AFP
Neither black, nor white, nor milk: the Franco-Swiss battle for the fourth color of chocolate
A fourth color of chocolate, “blonde”, with a highly caramelized taste, was born in France in 2012 and is spreading among pastry chefs with no chance of legal recognition, although the Swiss also claim a similar invention, this time “pink”. .” Days.”By chance, as if by fascination, because stored in an unlikely place, it became well blond. I saw this chocolate with an incredible color and smell”, recalls the chef, creative director of the chocolatier Valhona. “But this chocolate is like me, it’s a mistake!”, jokes the pastry chef-chocolatier who smelled the commercial potential of this happy mistake. It will take 7 years of testing to establish the unique aromatic qualities and consistency of the blond chocolate. If the recipe introduced by the giant drome of chocolate has remained a secret to professionals, it is the result of a well-known chemical reaction in cooking: the “Mellard reaction”, a sequence of chemical reactions that result in browning. The ingredients and aromas are what we call “cooking”, close to toast. – “Very Biscuit” – To taste, blond chocolate has the milkiness and fat of white chocolate, but is much less sweet, with a very soft caramel flavor reviving at the end. Roasted coffee aftertaste. Blonde chocolate is white chocolate made from condensed milk sweetened with dulce de leche (milk jam) and its marketing name “dulcey” plays on the similarity. For pastry chefs who normally snub white chocolate, the sinful gluttony of an industrial bar of milk “childish, blond chocolate opens up a new playground. “It’s very different in taste from other chocolates, it’s very biscuity, very delicious. gives,” explains Nice pastry chef Philippe Tyack. AFP, who pairs it with hazelnuts for a tartlet. Frédéric Bau pairs it with fresh-roasted apples and Tahitian vanilla cream as a pure fondant dessert, but more distinctively fruity like citrus or red fruit. also recommends “breaking it” with compounds. – Trial – Despite measures taken by Valhona, blond chocolate did not enter the 1976 decree that regulates the sale of chocolate in France, namely the minimum content of 35% cocoa which is the historic “three colors”. ” is available in levels according to. “, according to a text consulted by AFP. Legally, blond chocolate, now imitated and even produced by Belgian and Swiss chocolatiers, remains white chocolate, the last color recognized by Nestlé after its invention in Switzerland in the 1930s. On the other side of the Alps, a delicious marketing duel is raging between the chocolate giants around this promising fourth colour. Valhona’s direct competitor, giant Berry Callebaut, has thus introduced its own “fourth color” 100% natural chocolate with a major marketing campaign since 2017. , this time pink and called “Ruby”. It comes from beans that have specific properties in color and flavor. “The best chocolate in the world is the one that gives you a moment of pleasure, no matter where it is produced and no matter what color,” Swiss management replied to AFP. The group questioned the transalpine battle for the fourth chocolate. The world of European chocolate is regularly rocked by unusual international trials with strong repercussions, whether it’s Nestlé’s battle before the British courts over the purple color of American Cadbury’s packaging. , lost in 2017, over the shape of his Kit Kat. dar/may/cbn
