Creativity

Strange as it may seem, the creation of a chocolate involves working to a recipe. Labels on mass-produced bars sometimes give us the impression that it is all very simple: a minimum cocoa percentage, indicating the presence of cocoa paste and cocoa butter; sugar, a little soy lecithin, natural extract of vanilla—and nothing else. The adjectives used to describe chocolate—intense, elegant, sleek, subtle, sublime—rarely give any indications of the provenance and the quality of the cocoas used. And for good reason: all the information is based on the percentages of cocoa and sugar. Variations of taste depend on the varieties of cocoa, the origins, and the way in which they are worked (see The Cocoa Percentage).