It has been awhile since I have had time to write a post.  With my family's busy summer and the new transitions for my children with school, the days have flown past me and now suddenly we are in December.

 

One important event for me was getting my first, and hopefully last, crown.  The hardest part was receiving the injection to numb my entire mouth; the shot was very painful, even with my dentist's  careful ministrations.  When the numbness went away a few hours later, I was left with a curious sensation on the surface of my tongue and alarmingly, the lack of taste.  The sensation died down but did not entirely subside and my taste buds seemed traumatized.  I assumed it would be fine with time and forgot to mention it to my dentist when he went in to numb me again to fit the crown.  This time, when the numbness subsided, I noticed the same curious sensation similar to eating a "hot" candy or eating a jalapeno; a burning that seemed to swell each taste bud and that seemed to move across and under the front area of my tongue.  And at that moment in time, I could not taste anything at all.

 I did and do find this alarming.  Luckily, I am an experienced cook and can add ingredients based on years and years of cooking with ratios. All of my chocolate blends are written down which means that I all I  have to do is follow a recipe, my own; however, during the conching process, I taste the chocolate after 24 hours on a timeline which includes a period of time that I must conduct a taste test as often as every thirty minutes until I feel that the balance of chocolate flavors feel right to me; a process that can take up to three days.  Not being able to taste, in a balanced way,  has stopped me from making chocolate for a few months now. As time has passed, my ability to taste has returned, slowly and with a curious unevenness i.e. for about a month I was deeply aware of sugar.  Any sugar in a food or drink product registered on my taste buds as sickeningly sweet.  I almost could not eat, the sweet flavor was so strong.  I was able to eat bitter chocolate and even then was aware of a sweetness that was almost unbearable and the awareness of sweetness would last for hours.  

Which, of course, leads me to think about flavors in chocolate, the balancing of flavors in chocolate and how important it is to remember that at any given time, a person may experience flavor that disappoints during one taste test and then, taste it again, months or days later and find that they LOVE it.  I can taste again, and for this I am extremely thankful,   and will be getting back to doing what I so enjoy doing, making chocolate, eating chocolate, and sharing chocolate.

May your holidays be filled with a sense of hope, joy and chocolate

Home from Paris.

I have returned home from a seven day vacation in Paris, France, relaxed and feeling rejuvenated.  I enjoy New York City, its never-ending wakefulness, a city that is always looking at itself in a mirror and a city, that for me, boredom does not exist.  I enjoy Copenhagen for its modern flair of art and light, how often the people laugh; and I love Sweden for the walking paths that connect the entire country; but it is time spent in Paris that I arrive back to my home rejuvenated, rested in body and soul, coming home ready to begin my real life and bringing some of my experience of Paris back home.

Paris is designed to stroll through its avenues and parks, causing tourists to slow down often without consciousness.  Comparing the noise level in New York City to Paris, shows Paris to be a remarkably quiet city.  It is not quite like the cities in Denmark and Sweden.  No, these cities do not have the sheer number of tourists.  It is in Paris that the French people speak in normal tones in the parks or restaurants or the Metro, making one aware of your own voice and even the tourists drop into normal tones during their stay. 

Alexis de Belloy recently wrote an article for CNN about vacationing in France and he hit upon something that really struck me as important.  He wrote that vacationing was meant to be a chance to experience luxury, not of spending money but of spending time to do the things he would do if he had the money, and to do them every day.  That is precisely what I do in Paris. 

On a beautiful spring day, I enjoyed eating at an outdoor cafe for over two hours in the Tulleries Garden while gazing at the art nearby, art that is juxtaposed next to each other from ancient to modern, at the people walking by and people sitting in lounge chairs soaking up the sun in cool weather.  I enjoyed my rather gruff waiter, clearly frustrated with me for speaking English, his frustration with other patrons who do not understand why he has not given them their check, his frustration for having to explain again “what is that anyway”.

 I am not in any hurry to leave or get my check or have him explain the menu.  I had purchased some chocolate earlier to eat as my dessert and my gruff waiter ends up giving me a terse smile (this is a win if you have ever eaten in a French restaurant with a male French waiter) as he sees the name of the chocolatier on the bag and the chocolate tile in my hand.  I know that taste and memory is affected by one’s surroundings, and that first bite into that piece is the high notes of cherries that give the bright clear spring skies a sharpened crispness, promising a beautiful summer; the cool melt of the cocoa butter like the light wind of spring cooling the skin from the sunny day, and the decidedly chocolate low note that suddenly becomes the perfect end to a lovely meal in an outstanding Paris garden.  Yes, I come home from Paris with the best souvenir.  I have tasted the life of luxury for seven days and will again.  

Seattle, Washington gets chocolate!

If you live in or nearby Seattle, plan on attending the Seattle Chocolate Salon on May 14th.  I believe there are  100 tickets - maybe less by now - for this event. 

Click or copy and paste into your browser the link below. 
http://www.seattlechocolatesalon.com/

Eating chocolate for three or fours hours is an amazing experience for someone who loves to taste chocolate.  Be sure to drink sips of water throughout your stay, taking breaks to clear your palate and eating a protein rich breakfast to avoid feeling queasy later that day.  Mostly, have fun and share the experience with someone.

