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First, there was wine; now, it`s about chocolate: The Asian Age
New York, Dec 04: Chocolate is the next coffee,` confided one importer.` `Chocolate is the new olive oil,` said a chocolatier. `Chocolate now is where cheese was 10 years ago,` a pastry chef asserted.
New York, Dec 04: Chocolate is the next coffee," confided one importer." "Chocolate is the new olive oil," said a chocolatier. "Chocolate now is where cheese was 10 years ago," a pastry chef asserted.
In the beginning, there was wine. And there were wine tastings and wine snobs and wine-of-the-month clubs. Then olive oil, vinegar, cheese, coffee and butter followed into the American culinary consciousness.
Now the appreciation of fine chocolate seems poised to become the next gastronomic parlor game. In New York, the proof is in the real estate.
At least a dozen new boutique chocolatiers have opened here since 2000. Whether bars or bonbons, chocolate that is carefully created for flavour without regard to shelf stability or even popular appeal is hitting the radar of food-alert New Yorkers.
At Bierkraft in Park Slope, you can buy "flights" of chocolate for tastings that illustrate the different nuances of Ecuadorean, Ivoirian and Venezuelan cocoa beans. At Dean & DeLuca, chocolates made by Michael Recchiuti come with instructions: "We suggest a pairing with still spring water." Dean & DeLuca also stocks the world’s first chocolate identified by a "vintage" year: the Valrhona Chuao, made with cocoa beans grown in a single region of Venezuela.
In the beginning, there was wine. And there were wine tastings and wine snobs and wine-of-the-month clubs. Then olive oil, vinegar, cheese, coffee and butter followed into the American culinary consciousness.
Now the appreciation of fine chocolate seems poised to become the next gastronomic parlor game. In New York, the proof is in the real estate.
At least a dozen new boutique chocolatiers have opened here since 2000. Whether bars or bonbons, chocolate that is carefully created for flavour without regard to shelf stability or even popular appeal is hitting the radar of food-alert New Yorkers.
At Bierkraft in Park Slope, you can buy "flights" of chocolate for tastings that illustrate the different nuances of Ecuadorean, Ivoirian and Venezuelan cocoa beans. At Dean & DeLuca, chocolates made by Michael Recchiuti come with instructions: "We suggest a pairing with still spring water." Dean & DeLuca also stocks the world’s first chocolate identified by a "vintage" year: the Valrhona Chuao, made with cocoa beans grown in a single region of Venezuela.