It’s all about the chocolate…

The Sponge Candy center by itself is an interesting curiosity but it’s really not all that enjoyable to eat (although a few of you out there are likely to disagree). After we put as much good chocolate on it as it will carry, now, there’s a very tasty confection. The right chocolate is very key to making good Sponge Candy. There has to be a lot of it and it has to be of a very high quality.

Little did we know in the mid to late 1970’s when we were living in Germany and eating all those quite decent German, Swiss and Belgium chocolates that we were going to be making chocolates professionally in the future. We have used that European casual tasting along with a serious study of the industry and tasting of our domestic chocolates to determine what we prefer. There are quite a few very decent domestic chocolates available to today’s candy maker and consumer. Wikipedia also has a nice overview of chocolate topics and it’s not a bad start to becoming more informed about chocolate. Of course the next step would be seeking out the better chocolates and begin tasting.

We’ve chosen Wilbur Chocolate of Lititz, PA for our chocolate supplier. Twenty-five to thirty years after living in Europe and eating their chocolate, we find that the quality of all fine chocolates in Europe and North America is even better by far. Where before there may have been a quality gap in objective parameters, now the difference between quality chocolates is solely subjective, literally a matter of taste. And this is where the candy maker’s preferences and skill becomes important for it is the candy maker that works hard to create the piece that presents the flavors and textures to their best advantage. We use Wilbur’s Cashmere and Sable for our milk chocolate Sponge Candy and Wilbur’s Brandywine for our dark chocolate Sponge Candy.

Want to know even more about chocolate? The Field Museum of Chicago has but together a wonderful traveling exhibition and translated it into a very visual, interactive web site. After viewing the site, the next step would be to seek out the better chocolates and taste some more. It’s a tough assignment, but someone has to do it!