Disclaimer.

I'm just a mom and wife, who happens to make chocolate from the bean, and used to make a living cooking in commercial kitchens.  Of all the things I am, what I am not is an editor.
I take, or more correctly, create time to do those things I love or absolutely need to do.  Writing is slowly becoming more and more enjoyable and the process is, surprisingly, deeply satisfying; however, editing ends my creative process.   With limited time to do things that are not creative, I will reread my posts about three times.  When I am really pushing myself, I will read the post out loud, finding the silly errors like shutter instead of shudder and not finding it later after it has been posted.  (I did make a comment on this particular mistake, but it doesn't always appear when I check my blog)
With eBlogger, making changes after the post is published means that you, the reader, get notifications that I have posted something new. I find this bothersome, as if I am calling and hanging up the phone just as you answer it. My solution is that once a month or so, I will be sending a notification that I am making corrections and to ignore the next notifications you receive that day.  It will be similar as the bank or credit card notifications we receive, that all of your information may be compromised, and they are working on it, but mine will not have the consequences as those. 

Now, make the world a better place and eat some chocolate. ;-)

Fats, lipids and oils.

I love to cook with fats and oils. I love the tastes and smells it imparts to foods.  I like using an avocado with its high fat content  to create a creamy dressing that is both healthy and satisfying, or using peanut oil which adds a wonderful flavor to quickly cooked foods. Walnut oil is intense and a little goes a long way in dressings or drizzled over something warm.  The addition of lard or suet - if you can find it - in pound cakes  is marvelous; wrapping lard or suet around a piece of meat is to rediscover an age old method to keeping meat tender and moist with the added flavor making it sumptuous. 

As a cook, one must learn the properties of fats and oils to decide what will work best in a recipe, whether sweet or savory.  Cocoa fat, combined with the protein in the cocoa bean, is what thickens the warm or hot drink enjoyed centuries ago and, when done correctly, creates a velvety texture. The method of creating cocoa powder that is used in today's hot chocolate requires that most of the cocoa fat is removed, thereby removing the velvety texture and yet allowing for rapid dispersion in cold milk or water.  In today's world, we are rediscovering the texture that was once created by beating the chocolate fat into an emulsion using methods that did not exist years ago, a method that could take over an hour. Today we re-create that amazing texture with different methods that don't require a strong arm and loads of free time. 

Cooking with the fat in cocoa beans for savory cooking is a wonderful adventure, an excellent way to learn how flavor builds upon other flavors.  As a cook and as someone who enjoys great flavors, exploring the  savory side of chocolate is a entirely new way to understand how the fat in cocoa is special compared to other fats -- for me that is a key to happiness.

Calling all chocolate lovers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A reminder to everyone, that if you are planning to attend this wonderful chocolate event, you must purchase your tickets by April 16th, 2011.  Truly, this is a chance to taste and eat as much chocolate as you desire without feeling guilty about it.

http://www.luxurychocolatesalon.com/

Today I have a link.

I think this is a thoughtful article about why it is important, from a business standpoint, to work and teach farmers sustainable farming practices.  Take a moment to read it when you can spare the time. 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608504576208123457763158.html?mod=dist_smartbrief

Bravo to Hershey!

Next weekend I will be throwing a birthday party for my youngest daughter.  Instead of cake, she wants to have s'mores; that wonderful and messy campfire dessert with graham crackers, marshmallows and a small or large portion of chocolate combined with fun and googyness make for a great memory treat.
I will not be using the chocolate I create as it is expensive and her little friends would not appreciate the flavors I work so hard to create.  I will be using Hershey's milk chocolate bars another comfort chocolate of my youth.  To use my chocolate would be like using a handful of Himalayan sea salt to flavor pasta water when regular salt would be best.  I shutter at the thought.  For me, every chocolate created has a place at my table, depending on who my guests will be and what I am serving.
Why would I mention this? Well, I have learned that  Hershey has funded a study that supports my post on the reduction of flavanols in cocoa beans when submitted to heat. Hershey's honesty and integrity make me proud to purchase their product. Many of the large chocolate companies are currently researching the health benefits of chocolate and they have been funding these studies for a long time. To have a health benefit while eating a much loved candy can only improve the bottom line. The study doesn't take away what appears to be a small cardiovascular benefit  from eating dark chocolate;  it calls into question what does it mean to have a raw cocoa bean. I have eaten a raw cocoa bean.  I have yet to see or eat a truly raw cocoa bean in California.  


I am trying to attach a link via the article to eBlogger but the link will not work.  I will try to get a working link soon.  Below is a copy and paste paragraph of the article in Confectionery News by Jane Byrne.

"The authors reported that in terms of the epi/cat ratio, the highest were found in unripe and ripe, unfermented dried beans. Fermentation and roasting lowered the epi/cat ratio further, with the lowest ratios found in Dutch-processed cocoa powders." Source: The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry
DOI:10.1021/jf102391q
Title: Impact of Fermentation, Drying, Roasting, and Dutch Processing on Epicatechin and Catechin Content of Cacao Beans and Cocoa Ingredients
Authors: M.J Payne, W. J. Hurst, K. B. Miller, C. Rank, D. A. Stuart

Rising prices of cocoa beans, sugar and cocoa butter.

