The art of chocolate

The art of chocolate

The artisan chocolates made by an Oregon company called Dagoba Organic Chocolate in exotic flavors such as lavender, lime and mint (with a breath of rosemary) have won several awards and become available nationwide. And a new variety, a chile-flavored dark chocolate called Xocolatl, is selling so well that the company "can't make it fast enough," says Frederick Schilling, 33, Dagoba's founder.

It's late September and Schilling is showing an appreciative crowd at Portland's Forest Discovery Center how to make chocolate. After roasting whole cacao beans in a toaster oven, Schilling separates the edible parts, or nibs, from the husklike hulls by running the beans through a hand mill made by an outfit called Crankenstein. He then passes the nibs through a sturdy juicer several times, each cycle making the mixture smoother. He uses a mixer to beat in sugar, and the chocolate is ready.

The audience is transfixed by the enticing aroma of the roasting beans and the alchemy of the process, and packs of people converge on the demo table to try the chocolate, still gritty but definitely the real thing. Schilling, whose title at Dagoba is "founding alchemist," is in his element, answering question after question from the audience, his hands covered with chocolate.

"Chocolate's very popular again," he tells the crowd enthusiastically. "Thank God."
The 3-year-old company's development, Schilling says, follows a Quaker proverb: "Go as the way opens." For him, the way opened into the way chocolate tastes. "I love flavor, I love flavors," says Schilling. "I just wanted to add some twists to chocolate."
In the mid-1990s, Schilling was working as a cook in a cafe in Boulder, Colo., where one of the specialties of the house was chai. He was captivated by the spicy combination of tea and flavorings including ginger, cardamom, cloves and black pepper. "I had this idea that chai chocolate would be so good."

A few years later, Schilling, who's been involved in culinary pursuits since he got a job with a catering company at age 13, was experimenting in his home kitchen with chocolate as he remembered his idea about chai. The marriage was a success. The friends who were the original tasters for his creation kept coming back for Schilling's milk chocolate laced with chai's tea and ginger essence. "That was the seed that was sowed years ago," Schilling says now, "that gave motion to Dagoba."

Schilling chose a name that conveyed the exotic and special nature of his product. A dagoba is a Buddhist shrine, and Schilling thought it was a fitting name: The first part of the Latin name for chocolate, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods."

He did some market research at the Whole Foods in Boulder, noting that "there wasn't a lot of creativity" in the chocolate of the day. Choices basically came down to milk and dark, with perhaps almonds or hazelnuts added.

"In terms of an accessible chocolate bar that had a little more diversity of flavors and whatnot -- it didn't exist at the time," he says. Why not, he thought, make chocolate more interesting? In the 1990s, specialty chocolate was blossoming. Companies such as Scharffen Berger in California, L.A. Burdick in New Hampshire and Portland's Moonstruck were producing superior chocolate using premium cacao beans. It became fashionable to list the percentage of chocolate contained in bittersweet dark chocolate. For example, Endangered Species, an organic chocolate company in Talent, makes a bar called Black Panther that is 88 percent cacao.

Like Endangered Species, Schilling contracted to buy organic beans from small growers, primarily in the Caribbean and South and Central America. In Oregon, Dagoba bars are available at specialty markets such as Pastaworks and Made in Oregon and at retailers such as Whole Foods, New Seasons, Daily Grind and Pharmaca that emphasize items with organic or natural ingredients.

As the company started to take shape, Schilling enlisted his father, whom he describes as "a sales/marketing guru" retired from IBM, for a few weeks of business training that turned into many months of instruction. His father, Jon, is now part of the company. So is his sister, and his mother is moving out from Minneapolis to join the company as well.
Two years ago, Schilling moved the operation to Southern Oregon, where about a dozen people work at Dagoba's plant in Central Point. "We are producing chocolate six days a week, double shifts," Schilling says, "and are still back-ordered a couple weeks."
The company is moving into a 14,000-square-foot facility in Ashland that's more than four times bigger than the Central Point shop. Meanwhile, Dagoba has racked up several awards, most recently being named best dark chocolate by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Schilling's favorite chocolate, and the company's best seller, is New Moon, a 74 percent bittersweet chocolate. Another celestially named product, Eclipse, is a very dark bittersweet that's 87 percent cacao.

