Artisan Chocolate Makers

[aguynamedrobert]

Hello Everybody,
So what do you guys think of all the new smaller Artisan Chocolate Makers poping up...

Amano Chocolate: http://www.amanochocolate.com/
Askinosie Chocolate: http://www.askinosie.com/
Patric-Chocolate: http://www.patric-chocolate.com/
DeVries Chocolate: http://www.devrieschocolate.com/
Soma Chocolate: http://www.somachocolate.com/

I think this is going to be the beginning of competition for high quality chocolate in the USA. All these small companies are forming and will press the big ones to make the very best product they can...

what do you guys think?

Robert
Chocolate Guild :: learn about chocolate, talk about chocolate

 

[corazon]

What clasifies it as "artisan"?

 

[aguynamedrobert]

More "Hand made". In the chocolate world that means usually the smaller companies that use older equipment. Something the wouldn't be artisanal is something like Hershey's or Cadbury. They use big automated machines for most of their work...

Robert
Chocolate Guild :: learn about chocolate, talk about chocolate

 

[philso]

the recent usage of "artisan" in various food and beverage businesses generally denotes a small enterprise hoping to stay in business by aiming for quality in smaller quantities as opposed to mass production.unfortunately, here in japan the only american chocolate i've ever seen is hersey's. as far as quality chocolate goes, there are only about a half a dozen european chocolates available here and there, so i won't really be able to chime in much on this thread.

 

[jasonr]

Are we talking about actual chocolate, or candies or other items made with chocolate?

If the former, what would you say distinguishes an "artisan" chocolate from one of the larger high-end brands like Valhrona or Scharffen Berger?

 

[aguynamedrobert]

It depends how you look at it of course...Scharffen Berger is actually a pretty small company compared to its competitors...I have toured the factory myself and it is still pretty "Artisanal" in the sense that I would say that.

I think it depends on the equipment you use...the more automated the equipment the less artisanal it is...the more hands it is and more knowledge someone has to have of the ingredient to produce a good product then then more artisanal it is....

Robert
Chocolate Guild :: learn about chocolate, talk about chocolate