Michael Sierchio wrote:

> It's the typical American thing -- some
> rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
> much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
> have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
> just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
> from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.

That's what I figured -- I was very prejudiced against SB
before trying it. However, their ~70% bittersweet is currently
my favorite chocolate. My others are certain chocolates from
Valrhona and Chocovic.

What some people don't like about SB is that they
roast their beans less than other makers. This preserves
certain flavors that get burnt out by most other chocolate
makers. Many people don't seem to like these flavors,
but I enjoy them very much. I find burnt chocolates
uninteresting and unsatisfying.

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:58:04 GMT, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>Michael Sierchio wrote:
>
>> It's the typical American thing -- some
>> rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
>> much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
>> have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
>> just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
>> from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.


Hershey has been around since 1893. Have access to growers, have
decades of experience. have there own milk processing plant for the
production of milk chocolate. They employ 13,700 people, export to 90
countries and have $4 billion in sales a year. Not bad for something
that started with a penniless 30 year old.

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 21:12:09 GMT, day dreamer@dream .com@ wrote:

>On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:58:04 GMT, Mark Thorson >
>wrote:
>
>>Michael Sierchio wrote:
>>
>>> It's the typical American thing -- some
>>> rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
>>> much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
>>> have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
>>> just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
>>> from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.
>
>
>Hershey has been around since 1893. Have access to growers, have
>decades of experience. have there own milk processing plant for the
>production of milk chocolate. They employ 13,700 people, export to 90
>countries and have $4 billion in sales a year. Not bad for something
>that started with a penniless 30 year old.
>

Hershey made it possible for the masses in the US to have chocolate at
all. Before that, it was affordable only for the rich. As a
company, its history is very admirable with regard to treatment of
workers, the surrounding community, and needy children.

I'm pleased and proud to support Hershey's by eating Reeses peanut
butter cups and Skor Toffee bars and Whatchamacallit and Mr. Goodbar
and kisses and Almond Joy. :>

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

Curly Sue wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 21:12:09 GMT, day dreamer@dream .com@ wrote:

>>On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:58:04 GMT, Mark Thorson >
>>wrote:

>>>Michael Sierchio wrote:

>>>>It's the typical American thing -- some
>>>>rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
>>>>much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
>>>>have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
>>>>just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
>>>>from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.
>>
>>Hershey has been around since 1893. Have access to growers, have
>>decades of experience. have there own milk processing plant for the
>>production of milk chocolate. They employ 13,700 people, export to 90
>>countries and have $4 billion in sales a year. Not bad for something
>>that started with a penniless 30 year old.
>>
> Hershey made it possible for the masses in the US to have chocolate at
> all. Before that, it was affordable only for the rich. As a
> company, its history is very admirable with regard to treatment of
> workers, the surrounding community, and needy children.
>
> I'm pleased and proud to support Hershey's by eating Reeses peanut
> butter cups and Skor Toffee bars and Whatchamacallit and Mr. Goodbar
> and kisses and Almond Joy. :>
>

> Sue(tm)
Hershey's chocolate tastes from boiled milk. I do not like milk
chocolate, but Hershey's is the worst of the popular brands. Their
Special, the dark chocolate would not be bad, if they made it a little
less sweet. Dark chocolate should have that bittersweet taste, but in
this case it does not.

As for Scharffen Berger, I cannot eat their chocolate at all. As
someone mentioned, it tastes sour, as if it were spoiled. There is
another American Chocolate maker, Guittard's and those chocolates are
incredibly good but, unfortunately they are difficult to find in New
York City.

Let's hope that the merger will produce a new, wonderfully good
chocolate bar.

On 2005-07-26, Margaret Suran > wrote:

> another American Chocolate maker......

Yeah! ...let's not forget Baker's, the oldest chocolate company in the
US and having the distinction of never buying chocolate from suppliers
who used slaves.

nb

In article >, notbob
> wrote:

> On 2005-07-26, Margaret Suran > wrote:
>
> > another American Chocolate maker......
>
> Yeah! ...let's not forget Baker's, the oldest chocolate company in the
> US and having the distinction of never buying chocolate from suppliers
> who used slaves.
>
> nb


Hmmmmmm. Nice distinction. Guess we'd better reconsider the Declaration
of Independence and The Bible.

Margaret Suran > wrote:
: As for Scharffen Berger, I cannot eat their chocolate at all. As
: someone mentioned, it tastes sour, as if it were spoiled. There is
: another American Chocolate maker, Guittard's and those chocolates are
: incredibly good but, unfortunately they are difficult to find in New
: York City.

: Let's hope that the merger will produce a new, wonderfully good
: chocolate bar.

I tried Guittard thanks to a shipment from Alex Rast and it
is very good, but I can't get it around here.

We use a *large* amount of Scharffenberger's 99%, and I don't
even bake with it. We use it for cocoa and 'chocolate soda';
I crumble it over fruit desserts [usually mixed with pecans
or almonds or walnuts or coconut]; late at night, i.e. early
in the morning, my husband eats it straight as a snack
--thelma

In article >,
Margaret Suran > wrote:

> There is another American Chocolate maker, Guittard's and those
> chocolates are incredibly good but, unfortunately they are difficult
> to find in New York City.

Oh! I forgot about them! I won two 10 pound bars of chocolate from
them a few years ago. They were soooo good!