Other staples include Mon Cherri, a 72 percent chocolate with berries and vanilla; Roseberry, 59 percent with dried raspberries and rose hips; and Lavender, 59 percent, infused with lavender essence and blueberries. The chile chocolate, Xocolatl, also includes chunky cocoa nibs (the edible part of the cacao bean), nutmeg and vanilla.
Other companies are also adding chiles to chocolate, moving chocolate back to its Aztec roots. Moonstruck, which developed a chile-infused truffle called Ocumarian four years ago, also sells a Dark Chocolate Chile Variado bar and serves a fiery Ocumarian hot chocolate in its retail shops.

Robert Hammond, Moonstruck's chocolatier, says chile chocolate is a natural convergence of two trends: a greater acceptance of chiles in all sorts of cooking from Mexican to Southeast Asian, and the rise in the availability of high-quality chocolate, especially dark chocolate, the kind that goes best with chile flavorings.

In the end, Dagoba's Schilling says, it all comes down to flavor. , "I like to think that we are a premium chocolate company that happens to use organically grown product - as opposed to an organic chocolate company."

RECIPES

Castilian Hot Chocolate

This is a classic Spanish hot cocoa recipe that will bring intrigue to any occasion. The consistency should resemble chocolate pudding that hasn't quite set.

1/4 cup Dagoba Organic Chocolate Cacao Powder or other unsweetened cocoa
1 cup turbinado (raw) sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
4 cups milk or milk substitute of choice
Whipped cream (optional)

Mix cocoa and sugar together.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the water and combine with the cocoa-sugar mixture in a medium saucepan. Stir into a smooth paste.

Begin heating this mixture over medium heat, continuously stirring it with a whisk. Gradually pour in the milk, stirring as you bring it to a simmer.

Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. The drink is ready when it thickens and is glossy and smooth.

A dollop of freshly whipped cream tops this drink off perfectly.

Dagoba Lavender Chocolate Flourless Torte

This is a nice twist on the classic rendition of the decadent chocolate flourless torte. It's a very simple recipe that will always make you the most-loved person at a potluck.


1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
4 2-ounce bars of Dagoba Organic Lavender chocolate
5 eggs
1/4 scant cup granulated sugar
Powdered sugar or fruit sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan. Line outside of pan with aluminum foil so water cannot leak into pan. Pour about 1 inch of water in roasting pan to create a water bath. Place water bath in oven.

Stir butter and chocolate in double boiler over low heat until smooth and uniform. Set aside.

Using a whisk, gently beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until slightly thickened. Pour chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and fold together gently. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake until tip of knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. Invert cake onto clean cutting board or large plate and cover. Refrigerate cake overnight. (Can be prepared 3 days ahead; cover and keep refrigerated.) Serve cold.

You can dust the cake with powdered sugar or drizzle with fruit sauce. -- From Frederick Schilling, Dagoba Organic Chocolate


Dagoba Xocolatl Chocolate Soft Brownies

These are the ultimate soft chocolate brownies. Xocolatl, chile-flavored chocolate, adds a hint of fire.

Dagoba's Xocolatl chocolate bars are made with cacao nibs, which adds a crunchy texture to the brownies.

Generous 1/3 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
21/2 bars of Dagoba Organic Xocolatl chocolate or 59% semisweet (5 ounces of chocolate, see note)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons Dagoba Organic Cacao Powder or other unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-inch square pan and line the base with baking parchment.

Place the butter, sugars and chocolate in a heavy pan and heat gently, stirring until the mixture is melted, well-blended and smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Beat together the eggs and vanilla. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder and fold carefully into the egg and chocolate mixture using a metal spoon or spatula.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes until the top is crisp and the edges are beginning to shrink away from the pan. The center will still be soft to the touch.

Let cool completely in the pan, then cut into 2-inch squares and serve. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

The uncut block of brownies can be well-wrapped and frozen for a month. Thaw at room temperature for about 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Note: If you want the heat and spice of Dagoba Xocolatl chocolate but are unable to find it, add the following when you sift the dry ingredients together: 1/2 teaspoon ground aji Amarillo chile powder (cayenne will work as well), 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg. Then, add a couple drops of orange essential oil to the melted chocolate.