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Hello chocolate addicts!

Yes, I’m alive. It’s been a while since I’ve posted (because, well, life). But I’ve been feeling inspired recently, so…

Actually, I lie. My writer’s block remains. But… I do want to share a recent experience I had with favorite niche chocolate variety. That would be, of course, dark milk chocolate. In this case dark GOAT MILK chocolate.

Weirdly enough, the chocolate bar that led to my sudden inspiration is actually made by one of my least favorite chocolate makers —  Mast Brothers.

(Cue ominous music from Jaws.)

Actually, all joking aside, it was high time I gave the bearded brothers’ bars another chance. It had been two years since I’d last tasted their chocolate. In fact, I don’t think I’d sampled a Mast bar since they were outed by that Dallas Food article accusing them of… how to put this delicately… minor fibbing about their chocolate production practices.

In the last two years, not only has Mast rebranded (dropping the “Brothers” to become just Mast Chocolate), they also dramatically improved the texture of their chocolate. Gone is the grittiness and that caustic astringency so noticeable in their bars of yore. The new Mast bars are creamier, more balanced, and actually kind of… edible. Hurrah!

But I didn’t sit down to write this post in order to trumpet improvements at Mast Chocolate — far from it. What actually got me excited was the wide availability of their goat milk chocolate bar (thank you Whole Foods). And the new, improved Mast goat milk chocolate bar is everything I want in my goat milk chocolate — it’s sour, funky, pungent, creamy and interesting in a way regular milk chocolate rarely is.

To be fair, I’m NOT suggesting you go out and buy this chocolate bar. In an old post reviewing Manoa’s goat milk chocolate, I linked to Estelle Tracy’s hilarious video of her reaction to trying goat milk chocolate. The flavor of goat milk chocolate is not for everybody!

But if you like super funky tasting milk chocolate, I highly suggest giving this bar a chance.

And be sure to let me know what you think of it!

But when you’re gearing up to sell your first box of chocolates, making wholesale packaging choices can seem really daunting. The options seem endless. And not only for packaging… You’ll be making choices about graphics, about liners, about trays, seals, labels… decision after decision. It’s overwhelming.

The following guiding principles will help you make choices you won’t regret later.

First, consider your brand.

For example, you might ask yourself:

Are my chocolates elegant or rustic?

Are my chocolates priced to be high end treats or everyday indulgences?

Does my business have a theme, and if so, how can I incorporate that theme into my packaging? (For example, if you’re known for bonbons with unusual flavor combinations, consider boxes as playful and creative as your flavors).

And here’s an anecdote from my own life.

My chocolate bourbon truffles (right) are elegant and modern, with clean lines and geometric patterns (thanks to my trusty transfer sheets), so I guess I could have packaged them in elegant boxes with shiny foil liners.

But… refined packaging is not my brand.

How did I know that? Well… I dip each of my chocolates by hand. I’m proud to use chocolate from a local small-batch chocolate maker. I steer clear of artificial ingredients and preservatives.

So I was looking for packaging that suggests my chocolates aren’t just pretty sweets to be mindlessly eaten. My packaging needs to make it clear that these are high quality, individually produced treats, made entirely by one person from simple, wholesome ingredients.

My packaging needs to feel PERSONAL. Because my chocolates are personal.

With that in mind, I chose simple craft paper boxes, each one tied with twine.

The resulting packages are modern, rustic, and elegantly simple. Just like what’s inside them.

Second, consider what packaging will best protect your chocolates during transit.

If you plan to ship your chocolates, you’ll need strong boxes, perhaps with plastic trays to keep each chocolate in place, and a protective foam layer under the lid. And you’ll need to seal your boxes well and stamp them with a sell-by date.

But if you’re hand delivering chocolates to a friend as I did, you can skip the trays entirely, opting instead for simple brown paper liners. Layers of gift tissue should keep the chocolates from moving around too much.

They won’t be sitting around long at your friend’s house, so no need to worry about an expiration date on these babies. :)

Btw, I bought these boxes and liners on amazon, but wholesale packaging distributors are cheaper and offer a wider variety of customizable packaging. Shoot me an email me if you’re looking for wholesale confectionary packaging distributors — I’d be happy to send you a few names.

