In the 1964 Supreme Court case Jacobellis v. Ohio, Justice Potter Stewart described his now-infamous threshold test for pornography: “I know it when I see it.” The same sentiment holds true for a substance associated more often with love, not sex: craft chocolate.
The specialized segment of the chocolate market is nascent but growing, as reflected on grocery-store shelves and in specialty shops. Consumers now face a dizzying array of beautifully packaged bars but have limited information about their actual contents. A bar might list a percentage or an origin, but what does that say about the flavors within? Without context, very little — and that isn’t an oversight.
Craft beer and coffee are established sectors, but specialty chocolate is still defining itself; there is no regulation of terms such as “craft,” “bean-to-bar,” “artisanal” or “small batch,” and there are no standardized definitions on what those terms actually signify. Bean-to-bar, for example, is one of the most ubiquitous terms in craft chocolate but simply means a focus on the product from the cacao bean to the final chocolate bar.
“That says nothing about quality,” says Robbie Stout, co-founder of Ritual Chocolate in Park City, Utah.
To Stout, quality means a combination of awareness and skill. “Craft chocolate is about taking the process seriously, always improving, breaking down the steps and perfecting them,” he said.
Mass-produced confections are intended to guarantee a consistent smell and taste. The smaller sector, on the other hand, embraces diversity. “Our quest is flavor,” Stout said, underscoring the recognition within the craft industry that cacao is an agricultural product with seasonality and varietal diversity.
In 1997, winemaker John Scharffenberger co-founded Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker in Berkeley, Calif., which focused on small-scale production methods and higher-quality cacao beans. He helped establish an alternative to industrial chocolate in the U.S. Since then, the specialty industry has ballooned to more than 200 makers in North America alone.
So how does a chocolate lover make informed decisions? Seek counsel in shops and online, and “taste, taste, taste,” encourages Aubrey Lindley, co-owner of Cacao, a specialty chocolate shop in Portland. “Be open to new flavors and new experiences, but also be honest about your experience in the mouth. If it doesn’t taste good and bring pleasure, then it’s not good to you.”
