chocolate is the new coffee!

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that's what i keep hearing. you know, fancy snob-appeal chocolate. 85% bars. people were bound to get sick of all that wine they were trying to like.

anyway, i'm all for it. and i'm all for chocolate coffee too. and big bottles of snobby wine. and then some chocolate after the wine.

http://www.body-perfect-fitness.com/images/chocolatecraving.jpg

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:29 (eighteen years ago)

i could easily subsist on chocolate, coffee, and wine. and good bread. what else is there?

― shanghaied by the dragon lady (get bent), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:32 (eighteen years ago)

cigarettes?

― say it with blood diamonds (a_p), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:32 (eighteen years ago)

Whiskey.

But yeah, I'm all in favor of good chocolate's easier availability. Even Target's Choxie brand is worlds better than what was once around, and they carry some European Nestle products too.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:34 (eighteen years ago)

Cheese.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

Anyway, DARK CHOCOLATE YAY. There is no other.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:35 (eighteen years ago)

there are seriously half a dozen hoity-toity choclatier candy-shop places within walking distance of my house!

popping an 85% or 90% truffle after a lifetime of snickers bars is pretty eye opening. and the shit's good for you! BELIEVE THE HYPE

― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

this is not helping my "diet"

― shanghaied by the dragon lady (get bent), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

Among the many many things I've bitched about in moving northeast, one I don't think I've mentioned is the change in chocolate. Maybe my previous experience was skewed by New Orleans' greater-than-New-Englandish indulgences and the jingling pocket change of college towns like Bloomington, but all of a sudden there is no chocolate around. It's not that I can't find it if I look hard, but that's what I mean: I have to look. The upscale supermarkets don't have anything upscalier than Lindt, Dolfin and Scharffenberger are not to be found, the bookstores don't have the impulse racks of Dagoba. I had to mail order some Callebaut just to make my damn fruitcake.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:37 (eighteen years ago)

new york is SWIMMING in good chocolate.

― shanghaied by the dragon lady (get bent), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:39 (eighteen years ago)

Has anyone else had Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate ice cream? Dark chocolate plus cinnamon. I'm normally not interested in chocolate, but this was good.

what else is there?

Cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, etc, killed and stripped for parts.

― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

That whole snob-licorice thing just didn't have the legs for the long haul. And you always knew the snob-cigar thing couldn't last. Snob-towels lose their thrill a week after you buy them. And nobody much can afford servants any more.

But snob wine and snob chocolate are here to stay.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

greetings from Belgium :-)

― StanM (StanM), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:41 (eighteen years ago)

I like the Mayan Chocolate a lot -- I think it's too cinnamony for most people, but I like it, it's nice to see something with some punch instead of a-hint-of-this-or-that.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:43 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.maxbrenner.com/
http://www.mrchocolate.com

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:47 (eighteen years ago)

If they wanted to be real they would've put chiles in it as well. Haagen Daazs are punks.

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:49 (eighteen years ago)

I like some of this place's chocolates: http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/

They have the unfortunate habit of attaching the word "exotic" to everything Indian/Mexican/Japanese, etc, but some of their truffles are awesome.

― horseshoe (horseshoe), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:51 (eighteen years ago)

this storefront is right around the corner from me; their production is over the river a ways in Menomonie, WI

http://www.legacychocolates.com/

they do most of their business in mail order and it's all really really good

― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 19:54 (eighteen years ago)

remember this blazing success?

http://www.78west.com/eden/tmw_images/starbucks0.jpg

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 20:00 (eighteen years ago)

Chiles can be weird in ice cream, because it's tricky sometimes to get the chile flavor to hit you up front instead of as an aftertaste -- I make a habanero vanilla ice cream that works that way, it just tastes like slightly fruity vanilla ice cream, but as soon as it's melted in your mouth a bit (leaving the capsaicin-carrying oil on your tongue), you get the fire. Not what I'd want in a chile-chocolate ice cream.

They've got all those fancy additives to finesse that stuff, though.

I have a chocolate grilled cheese sandwich in ... uh, "in development," I guess ... but it's not ready yet and I need more chocolate to keep tinkering. (That wasn't meant to be a non sequitur, I was thinking to myself that a little spice might be a good addition.)

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 20:38 (eighteen years ago)

After half of a tiny cup of Chantico it felt like there was a rock in yr stomach. High concept: melting down what is basically a Nestle bar and selling it, yielding unsurprisingly gnarly result.

