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La Dolce Vita!
Italian Chocolate
By Francine Segan
for Tribune Media Syndicates, 2008
To the long list of yummy delicacies from Italy---pasta, pizza, salami, Parmesan cheese, and extra virgin olive oil---we American's often forget to add chocolate!
Yet Italy is home to some of the world's finest chocolate companies like Caffarel, Ferrero, Perugina, Vanini and Vench. In just one region of Italy, Piemonte, there are more master chocolatiers than in Belgium and France combined.
Veritable Willy Wonkas, Italy's chocolatiers love thinking up new flavors. "It is an Italian's way to be creative," beams Mariella Maione owner of Peyrano Chocolates, "instead of sleeping, we dream up new taste combinations."
Some larger companies hold special monthly creative team meetings to develop new flavors. "A dozen or so specialists--gourmets and technical experts---spend all day brainstorming new chocolates," said Vincenzo Montuori of Caffarel. One successful result of those meetings is MonViso, the 2007 winner of the most innovative product awarded by Eurochocolate. This coffee, cream, and liqueur bonbon is whimsically shaped like the Alpine mountain peak visible from the Caffarel factory.
Milk chocolate gets the short shrift here in the States, where gourmets focus exclusively on dark chocolate. The Italians, who love the richer taste of milk chocolate, have managed to retain the sophistication of dark and all of the decadence of milk chocolate. Several Italian companies have created a line of milk/dark chocolate hybrids. Instead of the usual 31 to 35% cocoa content found in most milk chocolates, Italy has LatteNero --"milk-dark"-contain cocoa concentrations as high as 45%, 51%, 62% and 70%. The result is amazingly smooth, with a milk chocolate flavor, but without the excessive sweetness of commercial milk chocolate.
One reason Italian chocolate is so good is that Italians care so much about the purity of ingredients. For example, Italy bans genetically modified foods. But there is no better evidence for their concern for quality than the country's long battle with the European Union (EU) over cocoa butter. According to Mario Piccialuti, Director of AIDI (Italy's Confectioners Association), "Since 2003 the EU permits chocolate to certain percentage of vegetable oils, like palm, to substitute for the more expensive cocoa butter. For us Italians 'pure chocolate,' can only contain cocoa butter and no other oils!"
When's the best time to eat chocolate? According to one chocolate maker interviewed, " We Italians eat chocolate when we are happy to celebrate, but we also eat it when we are sad, to cheer us up." He paused, then, eyes twinkling, added, "Italians also eat chocolate before making love, but it is wonderful after making love too!"
4 ways to savor Italy
-1- Check sites like Chocolitaly.com that list special tastings, events and chocolate shows such as the two-week Turin Chocolate Festival held in early March or Perugia's Eurochocolate in October.
-2- Visit one of Italy's chocolate factories like Perugina, makers of Baci and take a chocolate making class.
-3- Be on the look out for chocolates that are hard to find in the States, like Ferraro's Kinder Sorpresa, small chocolate eggs filled with puzzle pieces that assemble into a collectible toy; or their Pocket Coffee, little shots of real espresso coated in bittersweet chocolate.
-4- Treat yourself to one of Italy's chocolate sculptures.
Italians craft gorgeous objects in chocolate, like antique tools coated with cocoa "rust" or whimsical Easter eggs, which, depending on the intended recipient, are filled with either toys, jewelry or collectibles.
Chocolate shops across Italy even put custom items into chocolate Easter eggs. Clients bring the gift-everything from an engagement ring to a cell phone and even a black lace nightie--to the shop, where they wait while it is encased in a chocolate egg.
Eat chocolate like an Italian
-1- Savor a square of chocolate after dinner before an espresso. Many Italians even melt the chocolate right in the cup. Try a gianduiotti, a creamy hazelnut chocolate candy, or a cremino, a square of three chocolate flavors.
-2- Try a tiny chocolate spoon. Stir your espresso with the spoon until the tip melts, then nibble the spoon's handle as you drink the resulting luscious mocha brew.
-3- Pair dark chocolate with one of Italy's fine spirits like a glass of grappa, amaro, or Bracato, of sparkling red wine that is fruity, but not sweet.
For more chocolate pairings, see our End on a Sweet Note section
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