Le Chocolat Bar unlocks sweet mysteries - The Beacon News - Aurora (IL)

Every Thursday night, Le Chocolat Bar in Naperville holds free taste testings of its large selection of imported and domestic chocolates, from cocoa powder to dark chocolate truffles. Owner Cathy Bouchard has an expansive knowledge of chocolate, from its origin as the baby cacao pod and cacao beans to the various shapes in which it is produced, including authentic Mexican chocolate wafers, dark chocolate shavings, mini chocolate raspberry truffles, triple chocolate truffles, pure couverture chips and pure cocoa powder, all pictured here.

Some people love chocolate. Then there's Cathy Bouchard, who not only loves chocolate, but credits it with saving her life.The owner of Perfect Details gift shop in Naperville, Bouchard recently opened Le Chocolat Bar next door to share her passion with the public. At 2,000 square feet, the homage to chocolate is only slightly smaller than Willy Wonka's.

A nonfiction enthusiast, Bouchard loves diving into a subject, whether it be astronomy, pyramids or chocolate, and exploring it exhaustively. While reading about the Egyptian pyramids, she kept coming across stories about the Mayan pyramids as well. Eventually, she started exploring that topic and picked up on the repeated references to cacao and its healing and empowering tendencies. At about that time the fibromyalgia she had been suffering through had left her almost completely incapacitated. Nothing medicinal was helping. She prayed for either a miracle cure or for God to put her out of her misery.

When she turned to chocolate, she didn't think it was going to solve her problems. She just figured if chocolate was good enough for Mayan warriors -- who were said to take wafers and little else along with them to battle -- then it couldn't hurt her. She began eating two 1-ounce portions of chocolate a day. Slowly, she began feeling like her old self. Six weeks into her chocolate-eating regimen, she felt better than she had in years and was symptom free.

'I had my miracle,' Bouchard said.

And while she says it's possible that the chocolate isn't solely responsible for her return to good health, one trip through Le Chocolate Bar would probably show what little chance there is that she'd credit something else.

She receives weekly shipments from chocolatiers all over the country, who ship everything from truffles to chocolate bars and any other form of chocolate you can imagine. She gives free samples of just about everything at the store. It's part of her effort to increase sales, of course, but also to expose people to a variety of tastes and flavors that you can't get from the candy aisle at the nearby minimart. She calls it chocolate therapy, and plans on hosting monthly events devoted to the history and the mysteries surrounding chocolate.

'I want to start educating people about the benefits of chocolate,' she said. 'Good chocolate. Real good chocolate. Not Hershey's and Nestle's.'

While they have white- and milk-chocolate products, Bouchard tries to steer customers to the dark chocolate, which is a little bit bitter but has higher concentration of cacao. They serve chocolate desserts (they've got more varieties of turtles than the Brookfield Zoo and plenty of toffees and caramels as well), cakes, pastries, bulk chocolate items and cookware. They also serve more than a dozen different varieties of hot cocoa and coffee for those chocolate eaters who don't want another dose in their drink.

Le Chocolate Bar has a private area that can accommodate parties of up to 40 people. Bouchard also caters sweet trays and tables and designs wedding and other types of cakes.

Le Chocolat Bar

408 W. 5th Ave., Naperville, (630) 355-5720.

Le Chocolat Bar delves into confection's sweet mysteries - The Sun - Naperville (IL)

Every Thursday night, Le Chocolat Bar in Naperville holds free taste testings of its large selection of imported and domestic chocolates, from cocoa powder to dark chocolate truffles. Owner Cathy Bouchard has an expansive knowledge of chocolate, from its origin as the baby cacao pod and cacao beans to the various shapes in which it is produced, including authentic Mexican chocolate wafers, dark chocolate shavings, mini chocolate raspberry truffles, triple chocolate truffles, pure couverture chips and pure cocoa powder, all pictured here.

Some people love chocolate. Then there's Cathy Bouchard, who not only loves chocolate, but credits it with saving her life.The owner of Perfect Details gift shop in Naperville, Bouchard recently opened Le Chocolat Bar next door to share her passion with the public. At 2,000 square feet, the homage to chocolate is only slightly smaller than Willy Wonka's.

A nonfiction enthusiast, Bouchard loves diving into a subject, whether it

be astronomy, pyramids or chocolate, and exploring it exhaustively. While

reading about the Egyptian pyramids, she kept coming across stories about

the Mayan pyramids as well. Eventually, she started exploring that topic and picked up on the repeated references to cacao and its healing and empowering tendencies. At about that time the fibromyalgia she had been suffering through had left her almost completely incapacitated. Nothing medicinal was helping. She prayed for either a miracle cure or for God to put her out of her misery.

