WEBVTT - Bon Bons 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:14.800 Anything you want to open. Um. You know, my credit 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:19.640 card is warm, so your credit card. I'm in the Meadow, 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:22.960 a tiny little shrine to craft chocolate in Lower Manhattan, 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.680 and I'm with Clay Gordon. So we have Syrene in Canada, 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:33.559 we have Ascos still might be the only from the 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:37.040 bean chocolate maker in Iceland, so their factory is in 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:41.200 reik Vick. I've been there. Clay is the chocolate expert 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:43.640 from Jafter four who took me through Whole Foods and 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.880 cluded me into the corporate powers behind almost every bar 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.080 on that shelf, and that experience left me longing for 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:53.760 the independence the small players who are crafting really good 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:57.200 stuff out of sustainably sourced beans. Up to now on 0:00:57.240 --> 0:00:59.360 the show, we've been focusing on the handful of people 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:02.440 working with really wild cacao, which is kind of a 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.640 unique situation, and of course there are also hundreds of 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.959 producers around the world making amazing chocolate from the small 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.920 supply of high quality, farmed varieties, and as a professional journalist, 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.000 I felt it would be irresponsible of me not to, 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:22.240 you know, familiarize myself with those chocolates as well, So 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:25.240 Clay whisked me onto the subway and under the ease 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.640 driver did the meadow, which has about three hundred bars 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.960 on its shelves, displayed like fine art. And now he's 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:35.880 talking me through them as he grabs the greatest hits, mirrors, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.480 date paste and fennel. O m g. It's like one 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:44.800 of my favorite bars. Insane. And soon there's a stack 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:46.880 of bars at the register and we've even sucked down 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.120 the woman running the store. All right, I'm opening amp Street. 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.080 Are you getting on? I haven't tried this one anyway, 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.640 so I'm curious. So you want to bite, because what 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:00.320 you want to do is you want to understand the chew, 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.280 how it feels as you bite down round. So this 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.000 is cold, and so it's sort of fractured when I 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:12.000 bit through it, but it usually started melting right, so 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:18.200 good thing. Sure m hm. We continue to chew a 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:24.600 few times to start them out. Rub some with the 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:26.320 tip of the tongue against the base of their teeth. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.919 That will let us know about the greediness, the granularity, 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.680 how it's refined, so there's no grit, no grain, very 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:39.080 very clearly, very all right, there's um a little hint 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.920 of acidity that goes through the way through right, so 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:45.079 very bright, sort of up in the nose kind of thing. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:52.200 There's yep, you want to let him in fun? Yeah, hey, 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.120 And then a pair of unsuspecting customers comes into the 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.799 Star and I can't help myself. Do you guys wanna 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:01.959 taste some chocolate? We just opened up a really good 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:09.440 barny go ahead? See yeah, so this is this is 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.840 a dark chocolate, so no added milk. It's made by 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:17.760 a small producer in the UK, the Chris Brennan, who's 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.120 the founder of the company Pump Street Bakery Chocolate. The 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:25.079 beans come from the Bachelor Hall Estates on the island 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.960 of Jamaica. Wow, there are some, and soon we've pretty 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:32.200 much taken over the whole store. There are open wrappers everywhere. 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.120 My credit card is smoking. We're making new friends and 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.760 I can say is god, damn this stuff is good. 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:43.240 It's it really feels like you're eating something special. It's 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:51.520 very magically because you are welcome to the final chapter 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.080 of Wild Chocolate. This week we dive into the actual 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.560 experience of eating real chocolate. Why does it have an 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.440 almost drug like effect so many of us, and what 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.160 kind of chocolate here due to make that experience pop? 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.720 And you know where can I get me something? For 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.160 seven weeks, we've dragged you past floods and jungles, electric 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.640 eels and nargo draftickers, and this week we're not going 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:20.320 to do any of that. No dangers, no scandals, just bliss. 