Finally get to cross Caffarel's original #gianduja off my bucket list...

Pop quiz: What event in the mid-1800s changed chocolate production in northern Italy forever? If you answered the Great Cocoa Bean Shortage of 1840, you would be correct. At least in principle (whoever made up that name is clearly FOS though). ;) Back in 1865, with the price of cocoa beans through the roof, a chocolate maker in Turin began augmenting his cocoa bean supply with hazelnuts, which…

My heaven has a 2beans chocolate shop in it :) @2beansNYC

Does anyone else have this problem: every time you innocently wander into a chocolate retail store, you somehow end up dropping an obscene amount of money. Please tell me I’m not the only one. In the latest incarnation of my compulsive chocolate shopping habit, I recently poked my head into a new-ish chocolate retail shop on Park Avenue, 2beans. I just wanted to pick up a bar of Francois…

This particular bar is the most floral chocolate I’ve ever tasted. This may sound totally obnoxious, but the best way to describe the taste of this bar is to say that eating it is like stepping into a flower garden. The delicate, perfumey flavor reminds me of… roses. Or violets, maybe?

It was my husband who finally nailed it: the chocolate tastes like orange blossom water. He’s right. The Corona Arriba bar’s unique taste is strongly suggestive of the aromatic flavoring agent in my mother’s favorite cocktail, the uber-indulgent Ramos Gin Fizz.

If you’re hosting a chocolate tasting and want to include a floral chocolate in the mix, I recommend this one, hands down. You can order it on the Durci website or from the “Chocolate Collection” on Cococlectic.

Note: I noticed Durci is currently offering a special on their website– $45 for a sampler pack of six Durci bars from different origins. That’s about $9 less than you would pay for the six individual bars — a pretty good deal if you’re interested in trying out a fantastic new American bean-to-bar chocolate maker.

That said, I DID recently try a 69% dark goat’s milk chocolate made by Hawaii-based bean-to-bar chocolate maker Manoa and LOVED it. I couldn’t put it down.

Goat cheese: what’s not to like?

Before I say anything else, it’s worth noting that, unlike Estelle, I actually love goat cheese. Be that as it may, I never thought cheese and chocolate went well together (there are exceptions, like this salty Parmesan containing dark chocolate by Portland-based chocolatier extraordinaire Xocolatl de Davíd, and this tangy blue cheese containing milk chocolate by chocolate maker Lillie Belle Farms, also from the great state of Oregon).

But back to the Manoa bar.

First, a brief description of what the Manoa bar tastes like: it has a nice snap and a surprisingly uncreamy (that really should be a word) texture for a milk chocolate bar, bordering on gritty. It did have the characteristic mouthful of a milk chocolate — that awesome milk fat creaminess that many people (including me) love. In terms of its color, this is a VERY DARK dark milk chocolate bar. Because of that, I’m guessing the percentage of goat’s milk powder in this bar is quite low. Even so, it packs quite a flavor punch!

What I LOVE about Manoa’s goat’s milk bar is that, unlike Lillie Belle Farms’ Stella Blue bar, Manoa didn’t try to camouflage the sour goat’s milk flavor by adding extra sugar. Instead, they let the natural astringency of their full-flavored chocolate balance out the lovely, funky, earthy goat’s milk. The overall effect was a sort of addictive umami deliciousness that made it hard for me to put this bar down.

I highly recommend seeking out Manoa’s 69% Goat Milk Chocolate bar, which you can buy on Manoa’s website or at specialty chocolate retailers. If not, I know you can buy it here on Chococurb. If you do end up trying it, please email me or post in the comments section of this blog and let me know what you think!

And as always, happy nibbling.

