Tag Archives: chocolate

CHOCOLATE SHORTAGE.

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You may have noticed that a number of items on my chocolate list are out of stock. That’s because some types of confectioner’s chocolate are hard to get right now, largely because of industrial and transportation shutdowns due to Covid. The milk chocolate I like has been unavailable for over 4 months, and my stock is almost gone. I can get lower quality milk chocolate, but I don’t want it. Low quality milk chocolate doesn’t taste as good, and it often contains bad stuff: palm oil instead of cocoa butter, imitation vanilla instead of the real thing, powdered milk, and old or low quality cocoa beans. I would prefer to be out of stock rather than use bad chocolate. My chocolate has my name on it.

HOT CHOCOLATE?
Restaurants are constantly coming up with novel and surprising ideas for chocolate desserts. There are now restaurants in several cities that pour melted chocolate over the hands of their customers, and then you lick the chocolate off your hands. That’s the dessert. See photo below. This does not appeal to me at all. What about you?

WHERE DO I GET MY COOKIES?

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People often ask me where the cookies in my chocolate room come from. I don’t make cookies myself, but I am a fussy cookie buyer. A lot of commercially made cookies are made out of terrible stuff – and I mean really terrible stuff – stuff like petrochemicals and animal parts that belong in dog food instead of cookies. My most popular cookies are the shortbread cookies. I use Walker’s shortbread from Scotland, which I think is the best. They are 34% butter. That’s a lot! I get my speculaas and stroopwafels from the Netherlands. They make these traditional Dutch cookies in the United States as well, but the ones made in the Netherlands are the best. After all, who knows more about how to make Dutch cookies than the Dutch? I get some of my cookies from local bakeries, especially the perishable ones, like madeleines. I don’t buy cookies from supermarket bakeries.  Supermarket bakeries are almost always the cheapest, but the quality of their ingredients is usually low, and the skill level of supermarket bakers is also usually low. Take a look at the photo below. A woman ordered 2 cakes for her kid’s birthday. She told the supermarket bakery to: “Write Happy Birthday on both.” Look what she got. That photo reminded me of another photo, also below. Exxon ordered a fleet of trucks for use in Saudi Arabia. They told the manufacturer to paint: “No Smoking in Arabic on the trucks.”

SALES OF $100 CHOCOLATE BARS ARE COLLAPSING.

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Due to the Covid epidemic, sales of very expensive chocolate bars have fallen off the cliff. Chocolate bars that sell for $100 or more are mostly sold in places that are now closed, places like luxury resorts, cruise ships, and duty-free shops. However, you can still buy most of these products online. Here’s where you can buy a To’ak Art Series chocolate bar. To’ak Chocolate. It’s $450. That seems like a lot of money (at least to me) for one chocolate bar, however, their packaging is much, much nicer than mine. Gift wrapping is extra. I don’t provide free gift wrapping, but if you are willing to pay me $450 for one of my chocolate bars, I will gift wrap it for free. To’ak Art Series Chocolate Bar.

SUR LA TABLE DECLARES BANKRUPTCY.
Sur La Table will be closing 50 of their 120 stores due to their recent bankruptcy filing. Like a lot of other chain stores that have recently declared bankruptcy, Sur La Table had a lot of junk debt. This is something that I predicted in my April newsletter. I expect that many more companies with heavy junk bond debt will be doing the same. I hope Sur La Table won’t close their Berkeley store. I like to browse around there, but I rarely buy anything there. They sell Fran’s sea salt chocolate covered caramels, an excellent product and Barack Obama’s favorite candy, but they cost $100 a pound. Sur La Table is the place to go in Berkeley if you want to buy a $500 kitchen knife or a $5,000 home coffee maker. Coffee Maker. I am not sure who buys this stuff. Although Berkeley is a college town, I don’t often see people of college age at Sur La Table, but then, how many college students buy $500 kitchen knives and $5,000 coffee makers?

CORONAVIRUS.

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MY CHOCOLATE ROOM.

