I find out our exact location before she dispatched a tow truck.  After 20 minutes on the phone trying to figure out our location, Danna pressed the ‘help’ button on our newly bought Tom Tom/GPS  (I guess someone should  have read the instructions.) and told us exactly where we were.   

About a half an hour later, the tow truck came and drove us 97 miles to Anaheim. Here’s our car sitting pretty on top of the tow truck bed.

 

I hate road trips!

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How to Taste a Chocolate Bar-Part 2

August 20, 2008 at 6:22 am (Product Information)
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These are a few recommendations on how to taste a chocolate bar.  Taste the same type of chocolate in one sitting, and limit to 3-5 tastings.  I find that tasting more than 6 at a time is overwhelming. Number the samples and use the list of descriptions from the previous posting. Feel free to add your own descriptive words.

Don’t get distracted or disturbed.  Pay close attention to the full tasting experience.  Jot down notes, and if you’re tasting with others, keep your comments to yourself until the end.  Only share your comments after the tasting is over.  Remember that everyone’s findings are of personal choice and that your comments may not necessarily agree with others.  The purpose of this is to develop your own personal chocolate profile. Also, make sure that there are no strong odors in the room.

Wash your palate between tastings.  Take a sip of water between tastings preferably with unsalted crackers in order cleanse your palate from the previous chocolate sample.  Or you can take Clay Gordon’s advice, author of Discover Chocolate, and sip green tea in between tastings. 

Taste during the best time of day. Chloe Doutre-Roussel, author of The Chocolate Connoisseur, tastes her chocolate before breakfast.  Chloe suggests you find the right time of day when you are most alert and  when you have not eaten within two hours.

Taste with your senses. 

1. Smell-How much of the chocolate can you smell?  Are there any other scents you detect?

2. See-Are there flaws in the chocolate such as blooming?  Blooming is a white powdery coating on the surface of the chocolate which may affect the texture and taste of the chocolate.  How shiny is the chocolate?  Generally speaking, milk chocolate will not be as shiny as a piece of dark chocolate.

3. Touch and Hear-Look for a crisp snap when you break a piece of chocolate. 

4. Taste

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Developing your Chocolate Profile-How to Taste Chocolate-Part 1

August 9, 2008 at 6:37 am (Product Information)
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What type of chocolate bar do you like?  If you answered ‘milk’ or ‘dark’ or even the ever perplexing ‘anything above 72%’, I implore you, even beg you to develop a sharper chocolate profile.  There are many levels to chocolate that goes beyond the amount of cacao percentage and whether or not it contains milk.    If you’re eating chocolate for health reasons alone, then the target of 72% cacao or higher is sufficient.  But unless you’re eating an ounce or two a day, I  highly suggest that you eat chocolate for it’s flavor profile. 

In order to develop your chocolate profile you need to eat chocolate scientifically.  You need to take notes, and be mindful of the different tastes and when those tastes begin and when it ends during the tasting experience.

First, make a list of the possible flavors in chocolate.  Your list may include the following descriptions:

1. Chocolate
2. Bitter
3. Astringency
4. Acid
5. Fruit
6. Floral
7.Caramel
8. Other (such as buttery, woodsy, smokey, sour etc.)

The above should be evaluated using a scale factor from 1-10, with 1 being weak and 10 being very strong.  Then there are other comments such as the following:
9. Mouth feel-Gritty, Smooth or Chalky?
10. Other comments (such as ’I would/wouldn’t buy this’ or ’This chocolate would be great to use in Aunt Martha’s chocolate cake recipe’, etc.)
11. Overall Rating from 1-10.

You should taste similar chocolates in one sitting.  Comparing similar chocolates, such as two different bittersweet chocolates, two different 65% chocolates, or two different chocolate bars with almonds, etc.  You’ll be able to tell exactly what elements makes for some great tasting chocolate.

Personally, I like bittersweet chocolate with high fruit notes, smooth mouth feel, low astringency, mid bitterness, never sour and my milk chocolates to have high chocolate notes, extremely smooth mouth feel, caramelly. 

Stay tuned for part two of ‘How to Taste a Chocolate Bar’.

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Chocolate May Reduce the Risk of Pre-eclampsia

August 7, 2008 at 5:17 pm (About Me, Industry News)
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A recent Yale University study of 2291 pregnant women who delivered a single baby between 1996 to 2000 suggests that eating chocolate during pregnancy may reduce the risk of the mother developing pre-eclampsia.  Pre-eclampsia is a condition in which a pregnant woman develops high-blood pressure that causes swelling and/or high concentration of protein in the urine.  It also puts the fetus at risk as it is also associated with reduced blood flow to the placenta.  Pre-eclampsia can turn into eclampsia in the mother which causes comas, convulsions, and possible death.

In this study, women were checked for theobromine in their umbilical cord blood.  Theobromine, a chemical found in chocolate, crosses the placental barrier which means that the consumption of chocolate can be checked here.  The potential role of this chemical is that is may improve placental circulation.

Compared to women who ate less than 1 serving of chocolate weekly, this group of women were more likely to develop pre-eclampsia (5.5% in this group) than women who ate 5 or more servings of chocolate (2.9% in this group) during their first and third trimesters. 

If you’ve read the ‘Our Story’ page on the Jade Chocolates website, you already know that I got into the chocolate business partially due to the new craving for dark chocolate I acquired while I was pregnant. 

If I only knew this when I was pregnant!  During my second trimester, I was diagnosed with this condition.  I was told to rest a lot.  By the end of my pregnancy, I was going to the hospital for check-ups three times a week.  At my last appointment, my blood pressure must have been pretty high so they decided to induce labor.  Giving birth is the only cure for pre-eclampsia.  Apparently, I wasn’t eating enough chocolate!  I would have gladly gained a few extra chocolate pounds if it would have prevented my condition.  Luckily, there were no complications afterbirth.

This photo is of me at 21 weeks pregnant, taken at my cousin’s wedding in the Napa Valley.

The original article was published in Epidemiology, May 2008 issue.

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