Especially noteworthy is a signature collection of Mediterranean-inspired chocolates that pays homage to the family's roots, such as ones filled with honey, ground roasted walnuts, baklava spices and salt, dipped in 74 percent cacao couverture and then rolled in chopped walnuts and vibrantly green Sicilian pistachios.
The new idea of single-origin chocolate means that all the ingredients in the couverture (the wholesale/bulk cocoa used by chefs, chocolatiers etc) must come from the same country and be processed locally.
Health care coverage in France is now virtually universal at 99.9% as a result of the introduction of "couverture maladie universelle" (CMU) in 2000.
And is it a classic cognac truffle, dusted with bittersweet cocoa powder, or a simple raspberry-liqueur flavored one, enrobed in the shiniest couverture?
Craig says the fraud lies in the Masts selling couverture while calling themselves a bean-to-bar company — he likens it to Tiffany's selling cubic zirconium as diamonds — but the larger upset seems to be over the fact that chocolate aficionados don't think the Masts' bean-to-bar efforts hold up, even though the public is too pliable to realize it.
Craig says the fraud lies in the Masts selling couverture while calling themselves a bean-to-bar company—he likens it to Tiffany's selling cubic zirconium as diamonds but the larger upset seems to be over the fact that chocolate aficionados don't think the Masts' bean-to-bar efforts hold up, even though the public is too pliable to realize it.
"Milk chocolate is excellent with caramel, with vanilla, with nuts, but on its own it is not as interesting," said Eric Girerd, a fourth-generation chocolatier who makes bonbons in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, using Cluizel couverture and cocoa.
(Mr. Torres's salted caramel has become a virtual cult item.) For chocolatiers, the art of covering or enrobing bonbons in a perfectly glossy, smooth coating of couverture is a major source of pride and prestige.
Melting Your Own "In a third taste test, you couldn't taste the difference between a Clasen's chocolate and a couverture chocolate," said Harry Cohen, proprietor of the Chocolate Duck in Farmingdale, touting the American brand in the five vats of chocolate melting in the kitchen of his supermarket-size store, which sells chocolate and cake supplies.
You can see why chocolate makers would be frustrated by anyone melting down pre-made couverture chocolate and claiming they'd had a hand in the entire process.