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:27.840 So kick back and relax. This is dessert from Kaleidoscope 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:32.640 and I Heart Podcasts. This is Obsessions Wild Chocolate. I'm 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:57.760 Rowan Jacobson, Chapter eight, The bliss Factor. Here's off the 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:09.040 tast stop stop smart. Since the beginning of time, humanity 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.840 has kind of been on this quest for peak consciousness 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.240 and we're looking for all sorts of substances to achieve that. 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:23.119 And whether it's through something you know, nutritionally, or whether 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.400 it's through like performance with you know, athletics or meditation, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.760 you name it, it's ongoing. That of course is Mark, 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.159 Christian philosopher of chocolate. Mark is here to help us 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:38.200 channel our bliss because the guy he's been around, he's 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.440 seen the big bond bond of chocolate culture from the 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.640 inside out, and he's convinced that this stuff has a 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.919 real power that hasn't been truly recognized outside of the 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:51.160 core believers. That is, these chocolate terians, you know, mad 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:55.880 for chocolate, chocolate maniacs. You go to their shows, but 0:05:56.000 --> 0:06:00.400 there are across somewhere between a religious revival and a rave, 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:04.159 and they're they're really amped on it. And for them 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:05.720 it's so like, you know, when do you have chocolate? 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.120 I have chocolate, get up at chocolate for breakfast. I 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.960 had chocolate for you know, coffee break chocolate. You know, 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.520 after lunch, I have chocolate for tea with tea, bah 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.320 blah blah. And others they have chocolate hollars. Do they 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.479 know something that we don't? Are they on the golden path? 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.359 Well Mark says maybe he actually sees a glimmer of 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.440 salvation in those chocolate raves, because in a world of 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:35.000 increasing disunity, of splintering factions and agendas, he thinks chocolate 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.600 can be a unifying force, a way to remind us 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.920 of our common delights and our shared interests. The rainforest 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:47.800 ambassador to humanity is chocolate because billions of people love it, 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.640 and so as that ambassador from the rainforest, it can 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.920 bring people to the rainforest, not physically, but in that 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:02.479 portable transport called chocolate. What's really interesting about that attraction 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.000 is that we don't just share it with other people 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.120 across the planet right now. It also connects us to 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.400 all those people who have been seeking the sublime through 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.480 chocolate for thousands of years, all the way back to 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.840 those first unknown people who were playing around some pods 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:22.640 somewhere in the jungle and stumbled onto revelation. Mark has 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.800 a theory about that Big Bang moment. Maybe it was 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.800 a lazy afternoon and they were picking some pods and 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.400 they didn't get into splitting them open and taking them 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.920 for their juice, that pulp inside, which is what you know, 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.480 humans and monkeys wanted for when they maybe split some 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.240 pods open or just just stored them away for an 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.320 afternoon or two. And it started for many naturally, and 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.680 then when a human came by and they spliced it 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.640 open and boom, a this stuff tastes a little different, 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:51.640 a little it's from men, a little sour and so 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.239 and and then a couple of hours later, I'm getting 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:58.000 a little effect here, you know. Interesting. And then you 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.920 can also speculate that maybe one night, while they're they're 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.560 cleaning the pulp off um and they're around the campfire, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.080 maybe some you know, seeds or beans got stuck in 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.320 the camp fire, you know, and then the fire is 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.160 done for the night or the next morning, and they 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.080 still see some those beans, and maybe somebody just by accident, 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.600 you know, picked up a bean, said, hey, that tastes bad. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.720 It doesn't taste too bad. Let's see what we can 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:30.680 do with these things, and in the process begins. Fast 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:33.080 forward to a few thousand years ago, and cacao is 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.439 helping the ancient peoples of the Americas to make their 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:42.239 evenings extra special. They have this ritualized use of cacao. 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.280 They're making beverages with it, and at the end of 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.800 these evenings they would take their vessels, their cups and 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:55.640 plates and smash them against the wall Hendrick style, you know, 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:00.640 like performative. It's it's we're at an end here. And 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.280 that was that. Okay, Today it's bad form to smash 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.640 the dishes against the wall after a little chocolate fix. 