If this is the first you’re hearing of blonde chocolate, my apologies, but you’re a bit late to the party. Blonde chocolate, also commonly called toasted white chocolate or caramelized chocolate, is a relatively recent addition to the chocolate spectrum. It’s basically a cooked white chocolate which takes advantage of the Maillard reaction to lend …

Ever since the controversial new ruby chocolate was revealed at a Shanghai trade show in September 2017, the ever-wandering eye of the public has been curious about pink chocolate. China’s not exactly a hub for craft chocolate making, after all. Yet one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world chose to debut their newest …

How are cacao and cocoa different? Which is healthier, cocoa or cacao? Do cocoa and cacao taste the same? As a chocolate writer, I get these questions all the time, and the answer is quite simple: cacao and cocoa are the same word, in different languages. It’s a bit of a debate in the craft …

Chocolate can taste creamy and sweet and bitter and umami and sour… but is chocolate vegan? The short answer is that it depends; it can be. Many dark chocolates are vegan, and a small but rising number of white and milk chocolates are vegan. There’s currently no vegan ruby chocolate, but I have no doubt …

Jump To Recipe Ever since I was in middle school, I’ve been trying to figure out the best approach to a chocolate truffle recipe. The sugar bombs I made back then used sweetened condensed milk and chocolate with minuscule amounts of cacao. They’d probably taste cloying and, well, gross to my adult palate, like a …

If you’re on this page, you’re likely familiar with craft chocolate, also known as bean to bar chocolate. For those who aren’t, this particular type of chocolate is known for being an ethical, transparently-sourced, and much tastier version than its generic counterparts. Craft chocolate also happens to be easier than ever to find, both online …

Jump To Recipe I’ve been trying to find the perfect chocolate sauce recipe for years. Through many trials & errors with various types of chocolate, fat ratios, and even thickness of chocolate bits, I’ve finally got this chocolate sauce recipe down to an art. All you need is a spoonful of milk, some of your …

Fiji is not a commonly-referenced cacao origin, but the island chain produces hundreds of tons of cacao each year. On the global scale, this amount barely registers but for the fact that it shows rising production. Yet the vast majority of the chocolate consumed on the islands is imported, and largely bears rather distinctive purple …

Jump To Recipe Who ever said you can’t have cookies for breakfast? Ever since quarantine started, the most consistent part of my days has been a cup of coffee each morning. And later, a cookie (or three) after dinner. Other than my Peruvian pancake recipe, this coffee chocolate cookie recipe has become one of the …

The national drink of Dominican Republic is nothing like marijuana. I promise. It sure sounds like it, especially if you’re speaking quickly, but don’t get the two confused— marijuana is a drug and mamajuana is a drink. In fact, this is a mamajuana recipe, and quite likely the most straightforward one you’ll find. So let’s …