at Sat, 19 Feb 2005 23:36:20 GMT in
>,
(testforecho) wrote :

>I am allergic to milk and I love dark, non-dairy, chocolate. ... To give
you some background, I enjoy
>foods from small farms and unique areas. I roast my own small plot
>coffee and I like to drink small plot teas. I know how good these small
>production drinks can be and I can only imagine how good the chocolate
>can be.

If you're looking for single-source chocolate, the following manufacturers
are among the best to turn to:

Michel Cluizel (1ers Crus - Concepcion, Tamarina, Los Ancones, Mangaro,
Maralumi)
Domori (Hacienda San Jose and Chateau - Porcelana, Puertofino, Puertomar,
Canoabo
Amedei (Chuao)
Valrhona (Grands Crus - Gran Couva, Palmira, Ampamakia)

Quite a few manufacturers also make varietal and regional-origin (chocolate
from a specific region - broader than the single-sources but still local)
including Pralus, Bonnat, Guittard, Lindt, Callebaut, and plenty of others.

It's a bit misleading to think of the single-origin as "better" than the
blends. Single-origin are more sharply characterised, as opposed to better.
They'll have more variability from year to year, and the flavour sensations
will always be pretty specific. Although usually fairly complex in flavour,
a blended chocolate can, in principle, be even more complex than any
varietal (e.g. Domori Blend No. 1, Guittard L'Harmonie) And complexity
itself can't be equated with quality, either. A chocolate can be remarkably
uncomplex, in both varietals (e.g. Domori Porcelana) or blends (e.g. Michel
Cluizel Amer Brut 72%) yet still extraordinarily good.

Most of these brands can be found at http://www.chocosphere.com

Much depends on how dark your preference is. Dark chocolate comes in sweet
dark, semisweet, bittersweet, extra bitter, and unsweetened classes.
Ignoring the *legal* U.S. definitions (which are inaccurate and misleading
both in terms of what's available and what the actual sensory response is),
sweet dark is generally 55% cocoa solids or less, semisweet is 55-65%,
bittersweet is 65-75%, extra bitter is 75%-90%, and unsweetened is 99%-
100%. Of course as you get darker, you get a stronger chocolate flavour.
Texture also generally improves as the percentage goes up, and at higher
percentage the quality of the bean has much more impact on how good it is -
i.e. a high-percentage bar made with bitter, low-grade beans will taste
*very* harsh, while a high-percentage bar made with high-grade beans won't
be nearly as bitter as you might expect while showing off the good flavours
of the beans to much greater extent. Different people have different
preferences for sweetness and although there's something of an industry
consensus that the "ideal" percentage of cocoa solids is somewhere near
70%, that's very much a subjective experience.

It also depends on how much effort you want to put into buying the
chocolate. Your initial subject is pretty broad ("non-dairy" covers the
entire range of dark chocolate - more (much more) than half of the
available different chocolates on the market) If your objective is nothing
more than staying away from milk chocolate, you can head down to any local
supermarket and pick up a dark chocolate. Even if you're looking for high
quality, most U.S. supermarkets carry at least Ghirardelli - a good high-
quality chocolate, and some have Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, or a
smattering of other quality brands.

So it's really only if your interest lies more in exploring the exotic
and/or ultra-high-end chocolates, especially those with specific varietal
characteristics, that you'd really need to look hard. Making an order from
Chocosphere wouldn't hurt no matter what, but if you haven't tried any of
the dark chocolates from your local supermarket, you can get a head start
on what Chocosphere might send you by buying a few from the supermarket
first.

--
Alex Rast

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