Special offer from Chococurb: free minibar chocolate box if you order by Sunday

Ok listen up! This is important. Chococurb, the chocolate delivery company whose Nano minibar sampler box I wrote about earlier this week, is offering a special deal to Nano subscribers who sign up by Sunday, August 21st. The only charge is $5.95 for shipping, which seems fair because shipping chocolate in the summer is VERY expensive. For your free (+ shipping) Nano box, follow this link and…

Welcome to Chocolate Disorder (the new In Temper)

You may have noticed that I’ve updated the name of this site. Why? Truthfully, I changed the name because I was tired of having a long wordpress domain name that nobody would ever remember. And the shorter version of my old domain name, intemper.com, was already taken. Also, whether or not it’s true, I’ve heard that search engines favor blogs with domain names that explain what they’re about. So…

One of my (other) favorite chocolate delivery companies, Chococurb, has a brand new offering that, as far as I know, none of its competitors offer yet: a MINIBAR chocolate delivery subscription, dubbed the Nano box. Five minibars for $10. $10!!! That’s the price of one Mast Brothers chocolate bars in some cities.

Chococurb’s July Nano box selection

Here’s how it works. You either buy one shipment for $10, or a 6-month or 1-year subscription for slightly less. Each shipment contains five chocolate samples, each of which weigh between 0.2 and 0.9 oz (at least in the shipment I received). Which means you are basically paying $10 for 2 oz of chocolate, which admittedly is a lot. But you get to sample five new small batch (i.e. hard to find in stores) chocolates for the price of one Mast Brothers bar of about the same weight. And shipping is included.

I think it’s a great deal*. Especially for lazy people like me who are happy to pay an extra few bucks to sample lots of hard-to-find chocolate brands without having to leave the house.

Btw, the 6-month and 1-year subscriptions make great gifts for that chocolate lover you know. And if you don’t know one (which, frankly, is hard to believe), it was my birthday last week. Just sayin.

*Disclaimer: Admittedly I didn’t pay for my first Nano box. One of the perks of being a chocolate blogger is you sometimes get free samples (for real!). But it’s absolutely worth the money.

Well… today I have a new chocolate delivery crush: Choco Rush.

Choco Rush is a craft chocolate subscription service based out of South Carolina, and… I love them.

Why? Well, two reasons really. First, they’re all about little known American craft chocolate makers. My first box included bars from several chocolate makers I’d never even heard of before, let alone tasted.

Also, and more importantly, the chocolate curators behind Choco Rush clearly have awesome taste, because two of the chocolate bars in my first shipment were blow-your-mind delicious (made by Durci and Hello Cocoa — find them!!)

Plus… Choco Rush’s customer service is outstanding.

It’s hard to understate how important good customer service is for customers of a chocolate delivery service. If you live anywhere that sees temperatures over 85 F in the summer (which is pretty much everywhere), you will probably find yourself emailing customer service at least once each summer to report a melted chocolate shipping disaster.

Christopher Lacey at Choco Rush is so responsive and helpful with shipping issues. But what really hooked me on the service was how genuinely interested he seemed in feedback on the chocolate bars themselves. Being a total chocolate nerd, I loved the opportunity to bounce tasting notes off an expert who is so friendly, knowledgeable and unpretentious. It reminded me of again of what a great community the chocolate world is.

So, for the detes: Each Choco Rush shipment includes four bars from different chocolate makers, shipped at the beginning of every month (so if you sign up for the service on the second week of the month, you’ll have to wait until the next month for your first shipment). Their subscription choices include a month-to-month package for $39 ($9.75/bar), a 3-month subscription for $110 ($9.17/bar), plus a couple of longer subscriptions. You can skip a month or cancel your subscription at any time, and shipping is free in the U.S.

I know $9+ is steep for chocolate, but remember your money is going to small batch chocolate makers with comparatively high overhead compared to large industrial chocolate producers, plus they often pay direct trade prices (much more expensive even than fair trade) for their cocoa beans, so I think it’s money well spent.

But just as important, with Choco Rush you will be introduced to chocolate makers you’ve never heard of before, and the bars you recieve will probably be delicious. For me, those two things alone make the service well worth the premium.

Note: This post contains only my personal opinions about Choco Rush. I did not receive payment (or free chocolate) for this review.

At the time I was making a lot of hummus and chickpea blondies (yes, they’re a thing), and I didn’t want to throw away all that (potentially) useful chickpea canning liquid. So… I saved it. Lots of it. And I tried again. This time, it worked.