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.600 But you get the idea. Chocolate is performative. It gives 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:13.520 a little boost, makes that quest for peak consciousness a 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.559 little bit easier. But here's the thing. After spending months 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.240 in the land of washing cocaine in Ayahuasca, I've started 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.319 thinking about how there are different flavors of peak consciousness. 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.200 Sometimes you want to be a jaguar gliding through the 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:31.800 tropical night, and sometimes you just want to be reminded 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.959 of the joys of being a living, breathing, sensing human 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.199 being in a garden of earthly delights. For at least 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.120 five thousand years, chocolate has helped us get there. And 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.719 you'll know you're there because well, it might feel a 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.199 little bit like Mark Christian's experience after nibbling on one 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.960 of his favorite bars, a Tien Gong chocolate from Vietnam. 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:56.719 And I'm telling you, man, I was getting things like 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:03.400 sandal wood and fod yeah and clove, and then I 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.360 was getting things like opium. When a good chocolate hits you, man, 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.920 you're stoned. Like this bar is way off the charts. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.120 You know, this thing was doing a gong on my head. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:18.160 You know, I thought I was at the Apollo getting 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:22.920 taken off stage. This is going off and so like, 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.120 whoof And it just kept coming and coming in these 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.800 ways and so like, and then oh, here comes the 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:33.000 crow gives awesome saffron screeping in there. It wasn't stopped, 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:39.520 so like, there is no chocolate on earth like this Okay, everybody, relax, 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.400 don't panic. There's enough to go around. We've been working 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.280 on this for a while to make sure everybody can 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.360 get there fix and we'll give you the full scoop 0:10:47.880 --> 0:11:04.640 after the break. Do you remember any formative memories when 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.400 you were a kid involving chocolate, the first time you 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.800 tasted it, or first time you tasted really good chocolate. Yeah, 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.480 I think when there was a kid. Uh, the first 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:19.640 chocolate I had was that's not a real chocolate, Sarah 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.960 got there was the first chocolate I was tried, and 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:32.000 that those was amazing. That is Chef's salvatory. Martoni sal 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:35.199 is a legendary pastry chef. He ran the pastry program 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.680 for the Joel Roberschon Restaurants, which have more Michelin stars 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:42.320 than any restaurant group in history, and he's also executive 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.280 pastry chef. First Statler Chocolate, which, as I'm sure you 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.120 figured out over the past seven episodes, is keeping up 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.160 with Kaleidoscope and Louisa Abram to bring a special box 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.680 of Louise's Wild Chocolates to the US. It includes three 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.480 different bars made with wild cocoo from three different rivers 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:01.760 in the Amazon Jurua Perus and token jeans, and they 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.600 are all incredibly rare and incredibly different from each other. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.280 I can't remember how this idea got started. It was 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.719 just an idle comment like, hey, we should actually give 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:14.920 people a chance to taste this stuff. But the next 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.440 thing I knew it was real, and Jeff stal was 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.760 one of the people responsible for that. He was into it. 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.760 So I was truly curious to hear why he was 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.000 interested and what he thought of it, not to mention 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.800 why he thinks chocolate has such power over us in general. 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.720 And to start, we have to go back to his 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:37.199 son drenched childhood in southern Italy. I remember, like on Sunday, 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.199 my grandmother used to give me like who was at 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:44.600 the time equivalent to dollars today, and I would go 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:49.360 straight to the to the this candy store and spend 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.560 all my money and finish it before I even get home. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.559 My mom would say, like, what happened? I bought some chocolates? 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.960 Say what is it? It's going on? And little did 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.560 you know that you're going to be a professional. That 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.959 was that was going to be your field. Um. And 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.800 one of the things I've really learned a lot as 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.000 I've been working on this show. Is the amazing range 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.199 of flavors that different chocolates can have, different chocolates from 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.720 different places, different cocoa beans. Are there certain qualities you 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:24.800 look for in a chocolate, Yes, the origin of the 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.800 chocolate is the most important thing, you know, it's the 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:32.199 origin and the fermentation. In the beginning, you know, I 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.640 never would have told that chocolate was a fermented product 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.240 like like a wine like beer, you know, it is. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.920 It is kind of strange that if there is no fermentation, 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:48.600 there is no chocolate flavor. The difference in flavor is 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:53.320 it's all depends from the where the beans is grown 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:58.200 and how it's fermented, and then how it's roasted. You know, 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.160 chocolate meg it's a little bit of a combination of 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:05.480 wine making and coffee making. Grape when you make wine, 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:09.960 it's everything, right. A cabernea savignon is the same method, 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:14.280 just different grades. And that's the fermentation part of the chocolate. 0:14:14.920 --> 0:14:18.760 But coffee beans you have origin. That's very important. But 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:23.120 also roasting is super important. You know, some people roasting 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.280 very slow and delicate. Some people are more aggressive on 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:31.840 the roasting, dark roasting, and and the chocolate you have 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.800 both processed. You have fermentation, origin, and roasting all in 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:40.960 one product. There is one chocolate in particular that Lisa 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:45.840 was producing. It's called the Jewra River. Probably I'm not 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.720 pronouncing right, No, I think that's right. Yeah, I mean 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.520 pretty class. The things that she done is like she 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.240 understood from the beginning and this was like a different 0:14:57.320 --> 0:15:01.840 kind of plant. And after there is roasted, it doesn't 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:07.320 never any basidity. And as this like very flower notes 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.680 that regular chocolate doesn't have. It's very different from other chocolates. 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.280 So that was very interesting too to work on this 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.480 project because of that. So you've got the three three 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.880 bars together in one box. So when people get the box, 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.080 they get the three bars and they can taste side 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:27.240 by side. Yes, they are all from different parts of 0:15:27.280 --> 0:15:31.120 the Amazon River. So we have the Dua that is 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:36.280 the upper river, the Purus that's the middle, and the 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:41.800 Token Teens it's the lower river on Amazon. Each one 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.680 is as as different that could be from the other one. 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:50.440 The upper river is like leechy and flowery and no acidity. 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.800 And then we go to the middle of the Purus 0:15:53.960 --> 0:16:01.000 River that's more like notes of banana and molasses and chestnut. 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.680 So very hearty flavor, and then the lower part it's 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:11.440 like orange zest and lemon zest and very like creamy 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:17.440 and honey flavors. So as humans, we always understand things 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.480 by comparison. Yeah, and there is nothing better to understand 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:25.280 the flavor of one by comparing to the others. Right 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.280 and same factory, So the only difference is the beings 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:33.920 themselves itself. Chef, you must have seen this a million times. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.560 When people eat chocolate, they sort of get very focused, right. 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.520 They things that might be distracting them go away, and 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.800 they are very present in the moment with their chocolate. 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.720 So especially Um, as you're describing the three tasting the 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:54.120 three different kinds side by side, it seems like almost 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:58.080 like a form of meditation where people can be totally 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.880 present with their senses, their small sent to smells and 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:05.320 to taste and come to some sort of connection with 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:09.600 the chocolate. Um. And you must see this in restaurants 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:14.760 all the time, where people are taking your your creations 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.399 and having sort of like a moment of peak experience 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:24.000 with them. Yeah. Um. Obviously like chocolate. You know, it's 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:27.800 a bigger list of dopamine. But at the same time, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.720 at the same time, like if you're really tasting chocolate, 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.240 you know, like you were, you were like like melting 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.480 slowly in your mouth and filling all the notes of 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:42.639 the chocolate. And as you breed, you can also the 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:47.000 smell of the chocolate as an effect on you. When 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.000 you're eating it and the chocolates start to melt, because 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.879 it melts a body of temperature, the only thing you 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:58.080 can feel is like this silk smooth texture and it 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:01.760 is a little bit of of meditation, and like you said, 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.280 I give you this sense of peace and enjoy. It's 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:12.600 a very special product. Last pitch, I swear to order 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.280 the tasting box and try those chocolates. Just find the 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:20.600 link on the show notes bon appte. After the break 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:48.840 we go beyond the Bar. I have loved chocolate since 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:50.920 I was a little girl. I wrote a cookbook called 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:54.360 Desserts around the World for my first ever independence whole projects. 