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

day, dreamer@dream, .com@ wrote:

> On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:58:04 GMT, Mark Thorson >
> wrote:
>
> >Michael Sierchio wrote:
> >
> >> It's the typical American thing -- some
> >> rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
> >> much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
> >> have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
> >> just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
> >> from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.
>
> Hershey has been around since 1893. Have access to growers, have
> decades of experience. have there own milk processing plant for the
> production of milk chocolate. They employ 13,700 people, export to 90
> countries and have $4 billion in sales a year. Not bad for something
> that started with a penniless 30 year old.

Several years ago Nestles bought my favorite Mexican drinking chocolate
"Abulita" so far there has been no noticable diminuation in the quality
of the product, i was fearing an adulturation of ingredients and
quantities of ingredients till it reached the blandness of "Ibara".
---
Joseph Littleshoes

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Michael Sierchio wrote:
>
>> It's the typical American thing -- some
>> rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
>> much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
>> have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
>> just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
>> from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.
>
> That's what I figured -- I was very prejudiced against SB
> before trying it. However, their ~70% bittersweet is currently
> my favorite chocolate. My others are certain chocolates from
> Valrhona and Chocovic.
>
> What some people don't like about SB is that they
> roast their beans less than other makers. This preserves
> certain flavors that get burnt out by most other chocolate
> makers. Many people don't seem to like these flavors,
> but I enjoy them very much. I find burnt chocolates
> uninteresting and unsatisfying.
>

I don't know where I got the idea that SB tastes the way they do because of
the near-burnt or close-to-burnt flavor; haven't I read something on their
site about the fantastic way of roasting that they get the taste out of
their beans vs. other chocolatiers? It was my thinking that they roasted
more heartily than other companies do.
Anyway, you probably know from reading this posting that SB is NOT one of my
choices of chocolate. But then neither is Starbucks choice of roasting
their beans or various beans. However, I wouldn't mind having a little
stock in either company.
Dee Dee

On 2005-07-27, Dee Randall > wrote:

> the near-burnt or close-to-burnt flavor; haven't I read something on their
> site about the fantastic way of roasting that they get the taste out of
> their beans vs. other chocolatiers?

.......and how JS scraped around Europe looking for old mothballed
chocolate equipment so he could make his chocolate in the "real"
old-world traditional way. Now he's sucking big sugar daddy tit to
get at that real new-world production equipment to increase profits.
Obviously, good PR works.

nb

Dee Randall wrote:
>
> I don't know where I got the idea that SB tastes the way they do because of
> the near-burnt or close-to-burnt flavor; haven't I read something on their
> site about the fantastic way of roasting that they get the taste out of
> their beans vs. other chocolatiers? It was my thinking that they roasted
> more heartily than other companies do.
> Anyway, you probably know from reading this posting that SB is NOT one of my
> choices of chocolate. But then neither is Starbucks choice of roasting
> their beans or various beans. However, I wouldn't mind having a little
> stock in either company.
> Dee Dee
>
SB is not my current favorite, but I do like it. Some of my
current favorites are Dagoba's New Moon (74%), and Maglio's
Africa (75% minimum). I also like TJ's ?Ocumare?.

For flavored chocolate/chocolate with inclusions, I like
Valrhona's Manjari (dark chocolate with candied orange peel),
although it is not nearly as good as it was before they
changed the label and the formula; Dagoba's Roseberry (a
recent discovery, which contains raspberries and rosehips);
and even TJ's Chocolate-Mint UFOs (which contain Girardelli's
sweet chocolate).

Boy, I am low on chocolate. The last time I typed up my list,
it was much more extensive.
--
Jean B.

Just going to add a shout out to Callebaut for my fave chocolate... dark is
so goooood.

Bob

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Michael Sierchio wrote:
>
>> It's the typical American thing -- some
>> rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
>> much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
>> have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
>> just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
>> from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.
>
> That's what I figured -- I was very prejudiced against SB
> before trying it. However, their ~70% bittersweet is currently
> my favorite chocolate. My others are certain chocolates from
> Valrhona and Chocovic.
>
> What some people don't like about SB is that they
> roast their beans less than other makers. This preserves
> certain flavors that get burnt out by most other chocolate
> makers. Many people don't seem to like these flavors,
> but I enjoy them very much. I find burnt chocolates
> uninteresting and unsatisfying.
>
>
>

Mark Thorson wrote:

> Michael Sierchio wrote:
>
>
>>It's the typical American thing -- some
>>rich guys start a company in an area that interests them, learn as
>>much as they can, and hang out a shingle. European chocolatiers
>>have decades of experience, access to growers, etc. There's
>>just no substitute for the kind of knowledge in depth that comes
>>from growing up in what has been a hereditary craft.
>
>
> That's what I figured -- I was very prejudiced against SB
> before trying it. However, their ~70% bittersweet is currently
> my favorite chocolate. My others are certain chocolates from
> Valrhona and Chocovic.
>
> What some people don't like about SB is that they
> roast their beans less than other makers. This preserves
> certain flavors that get burnt out by most other chocolate
> makers. Many people don't seem to like these flavors,
> but I enjoy them very much. I find burnt chocolates
> uninteresting and unsatisfying.

Crud. Now I have to go down and get a hunk of chocolate--and
it is only 11:33 AM here.

--
Jean B.