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FeedUndercover Chocolatiers
As Valentine’s Day approaches, adventures in artisan chocolates await right next door — if you know where to look.
Photography by Madeline Polss
One happy day not long ago, I found myself nearly up to my elbows in warm Yucatan chocolate in an out-of-the-way North Kingstown industrial park.
It was not the experience I was looking for when I set out to visit Rhode Island’s trio of undercover chocolate makers—the state’s small producers of high-quality confections with no brick-and-mortar stores.
But don’t worry. I got to eat some chocolate, too.
The hands-on lesson was at the production site of OceanState Chocolates, a six-year-old company that closed its Wickford store last fall but continues to do a brisk business selling to retailers like Whole Foods. Owner Bernadette Cicione invited me to help make truffles. Cicione has a background in food research and development at Ocean Spray and a pastry chef’s devotion to all things handmade. The only machines she uses are heaters—powered by light bulbs, like a grown-up Betty Crocker Easy Bake Oven—to melt the dipping chocolate.
First we gather the ingredients for her chocolate-pear ganache, one of the treats from her From the Farm Collection. She’d already prepared a pear mash, made of local fruit spiked with a little prosecco. It goes into a huge copper pot along with vanilla, local butter and cream and, of course, chocolate. She samples the flavor as the ingredients meld. Often, she says, she doesn’t need to taste it at all; “A lot of getting the right flavor is ‘smell’ vision,” she says.
Pulling out what looks like a large wooden oar—“It’s a lot like rowing a boat,” she says with a laugh—she stirs the ganache frequently to make sure it doesn’t scald. When it hits the right consistency, she pours it into a shallow pan to cool overnight, because boutique chocolates don’t like to be rushed and making them is a several-day affair.
Next she pulls out a ganache made the day before, a subtly spicy concoction that will become her Maya Fire Triple Chili Pepper truffles. She cuts it into rows, then squeezes off small portions to roll into uniform balls. It’s the kind of job she likes to do alone; other people, she says, have a hard time keeping the truffles the exact same size.
And now, finally, we get to the hand-tempering, and my hands immersed in voluptuous warmth. The process refers to getting the dipping chocolate to a temperature at which it will form a protective shell around the ganache. It’s tempting to temper using modern machines, and many chocolate makers do just that to avoid the risk of creating batches of flaky looking, unsellable chocolates. Cicione, however, is enthralled by the history of by hand. After all, she says, “This is how it’s been done in Europe since medieval times.”
First, she pulls out a shoebox-size chunk of Yucatan dark chocolate and breaks off pieces to melt in the heaters. She has me don long latex gloves, then grab a handful of warm chocolate and drop it onto a cool tray, where I move it round until it cools to the right consistency. How do I tell? Well, I couldn’t, not really. But Cicione, thermometer-less, gauges the temperature effortlessly. “It changes color, and you can tell by the weight of it in your hand,” she says—although she warns it “can be moody.” This is really getting to know chocolate in a more intimate—and less fattening—way.
Once dipped, the finished truffles cool overnight, then are ready to be boxed and sold. It takes Cicione about two weeks to make a seasonal collection of chocolates, and she changes them every few months. Other time is spent on things like flavor development. She sources third-world plantations for her chocolate and hits local farmers’ markets for fresh produce for fillings, creating something that’s as close to eco-chocolates as I’ve found. And this stuff is good; rich, strong, assured chocolates that couldn’t stand out more from the mass-produced, waxy and oversweet norm. Innovative flavors, such as the Chocolate Formaggio with Narragansett Creamery’s Parmesan, help make eco-consciousness more fun than, say, taking out the recycling.
What’s more, ordinary mortals get a chance to visit her production center for cash-and-carry hours, as well as visiting her online store or finding her Saturdays at the Providence Wintertime Farmers’ Market at Hope Artiste Village. There she’s wont to test new products, such as a series of honey-and-chocolate vinaigrette dressings, and chocolate “shots”—small chocolate cups filled with liquid ganache. Bottoms up.
OceanState isn’t alone amongst Rhode Island’s boutique chocolate makers operating out of public view: A visit to renowned Garrison Confections now means traveling to its 7,000-square-foot wholesale production center tucked into a Central Falls residential neighborhood. They closed their East Side storefront in early 2008, but still operate on the Web for retail as well as wholesale.
