16 September 2010

From Bean to Bar: Inspirations

Sorting through the cocoa beans
Adding the finishing touches
Wrapping the bars

The result

Less than a month ago I feasted at Great Lake Pizza in Chicago, acclaimed by some as the best pizza in the country (I didn't take pictures, though I should have; when I go back I'll make sure to devote a post). Scanning the various grocery items available at the quaint restaurant, my eyes were drawn to the playfully eccentric wrapping of Mast Brothers Chocolate (a chocolate-maker that I had not heard of at the time). I wanted to find out if the chocolate bar itself would outdo its conscientious wrapping, so I picked one up (dark chocolate + hazelnut).

Containing only a handful of ingredients, the chocolate imparted very pure, elemental flavors, balancing bitter and sweet. Needless to say, the $7 chocolate bar did not disappoint. Mast Brothers Chocolate, based out of Brooklyn, is one of the few bean to bar artisanal chocolate-makers in the country. They get their cocoa beans from family farms in places like Madagascar, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. They source, select, roast and process the chocolate in their three-room "factory". The hand-wrapped treat really does impart the genuine quality that the Mast brothers bestow on their chocolate operation. For those of us residing in Chicago, Great Lake is the official purveyor of this delicacy.

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