Imagine a long day when you have spent it hopping from one Spanish bodega to another tasting sherries and fabulous wines and then suddenly out of nowhere you find a single malt whisky. You obviously pick it up, turn around the bottle to read the back and find all information about it. Now all that is in a language you understand, so you are a happy soul.
But now imagine another long day when you are in a quaint village in Japan and you find a beautiful chocolate shop. You pick up a chocolate bar, but you can't read it because you don't know the language. Again, suppose you are in Vietnam and you have been told that the country produces fabulous cacao so you go looking for chocolate makers and chocolate shops.
How many times have you been met with the second two situations? Where do you start? Whom do you ask?? You know you want chocolates that are ethically and sustainably produced and want to know the source of the bars, but what you look for that meets your needs.
Here are some pointers that might help you -
Let's start with the fact that it's a small chocolatier or chocolate maker’s shop. If you can't read what's on the packaging, ASK the person. They would be the best to give you all the information. The makers are always ready to talk more about their sources and all the stories associated . You might even get a chance to check their kitchen/ factory for your enthusiasm about learning about their chocolate.
Now, if you are at a delicatessen or a coffee shop and you see a wall of various chocolates, you run to take a look. Again, ask the person at the counter. If they don't have information about the bars, take a look at the price. Craft chocolates will mostly have a higher price and will be placed in the high shelves. This mainly applies if you are at a grocery store in a foreign country and you are looking for craft chocolate. If the internet signal IS your friend, use the google translate app. It has a camera feature which if you point to the unknown language at the back of the packaging does a wonderful job of translation. Words like “bean to bar” or “tree to bar” are great starters. See if it talks about a co-op or a farm or where they source the beans from. Look for any information about the harvest year. Craft chocolate makers make it completely traceable and try to write as much as possible on their packaging.
If sugar is the first ingredient on the list, run far away from that bar. It's a dead giveaway for bad cacao which is being covered up and mass produced chocolate. You might also want to run away from the nestles and the mondelezes of the world. They are definitely NOT craft chocolate and won't be your BFF on your flavor journey. Most craft chocolate bars will have 2 to 3 ingredients ( cacao, cacao butter and sugar, where the first word SHOULD BE the first ingredient), and if there are any inclusions in the bar ( like fruit or spice etc). The list should not be a long paragraph of things ( aka preservatives and things which sound like chemical additives).
With these things in mind, I hope you can go looking for the greatest chocolates in the world.
May the best craft chocolates find you on your trips...
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