As always, I am only an email duffzingermanscom  (duffzingermanscom)   or a phone call (734-663-5282) away if you have any questions or comments related to the wonderful world of chocolate and candy!

Duff

duffzingermanscom  (duffzingermanscom)  
734-663-5282

Mindo Chocolate Makers

www.elquetzaldemindo.com/chocolate

Joe Meza and Barbara Wilson are two of the most determined people I know. I met them last fall and have been following their progress as they went from talking about starting a chocolate company to having single-origin, bean-to-bar chocolates and cocoa powder on the shelves at several great shops around town. Their story is great, and Zingerman’s is proud to support them.

Joe and Barbara have been married for over 30 years and they live and work in the Dexter/Ann Arbor area. Both had busy careers in other industries and, around 2008, they started talking about retiring and spending the winters in Ecuador (where Joe was born). The couple visited a beautiful town called Mindo (about 1 and 1/2 hours from Quito) and began construction on a little home. But as Joe explains, “I can’t do anything small,” and the winter home quickly evolved into a hostel and restaurant called El Quetzel de Mindo. About that same time, Barbara began experimenting with roasting the local coffee beans. One thing led to another and soon she was roasting the local cacao and playing around with making chocolate. The work was fascinating and the results compelling enough to convince the couple to focus their energies almost entirely on making chocolate. In 2009, they built a facility for drying, fermenting, roasting and winnowing local cacao on their property. In the last year, they’ve taken the last great leap — importing Ecuadorian cacao from Mindo-area farmers and completing the chocolate making process at their factory in Dexter. And that, my friends, is the short story of how of your friendly, local chocolate company — Mindo Chocolate Makers — came to be!

While we’re not currently stocking the chocolate bars at the Deli (although I can see them in our future), I am super-duper excited to be selling Barbara’s unsweetened chocolate disks and all-natural, unsweetened cocoa powder. The unsweetened chocolate is extremely tasty. I keep a 1/2 # of the disks at home and nibble on one after dinner. The chocolate is typically Ecuadorian — it smells and tastes delicately floral, like all the great spring smells we’ve been enjoying around the neighborhood these past couple of weeks. It hops and jumps in your mouth with nice acidity and is very, very mild for 100% cacao. If it is this nice to eat, just imagine how it would play out in your favorite recipe for chocolate brownies, cake, mousse, etc. Yowza! The all-natural (i.e. non-alkalized), un-sweetened cocoa powder from Mindo Chocolate Makers is also great — we sold out of our first case in less than a week! And you know the amazing thing? Barbara is pressing the cocoa powder right at the factory! There aren’t very many companies who can claim to press their own cocoa powder/butter right at the factory (most people out-source that step or skip it all together).

Flora Confections

www.floraconfections.com

I knew 2010 was going to be a good year because one of the first things that happened in January was getting to know Flora Confections. On January 5th, Ari forwarded me an email from Flora, who I didn’t know at the time. As I quickly learned, she is a first-rate chocolatier/confectioner based in Chicago, specializing in French-style nougat, pâte de fruit and bonbon. Anyway, she emailed Ari to ask for pâte de fruit and cheese pairing suggestions for a piece she was writing for the Huffington Post. Of course, he said “Happy to taste!” and before I knew it I was standing in front of the cheese taste with Ari and a plateful of dazzling pâte de fruit, trying different flavors with different cheese. Needless to say, that was a lot of fun.

After that experience, I knew I needed to get my hands on some of that pâte de fruit. It was just perfect — reminding me of the confections I have tasted in France. Loose and juicy, light and sweet, with just enough pectin to hold them together without making them gummy. I like the ingredient list, which lists fruit purée first! I also love the fact that Flora works exclusively with the fruits of the Midwest, specifically those that grow in Illinois and Mighigan. Her springtime flavors (and the flavors you will find at the Deli this month) include Honey Crisp Apple, Apricot, Blueberry and Raspberry. Flora says that pâte de fruit “highlight the best of local fruit,” and when you taste one I think that you will agree. Flora wrote a great piece about her discovery of pâte de fruit and shares a recipe in her Huffington Post article.

In addition to Flora’s pâte de fruit you will find her nougat at the Deli, too. This nougat style is nougat mou, or “soft nougat.” This doesn’t mean that it is fluffy and whipped up, but rather that it has a nice chew to it. It doesn’t crack and crumble — it bends. We currently stock two types, a traditional (with pistachios and almonds) and a locavore (with pecans and dried cherries). The ingredient list for these is outstanding: Free range egg whites from Illinois, honey from Ellis Farms in Benton Harbor, MI, almonds, pistachios, pecans, dried cherries from Seedling in South Haven, MI… you get the idea.

These are not complicated candies — they are classic confections, flawlessly executed. Zingerman’s is the only place you will find Flora Confections outside of Chicago, which is pretty exciting.

Don’t forget to stop by the Deli between 11 and 1 PM on Friday, May 14th (Mindo Chocolate Makers) and Saturday, May 28th (Flora Confections) for FREE demos and a chance to learn more about Flora, Barbara and the important work they are doing to make great chocolates and confections… and to make all our lives a little bit sweeter.