When she turned to chocolate, she didn't think it was going to solve her problems. She just figured if chocolate was good enough for Mayan warriors

-- who were said to take wafers and little else along with them to battle

-- then it couldn't hurt her. She began eating two 1-ounce portions of chocolate a day. Slowly, she began feeling like her old self. Six weeks into her chocolate-eating regimen, she felt better than she had in years and was symptom free.

'I had my miracle,' Bouchard said.

And while she says it's possible that the chocolate isn't solely responsible for her return to good health, one trip through Le Chocolate Bar would probably show what little chance there is that she'd credit something else.

She receives weekly shipments from chocolatiers all over the country, who

ship everything from truffles to chocolate bars and any other form of chocolate you can imagine. She gives free samples of just about everything

at the store. It's part of her effort to increase sales, of course, but also to expose people to a variety of tastes and flavors that you can't get from the candy aisle at the nearby minimart. She calls it chocolate therapy, and plans on hosting monthly events devoted to the history and the mysteries surrounding chocolate.

'I want to start educating people about the benefits of chocolate,' she said. 'Good chocolate. Real good chocolate. Not Hershey's and Nestle's.'

While they have white- and milk-chocolate products, Bouchard tries to steer customers to the dark chocolate, which is a little bit bitter but has higher concentration of cacao. They serve chocolate desserts (they've got more varieties of turtles than the Brookfield Zoo and plenty of toffees and caramels as well), cakes, pastries, bulk chocolate items and cookware. They also serve more than a dozen different varieties of hot cocoa and coffee for those chocolate eaters who don't want another dose in

their drink.

Le Chocolate Bar has a private area that can accommodate parties of up to

40 people. Bouchard also caters sweet trays and tables and designs wedding and other types of cakes.

LE CHOCOLAT BAR

408 W. 5th Ave., Naperville, (630) 355-5720.

Noise level: Conversation friendly.

Posters for chocolate treats get juices flowing. - Connecticut Post

Byline: Phyllis A.S. Boros

Aug. 23--Mouthwatering.

That's one way to describe a collection of advertising posters, touting the lusciousness of chocolate, that goes on display Saturday at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich.

'Eye Candy: Two Centuries of Chocolate Advertising' will feature 22 large-scale vintage and notable advertisements from the 19th and 20th centuries that were designed to entice viewers into purchasing and consuming chocolate drinks and candy.

The exhibit, which will run through Dec. 2, complements the museum's larger show, 'A Taste for Chocolate,' that opened in July. That exhibition, on view through Feb. 24, explores the commodity's place in the history of popular culture in Europe and the Americas.

Both exhibitions are curated by museum educator Carol Ward, who grew up in a home where chocolate was often the source of dinner-table conversation. Although now retired, Ward's father had been chief executive officer of a chocolate company that supplied cacao to manufacturers around the world.

Ward is a 2003 graduate of Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., where she majored in art history. In 2005, the college gallery invited Ward to guest curate an exhibition that featured decorative items and paintings -- all with a chocolate motif -- from her parents' collection.

When Ward joined the Bruce Museum staff in August 2005, she suggested that the Bruce consider offering a broader version of her college show. The result is the poster show and 'Taste,' which includes about 50 decorative pieces and historical artifacts that follow chocolate history from about A.D. 600 -- when the Maya established the first cacao plantations -- through the 20th century. Ward explained that the concoction's name came from the early 15th century Aztec, whose royalty favored mixing cacao with water, chili peppers, cornmeal and other ingredients to create a spicy drink called chocolatl.

Ward said that the companion show was put together to illustrate how chocolate advertising and the art of advertising each evolved during the 19th century through the mid-20th century.

The advertising posters are drawn from Wilbur Chocolate's Americana Museum in Lititz, Pa., The International Poster Gallery of Boston, private lenders, and from the collection owned by the curator's parents, Marion and Jack Ward of Mamaronack, N.Y. Through the centuries, chocolate was primarily consumed as a drink. But in the 18th and 19th centuries, the English, Dutch and Swiss learned to grind cacao beans into a powder, which could be made into a liquid and then cooled to form a chocolate bar.

Companies such as Cadbury, Nestle and Lindt began producing chocolate in milk and dark varieties, at prices that were more affordable to the general public, she explained in a previous interview. It was also during this time that the tradition of adding milk and sugar to chocolate powder developed, with recipes akin to the 'hot chocolate' drink of today. Ward pointed out last week that in the late 1800s, most advertisements appeared in newspapers and magazines and 'focused on the perceived health benefits of drinking chocolate,' with the message that 'if you drink chocolate in the morning, you'll stay fresh and energized through the day.'

British companies, such as Cadbury and Fry's, promoted the idea that 'chocolate is good for you . . . and used images of members of the royal family and the prime minister to lend credence' to their claims, Ward noted.

The originals were done in black ink, and often hand-painted in muted colors; examples in the exhibit from this era, created for the Illustrated London News, date to the late 1880s.