― call all destroyer (Sean Braudis), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 20:50 (eighteen years ago)

it had something like 35 grams of saturated fat crammed into that tiny cup!

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 20:52 (eighteen years ago)

aw I'm sad I never tried one.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:01 (eighteen years ago)

Just melt down a semisweet chocolate bar and drink it and you'll approximate what it was like. They should've just sold "drinking butter."

― call all destroyer (Sean Braudis), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:07 (eighteen years ago)

oh I've done that then. :(

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, I'd buy that.

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

haha teeny! awesome.

― horseshoe (horseshoe), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:10 (eighteen years ago)

jambayla if you remember how much a chantico cost you'd make my day.

― call all destroyer (Sean Braudis), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:11 (eighteen years ago)

They cost like $5, it was completely ridiculous. This is why no one bought it, because you can melt baking chocolate on your own free time for a lot less than $5.

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:12 (eighteen years ago)

From CNN Money, almost exactly two years ago:

"A six-ounce cup of Chantico will vary in price between $2.65 to $2.95.

Equally rich is Chantico's caloric content. A six-ounce cup of Chantico contains 390 calories, 20g of fat and 50g of carbs. "

― call all destroyer (Sean Braudis), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:14 (eighteen years ago)

the ingredients were something like:

1) steamed cocoa butter
2) steamed whole milk
3) steamed butter fat
4) steamed sugar cane

xp so i was off on the fat content bu a dozen grams or so, but still!

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:15 (eighteen years ago)

this shit is freaking amazing -- it tastes like drinking liquid chocolate without being actual liquid chocolate, and the spice works perfectly -- a hot buzz upon first taste, which then dissipates into something sweeter.

― mikebee (heywood), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 21:19 (eighteen years ago)

A friend told me in France they have something kind of like Chantico but good.

Dagoba is the best bar I've tried lately - very rich but not too sweet.

Hershey's Cacao Reserve was surprisingly good. The $5 chocolate bar I bought at McNulty's coffee tonight (around 73% cacao) was disappointing. The few times I've tried paying more than $4 or so for the REALLY upmarket stuff, it doesn't seem worth it.

I recently tried a bizarre Italian chocolate that came wrapped in brown paper tied with twine. It was very dry and chalky, and there was a NYTimes article on the display letting you know that it was SUPPOSED to be dry and chalky. But it was too dry and chalky.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 18 January 2007 03:32 (eighteen years ago)

Chocolate has manganese, which women truly need to balance out their hormones, that's why the ladies be chowing some chocolate right about time when PMS comes visiting.

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Thursday, 18 January 2007 03:34 (eighteen years ago)

As far as I'm concerned, there's no better way to make hot chocolate than just getting some pure, unsweetened cocoa and mixing it into stove-heated milk (and adding sugar to taste, of course).

Is there actually a great deal of variation in quality of cocoa?

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 18 January 2007 03:38 (eighteen years ago)

There are two main ways cocoa powder itself can vary -- 1: it's alkalized or not; alkalized (Dutch-process) cocoa is less acidic, and the acidity of chocolate is something many dark chocolate fans like; 2: the quality of the bean, both in the "good vs less good" sense of quality and in the "traits and characteristics" sense. 2 is somewhat less relevant because most cocoa powders are made in enormous batches with a blend of beans.

There's a phantom 3 here, though: many "hot cocoa" blends these days actually have bits of actual chocolate as well, which contains the cocoa butter cocoa powder lacks, and which provides body (the way milk does). This'll make a bigger difference than either 1 or 2, unless you're really attuned to the acidity of non-alkalized cocoa.

There are hot chocolates, too, of course, using just chocolate without the cocoa powder. Godiva used to make a nice one, Vosges makes a couple, Dolfin or Dagoba has one, etc. I think that when you aren't looking for something flavor-infused, you're best off carefully melting your own high-quality chocolate than paying for high-quality chocolate that's been treated with things to make it melt easier and burn more reluctantly.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 18 January 2007 03:49 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.expatica.com/photos/radC1BFB.jpg

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 04:14 (eighteen years ago)

the chocolate brownie ice cream milk shake from ben & jerry's was grooooooooooosssssss. just thought i'd add that. haven't tried the cherry garcia:

http://www.packagingdigest.com/articles/200606/images/6a10.jpg

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 04:16 (eighteen years ago)

Droste Pastilles are grebt.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 18 January 2007 04:25 (eighteen years ago)

I'm all about some fancy chocolate. there was one bar I had a piece of a couple years ago, and I can't for the life of me remember the name of it... it was fairly dark (in the 75-80% range I think) and had cocoa nibs in it. that was probably the tastiest chocolate I've ever had.

we've got one right now that's 45%, so I guess on the richer end of milk chocolate, but it has goji berries and pink himalayan salt (???) in it. not great, but certainly interesting.

