From The Blog

New Pastry: Fig Tart!

September 27, 2016 by Lisa Vega

I love figs. When I was growing up in my mother’s house, we had a Black Mission fig tree in the backyard that produced the most delicious, plump little figs in the summertime. I especially love how they pair with chocolate—that syrupy sweetness with a tart edge on top of a classic, chocolatey chocolate. When figs came into season this year, I knew I wanted to do something with them.

To start, we grabbed a few Adriatic figs, which are a little rounder, greener, and sweeter than most (at least to me they are), some classic Black Mission figs, and opened our pantry door to see what we could make.

A tart is a perfect way to layer flavors and textures, and it offers a million ways to build dimension into your dessert. We started our R&D with a honey ganache in an almond sable crust, topped with sliced figs. It was delicious, sure, but a little too plain. To cut through those soft, sweet layers, we added a bit of goat cheese mascarpone on the bottom. Now, all it needed is a little texture: honeycomb! We boiled up some honey, sugar, and water, whisked in the baking soda and let it set into a flaky, crunchy honeycomb that melts on your tongue.

Like all good things, fig season won’t last forever. If I had to guess, I’d say we’ve got two more good weeks left until the figs are gone and the pumpkins are here. So drop in soon and get one while they last!

Tastes Good, Feels Good, Must Be Theobroma Cacao!

June 16, 2016 by Adam Kavalier

Adam Kavalier is the founder of Undone Chocolate in Washington D.C., and he also happens to be a plant scientist whom we like to reach out to when we’re trying to understand the compounds in our beans. Here, he explains the mysterious properties of Theobroma cacao, and why a plant would dare to taste so good.

tree2 Many plants are a source of nutrition for humans and animals, but some plants are so much more than just that. Some plants taste better than other plants, and some just feel good to eat. And then there is Theobroma cacao, a special plant at the intersection of those two worlds that tastes as good as it makes us feel. But why, if we look at this from an evolutionary perspective, would a plant create compounds that we like to eat, and more so, that make us feel good? What’s in it for the tree?

As far as plants go, Theobroma cacao is especially, unusually rich in compounds that impact the way humans feel and function. While it wouldn’t seem critical for T. cacao to make polyphenols (antioxidants), methylxanthines (stimulants), or biogenic amines—(the neurotransmitters that are released in the brain when we feel good and are in love)—all of these actually play a major role in the way a plant survives.

Plants produce sugars through their remarkable ability to photosynthesize, combining the sun’s energy with carbon dioxide and water to produce energy to survive. This process is the basic foundation for life, and the reason we are all alive and able to live on this green planet (and enjoy chocolate). The synthesis of sugars and other compounds such as amino acids, DNA, and RNA, gives a plant cells the ability to survive on a primary level. These compounds are therefore referred to as primary metabolites.

A second group of compounds that includes polyphenols, methylxanthines, and biogenic amines, are more indirectly associated with survival. These compounds are referred to as secondary metabolites. Plants are sessile, which means they cannot move like many other organisms, and therefore can more easily fall victim to predators that are looking to eat (in the case of animals), or infect (in the case of bacteria or fungus) them in order to fend for themselves.

It has been well documented for centuries that the difference between a medicine and a poison is often a matter of dosage. Many secondary metabolites are bitter and toxic to small plant predators but, luckily for us, can be medicinal in large mammals such as humans. So, while secondary metabolites can provide a defense system for plants against insect and animal predators, they can provide medicinal benefit to animals large enough in proportion to the dosage. It is known that theobromine (the most abundant methylxanthine in chocolate) can increase good cholesterol, or HDL levels, and the polyphenols in chocolate can have a positive impact on the vascular system which controls blood flow and blood pressure.

Although they can be toxic to small animals and plant diseases, the wonderful compounds in chocolate are incidentally good for human health, and have the added bonus of making us feel good and tasting delicious!

Cheers to healthy and tasty craft chocolate that makes you feel good!

Tasting Everyday

May 23, 2016 by Alex Voynow

To all my future acquaintances, bus seat neighbors, Tinder matches, and curious onlookers, the answer is “Yes.” No, seriously. It’s true. As a chocolate maker, it’s my job to eat a lot of chocolate every day. I have to. I understand how this looks; from a distance, my job probably seems like an alternate universe where dreams come true, everything is glamorous, and nothing is sad. And sometimes, it really seems that way to me when I talk about it. That said, I want to tell you about the harsh reality of this life.

