A Chocolate Affair - Interview with Thomas Haas
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This year, I’ve decided to buy my own Valentine’s gift. To be frank, I just don’t think that my boyfriend truly understands the level of chocolate luxury that my palate craves. It’s not his fault, it’s just that men don’t seem to process chocolate the same way women do. Medical evidence suggests that chocolate acts as an aphrodisiac, which may be why 50% of women admit that they’d happily take chocolate over sex. That’s not to say that men don’t understand the affects of our dark, milk and truffle desires. In fact, it’s been said that Montezuma would use chocolate as a means of keeping his stamina up for lovers, and Casanova seduced with chocolate and champagne. But if Casanova had to choose between chocolate and sex, you and I both know he wouldn’t be reaching for the nearest Hershey bar.
Chocolate’s first known uses came as a potent drink blended with water, chili pepper and cornmeal to make a frothy mix. The drink played a part in both Maya and Aztec royal and religious events, and it intrigued the Spanish enough that they brought the cacao bean back to the Old World. Once there, the mixture was sweetened with sugar and introduced to a brand new audience.
It was the industrial revolution that refined cacao into the form we recognize today. In 1847, Fay & Sons developed the world’s first chocolate bar. Then in 1861, Richard Cadbury created the first known heart shaped candy box for Valentine’s Day. Men around the world would never express their love the same way again. Thanks to Cadbury, every aisle at my local drugstore is currently crammed to the rafters with cheap, mass-produced, over processed chocolate. Waxy, sugary, unimaginative and far too forgettable, this year I am staying clear of anything named Hershey, Nestle, or Cadbury. Instead, I’m heading straight for the Haas.
Allow me to explain. Thomas Haas is one of the world’s finest chocolatiers and as luck would have it, his factory and patisserie is also located just 10 minutes from my house. Judging by the clientele in his shop last Friday morning, I’m not the only woman to have happened upon this chocolate lover’s paradise. At 9:00 am I counted at least 20 patrons, all but one of which were women, all craving that deep dark fix first thing in the morning.
Haas is a fourth generation pastry chef who has devoted his life to enhancing the flavours, textures and diversity of the cacao bean. His handmade creations come in many forms, from infusions with teas and spices to chocolates paired with fruits like passion and lychee, to caramels with adventurous ingredients like rare fennel pollen. Every chocolate is made with only the best ingredients, little sugar, and a lot of care. And when I say the best ingredients, I mean aromas of fine BC wine, oak barrel aged maple syrup from Quebec, vanilla beans from Tahiti, fresh citrus zest, loose-leaf teas, and organic herbs and spices. When I ask Haas exactly what makes a luxury chocolate different from the drugstore dime boxes, he compares using cheap ingredients to make chocolate to using cheap grapes to make wine – they may cost less, but those grapes will at best produce a cooking wine, not a fine vintage. Similarly, cheap ingredients to make chocolate make sugary waxy candy, not the delicately balanced flavours of a blackberry honey truffle.
Haas only produces in small quantities and puts an incredible amount of detail, time and love into each creation. He also chooses his own beans from a grower in Granada who practices fairly traded and organic farming. The result is a chocolate that has been created out of a conscious appreciation for everything that goes into making it -and boy does it show. Haas’s descriptions of his chocolates read more like wine labels, such as the merlot caramel, a “full bodied caramel and merlot pairing with a tasteful play on sweetness and refreshing acidity,� or the “silky dark chocolate ganache paired with a thin layer of passion fruit and Tahitian vanilla, topped with a hand painted chocolate plaquette.�
Just what is it about chocolate though, that makes it such a perfect gift, whether Valentine’s Day, an anniversary, or a birthday. “Chocolate delivers a kind of pleasure which is addictive and romantic,� says Haas. “It’s not what you get when you drink a beer or eat a steak. It’s a treat, and for me, it does induce some happy feelings.� Recent studies have also shown that dark chocolate helps prevent heart disease and new German research suggests that a tiny amount of dark chocolate can also lower blood pressure. Not that I needed any more reason to pop my daily confection.
As of late, chocolate has also become a luxury good. Knipschildt, a chocolatier from Denmark, sells their Madeleine truffle chocolates for $2,600 per pound. If bling is more your thing, DelaFee Chocolates from Switzerland are covered in edible gold flakes and each designer box is decorated with 24 karat gold accent – a box of ten of their pralines will set you back $207.
If you’re planning to splurge on your chocolate this year, don’t let it go to waste. If you can, store it in a wine cellar, if you can’t do that then just keep it somewhere cool and avoid putting it in the fridge. The best chocolate is that which is made fresh, and as such, it should be enjoyed as soon as possible. Haas recommends consuming his chocolates within two weeks of purchase, although some have up to a six-week shelf life. Me, I’ll be lucky if they last six minutes.