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Thursday, 18 January 2007 06:30 (eighteen years ago)

Ooh, I had one recently with cocoa nibs - it was great and I can't remember the name either.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 18 January 2007 06:32 (eighteen years ago)

THIS JUST IN: COCOA NIBS LINKED TO SHORT-TERM MEMORY LOSS

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Thursday, 18 January 2007 06:35 (eighteen years ago)

Cocoa Nibs! I've had those!

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 18 January 2007 06:35 (eighteen years ago)

oh, how were they? I've been meaning to try them

― Bernard Snowy (sixteen sergeants), Thursday, 18 January 2007 07:03 (eighteen years ago)

I was eating a Dagoba bar earlier tonight.

three words: chocolate covered bacon.

― sleeve version 2.0 (sleeve testing), Thursday, 18 January 2007 07:33 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.smartwomensupplements.com/img/10chocwht.jpg

― bobby bedelia (van dover), Thursday, 18 January 2007 08:49 (eighteen years ago)

Dark chocolate and red wine is my idea of heaven. I've been allowing myself three tiny squares of Green and Blacks dark chocolate with ginger a day. It's all about the cocoa content - I've had to wean myself off Cote D'Or 86% as it's like crack, more chocolate than is allowed by law.

― The Long Grey And Overcast Tea Time Of The Soul (kate), Thursday, 18 January 2007 10:57 (eighteen years ago)

I forgot to grab the link, but NYCers may want to check out Chiles and Chocolate, a new Oaxacan joint -- wait, here we go (the menu is down a couple few posts).

I'm actually not a big fan of chocolate in savory dishes. I like mole as much as the next fella, chocolate or not, but in general I think the particular earthy bitterness of cacao doesn't go as well in unsweetened dishes as that of saffron or vanilla. I've thought about playing with cocoa butter in order to get some of the texture -- I like the texture that unsweetened chocolate brings to chili -- but I'm not sure it'd be worthwhile.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:17 (eighteen years ago)

for anyone in london, this place is awesome: http://www.payoung.net/

he does a chocolate filled with malden-seasalt caramel that is amazing. and his hot chocolate is spicy as well as cinnamon-y. yum.

― colette (a2lette), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

The chilli chocolate you can get in Planet Organic is surprisingly nice! There's just a nice warm aftertaste. Yum. I can't remember the name though. Comes in see through plastic wrapping if that helps.

I don't know about salty caramel!! But the hot choc recipe from there looks like it might even be worth the f-d. Well apart from the cream. Which I suppose could be part of the point. OH WELL.

250mls milk
250mls whipping cream
50g Demerara sugar
300g dark chocolate cut into small pieces
1 good pinch of sweet chilli powder or to own taste
1 dessert spoon of brandy per mug (optional)

Bring the milk and cream to simmer and remove from the heat.
Pour onto the chocolate, add the sugar and mix well.
Return to the pan and warm very gently, stirring constantly.
Pour into warmed mugs and sprinkle on the chilli powder.
Stand for 1 minute and then stir in the chilli powder.
Spoon over the brandy stir again, sit back, snuggle up and let time pass by without a care in the world.
Bliss!!

― Bhumibol Adulyadej (Lucretia My Reflection), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:31 (eighteen years ago)

You crazy people. You don't KNOW what good chocolate is until you tasted Belgian chocolate. ;-) (Apparently this has something to do with the fact we had so much competition here, so chocolatiers had to find ways to make their chocolate better. Something about the cacao being finer or something.)

I'm a complete barbarian when it comes to chocolate: I prefer white chocolate. hah!

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:32 (eighteen years ago)

Cote D'Or *is* Belgian chocolate, Nath!

― Shoes and Shoegazeability (kate), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:55 (eighteen years ago)

Likewise Callebaut and Godiva (sorta). I've got nothing bad to say about Belgian chocolate, especially when we're talking about the classics.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:59 (eighteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/51/107732668_8bdb3f2a92.jpg

― Michael J McGonigal (mike mcgonigal), Thursday, 18 January 2007 14:05 (eighteen years ago)

Cote D'Or *is* Belgian chocolate, Nath!

