“Isn’t the world full of wonderful things, Barnaby?” For those for whom I am hopelessly dating myself, that is a line from The Matchmaker/Hello Dolly. My “Day Well Spent” (the German play upon which Thornton Wilder based The Matchmaker) was actually a weekend, and spent in Portland, Maine, rather than New York City (where Cornelius and Barnaby get into such wonderful trouble, and where I normally spend my days in varying states of wonder). Early spring in southern Maine feels a lot like late winter, but last week, indoors at least, there was lots of new life bubbling up.

As I mentioned in my last post, I attended a Barry-Callebaut (www.callebaut.com) chocolate seminar weekend-before-last, and it was wonderfully informative and inspiring. The company chefs and teachers do a terrific job of understanding, exploring, and sharing the results of their experience. Now I am emulsifying my ganache in a different way, trying to be more patient, letting temperatures ease up and down gradually rather than shocking them, using refrigeration less, hoping to be a better teacher. It is exciting to learn the results of careful research. For example, there may actually be seven possible crystals that cocoa butter can form, not just six!

It occurred to me, with all this theory-and-practice going on, that it is not surprising that new discoveries are being made and new techniques perfected, considering that the science of chocolate is nearly in its infancy in the grand scheme of things. Though chocolate has ancient traditions as a beverage, as a fine confection it is barely more than a century old! With that in mind, I hoped readers would enjoy the following timeline that lays out the essential chocolate discoveries that bring us to modern couverture.

1828 The cocoa press is invented in Amsterdam by Casparus van Houten (Sr.). This simple hydraulic construction could squeeze out about half of the natural fat in the cocoa nibs, leaving behind a cake that could be ground into cocoa powder, much easier to dissolve in hot liquids than full-fat chocolate. So while the cocoa press was, on the surface, an advancement in chocolate the beverage, the isolation of cocoa butter was essential to the evolution of chocolate the confection. Plus, van Houten treated his cocoa powder with alkaline salts to make it more blendable, thereby adding a method (Dutch-process, alkalized, Dutched) that makes myriad cocoa – and chocolate – colors and flavors possible to this day.

1840 Belgian company Bervaerts produces arguably the first solid chocolate, in the form of pressed tablets, pastilles, and figures.

1846 The first chocolate bar is marketed by English chocolate manufacturer J. S. Fry & Sons. Pure chocolate liquor (the natural yield from the cocoa beans) and sugar will only produce a crumbly mass that, pressed into a bar, produces a very coarse product. In the years that followed the chocolate bar’s debut, producers learned that with the addition of some extra cocoa butter, as isolated by van Houten’s cocoa press, it is possible to create a relatively smooth cake.

1865 In Italy, chocolate is first blended with hazelnut praline paste to produce gianduja.

1875 Daniel Peter figures out how to combine his chocolate with Henri Nestlé’s condensed milk, and milk chocolate is born.

1879 Swiss chocolatier Rodolphe Lindt invents the conche. This mixing machine, originally conch-shaped, makes it possible to blend the basic chocolate bar ingredients over a period of days until the particles are tiny and smooth, with the added benefit that some undesirable acid compounds evaporate away during the process, improving the flavor as well. Chocolate as we know it is now possible for the first time in history.

1921 White chocolate comes on the market.

Once the basic materials existed, then it was a fairly straight shot to molded chocolate, molded filled chocolates, truffles, etc. The groundwork was set in the Nineteenth Century, so that the Twentieth could become the great chocolate century, with chocolate on every table, in every food shop and confectionary, in most market bags, and in lots of pockets, too. So where are we now? Still at the dawn of creation, as far as I am concerned. The whys of chocolate chemistry have been poorly understood until recent years, and there is still much to do and learn. With lots of thanks to Barry-Callebaut, I am hoping to help push the envelope and watch where we all go from here.

Part of the joy of chocolate is in learning about its complex chemistry. This is particularly strong in my mind today as I prepare for the Callebaut (www.callebaut.com) chocolate seminar this weekend in Portland, Maine. Normally I find myself too busy to consider attending a trade event out-of-town. But this time I just felt I owed it to myself and my business to attend, to see what I can learn about chocolate from this particular panel of experts.

Next week I will share with you anything exciting that happens this weekend. Even if there are no new chocolate discoveries in the hopper, there will doubtless be new discoveries for me. There is never a dull moment in the chocolate life.

Meanwhile, for those of you who have not read my “Public Service Announcement” about chocolate at www.brucesbest.com, I tried to gather together all the main points in chocolate’s nutritional/psychoactive chemistry profile. I reprint it below in the hope that you find this story as endlessly fascinating as I do.

A Public Service Announcement about Chocolate

Not only is chocolate the world’s favorite treat, it is perhaps the most beneficial as well. To start with nutrition, exciting evidence is mounting to show that the antioxidant polyphenols in chocolate, called flavonols, work to inhibit the formation of sticky ldl cholesterol oxidations that form blood clots and clumps on artery walls. So consuming chocolate may actually help to improve blood flow and reduce blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular accidents associated with clots. Do not expect your doctor to take you off your aspirin therapy in favor of chocolate therapy, yet the evidence is promising.

Chocolate does contain a good bit of saturated fat, which is of course implicated in raising serum cholesterol levels. However, eating chocolate has been proved to have a neutral effect on cholesterol levels (perhaps with the help of the soy lecithin that fine chocolates contain). And cholesterol starts to become irrelevant if it does not stick or clump. Also, naturally saturated fat like cocoa butter is highly resistant to rancidity, the oxidation process that releases free radicals implicated in a wide range of human ailments, from gout to cancer. So chocolate not only contributes no free radicals of its own but also fights the free radicals from other sources! Not bad for candy.

