30-Jan-22 – With Valentine’s Day looming, we are naturally thinking of chocolate. Chocolate boxes, bon bons, hot chocolate, and other chocolate goodies to give to our loved ones, or to enjoy without them.

While many people think of chocolate in terms of dark, milk, white, and ruby, Chef Gabrielle Draper, Associate Manager of R&D Technical Culinary Applications at Barry Callebaut USA, based in River North, talked about how she likes a lesser-known mixture – dark milk chocolate.

(Left) A dark milk chocolate snack made by Barry Callebaut that is plant-based and dairy-free.

Though less defined than other types of chocolate, dark milk chocolate, says Draper, is “generally a milk chocolate that’s a little higher in cacao percentage so it has a little more cocoa solids in it.”

She describes it as the best of both worlds: the creaminess of milk chocolate and the robustness of cocoa.

Dark milk chocolate has 40 to 45 percent more cocoa content than regular milk chocolate, according to Draper. She likes to pair the chocolate with one or two ingredients like coffee, caramel, nuts, and red fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries. She advises against using dark milk chocolate for hot chocolate because melting it down and adding milk will take away from its uniqueness.

But for Draper (right), it is important to think about eating chocolate as an experience. She cites the saying, “tasting isn’t the same as eating.”

She suggests taking a bite and letting the chocolate melt on your tongue to allow the assorted flavors in the chocolate to come through. Savor it and the texture; do you taste any nuttiness, caramel, fruitiness, or something else?

Chocolate enhances other flavors

Chocolate is extremely versatile for so many foods. James Dattalo, owner of The Fudge Pot in Old Town, likes to use chocolate as a vessel for other flavors.

“It’s a wonderful flavor base that can make so many other flavors shine,” says Dattalo (right in photo). “Chocolate can give things like a salted caramel, trail mix bark, or chilles a completely different experience.”

Given how cold Chicago gets during the winter, a nice hot chocolate might be a good balm to the frigid days. Dattalo says his first cocoa bomb – a chocolate ball that has edible things inside that dissolve in hot water or milk – of the winter changed his opinion of hot chocolate.

“The added melted dark chocolate from the shell made the drink thicker and richer than a standard dry mix,” he says. “I’d definitely recommend stirring in some good quality melted dark chocolate to your next cup.” (Right) Cocoa bombs dropped by BettyCrocker.com.

Katherine Duncan, owner of Logan Square-based Katherine Anne Confections, known for thick hot chocolate and truffles, likes to eat chocolate bars. She likes to look at how the bars are constructed, paying attention to both the packaging and how the chocolate was made. She generally prefers thinner bars, though they tend to be harder to transport without breaking.

When Duncan goes to new chocolate places, she always tries the house specialty and the hazelnut truffle.

Like Draper, Duncan also gravitates toward dark milk chocolate. She is a fan of bars with 60-70 percent cocoa content. She also likes candy bars like those made by Chicago-based Jitterbug Sweets – run by Marianna Reynolds full-time as well as a part-time employee of Duncan’s – with nougaty, crunchy, and caramel layers.

(Left) A mocha nougat, caramel, and hazelnut crunch bar by Jitterbug Sweets called Afternoon Delight.

“She always has really fun combinations,” Duncan says of Reynolds. “I love different textures and contrasts. I like that soft, crunchy, and then kind of juicy components altogether.”

So that’s a taste of Chicagoland chocolatiers’ and pastry chefs’ thoughts on the way they like to enjoy chocolate. Go forth this Valentine’s Day and try something new!