You may have noticed I’ve been making bars lately. Creating a bar is an entirely different thinking process than creating a bonbon. Flavoring is trickier and more direct–it’s about infusing taste and aroma directly into the chocolate. My Chai bar is infused with tea, ginger, and cardamom for two weeks before I package it.
A bar has more surface area to decorate than a bonbon–more like a canvas than a sculpture. I airbrush Chai in red, orange, and yellow cocoa butter (okay, the yellow involves a toothbrush and a lovely mess!), my salt bar, Sel requires three layers of preparation: brushing with gold dust, masking and spraying with red cocoa butter, then highlighting in blue. I think the result is perfect and complements the complex dark and milk layered bar.
Each piece begins with an inspiration and lives out it’s own story. One day I was reminiscing about a friend from India who taught me to make really good chai, and decided to try the same technique in caramelly milk chocolate. The result is like eating a bar of a cup of really good chai. Sel came about in Pisa, where I spent a day working with Tuscan chocolatier Paul De Bondt. Paul had created a dark & milk layered salt bar to symbolize the working relationship between he and his wife. The combination worked so well I decided to invent my own incarnation. The two bars have become two of my customers’ favorites.
Finding and Buying my Bars
News and good fortune for those in the Nashua, NH area. You can now purchase these and my other bars from two of my favorite places:
WineNot Boutique at 170 Main St. While you’re there, congratulate Svetlana on winning this year’s Hippo Press Best of the Best for an area wine shop.
Riverwalk Coffee Roasters at 35 Railroad Square. I recommend trying the Sel bar with a cup of espresso from Steve’s dark Rwanda beans or the Chai with his Peruvian beans.
Of course you can always call (603.424.0713) or email me for bars. Here’s the full collection.
Rich