AP News, March 4th, 2007
Like a good Bordeaux or Chianti, some chocolate comes from a particular place _ the Indonesian island of Java or Venezuela's Sur del Lago, for example. As with wine grapes, the source of cacao beans is supposed to result in distinct flavors and aromas.
Chocolate from Colombia might seem peppery while chocolate from Venezuela might smell like vanilla.
"It's like colors on a palette," says Gary Guittard, president and chief executive of San Francisco's Guittard Chocolate Company. "There is a tremendous parallel between wine and chocolate."
Guittard was among the first U.S. companies to make "single-origin" chocolate, which had been available in Europe for many years. The term refers to chocolate made from beans from a specific region or even a single farm. Most choices today are dark chocolate, though milk chocolate varieties are produced.
Like other single-origin chocolate, Guittard's is sold in upscale supermarkets and specialty shops.
Until recently, high-end retailers such as Whole Foods Market have been the province of pedigreed chocolate. But this year, Hershey's began making single-origin bars that are sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and most grocery stores.
Labels on single-origin chocolate say how much cocoa _ really cacao _ the chocolate contains. Cacao percentage has become important as people explore the potential health benefits of eating dark chocolate.
Cocoa beans have natural antioxidant compounds called flavanols. Many studies suggest flavanols help ward off vascular disease, which can cause heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, dementia and hypertension. A Hershey-funded study in 2005 found the more cacao in chocolate, the higher the antioxidant levels.
