Trends and Innovations in Chocolate Making

There are several issues with which American consumers became concerned with respect to chocolate quality:

• • The quality and origin of the cacao itself, with a rediscovery of so-called flavor beans belonging to the superior criollo and trinitario strains or certain unusual aromatic Amazonian cacaos such as Ecuadorian nacional.

• • The fermentation and roasting processes, which develop deep and refined chocolate flavors while modulating the bitterness and astringency of raw cacao.

• • The highest possible proportion of cacao to other ingredients, especially sugar. In the new paradigm, the aim was to preserve as much pure, natural cacao flavor as possible, unmasked by oversweetening, overroasting, or the common alkalization process that manufacturers used to suppress unwanted bitterness, astringency, and acidity in bulk beans.