As I’m writing this, one of my colleagues approaches me with a freshly-tempered bar—broken into individual pieces—expecting that I take and eat one. This is a twice-daily ritual: before the beginning of every tempering round, each member of the production team tastes a square of chocolate from the batch about to be tempered. The idea is to taste the chocolate, and provide a score on a scale from 1 to 10. The number corresponds to our subjective preference for the chocolate, but we also consider its fidelity to the objective flavor—determined by the roast profile we’ve chosen—of whichever origin it is. If the chocolate is Madagascar, for example, we’re looking for its characteristic tangy citrus and berry flavor, and a sharp acidity balanced by a pleasant creaminess. If I think my square matches these sensations, and otherwise tastes good, I’ll probably give it a 7.5 or 8. If it’s exceptional I’ll give it a 9. If there’s something slightly off about it, I’ll say it’s a 6 or 7. If there’s a score of 5 or below, something about the chocolate has caused enough concern that we need to stop what we’re doing and investigate. Or cry.

Elman gives this one an 8.

When I first started working on the production floor, I would relish the requirement to eat these squares not only because I enjoyed them, but also because I was introducing my uninitiated palate to the nuances of our chocolate that change from day to day, and shift to shift. I felt particularly special, a part of a greater process of judgement and consensus, a member of a group that understood sensory subtlety. I felt like I moved in some fancy echelon of connoisseurs who can discern the difference between a 6, a 7, and an 8. That was a particularly juicy feeling considering I was not, nor am I now, a connoisseur, rather just a person who really likes, and now really knows, good chocolate.

This is how we score chocolate, every day.

And now, as Obed insists that I eat this square of a Madagascar bar so he can record my score, I take it, break it in half, and swallow my reluctance. I just had lunch and I have no desire for Madagascar’s tart jab and mouth-coating tendencies. And I had a whole square this morning, plus I had a few spoonfuls of it yesterday, and right now one more square feels like an overdose. I can easily imagine what it tastes like, I’ve tasted it a million times before, so I could half-heartedly chew and swallow and score it, followed by a quick chase of coffee if I wanted. But, like I said, dear reader, my job does require that I eat a lot of chocolate every day. It’s days like this one that challenge me the most, that oblige me to steel myself against the ennui of another bite of chocolate. And so, in consideration of just about every other job I could be holding in this world, and any other thing I could be eating, I eat the half square. I let it melt and express its full range across my tongue, and remember exactly what it is that makes my friends jealous when I tell them what I do for a living.

Sake and Chocolate: A Complex Relationship

May 5, 2016 by Cynthia Jonasson

Our latest pairing endeavor started when we took a recent tour of Sequoia Sake’s small microbrewery at the edge of San Francisco. We realized pretty quickly that there were many parallels between Sequoia Sake and Dandelion Chocolate, and the idea came to us in a flash: let’s do a pairing!

The most obvious similarity between the bean-to-bar process and Sequoia’s sake is the fermentation step, which is a key flavor developer in both products. Secondly, we both take a minimalist approach to our ingredients: Sequoia’s sake is Junmai, meaning it only uses water, rice, koji, and yeast, and Dandelion’s chocolate has only two ingredients: beans and sugar. Finally, Sequoia’s thoughtful choices at each step of the process were focused on creating the highest quality product rather than taking shortcuts, which reminds me of the way we sometimes do things the hard way to keep our product’s integrity and improve quality.

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At first, when I asked some friends to taste the sake and chocolate together, they agreed because they liked one or the other but none of them thought the tastes would mix well. Surprising ourselves, we soon found that both products had layers of complexity that made it hard for us all to agree on our favorite combinations because they were all so interesting. It was really fascinating to see how pairing Dandelion’s Madagascar chocolate with Sequoia’s Genshu sake brought out the more vegetal notes that would usually be overshadowed by Madagascar’s strong, tart, fruity notes. But when paired with the more subtle Nama sake, it brought out elegant fruity and floral notes from Madagascar’s flavor range. Neither was a bad pairing, but each allowed us to more clearly taste notes that aren’t as evident when tasting the bar alone.

Inspired by all the parallels we found between our process and product and everything that Sequoia does, we decided to develop new class which will take place at Sequoia Sake’s Brewery starting Thursday May 26th at 6:30pm. Find tickets on our classes page, right here.

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Guests from the sake industry previewing our new class.

Our class will start with a tour of Sequoia Sake’s factory to explore sake processing, and then we’ll taste samples from various parts of the process along the way. We’ll end with a flight of Sequoia Sake, then move along to learning about chocolate production with tastes from different steps of that process, culminating with a chocolate flight. Finally, we’ll leave participants to pick and pair as they please, exploring the range of flavor possibilities inherent in bringing these two crafts together.

Chocolate in India: A Conversation with Arun Viswanathan

April 26, 2016 by Alex Voynow

Arun Viswanathan is the chocolatier at the helm of Ganache for Da Chocoholics, a chocolaterie out of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. On a sourcing trip to the Coimbatore region in late 2015, Greg, our Chocolate Sourcerer, met Arun. While visiting the U.S. in February, Arun decided to come by our Valencia street location for a few days to learn how we make chocolate from the bean, in the hopes of bringing those skills back to his company in Coimbatore. We caught up with Arun towards the end of his time here to learn more about his business and the chocolate industry in India.