It was the French, Ward said, that elevated advertising to an art form in the late 1890s. Paris was undergoing beautification and Parisians were eager to tout all the best in French commodities (wines and chocolates, for example) and their landmarks (such as the Moulin Rouge) in a series of 240 bright and bold prints that celebrated life in La Belle poque.

Printed by Les Maitres de l'Affiche (The Masters of the Poster), the works -- by 90 artists including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard and Maxfield Parrish -- were sold as lithographic artwork in a 12-inch by 16- inch format. The images also were mass-produced in a larger poster format and distributed as advertisements.

In the exhibition are three hand-carved lithographs, including Henri Gerbault's piece promoting Chocolat Carpentier, depicting a cat and dog attempting to get at a bowl of hot chocolate as a mother, with infant, look on.

Examples of advertising from the 20th century include a 1952 piece in which movie star Liz Taylor promotes Whitman's Chocolate for Valentine's Day, while simultaneously promoting her new movie 'Ivanhoe.' In another, from 1956, Disney designer Mary Blair depicts a little girl drinking a tall glass of Baker's Instant Cocoa.

'The show is a nice companion to 'A Taste'; together they show the enormous impact that chocolate has had on popular culture once chocolate became available [and affordable] to the masses,' Ward added.

The Bruce Museum is at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, exit 3 off Interstate 95. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $7, $6 for senior citizens and students, free for children under age 5 and members. Free admission is offered for all on Tuesdays. Museum exhibition tours are given on Fridays at 12:30 p.m. Free, on-site parking is available. The museum is wheelchair accessible. Groups of eight or more require advance reservations. For additional information, visit www.brucemuseum.org or call 869-0376.

To see more of the Connecticut Post, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.connpost.com/.

Copyright (c) 2007, Connecticut Post, Bridgeport

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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The substance of things hoped for on V-Day; Aztecs thought chocolate came from a tree stolen from paradise.(FEATURES)(BOOKS)(Book Review) - The Christian Science Monitor

Byline: Ruth Walker

If high-quality chocolate were a city, it would be one in which there are no starter homes. Most of us are doomed to the slums of 'industrial chocolate,' on the other side of the tracks - the Hershey bars or the Cadbury's or whatever it was we got hooked on when we were too little to know any better.

According to Mort Rosenblum's thorough investigation of the world of chocolate, even some of the most exclusive names rely too much on wax and care more about their gift boxes than their taste.

Reading about food generally leaves me with a new appreciation for whatever cuisine is under discussion, even if it's a temptation from which I wish to be delivered. 'Chocolate,' however, left me feeling that there's less of a there there than I'd imagined.

Rosenblum bounces from South America and Africa to California and New York to Europe; he also bounces among genres: consumer guide here, history there, with liberal dollops of sociology and medical lore along the way.

Some of the 'issues' surrounding chocolate turn out, in this book, to be no big deal after all. Remember the buzz about how chocolate was produced by child slave labor in Africa? Not to worry, Rosenblum says; there are children working for no pay on their families' cacao plantations, but their situation is not materially different from that of young sons and daughters in farm families around the world.

If the cacao exchange in Ivory Coast is a mysterious channel from which wealth brought in from overseas buyers disappears before it makes it to poor cacao growers, the author quotes a French bean trader who diplomatically calls the whole process 'opaque' and then pretty much leaves it there.

If there are health benefits to chocolate, no one really knows much for sure; research funding tends to go to those studying disease, not the sense of well-being that comes from chocolate.

He has high praise for the chocolate of a handful of (mostly) Europeans (Patrick Roger or Michael Chaudun in France or Pierre Marcolini in Brussels). There are moments of passion here and there, as he identifies cacao growers who really do it right, chocolatiers who refuse to cut corners. And there are some brands he acknowledges as offering good value for money (try Cote d'Or or Leonidas).

But unless you live in Paris (as Rosenblum conveniently does), to absorb the connoisseurship offered in this book is to set yourself up for consumer frustration. On the other hand, maybe I should figure out how to spend Valentine's Day in Paris.

* Ruth Walker is on the Monitor staff.

Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light

By Mort Rosenblum

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

290 pp., $24

Clark County at Work: Choffy - The Columbian (Vancouver, WA)

Choffy owners Jason Vanderhoven, left, and Jason Sherwood go overtheir schedules at their warehouse.

A cup of ground roasted cacao on display at the Choffy warehousein Vancouver.

Business name: Choffy.

Owners: Jason Vanderhoven and Jason Sherwood.

Address: warehouse in Hazel Dell.

