Paralleling the shift to high-quality products in America's wine, coffee, and cheese consumption, consumers are coming to appreciate the tremendous differences between finely produced artisanal chocolates and the mass produced varieties that have forsaken quality and taste.
High-quality chocolate begins with the cacao bean. Master chocolatiers are as selective and fanatical about the cacao beans they use to make their chocolate as vintners are about the grape varieties they use to produce fine wines. The origin of the cacao bean, and the way it is fermented and dried, is critical to the taste and quality of the chocolate that is produced.
Each high-quality variety of cacao beans has its own individual aroma, personality, complexity, subtlety, character and tenderness. Not all chocolate is created equal, something that chocophiles and novices alike can immediately tell upon tasting a chocolate.
What sets fine artesanal chocolates apart from the mass-produced varieties? The answer to this question begins on the plantations of Latin America, where the finest chocolate is born.
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