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.080 Like most of the people you've heard from on this show, 0:18:57.480 --> 0:18:59.800 one of the things that brought uncommon to cow founder 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.800 and only stoned to chocolate was lovely interesting. And then 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:06.200 in seventh grade, I did my science project on cupcakes. 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.280 It is a called one is a cupcake not a cupcake? 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:14.040 That's a great title. It was really fun. I also 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.920 got to make many batches of cupcakes, and I basically 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.520 took one ingredient. I would each time to see like 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.120 how far I could get from it being a cupcake. 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.280 That's so scientific. I took out the flour, would still 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:31.440 be a cupcake? Answer? No, not really, um, not really frostable. 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.639 But let's hold on that cupcake for a moment. Because 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:39.200 one of the things Emily got me thinking about is 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.239 what is the best form for ultimate chocolate delivery. Up 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:46.680 to now, we've been talking about chocolates, piers form the bar, 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:49.600 but of course that's just one of many ways people 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:51.840 get their chocolate fix, and Emily is not even sure 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.480 it's the best way. We actually wound up chatting about 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.000 this one night over beers at a Belize Reay Gay bar. 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:02.960 Sometimes I wonder if chocolate bars are the totally yes, yes, 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.280 oh my gosh, we've got to get behind beyond the bar. 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.080 Beyond the bar definitely, And I think some of the 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.359 companies that we've seen grow the fastest in the craft 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.399 chocolate space, you know, our bean to bon bon and 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:16.879 being too cookie and being too brownie and being too 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.120 hot chocolate I couldn't get that idea out of my head. 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:22.760 So when I was back in the States, I searched around. 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.800 Like I've said, most chocolate makers just make bars, and 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:30.480 most chocolate tears just use ready made chocolate. But was 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.040 there some culinary artists out there who knew the ins 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.560 and outs of rare de cows and worked with them 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.399 to go beyond the bar? Could I find me a 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:41.280 bean to bon bon master who could help me understand 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.280 why chocolate is such a bomb for our brains, our bodies, 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.600 and our souls. Honestly, the same name kept coming up, 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:53.040 So everything here is a moment's beaten. We try to 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.440 have a sculpture in here at all times, usually last 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.720 about three months before something bars and eats it. And 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.440 from his website I could tell this was my guru. 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:04.720 So on a cold, gray winter day, I got in 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:07.719 my car and made the drive to a lonely temple 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:13.080 of chocolate in Manchester, New Hampshire. Everything is arn't we 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:16.280 Usually you're too busy to pay attention. It's like, well, 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.280 look at you think about old cultures like the Maya 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:22.720 and Japan before the West, right, there was no such 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.080 thing as art. You painted the screen you made things beautiful, 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:28.800 but that was an art. You just take that right. 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:33.080 In downtown Manchester, there's this little postage stamp shop called 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:37.119 Dancing Lion. It's part chocolate shop, part Wonka's factory, and 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.760 I'm standing inside with its proprietor why Dancing Lion before 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:42.720 I forget? Oh, my name is Tango LOWI. Tango is 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:47.080 a dance Lois Remainian from Lion. Richard Tango Low is 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.120 a middle aged guy with a bandana on his head. 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:51.919 He talks fast. You might be tempted to chocolate up 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.280 to caffeine, but actually most chocolate is very little. The 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:58.600 real source of Richard's excitement is inspiration. He reminds me 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.439 of a combination between a mad scientist and a master painter. 