February 2nd, 2009
 In a moment of weakness, I picked up the glossy February issue of one of those crafts magazines in the check out line the other day. Almost immediately, I felt the need to abandon my cart, race home and start gluing things together. Oh the possibility! As I flipped through the pages, I had the buoyant feeling that if I started cutting paper and practicing my penmanship right away, I could probably finish all of my homemade Valentines in time! And then I could get started on those heart-shaped cufflinks! And then the cupcakes! It was very intoxicating... until I realized that chances were slim that I'd finish (or start) any of the Valentine's Day projects suggested in the magazine. Why? I'm just too busy thinking about chocolate this month!
My mind is whirring with thoughts of Zingerman's one-hundred chocolate bars, thirty fresh chocolates and truffles, seven chocolate gelato flavors, four drinking chocolates, two chocolate tastings and one new chocolate bar... the long-awaited Zingerman's + Askinosie exclusive chocolate bar, El Rústico!
Are you thinking about chocolate this month, too? Let's talk! Email (eanderson@zingermans.com) or call me (734-663-5282) with your chocolate questions! As always, hearing from your is the best part of my day.
Happy Valentine's Day,
Chocolate Lady Duff
— Chocolate Tastings —
Askinosie Chocolate Tasting
Thursday, February 5th, 7-9 PM, Upstairs Next Door
$30 advance/$35 at the door
Only six seats left! Here is your chance to meet a real-life chocolate maker! Shawn Askinosie of Askinosie Chocolate is a small, bean-to-bar chocolate maker, specializing in single-origin, sustainable sourced cacao. When Shawn visited the Deli last year, he got a standing ovation at the end of his tasting. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll love the chocolate! Shawn and I have come up with tasting list that we think you will enjoy, including two new chocolates: Askinosie's Davao Philippines bar and the very special new Zingerman's exclusive chocolate bar... El Rústico!
And congratulations to Mary Barson, the winner of the coveted Chalk-Late box! Thank you for making your reservations before January 29th. Your box will be waiting for you at the tasting!
Proposed tasting list: Cacao beans (origin TBD), cocoa liquor (origin TBD), San Jose Del Tambo, San Jose Del Tambo Nibble, Soconusco, Davao Philippines (NEW), White Chocolate Nibble, El Rústico!!
History of Hot Chocolate
Thursday, February 26th, 7-9 PM, Upstairs Next Door
$30 advance/$35 at the door
This is a cross between a Western Civilization class and a chocolate tasting — with the best components of each! I'll take you and your taste buds on a virtual trip through time, covering nearly 5000 years of history and plying you with hot chocolate all the way! By the end of the class, you will: a) Have a new, delicious perspective on history b) Know how to make homemade chocolate and drinking chocolates at home and c) Fully appreciate chocolate in its liquid form.
Proposed tasting list: Mayan/Aztec Drinking Chocolate; Creole Drinking Chocolate; Spanish Drinking Chocolate; Italian Drinking Chocolate; Hot Cocoa; Vosges Aztec Elixir; European Style Drinking Chocolate.
— BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! —
New Zingerman's + Askinosie Chocolate bar — El Rústico — arrives in Ann Arbor!
 You may have seen some strange things happening around the Deli the past few months. Ari and Grace nibbling on whole vanilla beans at the corner table in the Next Door, our graphics design goddess Nicole and yours truly meeting in the tent to review secret documents, our porters sending package after mysterious package off to Springfield, MO. So what has been going on around here?
We've been busy designing a new chocolate bar — El Rústico — with the help of American chocolate maker, Shawn Askinosie. And now it is finally here! El Rústico is a Mexican-style chocolate bar, made with Mexican Soconusco cacao, semi-refined to have a sugary, rustic texture, and sprinkled with delicate bites of whole vanilla bean. In origin, style and flavor — this bar is a tribute to the chocolate traditions and foodways of Mexico.
I think there are three things that made this bar really special.
#1. The texture. El Rústico means "the rustic one" and the texture of the bar is, well... rustic. As Ari puts it, "We've dialed this bar back-in-time from the more refined, super smooth mouth feel of high-end European chocolate and given it some grit." If you've tried the Oaxacan Mexican chocolate at the Deli, you have an idea of what it means to have texture in a chocolate bar. The sensation is extremely satisfying — a little crunch from the sugar crystals, a little chew from the cacao. The chocolate almost dissolves in your mouth. We chose to use Shawn's Soconusco Mexican cacao to make our bar, because there is such great chocolate history in that region (the Aztecs sourced their cacao there) and Shawn's chocolate is super tasty.
#2. The vanilla. If we had stopped just with the chocolate, El Rústico would still be fantastic... but we didn't. We decided to sprinkle the bar with tiny morsels of super supple, hand-chopped whole vanilla bean. Ari says that "down in Papantla, on the Gulf Coast of Mexico, near Veracruz and home of the original vanilla, people frequently chop vanilla pods and use them in their cooking, as opposed to just scraping out the seeds as we usually do here."
But while using chopped vanilla bean in Mexican cuisine is not uncommon, using chopped vanilla bean in a chocolate bar is totally unheard of! The spectacular vanilla is what makes El Rústico really different than every other chocolate on the market. I think you will enjoy the texture and flavor of the vanilla bean, as well as the full, sweet aroma it gives to the bar.
#3. The story: Shawn Askinosie and his team of chocolate makers in Springfield, MO carefully crafted this chocolate bar for Zingerman's. This project was just about as collaborative — and as wonderfully complex — as it could have been. I'm willing to bet that in the history of our two cities, Ann Arbor and Springfield, there has never been so much shared correspondence as there has been in the last several months, thanks to El Rústico! We worked together on El Rústico for 10 months to get it right for you — and we'll continue to tweak it as we move forward. As Shawn says, "That's part of the craft!" Thanks to the expertise, creativity and patience of the folks at Askinosie Chocolate, a "Wouldn't it be great if... " idea is now an actual chocolate bar!
The best way to welcome El Rústico to Zingerman's is to taste it yourself. This chocolate bar might give you goose bumps, and it will certainly make your nose and mouth happy. It is totally, totally new — the bars were made January 15th in Springfield and they arrived at the Deli on the afternoon of January 30th! El Rústico will be for sale at Zingerman's Deli and Zingerman's Roadhouse. Don't live near Zingland and want to get your hands on one of these bars? Email me at eanderson@zingermans.com and we'll find a way to make it happen.
— BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! —
Spanish Drinking Chocolate ARRIVES @ the Deli, January 28th, 4 PM EST.
I saw it with my own eyes and unpacked the boxes with my own hands! The Enric Rovira Chocolate à la Taza — Spanish Drinking Chocolate — is here!
This drinking chocolate traveled all the way from Barcelona — and the workshop of the visionary Enric Rovira — to be with us. The best part? It is very, very easy to prepare at home. No cocoa in this box. Just 100% chocolate — which is why it makes such a luscious drink.
We brought in three kinds for you:
Amargo: 70% dark chocolate. Rich and decadent.
Traditional: 55% dark chocolate. Sweet and smooth.
Sugar-free: 50% dark chocolate. Sweetened with maltitol.
When you stop by the Deli to purchase a box of the Spanish Drinking Chocolate this month, bring along this coupon and show it to your friendly cashier. That will be our cue to steam you up a demitasse of the Spanish Drinking Chocolate (for here or to take away) — faster than you can say delicioso!
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