Family Legacies....

This very long article is dedicated to my sweet friend Gretchen. She has been in my thoughts and prayers a great deal these past few weeks. Gretchen is a joy to know and has a very discerning palette. If Gretchen and I were in a tribe together, we would surely be part of the tribe that prepares the food. It was Gretchen whose love of real dark chocolate, (85% or more) gently led me from my Dove dark chocolate stage,(35% cocoa content) to the rich world of earthy dark chocolate. I love you Gretchen!

When my thoughts stray back to home, the years of growing up at 510 Market Street in the small town of Spencer, West Virginia, I am flooded with memories. I grew up in a beautiful house that was built by my great-grandfather during a time of prosperity in this country. Although our home was in town, we were blessed to have a generous yard full of local foliage and flowers that my grandmother's father had gathered from the surrounding woods. Our yard was a child's dream full of nooks and crannies, places to hide, places to pretend all day long, safe and uninterrupted until dinnertime.

Owning our property was crucial in later leaner years, long after my great-grandfather had passed away, and the house began to lose some of its original grandeur. When my mother moved back home from Los Angeles, with me in tow, it was just my grandmother and for a while my Uncle Jim, living in the there. My grandmother eked out a living as the town organist and piano instructor. Although my mother struggled with a mental illness, all her life, she managed eventually to hold down a job as a teacher, and somehow get her Master's degree.

Dear ones, no child grows up in home with a mentally ill parent without being subjected to some things that we wish children never had to experience. Everyone did their best to pretend all was well, but our large Victorian era living room was so full of pink elephants I'm amazed that my grandmother's Steinway ever fit! In spite of this, there were consistent pleasures. Reading was always encouraged and thus books were always available, music was present in many ways, and that lovely yard offered respite throughout the summer. Among those legacies that cross the line between consoling the intellect and the heart, were the ones closer to pure creature comforts, like chocolate. No matter how lean the times, chocolate was always present in our home.

Sugar addiction, although seemingly a new trend, has been around for a while it seems, at least if our family is any measure! My mother was well known around town for her love of ice-tea, partially because the lithium she had to take dehydrated her almost beyond relief. In earlier years, she drank her tea unsweetened, decidedly and shockingly un-Southern of her. Later however, after I went to college and the first McDonald's in Spencer's history opened, she discovered their sweet tea. It fit her palette and her budget, and she happily consumed it!

My mother, however, never seemed to be quite as obsessed by chocolate the way the rest of us were. There was always a stash of it somewhere. As a child, I favored the sweet milk chocolates but my Gram and Uncle were partial to dark. Every year for Christmas, my grandmother would receive at least one Whitman's sampler, and we would pick over it for weeks, reviewing the chart that pointed out the less obvious choices (my mother always got the Jordan Almonds). No pieces were ever wasted, but some were less popular than others. One year I painstakingly tried to inspect the bottoms of the more dubious ones to see if they were worth consuming. Despite my efforts to disguise my forays through reconstruction, I underestimated my grandmother's discerning eye and was of course discovered! To her credit, my mother at least found the whole incident quite amusing.

When my grandmother passed, many years ago, we went through the painful process of beginning to clear out the large home that had nurtured and held four generations of our family. The Alzheimer's that occupied her later years coupled with raising children during the depression, led her to squirrel away odd collections of things around the house. Dear ones, we found chocolate hidden in the most bizarre places. I think she feared she would run out, and in those last years as her world became more muddled lost track of where she had left it.

Today it is only my Uncle and I left from the generations of family who grew up in the old home, I still feel that bond that comes from our love of chocolate. You could keep time on your watch (or your cell phone!) by Jim's evening consumption of something sweet, generally chocolate. I am no different. As a homeschooling mother of two, I need my little pick-me up around 3:00pm when the day is waning and so is my energy! Coupled with my other love, a cup of coffee, I have dubbed the daily pairing "The New Happy Hour". Likewise, after dinner, when the house is quiet, I love to reward myself with a piece of....dark chocolate. Apparently that gene does not kick in until after adolescence!

Like my dear Gram, I keep a substantial stash, but all in the same place. Generally, my go to chocolate is the budget friendly, yet delicious chocolate bar from Trader Joe's. There are several varieties but I stick with the 75% dark chocolate, because it's "healthy" and when I really want to indulge I treat myself to their dark chocolate truffle bar...less for the benefit of the dark chocolate and more for the creamy rich texture.

I, like my other family members, am a creature of habit. I really do not consider myself a gourmet when it comes to my chocolate. I have tried it with lavender, chile, orange peel, espresso nibs, and many other varieties. None have been as satisfying to me as the standard, simple bar, probably a throwback to my original favorite, the traditional plain Hershey's bar...everyday pleasures.

So I was caught of guard a few weeks ago when meandering down the chocolate aisle at the Roosevelt Whole Foods. It's not actually an entire aisle dear ones, but it is an impressive portion of the dessert aisle and it sits directly across from my other favorite addiction, the coffee section. Handy! As I scanned the section, more for fun than purchasing, I noticed that Chocolove bars were on sale at a very remarkable price. Chocolove, a Colorado based company is known for its gourmet pairings of raspberries and dark chocolate, milk chocolate and ginger, as well as the standard plain milk and dark chocolate bars. However it was the bar in the caramel colored wrapper that caught my eye dear ones...Sea Salt and Almonds in Dark Chocolate.