Crap! It's not artisanal! ;-) I was merely joking as I usually end up eating *factory made WHITE chocolate (which is in fact NOT chocolate but we call it chocolate anyway). :-))

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Thursday, 18 January 2007 14:31 (eighteen years ago)

chiles and chocolate. . .is that like mole?

― Ms Misery (MissMiseryTX), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, they do some other things too -- you can use cocoa powder or cocoa nibs in rubs, so it looks like they combine it with chipotle a lot. It's a lot like coffee spice rubs, if you've ever had one of those (popular on lamb).

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

My favorite chocolate is Jeff de Bruges.

Isn't Godiva chocolate made in like, Cincinnati?

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:39 (eighteen years ago)

Chiles and chocolate doesn't have to be anything like mole. This is the first recipe result for Mayan hot chocolate, Sam: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Beverage/HotChocolate.htm. It has a seeded chile simmered in the mix (I've also done it with chile powder without problem, though, to be honest) with cinnamon etc etc--it's still sweet though, not very savory like mole would be. The chile, along with the cinnamon, is meant to leave more of a hint, adds a depth of flavor and warmth. It is good, try it if you haven't!

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

i could easily subsist on chocolate, coffee, and wine. and good bread. what else is there?
-- shanghaied by the dragon lady (jb...), January 17th, 2007 7:32 PM. (get bent) (link)

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cigarettes?
-- say it with blood diamonds (a|e...), January 17th, 2007 7:32 PM. (a_p) (link)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whiskey.
But yeah, I'm all in favor of good chocolate's easier availability. Even Target's Choxie brand is worlds better than what was once around, and they carry some European Nestle products too.
-- Tep (icaneatglas...), January 17th, 2007 7:34 PM. (ktepi) (link)

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Cheese.
-- Ned Raggett (ne...), January 17th, 2007 7:35 PM. (Ned) (link)

OMG, the first three answers that came to mind! FB hearts ilx

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:45 (eighteen years ago)

I had a bar of Dagoba's dark choc. + chilies + nibs recently. I could change my tune about chocolate if I had ready access to more good stuff like this.

― do i have to draw you a diaphragm (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

read + ribs, and I was like chili-chocolate-covered ribs? hmmmmmm...that probably wouldn't be as tasty as I imagine it to be.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:53 (eighteen years ago)

Even the stuff I think I won't like from Dagoba, I wind up loving. True of Dolfin too, except the disappointing pink peppercorn bar.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 18 January 2007 16:58 (eighteen years ago)

I'm sorry, but as Jess and I thought elsewhere, if you're going to call your business Dagoba, get used to the Yoda jokes.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 18 January 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.zicline.com/an8/semaine10/dagoba.jpg

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 17:27 (eighteen years ago)

although they are french, so maybe they are just big choco fans.

http://www.krinein.com/img/3281-1.jpg

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 17:28 (eighteen years ago)

the first paragraph of my dagoba review is silly:

Shawter on vocals and “machines.” Izakar on guitar. Werther on bass. And Franky on drums. Franky on drums? I hate to break it to France’s Dagoba, but hell ain’t about a drummer named Franky. From now on, I’m calling Franky “The Putrefactor”!

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

sorry, this really has nothing to do with chocolate.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 18 January 2007 17:35 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

my mom swears that the chocolate can't be put in a fridge because that way it's too cold and the body (liver?) can't break it down. i know that another reason is the fact the sugar will *rise* to the surface.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Saturday, 10 February 2007 15:29 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.maxbrenner.com/

ugh! that place is terrible.

― lauren (laurenp), Saturday, 10 February 2007 16:58 (eighteen years ago)

I sometimes think chocolate outta the fridge is quite nice. Like when the you buy a bar on a hot summers day.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 10 February 2007 17:01 (eighteen years ago)

Hear my plaint!

I just looked over all the pre-chewed categories available for sorting ILE threads into topics, and while there are categories for both "Faith" and "Religion", categories for "Urine" and "Abject Stupidity" (quite popular, btw), I find to my stupefaction there is no category for "Food", and while there is one for "Drinking" there is none for "Eating" or for that matter, "Cooking".

The nearest approach of any is a category for "Cuisine". For shame! This is no better than giving one a choice between "Gustation" or "Ingestion".

― Aimless (Aimless), Saturday, 10 February 2007 18:19 (eighteen years ago)

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