What the business does: Choffy is the originator of modern brewedchocolate, according to owners Jason Sherwood and Jason Vanderhoven.The company roasts and grinds 100 percent premium cacao (cocoa)beans in small artisan batches to create a rich, full-flavoreddrink. Sherwood and Vanderhoven said Choffy is richer and morerobust than hot chocolate but it brews just like coffee. But unlikecoffee, it supplies you with long-lasting energy without the crashand other negative effects of caffeine, they said. Choffy containsno sugar, dairy, or chemicals.

What steps are you taking to build your business as the economyrecovers: The company has gone from a handful of local fans tohaving a blossoming national customer and independent distributorbase, the owners said. They believe it is their opportunity andresponsibility to develop broad, deep personal skills within each oftheir direct sales distributors. This personal development caninclude everything from communication and sales skills, fiscalresponsibility, to healthier living.

Greatest challenge: The cacao market is in constant flux. As withmost commodities, cacao is subject to many external factors such asclimate change, government (in)stability and import/exportlegislation. These factors can affect everything from cacaoavailability, quality and not least of which, cost. As the companygrows, its internal resources will continue to be critical to theirsuccess, Sherwood said. The company is constantly seeking dedicated,trained personnel and they continue to develop internal trainingmaterials to staff skills.

What is your favorite part of the job: Sherwood says that withoutquestion the best part of his job is working with the people atChoffy headquarters to help teach, build, and support independentdistributors around the country. There is nothing more satisfyingthan seeing others loving the taste and health benefits of Choffy,he said.

What's ahead: The owners said they are working to bring newChoffy products to market. They expect to continue to expand theirdistributor numbers. Despite national economic confidence being low,they feel that the future is exceptionally bright.

Year established in Clark County: 2009.

Employees: Six full-time; part-time staff fluctuates.

Telephone: 360-334-7229.

Fax: 702-541-9934.

Email: info@drinkchoffy.com.

Website: http://drinkchoffy.com.

Research from M.J. Payne et al broadens understanding of food science. - Cardiovascular Week

According to recent research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 'Low molecular weight flavan-3-ols are thought to be responsible, in part, for the cardiovascular benefits associated with cocoa powder and dark chocolate. The levels of epicatechin and catechin were determined in raw and conventionally fermented cacao beans and during conventional processing, which included drying, roasting, and Dutch (alkali) processing.'

'Unripe cacao beans had 29% higher levels of epicatechin and the same level of catechin compared to fully ripe beans. Drying had minimal effect on the epicatechin and catechin levels. Substantial decreases (>80%) in catechin and epicatechin levels were observed in fermented versus unfermented beans. When both Ivory Coast and Papua New Guinea beans were subjected to roasting under controlled conditions, there was a distinct loss of epicatechin when bean temperatures exceeded 70 C. When cacao beans were roasted to 120 degrees C, the catechin level in beans increased by 696% in unfermented beans, by 650% in Ivory Coast beans, and by 640% in Papua New Guinea fermented beans compared to the same unroasted beans. These results suggest that roasting in excess of 70 degrees C generates significant amounts of (-)-catechin, probably due to epimerization of (-)-epicatechin. Compared to natural cocoa powders, Dutch processing caused a loss in both epicatechin (up to 98%) and catechin (up to 80%),' wrote M.J. Payne and colleagues (see also Food Science).

The researchers concluded: 'The epicatechin/catechin ratio is proposed as a useful and sensitive indicator for the processing history of cacao beans.'

Payne and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Impact of Fermentation, Drying, Roasting, and Dutch Processing on Epicatechin and Catechin Content of Cacao Beans and Cocoa Ingredients. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010;58(19):10518-10527).

For additional information, contact M.J. Payne, Hershey Technical Center, Hershey Center Health & Nutrition, 1025 Reese Avenue, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.

The publisher's contact information for the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry is: American Chemical Society, 1155 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036, USA.

Keywords: City:Hershey, State:PA, Country:United States, Agricultural, Agriculture, Chemicals, Food Chemistry, Food Science

BELIZE - Caribbean Update

Cacao farmers in the rain forests of Belize are expected to benefit from a new deal with a British food company which is giving them a guaranteed price for their crop for three years. Green and Black's 'Maya Gold' chocolate bar, made from the cacao grown by Maya Indians in Belize's Southern Toledo district, is now on sale the Sainsbury's, the major supermarket chain, and health food shops throughout the United Kingdom. A contract signed with the Toledo Cacao Growers' Association (TCGA) means that all the cacao from over 300 farmers is exported directly to Britain at 48 pence per pound, a price that significantly exceeds that currently available on the open market. The deal was signed by Green and Black's after director Josephine Fairley learnt of the Maya crop while on a vacation. 'We were impressed by the quality of the cocoa beans produced by the traditional organic growing methods that the Maya growers used,' she says. The recipe for the 'Maya Gold' chocolate, using a blend of orange and spices, is based on a method used by the Maya, who were the first people in the world to grow cacao, and turn it into a drink called 'kukuh.'