The bad news is that my free chocolate room is closed due to coronavirus. The good news is that you can still get anything you want from my chocolate room! Here is the new rule. Go to: Chocolate List. There you will find a complete list of everything I have in stock. Send me an email with your shopping list. I will put what you want in a bag and leave it on my porch with your name on it where you can pick it up. (I am sorry if this sounds overly dramatic on part, but it the safest way to do this.)


HOW SIMILAR IS CORONAVIRUS TO THE SPANISH FLU?

You see comparisons everywhere between Covid-19 and the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, but how similar were they? In 1918, people did many of the same things they are doing now: wearing face masks, stockpiling food, and avoiding crowded places. While the fear between the 2 epidemics is similar, the diseases are very different. The Spanish Flu was the deadliest epidemic in human history. It killed over 50 million people worldwide, far more than were killed in World War 1, which ended that same year. 500,000 people died in the United States alone. The most obvious difference between the Spanish Flu and Covid-19 was who was at risk. Most of the people who died of the Spanish Flu were in their teens, 20s, and 30s. Very few people over the age of 60 got the Spanish Flu, and people over 70 were at the lowest risk of getting or dying of it. That is just the opposite of Covid-19. No one knows why so few old people got the Spanish Flu. Below is a photo of soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas stricken with the Spanish Flu. World War 1 soldiers had a very high death rate, and most of them were under the age of 25.

GOOD NEWS!

The good news is that medical science is in a much better position to control an epidemic today than it was in 1918. In 1918, doctors knew that viruses existed, but no one had ever seen one. Viruses are very small, and they could not be seen with the microscopes available in those days. Today, viruses can be seen with electron microscopes. Scientists in 1918 could not identify the genetic materials that a virus is made from. Now they can. And perhaps most importantly, they had no way to test people in 1918 to see if they were infected, so they could not quarantine people who were infected with the Spanish Flu but didn’t yet show symptoms of the disease. Now, doctors can do these things and a lot more. Because there was so little that doctors could do about the Spanish Flu, people resorted to folk remedies. People ate huge quantities of garlic and onions in the belief that it would ward off the disease. Grocery stores ran out of garlic and onions. Hundreds of worthless cures were sold, including arsenic tablets and beaver oil. They were all useless, and many were toxic.

Junk Bond Debt, The Coronavirus Threat That Nobody Is Talking About.

In 2008, the stock market crashed, and major banks were on the verge of collapse. In order to save the nation’s financial system, the Federal Reserve reduced the interest rate that banks and big corporations pay to zero. Ever since then, interest rates have remained very, very low by historic standards. Because the Fed was lending money at almost zero percent interest, a lot of big companies piled on debt, and much of it is junk bond debt. (These bonds are called ‘junk bonds’ for a reason.) American companies now have a whopping $10 trillion of debt, and half of it is junk bond debt. Some of the companies that have the most junk bond debt as a percent of their total capitalization are in businesses that are among the most adversely affected by Covid-19; airlines, cruise ships, oil companies, hotels, and entertainment companies. How will these companies pay their junk bond debt? Their income has fallen off the cliff. I seem to be the only person who is talking about this. Very little is being said in the news about the junk bond problem.

GERMAN’S CHOCOLATE ISN’T GERMAN.

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German’s chocolate was not invented in Germany or by Germans. In 1852, a man named Samuel German invented the first practical sweetened chocolate bar. Samuel German was employed by Baker’s Chocolate Company, America’s oldest chocolate company. Very little else is known about Samuel German. According to some accounts, he was an American baker, and according to other accounts, he was an Englishman who emigrated to the U.S. If you look at the package carefully (pictured below), you will see that the label doesn’t say ‘German Chocolate.’ It says ‘German’s Chocolate.’ Note the apostrophe and ‘s’ after the word ‘German.’ Before Samuel German’s invention, chocolate bars were unsweetened. Unsweetened chocolate bars are made for baking and beverages, not for eating.

GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE ISN’T GERMAN EITHER.
The recipe for this popular cake was invented by a woman in Texas named Mrs. George Clay. She worked for the Baker Chocolate Company, which makes German’s chocolate. Her recipe first appeared in print in a Dallas newspaper in 1957. She called her dessert ‘German’s chocolate cake’ because German’s chocolate is the principle ingredient. The cake was an immediate hit. The recipe was reprinted in newspapers all over the United States. Within 1 year, sales of German’s chocolate shot up by over 70%. Over time, most magazines and cookbooks dropped the apostrophe and ‘s’ after ‘German’ when reprinting the recipe. Today, most cookbooks and bakeries just call it German chocolate cake. It is now widely believed all over the world that German chocolate cake is a traditional German dessert, which it is not. Ironically, many restaurants in Germany now sell German chocolate cake because American tourists expect and demand it. Many German restaurants in the U.S. also serve German chocolate cake for the same reason. Several U.S. presidents have served German chocolate cake at state dinners for German politicians in the mistaken belief that German chocolate cake is a German dessert. The first U.S. president to do this was Lyndon Johnson, who served German chocolate cake at a state dinner to honor German chancellor Ludwig Erhard in 1963. Erhard had never seen German chocolate cake before and asked what it was. The most recent U.S. president to serve German chocolate cake to honor a German statesman was Barrack Obama. I don’t know if Donald Trump has ever served German chocolate cake at the White House. It is widely known that he has a sweet tooth. Trump’s favorite candies are Starburst and See’s chocolates. Incidentally, See’s gets their chocolate from the same place I do – the Guittard Chocolate Company. And remember, ‘National German Chocolate Cake Day’ is June 11.

How To Make A Hard Chocolate Shell For Ice Cream.

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chocolate-shellThis recipe only contains 2 ingredients and takes 5 minutes to make. If you want an excellent chocolate sauce that instantly hardens into a shell when poured over ice cream, here’s the secret: coconut oil. At room temperature, coconut oil is solid but spoonable; however, it becomes hard and brittle at colder temperatures, like the temperature of ice cream. You can buy coconut oil at many supermarkets and Trader Joe’s. To make a really good hard chocolate ice cream topping, place in a microwaveable bowl 1/3 cup (2.5 ounces) of coconut oil and 1 cup (6 ounces) of semisweet chocolate.  Microwave at 50 percent power in 30 second intervals, stirring the mixture between the intervals until the mixture is thoroughly combined. That’s all there is to it! You can store your chocolate topping at room temperature and spoon or pour it over ice cream. If the mixture is too thick, add a little more coconut oil or microwave it slightly to warn it up. You can also use this mixture to make chocolate covered frozen bananas on a stick and other frozen desserts. (A jar of this stuff also makes a very nice Christmas gift from your kitchen!)

This chocolate topping tastes much better than the bottled chocolate ‘magic shell’ toppings sold in supermarkets. This recipe is made with real chocolate. Nearly all of the commercially made products you find in supermarkets are made with inferior ingredients like palm oil. It’s cheaper to make this stuff that way, but predictably, it doesn’t taste as good. At the bottom of the pile, there are chocolate shell products sold at dollar stores that are made out of something called ‘natural chocolate flavor.’ I don’t know what it is, but isn’t made from cocoa beans.

New in the Chocolate Room.

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California Granola. I am making a new granola mix. It contains almonds, raisins, walnuts, and dates. I call it California Granola because nearly all of all the almonds raisins, walnuts, and daCaliforniaGranolates grown in the United States come in California. I have it in 8 ounce and 16 ounce jars. Most people, even people here in California, don’t realize how much of our nation’s food comes from California. Nearly 100% of the following crops come from California: apricots, artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, figs, garlic, grapes, kiwifruit, nectarines, olives, clingstone peaches, pistachios, plums, pomegranates, and strawberries.

Is There Lead In Hershey Bars?

