The Case For Fruit and Nuts In Craft Chocolate
In the craft chocolate world, purists insist on minimal ingredients, and others are all for inclusions. We think there is room for both types of chocolate lovers.
Print / PDFIn the craft chocolate world, purists insist on minimal ingredients, and others are all for inclusions. We think there is room for both types of chocolate lovers.
Print / PDFThe Purists Versus The Inclusion Aficionados
In the world of craft chocolate, the subject of adding nuts and other ‘inclusions‘ to the cocoa bean is heated and vexed. Purists insist on minimal ingredients. They sniff at the idea of flavour combinations, “additions” and the likes of “fruit and nuts”. At the same time, most craft chocolate aficionados have their ‘guilty secrets’ and appreciate the amazing pairings craft chocolate with inclusions can achieve.
We think that there is room for both types of craft chocolate lovers. But we think that this debate opens up a more important issue:
Is the bar about “using but obscuring” the cocoa bean? (i.e. mass-produced chocolate)…
Or is it about “revealing and celebrating” the cocoa bean? (i.e. craft chocolate)…
To phrase the question in another way:
Is the aim to use chocolate as a vector for flavouring, or is it about showcasing how chocolate offers an unparalleled variety of flavours, textures, tastes, mouthfeel, and offers awesome pairings?
Mass Produced Chocolate...
Mass-produced chocolate is all about cost, consistency and immediate satisfaction. To that end, it’s all about achieving the same flavour, melt, mouthfeel and texture bar after bar, year after year, for the lowest possible price. Hence the uproar whenever there is a rumour of a change to the formula or format of any mass-produced bar, egg, or whatever.
And one way to achieve consistency and low cost is through additives and flavourings. These additives and flavourings also create ‘moreishness‘ (hence why mass produced chocolate bar packaging isn’t designed to be resealed; they expect the whole bar to be eaten in one go, and hence why they have so much sugar, additives, etc.).
Versus Craft Chocolate
By contrast craft chocolate is all about showcasing the myriad variety of flavours, tastes and textures that can be coaxed from fine flavour cocoa beans. Different fermentations, vintages, roasts, batches and the like are celebrated for their distinctiveness. And when you savour craft chocolate bars, there is a wave of aromas and flavours that develop from the cocoa bean. To adapt a famous UK adline “I can’t believe it’s not FLAVOURED”; great craft chocolate bars have so much flavour that one thinks that something other than cocoa beans has been added.
To be pedantic, even in a two-ingredient craft bar, there is an inclusion (sugar). The addition of a “touch of sugar” to a craft chocolate bar helps bring out the flavour, develop the mouthfeel and remove astringency and bitterness.
And even purists will accept the addition of some cocoa nibs (technically a fruit) to add texture, crunch and astringency. Plus for over 100 years, thanks to the pioneering work of Swiss chocolate enthusiast Daniel Peter, we’ve been enjoying milk chocolate bars because he worked out how to add milk to a bar, and use milk’s creaminess to sweeten and add roundness to a bar’s mouthfeel.