Owner and creator Andrew Shotts recently passed the 400 mark in the different types of original flavors he has created. Although he enjoys classics—strawberry, hazelnut, coffee—he also likes to push the envelope as much as Cicione. Witness the Cranbanero, a cranberry pate de fruit with a habanero dark chocolate ganache, or the Sunday Morning truffle, a tribute to brunch fans everywhere: It’s a maple syrup and bacon—yes, bacon—ganache coated in milk chocolate. “I pulverize the bacon, making it almost a powder,” notes Shotts. I had doubts, but the salty-sweet combination works, unearthing the haute Homer Simpson in us all.
Flavor inspiration may strike in the frozen food aisle at Stop and Shop or the Mexican restaurants of Central Falls, Shotts says. Colorful, detailed designs atop the chocolates are hand-painted by Shotts, who credits sources as disparate as magazines, Japanese fabrics and a graphic designer friend.
Visits to the production site from new and loyal customers are welcome, but to be safe, call ahead. And he hints he may be back in Providence before too long: He’s negotiating a move back that would involve offering a full line of pastries in a cafe setting—stay tuned.
The third member of this trio has never had a storefront. Newcomer Laurent Vals’ startup business has truly been a faith-based endeavor: He conjures up his chocolates in the state-certified kitchen of Emmanuel Church in Newport.
“I rent it as I need it, per diem, so it cuts down on the overhead as I start out,” says Vals, who until last year was the pastry chef at Newport’s Spiced Pear restaurant at The Chanler hotel, where he first made chocolates as a guest-room amenity. Visitors began asking for boxes to go. He left to launch his eponymous chocolate business in early 2008 with six flavors culled from experiments at the hotel. He’s added another round of flavors recently with the launch of his website.
You won’t find bacon in Vals’ creations. Flavors include the milk chocolate Hazel Crunch and the Rochambeau, a raspberry and vanilla ganache in dark chocolate. “I want to create flavors that are very classic, that appeal to a broad audience,” says Vals. “Chocolate should be something comforting—I don’t want to do strange flavors like, say, anchovy.”
He hand-decorates each chocolate. “People can see they are not made by machine,” he says, “but by a human being.”
Specifically one human: Vals is a determined one-man operation, creating flavors, molding and decorating all the chocolates himself, as well as creating packaging for his chocolates, which is based on the deep-red and gold flag of his native Per- pignan, France. Vive le chocolat.
Chocolate Out in the Open
If you’d like your chocolate made locally but would rather visit a (really cute) storefront, check out Jennifer Dowell at Jennifer’s Chocolates in Wakefield.
Treats include chewy and creamy caramels, almond buttercrunch, a range of truffles and homemade marshmallows. Dowell has some trendy flavor combinations—dark chocolate-wasabi bark, for one—but mostly you’ll find homespun but well-executed chocolate comfort.
Her husband built her the airy space two years ago. Sit and have a coffee drink or homemade hot chocolate and watch the chocolates take shape in the open kitchen with Emma, the store’s resident chocolate (of course) Lab, for company.
Save the (Valentine’s) Day
Garrison’s sixth annual Legendary Lovers Collection is twelve pieces including the Julius Caesar, an 85-percent, extra-bitter ganache enrobed in dark chocolate; and Tarzan and Jane, a salted cashew praline layer under a milk chocolate and orange liqueur ganache, enrobed in dark chocolate. $25. Wholesale site open for business during second week of February; check website for updates. 725-0790, garrisonconfections.com.
Jennifer’s Chocolates has a Valentine truffle collection featuring raspberry, brandy, champagne and dark chocolate ganache; they will also personalize heart-shaped chocolate-covered homemade marshmallows for couples. Truffle collection $20, marshmallows $4 to $5. 102 Robinson St., Wakefield, 783-1673, jenschocolates.com.
Laurent Vals sells boxes of two to twenty-two chocolates; the Passionata, dark chocolate with passion fruit that’s covered in edible gold leaf, or Desire, featuring strawberry and orange blossom in white chocolate, strike the right romantic note. $4 to $40. 846-1388, laurentvalschocolates.com.
OceanState offers the Pink Champagne Collection, six truffles combining sparkling wines with pink fruits, such as the Pink Cherie that pairs Veuve Cliquot Champagne with a pink grapefruit and cranberry ganache. Part of the proceeds go to Rhode Island’s Gloria Gemma Cancer Foundation. $15 to $50. 667-7317, oceanstatechocolates.com.
