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PrintFor the Love of Chocolate
The mere mention of it can make your mouth water.
Why do so many of us have a lasting love affair with chocolate? It is claimed to be one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world, and deservedly so.
Labels describe it as smooth and silky, bold and strong, creamy and smooth. Adding to its melt-in-your-mouth allure, studies claim that chocolate can decrease risk for stroke and cardiovascular disease, and that it even has anti-cancer properties.
It has also been found to contain phenylethylamine—a natural chemical that creates a similar feeling to that of falling in love. Remember those sweaty palms and butterflies in your stomach? Ah, now we begin to understand the source of our passion.
Certain chocolates can make your heart feel almost as if it skips a beat as you savor the chocolate, yet others—well, they just taste like an ordinary bar of chocolate. Why is this?
The main ingredient of chocolate is cocoa beans, actually seeds from the football-shaped pods that grow on the tropical Theobroma cacoa trees. Just like growing grapes for wine, conditions and the location in which a cacoa tree grows will affect the flavor and uniqueness of its fruit.
The roasting and processing of the beans also contribute to the specific flavor of the finished product. The percentage of combined cocoa solids and the amount of cocoa butter used determine whether the chocolate will taste sweet or bitter. A good rule of thumb: the higher the percentage of cocoa, the less sweet the chocolate.
Quality ingredients are unarguably critical in determining the specific taste, and with a bit of practice, most anyone can make chocolate look pretty. But the true magic happens when a chocolatier turns the chocolate into a confectionary and creates extraordinary textures and taste.
Chefs specializing in chocolate are trained to be artists, in tempering, dipping, decorating, and molding. They are also required to become chemists, for chocolate is very temperamental, and slight variations in temperature or humidity can create an unsatisfactory product.
Several artisan chocolatiers have opened up shop right here in the Tetons. Enjoying the variety of local artisan chocolate is an affordable, convenient luxury. Life is too short not to indulge in this extraordinary pleasure, both for yourself and as the perfect gift. The next time you need a treat, like thousands of others around the world, turn to chocolate to celebrate the happiness it can bring to your day!
KRISTEN SIMPSON recently began distributing Teton Chocolat, a fine American chocolate, to retail shops throughout the area. Her handcrafted chocolates, all made with nuts—either almonds or pecans—are easy to distinguish as they are molded into wildlife shapes such as moose, bears, wolves, bison, owls, and fish.
A self-proclaimed chocoholic, Simpson was motivated and mentored to turn her love for chocolate into a business by fellow chocolatier Laurance Perry of Petit Secret.
LAURANCE PERRY, of Petit Secret in Jackson, began her career in chocolate by accident. After yearning for cultural connection, and wanting her children to enjoy the same Belgian chocolate she remembered from growing up in Belgium, she turned to the Internet for direction and recipes. After many experiments with her mother, and lots of taste-testing, Perry developed the recipe that matched the taste she so fondly remembered. Quickly, friends began sampling the goodies and wanting to buy her chocolate. One thing led to another and Petit Secret chocolates was created.
OSCAR ORTEGA, a master chocolatier, received his culinary training in Mexico City, pastry training in Italy, and advanced chocolate and sugar training in the U.S. He fine-tuned his pastry skills while working throughout the world, which eventually led him in 2004 to open Cioccolato Pastry Shop in Jackson. Among many other accomplishments and international competition experience, in 2008 Ortega became the first Mexican Chocolate Master. This gave him the opportunity to compete at the World Chocolate Master finals in 2009. The same year, his pastry shop expanded to what is now called Atelier Ortega, where he is producing an extensive variety of artisan chocolates, desserts, entremets, viennoiserie, gelato, and confiserie.
