fessing up about chocolate

By Kaie Wellman, Feb 21, 2012, View comments

I have a dirty little secret … I'm not a huge lover of chocolate. It's not that I don't like chocolate, I do. But on the scale of things I lust to eat, it falls somewhere around chicken—happy enough to eat it, but it doesn't rock my culinary boat. Here's the kicker though, I find myself compulsively collecting chocolate. Every city I explore, every business that catches my fancy, I've got an eye out for the stuff and invariably I come home with a suitcase chock full of bars, nibs and truffles. Do I eat all this? Holy gut ache, no. I tend to nibble like a house mouse and leave the serious devouring to my husband and kid. 

 

So what's the attraction? To start with—the packaging. As a designer, I'm besotted with compelling graphics, and these days food packaging is bee-yu-tee-ful. Then there are the flavors. I imagine that the bean to bar, artisinal chocolatiers are having a hell of a great time exploring flavor combinations like vanilla rooibos and unroasted virgin chocolate to the tastebud bewitching combo of serrano peppers and dark chocolate.

 

 

Here are three bars found in a last minute Valentine's dash in Portland, Oregon at the justifiably beloved chocolate and salt emporium The Meadow (they also have a location in New York City). These three stood out on a seven foot tall wall lined with dozens of bars. First there was the Dick Taylor bar with a b/w etching evoking images of handcrafted goodness. Made by two bearded guys (why do bearded guys like making chocolate so much?) in Arcata, California, even the bars are beautifully patterned.  Then there was the Olive & Sinclair bar made in Nashville with a Hatch Showprintesque wrapper and unexpected flavors like buttermilk white and salt & pepper. and finally the Raaka bar, made in Brooklyn, promising virgin chocolate mixed with flavors like blueberry lavender and cask aged bourbon.

 

 

 

While writing this, I'm thinking I'd like a little nibble of chocolate—time to go on another chocolate hunt!