What made the difference? I’ll share my tips share further down in the post. But first, let me give you the recipe, in case you want to try it yourself:

Recipe:

liquid from 1 can drained chickpeas

1/4 cup confectionery sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

optional: 1 tbsp dutched cocoa powder

Directions:

Throw all ingredients (except the optional cocoa powder) in a bowl and whip them with electric beaters on high for 6-12 minutes.

That’s it.

Tips & Suggestions:

Chill the liquid before you attempt to whip it.

Use the highest setting on your electric egg beaters. If you own powerful electric beaters, you should have stiff peaks in 6-7 minutes. (If your electric beaters aren’t so powerful, this may take you 10+ minutes. But it will work, eventually).

Use real sugar if possible, and don’t skimp on it. Liquid sugar substitutes like honey or agave will weigh down your mousse. Don’t even think about trying stevia — it tastes awful. This is chickpea liquid we’re talking about after all — it has a very strong aftertaste if not properly sweetened.

Flavor with vanilla extract. Only add the optional cocoa powder if you plan to eat this IMMEDIATELY, and if you add it, do so at the end, after you’ve already whipped up a vanilla mousse. The cocoa powder (especially natural, un-dutched cocoa powder) will quickly devolumize your mousse, giving you about 10 minutes to eat it all before it turns into a sad little pool of frothy goo. I assume the deflationary effect of cocoa powder is caused by its trace fats, but that’s just a guess.

Just added cocoa

2 minutes after cocoa

5 minutes after cocoa

I strongly suggest you DON’T do what I did  in these pictures and whip in the cocoa powder. Fold it in with a spatula or wooden spoon instead — your mousse will be much fluffier in the end.

Don’t try to bake these. While I know numerous vegan bloggers (and the New York Times) have claimed that these can be baked into meringues, I’ve tried many times to bake them with no luck. I’m pretty much convinced it’s impossible. The “meringues” will melt into puddles after just a few minutes in the oven. Low heat, high heat — it doesn’t seem to matter. Then they’ll burn. They’ll smoke. They’ll stink up your whole house. Ask my husband if you don’t believe me! Not worth it.

Going into the oven…

After 6-7 minutes :(

If you add the optional cocoa powder to your mousse, I suggest you follow these steps:

Add the cocoa powder at the very end, after you’ve already created a respectably fluffy vanilla mousse.

Use dutch process cocoa powder, which is less acidic and dissolves more easily than the natural (undutched) type.

Add the bare minimum amount of cocoa powder necessary to develop chocolate flavor (~1 tbsp, give or take).

Create a smooth cocoa paste by stirring the cocoa powder with a tbsp of canning liquid in a cup first, then folding it into the mousse. Don’t try to stir dry cocoa powder directly in the mousse. It will take too much stirring to incorporate and you’ll end up deflating your mousse.

My personal feelings about aquafaba mousse? If you’re a vegan and have a killer craving for chocolate mousse, this recipe is for you. Otherwise… my honest opinion is that egg whites are a better foundation for a mousse. Even when pasteurized, egg whites whip faster and hold their shape better when baked. And as an added bonus, egg whites come with a little jolt of extra protein.

If you’re dead set on making aquafaba mousse, I suggest trying this recipe with real melted dark chocolate rather than cocoa powder. You’ll need to chill your mousse for a couple of hours to give the chocolate time to set, but the resulting mousse will be much longer lasting (and tastier) than the cocoa powder version. Just my $0.02.

While every day is chocolate day for me, today actually WAS World Chocolate Day. Officially.

While every day is chocolate day for me, today was actually World Chocolate Day. Officially. World Chocolate Day is every year on July 7. Celebration of the day includes the consumption of chocolate. Today marks 466 years since chocolate was introduced to Europe. References to World Chocolate Day being observed on 7 July have been recorded as early as 2009. via World Chocolate Day — Cooking…

Caramelized white chocolate and dark salted almond ganache Full disclosure: I meant to write about this months ago, back when I first made these layered chocolates (and there was still snow on the ground). But at the time I was frantically trying to complete my chocolatier school coursework and didn’t really have time to pull this together. Anyway, enough excuses. Here it is, finally. This was my…