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This is another Yes and No. The State of California is threatening to sue Hershey for failing to put Prop. 65 warning labels on their chocolate bars telling consumers that Hershey bars contain lead. Well Yes, there is lead in Hershey bars, but Hershey doesn’t put lead in their chocolate. Why would they? The fact is that all cacao beans contain a small amount of lead. As Hersheys explains: “All foods that are grown in nature contain small amounts of elements and minerals, such as cadmium and lead, which occur naturally in all soils because they are found in the Earth’s crust.” You may have seen stories in the press over the past year about this and thought about switching to a different brand of chocolate. That won’t do any good. There is a trace amount of lead in all chocolate. In addition to Hershey, California has also filed or threatened to file Prop. 65 lawsuits against Trader Joes, Green and Black, Lindt, Whole Foods, Kroger, Godiva, See’s, Mars, Theo, and Ghirardelli. There’s no decision yet. (P.S. – There is also a surprisingly large amount of nicotine in eggplant, but that’s a story for another day.)

Snob Appeal Chocolate and Hamantashen

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SNOB APPEAL CHOCOLATE.

 

Would you pay $14,000 for a box of 6 chocolate truffles? Believe it or not, that is what Ross Ltd. is charging. Ross is located in Kazakhstan, an oil-rich country with petro-millionaires and billionaires, although most people living there are dirt poor. The prices that some rich people are willing to pay for snob appeal products always amazes me. Have these people nothing better to do with their money? If you want to know what could possibly justify a price of $14,000 for a box of chocolates, the answer is simple – NOTHING! To see what these truffles look like, go to: $14,000 Truffles.  

NEW IN MY CHOCOLATE ROOM.hamantashenHAMANTASHEN. I’ve got handmade raspberry and apricot filled hamantashen in the chocolate room, bottom-dipped in semisweet and milk chocolate. Because they are handmade, no 2 are exactly alike. This is a seasonal item and will only be available for a short time. The word ‘hamantashen’ means ‘Haman’s pockets’ in Yiddish and German.P.S. – I don’t often make make chocolate truffles. They are too time consuming. However, if you are willing to pay me $14,000, I will make up a very nice box of truffles – just for you!

 

Woulr You Pay $260 For A Chocolate Bar?

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toakA 50 gram (1.8 ounce) To’ak chocolate bar sells for $260. Each To’ak chocolate bar is packed in a wood box and comes with a 115 page guidebook. By contrast, my chocolate bars do not come with a guidebook. You have to figure out how to eat my chocolate bars all by yourself and without written instructions. To’ak chocolate bars are made from a very rare and genetically pure variety of cocao bean called Nacional. Nacional cocao trees were thought to be extinct. The variety was nearly wiped out in 1917 by an outbreak of witch’s broom disease; however, a few of these trees were recently discovered growing in a remote area of Ecuador. There aren’t many of these trees. Despite the high price, To’ak chocolate bars are selling well. Nearly all the To’ak chocolate bars that will be available this year have already been sold. To order To’ak chocolate bars, click here: $260 Chocolate Bars.

 
nokaNoka. To’ak chocolate bars sounds like the kind of thing that dot-comers buy when they sell their companies or have IPOs; however, To’ak chocolate bars are far from being the most expensive chocolate bars ever sold. Noka chocolate bars sold for $850 a pound, but Noka went out of business after the financial crisis of 2008. A lot of companies that sold ridiculously expensive luxuries went out of business at that time. They used to sell Noka chocolate at the Neiman Marcus store at Union Square in San Francisco. Back when Neiman Marcus was selling Noka chocolate, I went over there to see the Noka display for myself. While I was there, a young man bought 2 boxes of Noka chocolates. Each box weighed 3 ounces and sold for $130. He paid cash. The guy didn’t look rich. There were holes in his Levis. He looked like he might be a busboy at a coffee shop. I remembered staring at him as he made his purchase. As he left. I wondered what he was going to do with the small bag of chocolates that he put in his backpack and paid $260 for. I wondered if he was going to eat the stuff on a bus going home. Above is a picture of my hand with a $10 Noka chocolate bar in it. (Really! That actually is a picture of a $10 Noka chocolate bar.)

If you prefer boxed chocolates and money is no object, may I recommend Debauve & Gallais’ Le Livre. Le Livre (‘book’ in French) is a collection of 35 individual chocolate pralines and ganaches packed in a box designed to look like an elegant book. It costs $550. If that is too expensive for you, you can order the Petit Livre (small book) for only $330. To order, go to: Debauve & Gallais.