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:06.040 He's just possessed by his subject. The perception that everything 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:09.840 is just art kind of started to infuse everything here 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.159 became kind of unavoidable. Then you know bars bon bonds, 0:22:14.280 --> 0:22:17.680 how we served drinks. He's definitely got the art gene. 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:21.320 But in his former life, before he answered the siren 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.240 song of chocolate, he was a physicist. And you can 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.879 tell it's for chocolate tier the fact that it is 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.520 a non Newtonian fluid becomes that big deal with different Wisconsin. 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:34.600 When you start moving in different viscousins wants, it's moving, 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:37.359 see what I mean. We're a little unusual. When the 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:39.680 most chocolate tears worked with like a chocolate or two, 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:44.960 we have twenty. Maybe Rich was my guy, the cocao 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:47.959 whisper who's listening to the beans, asking them what they 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:51.119 wanted to be, and then taking them all the way there. 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:54.000 The front half of Dancing Lion holds a few tables 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.560 stacks of Japanese style pottery by a local artisan, and 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:02.439 a glass case filled with crazy z creations, chocolate goddess 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:08.159 sculptures and bounce side trees, edible raccou teacups, chocolate hearts, 0:23:08.880 --> 0:23:13.040 and I mean hearts like a yordas. The back half 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:16.119 of Dancing Lion is the mad scientist part, a pile 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:19.520 of churning machines, turning all those different beings into non 0:23:19.520 --> 0:23:22.800 Newtonian fluids to serve as the clay for Rich and 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.240 as co chocolate your Rachel's creations. But they don't simply 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:29.120 turn each chocolate into its own thing. They use them 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.119 like a conductor might use a string section from a 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:36.520 flavor perception standpoint, your moods, your perceptions, what you've eaten, 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:38.240 how do you feel, what's going on in your life 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:41.280 that week? All those effect what you taste. And so 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:42.600 we need to do is we need to kind of 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:45.880 get an overall flavor model in our brains, so we'll 0:23:45.880 --> 0:23:50.320 taste formally and casually over weeks. Because red chocolates have 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:52.480 different moods. Some are spiky and some are soft, and 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:55.840 some are cylindrical, and some evolve in different ways in 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:58.200 your mouth. And you have to really learn what a 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:01.760 chocolate looks like know how to use it. If you're 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:05.679 a fan of the super shiny, overly gilded sopranos style 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:08.160 of bond bond you find in every other chocolate shop, 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:10.520 you're not going to know what to make of dancing 0:24:10.560 --> 0:24:13.960 lions bond bonds. Rich is the disciple of Wabi sabi, 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:18.480 the Japanese aesthetic that finds a sort of heartbreaking beauty 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:23.080 and the fleeting nature of existence for for the times 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:25.680 this year, we always feel a limited edition, like twelve 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:27.960 things and Rachel I made these hearts and they were beautiful, 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:30.960 and we just I can tell with her she wasn't happy, 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:32.720 and I wasn't happy, and I mean, they were gorgeous, 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:34.600 but they weren't right. And we're sitting there having to 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:38.359 one Monday morning, so we're just chatting, and she said, 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:40.840 we need to break the hearts and I said, so 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:42.400 we take a girl in there, We take all the SARTs, 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:44.800 we just smash and include them back together and they 0:24:44.800 --> 0:24:48.840 were beautiful. Okay, that's that. Aesthetics shows in all his chocolates, 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:52.000 which have the palette of a late fall day, all 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:56.680 bronzes and dusky skies and copper patina. You can't help 0:24:56.680 --> 0:24:59.320 but think about the incredible beauty of the world, even 0:24:59.359 --> 0:25:02.120 as it slips a ay from you. Rich plunks two 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:04.800 plates on one of the tables, each holding a rustic truffle. 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:07.480 He wants to teach me how to taste, how to 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:11.919 be in the experience, however fleeting it is, or maybe 0:25:12.000 --> 0:25:15.399 because it's cleaning. This is This is a straight up 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:17.800 ghana ganash for a little bit of honey. It's a 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:20.359 fluffy but nelts really beautiful in your mouth. It's gonna 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:22.879 have a really high sort of bike. Continue structure to it. 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:25.960 And then I dusted it with in robed it, dusted 0:25:26.000 --> 0:25:28.119 it with chie spice and tie teeth, and we ground 0:25:28.160 --> 0:25:31.280 and then in robed it again. Um. The robe is 0:25:31.320 --> 0:25:35.440 a blend of Tanzania and met ness. Just so you 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.560 got that. It's a truffle with a fluffy center, made 0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:42.280 from Ghana chocolate, enrobed in a mix of two other chocolates, 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:45.360 some from Tanzania and some from Vulkan, Lehman and Bolivia, 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:50.080 then rolled in Chinese spices and powdered Thi tea. We 0:25:50.119 --> 0:25:52.480