The rest is history. I was smitten with the ridiculous goodness of this bar. I raved about it to anyone who would listen. A thank you to the very patient cashier at the University District Trader Joe's with whome I swapped chocolate recommendations! As you eat this bar the dark chocolate melts in your mouth giving way to crunchy ample portions of almonds. Just as you're tempted to write it off as nothing special the savory sea salt explodes on to your palette and for a moment dear ones, it is truly heaven. I don't know how they do that but I was in love...

Lest you confuse me for someone who is a stranger to sea salt, let me quickly remedy that thought. I use sea salt regularly at home and love the texture of it when cooking savory dishes. Like the President Obama and his wife, I am also a fan of Fran's Gray & Smoked Salt Caramels. (Fran's dark chocolate is phenomenal as well) However, each time I eat them I do wish, a few bites back, that they were just solid chocolate! My dear friend Gretchen, and fellow foodie, introduced me to Fran's years ago and I love her all the more for it.

Apparently I was not the only one in love with Chocolove. A few weeks after the sale was over, all the other flavors of chocolate have been replenished except for the object of my affection...the sea salt and almond. I spent what seemed like an eternity scouring the section looking for an appropriate replacement. Nothing even came close. My heartbeat began to pick up. I casually inquire to the cashier, trying not to break out in a sweat "When do you think you might get those in again"...try customer service. With the kidlets in tow I opt for a phone call, rather than a stop at the desk, a sad call that ends with the polite employee telling me "I don't know"....more beads of sweat. What now? I am addicted!

Thankfully, the spouse now works downtown again, close to the delightful shop The Chocolate Box an upscale, chocolate boutique (translated: heaven) that, in its efforts to feature the world's best chocolate discovered most of it was being made right here in the Pacific Northwest. Because I am a tad crazy when obsessed with something, I had saved the wrapper of my last bar. It's possible I might have gone back and smelled it a couple of times....maybe. In a flash of brilliance I took a picture of it with my BlackBerry (God bless technology!) and sent it to him...

an hour later, during his lunch break, the Spouse sent me this.... live from The Chocolate Box!

I nearly wept.

All was temporarily well, but I had to figure out how to make this latest object of my addiction err, I mean affection fit with my budget. This was on my mind when I was shopping at my favorite University Village QFC. They have a drop-in, secure, play area for the kidlets and the ladies that work there are saints. I can hang out for an hour, shop, have a coffee...breathe, while the "wee ones" are occupied. This left me free to amble down the candy aisle and much to my joy and amazement I found a plethora of bars with sea salt in them and picked up three to sample that evening. Honestly I only started with one, but then felt duty bound to my fellow foodies to do some research.

For a 44 year-old mother of two, sampling a plate of dark chocolate, in quiet, on a Friday night is the height of excitement dear ones. It was on my mind all afternoon, it even made my status update on Facebook. I plated it up as if I were presenting it to the Queen and sampled each one to compare to my latest fascination. Here are the fruits of my labor, a labor of love as you well know!

(clockwise from the top, Chocolove, Ghirardelli, Komforte, Lindt)
In addition to the Chocolove Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt with Almond bar, I also sampled:

1. Ghiradelli's Intense Dark Sea Salt Soiree, "all natural"

2. Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt 47% Cocoa
3. Komforte Chockolates Tortilla Lime and Salt "Savory Combinations That Are Easy to Love"

My findings are as follows. I remain a devoted, adoring fan of the Chocolove and prayerfully request that the Roosevelt Whole Foods get their store fully stocked as soon as possible. It has a 55% cocoa content, enough to begin to qualify as dark chocolate for diehard dark fans, but not too much to overwhelm those who are "afraid of the dark" so to speak. The infusion of almonds and salt is well balanced and disperse in a way that is pure alchemy.

Second in line for me was the Lindt bar. I love the packaging. Opening it up felt like a treat, which also makes it nice for giving as a little gift. It is very rich, and lower in cocoa content, but wonderful for savoring one thin square at a time. It does not have the almonds and I did enjoy the coupling of the chocolate and the salt. I would purchase it in lieu of the Chocolove.

Third, and shockingly beating out the final dark selection, was the Komforte Chockolate bar which is pure milk chocolate. However, it was such a treat for the palette with the addition of lime that I will go back and purchase this again when I feel like splurging on something different. I could absolutely do without the tortilla, I found it a bit distracting. My good friend Rusti, with whom I shared this bar (following the instructions on the Komforte Chockolates' bar, "Share Chocolate With Friends") enjoyed the bar as well, sans tortilla.

Finally the Ghirdelli was adequate but did not deliver for me. It is the chocolate I will save in the drawer for those times the Spouse decides he must have a bit of "my" chocolate. In it's beautiful foil package and with what must be a very low cocoa content (not listed on the packaging) the Spouse will be delighted. For me, it could not hold up to the Chocolove's quality in terms of the cocoa content or the enjoyment of the savory elements. I sampled it several times and each time, the word "flat" came to mind. I like Ghiradelli chocolates and will go back and sample some of their other offerings from their new Intense Dark collection, they have at least two bars that are 72% or more in their cocoa content.

It bears mentioning that the plate I used for my "work" is a replica of one housed in my Grandmother's china cabinet. Growing up I spent hours gazing at each piece dreaming of a day when I would take those pieces out and use them. Although that is one dream that will not come true, I have been fortunate to find pieces like my Gram's to remind me of her collection. It is an homage to her that I served up my samplings on the green antique plate, I can't help but wonder, dear ones, what she would have thought about the choices we have today in our chocolate, someday I look forward to chatting with her about it...

More will be revealed....