Keep in mind that high (natural) fat treats modulate blood sugar levels, discouraging the sugar spikes and resulting inflammation and mood swings associated with sugary snacks. So chocolate treats are less likely than high-carb, low-fat treats to lead to obesity and diabetes. And, finally, chocolate does not promote acne nor tooth decay, as has been claimed in the past. In fact, it is likely that cocoa butter prevents some of the damage done by dental plaque by leaving a protective film on the teeth.

All this healthy stuff would be of much less interest were it not for the feel-good side of chocolate chemistry. Among chocolate’s more than three hundred chemical components are mild doses of several psychoactive drugs. The stimulants include caffeine, theobromine (named for the cocoa tree itself, the food of the gods, theobroma cacao), tyramine, and phenylethylamine, an amphetamine-like substance that releases dopamine to the appropriate brain centers of lovers and chocolate-lovers alike.

The uppers are mellowed by downers. An ongoing marijuana study in San Diego, CA, has discovered that a substance in chocolate called anandamide enters the blood stream and bonds with the cannabis receptors in the human brain, producing a mild but measurable euphoria. No average adult will get stoned on chocolate - the required dose is about twenty-five pounds in one feeding frenzy - but the trace chemistry is real. This may be part of chocolate’s proven analgesic properties. Some of the most effective pain relief medications have been designed around a pain reliever coupled with caffeine to help speed the analgesic across the brain/blood barrier. Chocolate appears to be doing the same thing naturally.

The other important relaxant begins as the amino acid tryptophan. One of its chemical products is serotonin, famous for promoting feelings of calm, relaxation, confidence, and well-being. Tryptophan is also a precursor of melatonin, the circadian (waking/sleeping) rhythm regulator, and niacin, which has a host of functions (including cholesterol balance, leading us back to the nutrition side). So it is clear that there really is a chocolate high that both invigorates and relaxes. And it is legal. And remarkably healthy. Who could ask for more?

Keep in mind that all of these facts pertain to natural dark chocolate. Milk chocolate might contain as little as half as much natural chocolate as bittersweet, so the benefits decrease accordingly. And white chocolate is missing the bitter cocoa solids that contribute all of the drugs and most of the nutrients. That is one reason why at Bruce’s Best we use only high quality dark chocolates for our centers, with a bit of milk and white for finish and garnish as needed. Beware of imitations. The products called coating, summer coating, compound, or chocolate-flavored-something-or-other are loaded with trans fat and typically very high in sugar as well. And the cocoa powder they may contain is normally low in flavonols and other desirable components. These imitations are sweet, cheap, and easy to handle; but they are not chocolate.

The Cacao God, from a Classic Mayan bowl

            Recently, while preparing to teach a private cooking class at Cooktique in Tenafly, New Jersey (www.cooktique.com), I was considering a number of possible desserts.  For a menu built around grilled marinated flank steak with coffee chipotle glaze, my thoughts turned naturally to chocolate.  Actually, my thoughts always turn naturally to chocolate, but especially when planning a menu with beefsteak. 

The menu needed to be approachable for participants at all levels of culinary experience, so it was simple to put aside thoughts of cakes and other sweets that require real baking in favor of an easy sauce for ice cream that is also easy to love.  In fact, I have never heard any American say no to the idea of a hot fudge sundae.

The recipe below was created only about two years ago for my chocolate week at the Culinary Center of New York (www.culinarycenterny.com).  In looking over my sauce recipes – raspberry coulis, caramel sauce, white chocolate sauce, crème anglaise, etc. – I had noticed the lack of a really old-fashioned fudgy sauce for ice cream that could be as gooey or as creamy as desired.  In fact, I hoped to reproduce the hot fudge from my childhood, the one they served at the Guilford Dairy Bar in Burlington, North Carolina.

While we can never go home again (and nor would I want to, thank you very much), it is often an exciting challenge to try to create a dish that will not only be delicious but also warm the cockles of the heart in a Proustian way.  For this hot fudge, I reasoned that it would be simplicity itself to create a sauce even better than the one from a simpler place and time.  With good Belgian chocolate around (my preference), anything chocolate is always better than anything could have been in the South in the ‘50s and ‘60s.  So I knew the sauce would be really good, I just needed to figure out how to duplicate the wonderful texture.

Something in my experience made me think of sweetened condensed milk, that mainstay of the dessert kitchen in the South and also much of the Americas.  Canned milk products caught on quickly in many climates where fresh dairy products were hard to find and hard to hold.  And they still give just the right texture and flavor to traditional favorites.  The combination of semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate below is just right for my taste.  You might vary the proportions, or use 9 ounces bittersweet plus 1 ounce unsweetened, or 10 ounces extra-bittersweet (about 70% cocoa mass). 

So next Monday night when we reach the end of our class and help ourselves to ice cream, toasted nuts, strawberries macerated in Grand Marnier (our bow to adulthood), vanilla-scented whipped cream, and a dark and luscious chocolate sauce, at least one of us will be transported to a time and place when hot summer days were impossibly long and hot fudge sundaes tasted impossibly good.

 

Hot Fudge Sauce

about 2 ½ cups

 

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 ounces butter

½ cup sweetened condensed milk

½ cup hot coffee, approximately

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

            Place chocolates and butter into a stainless steel bowl over a pan of hot water.  Stir until smooth.  Stir in remaining ingredients until smooth.  Thin with more hot coffee if desired.  Use warm.