France and Switzerland | Neither black, nor white, nor milk: battle for the fourth color of chocolate

(Paris) A fourth color of chocolate, “blond”, with a very caramelized taste, was born in France in 2012 and is spreading among pastry chefs without having any chance of being legally recognized, even though the Swiss also claim an invention similar, this time “pink”.

As with the Tatin sisters’ tart, this chocolate was born from a chef’s accident, that of Frédéric Bau, in demonstration in Japan, who left white chocolate in the bain-marie a little too long… or four days.

“As if by chance, as if by enchantment, because it was stored in an improbable place, well it became blond. I saw this chocolate with an incredible color and smell,” recalls the chef, creative director of the Valrhona chocolatier.

“But this chocolate is like me, it’s a mistake! », jokes the pastry chef and chocolatier who smelled the commercial potential of this happy blunder.

It will take 7 years of testing to establish the unique aromatic qualities and consistency of blond chocolate.

If the recipe, registered by the Drôme giant of chocolate for professionals, has remained secret, it is based on a chemical reaction well known in cooking: the “Maillard reaction”, a chain of chemical reactions which causes browning of the material and aromas that we call “cooking”, close to grilled.

“Very biscuity”

To taste, blond chocolate has the milkiness and fat of white chocolate but much less sweet, the flavor of a very soft caramel revived at the end with an aftertaste of roasted coffee.

Blonde chocolate is to white chocolate what dulce de leche (milk jam) is to sweetened condensed milk and its marketing name “Dulcey” plays on the analogy.

For pastry chefs who generally snub white chocolate, associated with the guilty indulgence of the industrial tablet of childhood, blond chocolate opens up a new playing field.

“It is very different in taste from other chocolates, it gives a very biscuity, very delicious taste,” explains Nice pastry chef Philippe Tayac to AFP, who combines it with hazelnuts for a tartlet.

Frédéric Bau combines it as a pure fondant dessert with freshly oven-roasted apples and Tahitian vanilla cream, but also recommends “breaking it up” with more distinct fruity combinations, such as citrus or red fruit.

Trial

Despite the steps taken by Valrhona, blond chocolate did not obtain entry into the 1976 decree which regulates the sale of chocolate in France, i.e. a minimum content of 35% cocoa which is available in levels according to the “three colors »historical, according to the text consulted by AFP.

Legally, blond chocolate, now imitated and also produced by Belgian and Swiss chocolatiers, therefore remains a white chocolate, the last color recognized after its invention in the 1930s in Switzerland by Nestlé.

And on the other side of the Alps, a tasty marketing duel between chocolate giants is underway around this promising fourth color.

Direct competitor of Valrhona, the giant Barry Callebaut has introduced with major marketing campaigns since 2017 its own “fourth color” also 100% natural chocolate, this time pink and called “Ruby”. It comes from beans with particular properties in color and taste.

“The best chocolate in the world is the one that gives you a moment of indulgence, regardless of where it was produced and whatever the color,” the management of the Swiss group responded to AFP when asked about the transalpine war for the fourth chocolate.

The world of European chocolate is regularly shaken by unusual international trials with strong repercussions, whether it is Nestlé’s battle before the British courts over the purple color of the packaging of American Cadburys or its trial, lost in 2017 , in the shape of its Kit Kats.