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Hi Arun!

Hey!

So, it’s been great to work with you for the past few days on the production floor here. What’s your background, and what do you do in India?

Well, I got my masters in food science and technology from Cornell University, and later I got my second masters in food engineering and marketing in India. Studying food science, I realized there that chocolate is one of the only fields where I get to bring in a lot of science and creativity.

From there I decided I wanted to specialize in chocolates. Then, I was in Bruges, Belgium, where I got certified as a chocolatier, making bonbons, truffles, and pralines. I worked in a store called The Chocolate Line, run by Dominique Persoone—one of the best [chocolatiers] in Belgium. So then I got back to India, and started my own company—Ganache for Da Chocoholics. We opened our first store in June last year, and now we plan to expand to other cities in India.

What kind of chocolate do you make?

Basically we’re working on the Indianization of Belgian chocolates.

What does that mean?

If you look into a box of our chocolates, you would find flavors like saffron, lemon and pepper, Madras filter coffee, which is like a South Indian delicacy, Gulabi Lassi, which is a rose petal-based product. We also do international flavors like Wasabi, and now we work with farmers in India to help them develop good quality cocoa which we intend to use over time.

What is your relationship with the farmers?

In the global market, Indian farmers are slowly getting recognized for growing cacao, and we would like to one day soon make a single-origin chocolate from Indian cocoa. We’re building a factory now where we want to produce Indian bean-to-bar chocolates.

Have you found a difference between Americans’ taste and the Indian palate? Is there a culture of bean-to-bar chocolate making there?

The American market and Indian market are similar in one way: they both like sweet and milk chocolate, but dark chocolate is definitely surging in popularity in both countries, possibly because the health benefits of dark chocolate are more well-known now. I would say we expect the Indian market in five years to be where the U.S. chocolate market is today—supporting the small batch bean-to-bar chocolate makers, and our chocolate.

Right now you’re selling to people in Coimbatore, which is your home base. Are you selling anywhere else?

Also in Chennai. But we’re planning a franchising model, and we have a factory coming up. Once we have more production capacity, we will be selling it in those two cities plus Bangalore. The factory will also be in Coimbatore, right near all the cocoa farms. We can use all the fresh produce from the farms, which after learning here [at Dandelion], fresh cocoa makes the chocolate taste a lot better.

Bean-to-bar chocolate is so different from the way chocolate has been made for decades. Are there people where you’re from that are skeptical of your chocolate business?

Yes—people are sometimes a little bit skeptical about whether I should be planning for a trend that won’t be existing in the very near future. But from what I’ve noticed, there’s been a really good response so far. We’re coming up with a lot of new concepts and plans, and it’s definitely just the beginning of what we want to do. So someday, we hope to enter the American market. We also started doing workshops for people in India on chocolate, and I’ve also done a chocolate workshop at Cornell University.
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For those who want to make chocolate in India, what are the difficulties that you and others face?

First of all, it’s the market. We have to educate every customer on why the chocolates we make are expensive. So once they understand that, and taste it, they really enjoy it. I wouldn’t really call it an issue, it’s just hard work. Another problem is the sourcing of the cocoa, and specifically the licensing of it. Because it’s a new market, it can be hard to understand how licensing and exporting works, or what laws we need to follow. In terms of bean-to-bar in India, there isn’t really anyone to look up to, so we really have to rely on Google. Other than that, there aren’t really any problems, just huge potential. There’s a huge population who have travelled well, been educated abroad, and who want to taste good products.

You’ve been spending some time at Dandelion, do you have any favorite bars here?

I really like the Zorzal, and I think Madagascar was good too. I’ve eaten so much chocolate here that it’s hard to know what’s what. There was one that I really, really liked, I forget which one though.

Was it Guatemala?

Yes! Guatemala is my favorite. So Guatemala, Zorzal, Madagascar. 1, 2, 3.

It’s been really fun to work with you. What was it like working at Dandelion for a minute?

I’ll put it this way: In India, there’s this grandmother’s philosophy that says when you’re happy in the kitchen, the food always tastes good. I think that comes through a lot in your chocolate. On the production team, I couldn’t see a single face who didn’t enjoy what they were doing. I definitely think that’s one of the main reasons why the chocolate tastes so good. You guys have so much fun here, I don’t know if i’ve had as much fun as I’ve had here in my own factory! I feel like it’s a huge part of your success.

Well gee. I think we do genuinely have fun on the production floor, and it really feels like we’re a team. It’s special that you actually noticed it! Thanks for taking some time to sit down with me.