Melissa @ Divani Chocolatier

Flavors Speaking in Tongue

The post Down the Rabbit Hole of Flavor Profiling-Part 2 appeared first on Divani Chocolatier.

“I sat in a field of shamrocks for a year, then ate some blackberries and talked to the local almonds and now I have all these points!”

~ Quote from a dream I had once.

The “Otherlanguage” of Sound

When asked how I come up with the flavor combinations for our chocolate confections, an enigmatic response arises. Sure, it may seem like a straight forward process, but truly, it is based upon a menagerie of ideas, concepts, and inspirations. I’ll start with the ‘name creating flavor’ approach.

“What is in a name? Would a rose by any other name smell less sweet?”
~ William Shakespeare via Juliet Capulet

It’s a rather quizzical and philosophical metaphor posed by Juliet, which makes for great romantic tragedy, but I have a feeling had Romeo been named Seymour Butts instead, he might not have shaped up to be the person he presented to Juliet on the night of their meeting. Nor would Juliet have been too eager to become Mrs. Seymour Butts.

You see, sounds carry information. And information does just what it says it does, it puts things “in formation”. It arranges circumstances and knowledge with imagery, giving way to a specific, definitive outcome. Certain arrangements of sounds, when uttered together, could convey to a listener anything and everything from confidence to mystery to humor to innocence. When was the last time you heard someone describe a food and said something like, “Oh that sounds delicious!” or “Ew, that sounds disgusting!” based solely on the sound of the word(s)?

It’s because the sounds carried forth information based on a plethora of perception. Now, some perceptions are more obvious than others, being that they are indeed from a relatively modern era and can be traced back to their origins. Still others come from a space seeming otherworldly and inexplicable. But we won’t go there for now. After all, in the art of naming confections for consumer appeal, one must remain harmonious with common contexts.

So where does this bring us? Close your eyes…. no wait… don’t close your eyes, you are reading and won’t be able to continue if you do. Okay, so… leave your eyes open… but allow your mind to drift freely when you read these next words and utter them aloud.

“Sweet Dreams”

Now add the layer of knowledge that this is a collection of chocolates in a box. What might be in it if you were the creator? What combinations would convey these sounds into flavors? Or, even if you don’t want to get as involved as to dream up these tasty treats, just imagine if you were seeking a chocolate experience and happened upon an assortment by this name, without even looking at the contents, does your first instinct whisper, “You have got to try those!”?

Well, this is in fact one such variety of boxed chocolates whose name conveyed its contents. How does creamed honey with pure essential oil based flavors sound to you? That’s what they are.

Here’s where a clever someone might say, “But I don’t like honey”. To which my response would be, “That’s why I didn’t call them Honey Dreams.” To have called it Honey Dreams would have diluted the essence of the experience and made it finitely attached to a persons perception of honey.

“But wait!” you say, “I thought you named it first than came up with the combinations!” And I did, but it just so happens that these matters are sort of like Wonderland and somehow wind up being all inside-outsee and topsy-turvy. The name spoke of a delightful sweet, dream like experience, which was precisely how I felt the moment I tried creamed honey for the first time. Whisked away to dream land where all is divine! I just knew that sensation had to be enraptured by chocolate. And so it was.

The post Down the Rabbit Hole of Chocolate Flavor Profiling – Part 1 appeared first on Divani Chocolatier.

Valentine’s Day. It’s is all about the love. Seems fitting that, hey… so are we! Hence, why we produce the one confection that pretty much says all there is to say in terms of love. Chocolate – or more specifically for this particular holiday, chocolate covered strawberries! Red, ripe, chocolate covered strawberries are great for all kinds of crazy love, such as: friendly love, family love, respectful love, appreciative love, sympathetic love, self love, and of course, romantic love.

We tend to think a lot in terms of what sort of love these luscious delicacies are for, but what about the love that goes in to these sumptuous sweets?

There are a lot of caring steps involved in delivering you and your loved ones the best of the best in terms of chocolate covered strawberries. Some are undertaken by ourselves, and others by those with whom we choose to work.

So, here’s a little timeline snapshot of your Valentine’s Day berries in how they get from the farm to your, or your loved one’s, heart!

First, being outside of our strawberry growing season here in Western PA, the strawberries are grown in California’s temperate region, are picked on a Saturday, then freighted the same day to arrive at our local distributor on Monday.

Depending upon which day the holiday falls, we either pick up our reserved flats immediately or allow them to remain in store until day before dipping.

Once brought to our kitchen, they are thoroughly washed in special high-alkalinity water to remove any pesticides, dirt, or all other residues that don’t belong. They are then spread out on a flat surface in a clean, cool environment to air dry.

The very next morning, before the sun rise, they are individually hand dipped in our signature Belgian chocolate, and topped with the appropriate toppings.

Finally, they are boxed and ribboned for presentation to our lovely customers!

I make it sound easy, don’t I? But the truth is, it takes a lot of love and a lot of life-force to conjure up these fabulous confections for that one very special day – for everyone’s very special someones. All in all, to see the faces of mostly grown men, light up, when they pick up their Princess or Queen box of chocolate covered strawberries for their sweetheart – well, that makes it so worth it!

The post From Farm To Heart appeared first on Divani Chocolatier.