Not long ago, flavoring chocolate with chiles might've passed for a party trick—and a mean one, at that. But the walls are crumbling between which flavors we consider acceptable in chocolates, and which ones we don't. "Chocolatiers are experimenting with flavors that historically have not been paired with chocolate," says Courtney LeDrew, marketing manager, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate, Lititz, PA. "These can be ethnic, they can be exotic or they can be surprising. Even flavors that may seem unlikely, such as bacon, can work well."
Chicago-based Vosges scored a coup with a premium "deep milk chocolate" bar—41% cacao and counting—that contains real applewood-smoked bacon and alderwood-smoked salt. O'Donnell, who's tried the confection, sings its praises. "That just knocked my socks off," she says. "I didn't expect it to work at first, but I think it's an amazing flavor pairing."
For his part, Calabro has tasted tobacco-flavored chocolate and been impressed. "I thought it was interesting," he says. "I like when flavors are unique and the profile is unexpected."
Making flavors work
Getting a flavor pairing to work on a conceptual level is a different ballgame from getting it to work in the chocolate itself—from production through shelf life. And on this point, Frame has some considered advice. "You don't want to put anything with a water base into chocolate as a flavor, because chocolate turns to sludge at the first hint of water," she cautions. But, adding flavor to a water-soluble filling such as a fondant, she says, can work. In fact, save for a few exceptions like chile powder, cinnamon and ginger, most of the flavors added to chocolate confections don't go into the chocolate per se, but into inclusions like fondant, caramel or ganache. "That's not to say that there aren't any flavored chocolates," she cautions. "But generally, they're going to have a shorter shelf life."
Another hurdle is chocolate's habit of binding flavors, particularly fat-soluble ones. "The flavor just kind of dissipates away," Frame says. "So, when you're flavoring chocolates, it's actually pretty complicated to get the flavor in there and get it to stay in there for a reasonable amount of time—and not to go off balance, either, because you'll put in a nice raspberry flavor, and two weeks later you'll get all the top-fruity/floral notes, but none of the bottom notes."
Feeling included
That's why Frame advocates flavoring inclusions when possible. But finding the right inclusions for use in a premium chocolate can be a functional challenge. "Fondant is a good standby," she says. "People are familiar with it, and it works well because it's a soft filling and can be flavored really nicely. It comes across nicely with mint, with fruit flavors." Caramel is another suitable filling, she says.
Benson points to cocoa nibs as an innovative and functionally practical inclusion. "For years, they have been used in Europe, particularly in France, in premium and super-premium dark chocolates," he says. "They provide a unique texture"—not unlike that of nuts or coffee beans—"and can be of varied particle size for different textural delivery. Since they are cocoa, they're totally compatible with the cocoa butter in chocolate, unlike the fats of nuts, particularly peanuts, almonds and so-on, that can lead to fat bloom and an unsightly appearance. There is also no risk of rancidity, as with nutmeats."
While nuts, and their butters and pastes, are common chocolate companions, their lipid chemistry can make their use problematic. "Nut pastes, which can have an oil content as high as 55%, can create problems in confection centers due to oil migration," says John Sweeney, director of technology, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate. "These different fillings can sometimes leach through the chocolate or have a poor appearance due to oil migration. This is mainly due to melting-point differences between cocoa butter and nutmeat fats. The melting points of most nutmeat fats and oils are lower than cocoa butter, and this can depress melting points and lead to a soft product if not controlled."
When this happens, you're getting a eutectic mixture. It's like what happens when you put salt on an iced-over driveway to get the ice to melt: mix two incompatible fats, and you lower the mixture's melting point to below that of the individual fats. "Hazelnut, peanut and almond fats are all compatible with cocoa butter to some extent," Sweeney says.