Our US newspapers in December 2010 and January 2011 were filled with bold headlines that the price of cocoa was going up.  A few people asked me with deep concern what was going to happen, how much more expensive was their favorite chocolate going to become, and if I thought a shortage of chocolate would be coming to the US soon.  I don't know. As a micro business, the costs to run it vary greatly as a matter of course and I can only watch and wait for the future to unfold. I will venture a guess that prices will rise and fall and then rise again as instability in the Ivory Coast continue.
The Ivory Coast provides a huge percentage of cocoa products to the western world and cocoa beans play an important role in the current call that the EU support a sanction of this product.  The hoped for result is that this will stop the large amount of monies flowing into the country that pay the civil servants, encompassing the military, police and other government employees.  If the civil servants don't get paid, maybe one man will stop being president and another will take his place.  Of course, this is an over-simplified view.
The middlemen, who include farmers, exporters and others, burned bags of cocoa beans in protest of the sanctions.  They have families to feed and the sanctions make this virtually impossible. Commerce is tied to politics and fear of lack is a huge motivator in future prices and when banks stop working money stops flowing.
I do not believe that the large cocoa conglomerates are going to go bankrupt any time soon. They will use cash instead of banks to do their business and the ties to this country are long. But the farmers and small businesses will bear a greater proportional brunt of price volatility on both sides of globe and consumers must decide how much it is worth to them.
And don’t get me started on the price of oil.

The closing of Cosetinos in San Jose, Ca.

I have recently learned that Cosentino's in San Jose, CA. closed on Saturday, February 27, 2011.  This store is near and dear to my heart, as this is where I discovered 'real' chocolate.  Previous to the summer of 1970, my experience with chocolate was limited to Hershey's milk chocolate bars and M&M's.  We had recently moved into the area and Cosentino's was a mile away, walking distance, from my house.  The first time we shopped at this store, I experienced an awakening of my culinary senses.  Here there were barrels filled with pickles, a real butcher shop, a cheese counter, a bakery of wonderful goods (oh, my aching sweet tooth), and vegetables I had never seen before in my life. The aromas from this store were both tantalizing and confusing as many of those aromas I was unable to identify at that time.
My favorite was the chocolate aisle.  Along one end of this aisle lay before my eyes a mass of chocolate candies from different countries and I remember taking my allowance and purchasing the dark chocolate that cost me the entire allowance. That first taste is, to this day, an experience that shaped my opinion of what chocolate should taste like.  I spent my entire weekly allowance on different chocolates at this store, carefully dividing it into seven days, long enough to last until my next purchase.  Every week without fail I walked to this store and  purchased my treasure, except of course when I lost my allowance due to some negligence my parents felt was inexcusable.  Those were long weeks. To this day I am closet chocolate eater and now a chocolate maker.  Thank you Cosetino's.
I am sad over this closing.  It was a wonderful store.  I shall miss it.

Growing cacao tress.

Cacao's  history, so far, originates from Central and South America. Cacao trees are rather picky about where they grow.  Left to their own biological devices, it is possible that they would have grown close to their origins and not much farther, since the tree is reliant on animals to open the pods, eat and disperse the beans. At one time, it was Mexico that could boast growing the fine Criollo bean, thus having the best beans in the world.  Mexico's history is rich with stories and pictures (hieroglyphics) of the Theobroma tree and pod as the beans were used by royalty for monetary exchange and religious ceremonies, and, later in history in Europe, of the wealthy who were well aware of the physical effect on people who partook of the chocolate drink.  To that point, a side trip we made while on my Costa Rica Chocolate class, was to a small cafe called Caribeans.  Delightfully situated on the beach front, we drank hot chocolate. When cocoa beans are ground and then pressed through a commercial espresso maker, a hot drink transforms into magical brew that  is thick and creamy without milk.  I  read a description by the character E.23 in Kim, by Rudyard Kipling, who expounded on the effects of taking  small amounts of opium, as giving one heart; chocolate when consumed in this thick,creamy and concentrated form, certainly gives one heart to face the day.  The all over effect of this drink helped with my stamina needed to enjoy that day when we had the opportunity to meet  the indigenous people of Costa Rica, the Bri Bri, who introduced us to their God of the Cacao Tree.

But back on my topic. When you look at a globe, you can imagine a belt centered on the equator to understand where cacao trees grow best.  After subtracting all the water and areas that are too high in elevation or too dry or too far from water, and suddenly you have a limited area where we can get cocoa beans.  Costa Rica is able to grow the cacao tree, especially under the canopy of the jungle, giving rise, literally, to the millions of small midges that pollinate the flowers. But it isn't a perfect environment in Costa Rica for the trees, so it is always a challenge to get a high crop yield from the farmers’ efforts.

So with care, cacao trees can be planted in places that are humid, without which the seed would not thrive, year round water,  and enough shade and heat to allow quick decay of vegetation, giving rise to the tiny insects who give life to many plants and animals, and made my life a bit miserable by their sheer numbers.