Knit Cupcake and More Vere Reviews

Nupur made me this cute knit cupcake!

I interviewed Nupur (One Hot Stove) for Food Interviews at my house. I love doing phone interviews with people across the country, but nothing beats face-to-face encounters. Not only did Jonathan (he's now STLPhoto on Twitter) and I share a lovely dinner with Nupur and her husband, but Nupur actually brought me a knit cupcake! Is it not the cutest? I love it! Homemade gifts are the best. Thanks again, Nupur!

Speaking of free gifts, I recently heard from two more of the Vere chocolate winners. I had asked all of the winners to write reviews and they have all done such great jobs! I really appreciate everyone taking their reviewing seriously! Their chocolate reviews, in their own words, are after the break.

Be sure to also check out the other, already posted, Vere chocolate reviews.

Vere Chocolate Reviews from Bladerunner

We happened to be home when the package arrived, so the Boyfriend and I tried a couple of the flavors right away. A couple of weeks later, I shared some with my dad and his wife when they came over for dinner. When the Boyfriend and I tried them, the chocolate was a bit warm from being shipped. When my dad and his wife and I had the chocolate, it came straight from the refrigerator.

Cayenne
Me: HOLY SMOKES! (We both reach *quickly* for the water)
Boyfriend: Powerful! Very dark, slightly bitter, with an EXPLOSIVE cayenne finish. Too overpowering?
Me: Yeah, too overpowering for me. I was really glad I only took a small bite to start with.
Boyfriend: Not for me! (As he reached for another small piece)
Dad’s wife: It’s hot on the back of my throat. (Dad agrees with this.)
Dad: The cayenne give it kind of a pepper feel.

Raspberry-Lemon
Me: I couldn’t taste much of either the lemon or the berry.
Boyfriend: Hm, strong berry, no lemon.
The diabetic boyfriend was thrilled to discover all of the chocolate bars have a lot fewer carbs than he’d thought – which means he can have more!
Dad: I got a strong raspberry flavor eventually, but it took a while coming. There’s not nearly as much dark chocolate flavor with this one.
Dad’s wife: I like this one the best so far (she tried it after the Banana-Macadamia and Espresso-Anise)

Espresso-Anise
Me: I definitely don’t like it. But then I don’t like either espresso (or coffee, for that matter) or licorice. But in the interests of science, I tried it anyway. I got overwhelming licorice with an undercurrent of espresso.
Boyfriend: Surprisingly harmonic flavors. I like it. And I don’t like licorice.
Dad’s wife: I liked the Banana-Macadamia better. I don’t get any espresso taste.
Dad: No espresso, and the anise is too overpowering. The dark chocolate flavor is immediately overpowered by anise. (Dad doesn’t like licorice at all either)

Banana-Macadamia
Neither the Boyfriend or I have tried this one. I absolutely cannot stand the taste or smell of bananas, so I won’t be having any. The Boyfriend just hasn’t gotten around to it.

Dad: No banana taste, just dark chocolate flavor. (Apparently no macadamia taste either)
Dad’s wife: I don’t get any banana flavor either.

Ultimo Dark
Me: All of the bars I’ve tried have been darker and more bitter than I’d expected. I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but I’ve liked it in the past. I don’t dislike this brand – it’s just out of my familiarity zone.
Dad: I like this the best of all (this is the last to try for him). The chocolate flavor isn’t diluted by anything else.
Dad’s wife: I like the raspberry-lemon the best, and this one next best.

Vere Chocolate Reviews from Verena

As a student of Dietetics, I am impressed with the list of simple ingredients and the use of organic products rather than a bunch of additives and unknown chemicals in the Vere chocolate bars. The chocolate bars have an even texture and shiny gloss, a sign of good tempering. They have a nice, clean snap which indicates freshness and high quality. Overall, the chocolates we have sampled taste bittersweet and dark, and carry a slightly smoky and earthy hint. The chocolate is not cloying and rich, and one is left with a somewhat bitter yet clean aftertaste. One small piece would be enough to satisfy a chocolate craving. The chocolate bars probably appeal to a more mature and sophisticated palate.

Here are more detailed comments on the five chocolate bars:

Raspberry and lemon – The chocolate is bittersweet and has a fruity note to it. There are small bits of raspberries in the chocolate and the occasional raspberry pits add some crunch to the bar. One can taste the tartness and tanginess from the raspberries. However, the lemon flavor is barely discernible. This may be due to the use of lemon oil rather than actual lemon peel or juice. Overall, the flavors are very subtle; I would want a stronger citrus note and a tangy punch in the chocolate.

Ultimo dark – The chocolate is very dark with a subtle sweetness, but it is neither bitter nor harsh. Although the chocolate does not have a perfectly smooth texture, it is not grainy either. It tastes slightly woody. This is a chocolate of a good quality, but in terms of personal taste, it is not my favorite type of plain dark chocolate bar.

Banana and macadamia – Once again, the chocolate is dark yet pure-tasting, with a slight fruitiness. The banana flavor is very subtle but it matches the dark chocolate better than I had expected, if only it could be slightly stronger. I like the use of actual banana puree in the chocolate. This obviates the risk of artificial-tasting, as is the case with many food products flavored with banana. I am not a big fan of nuts, but the small bits of macadamia nuts provide a pleasant crunchy texture. They remind me of nut brittle and taste somewhat like pop rock candy on the tongue.

Espresso and anise – The chocolate tastes dark but is not bitter. There isn’t a strong coffee flavor or aroma, but the coffee grains add a nice crunch and somewhat nutty texture. The flavor of the anise appears a bit later; it is herbaceous and reminds me of licorice and Chinese medicine, but is in no way harsh. This is my mother’s favorite and she comments that the combination of espresso and anise tastes unexpectedly pleasant and leaves one feeling light and refreshing.

Cayenne and cacao nibs – As with the other Vere chocolate bars, this bar tastes dark but isn’t overwhelming. The chocolate feels slightly velvety and has a good degree of sweetness that matches the spiciness from the cayenne pepper. The chocolate is not in-your-face spicy and the heat is not overpowering, but rather, provides a pleasant warmth on the tongue. The cacao nibs add a nice, crunchy texture to the chocolate which pairs well with the spicy background. This is my favorite flavor out of the batch of Vere chocolate bars.

If I were to rank the Vere chocolate bars in order of personal preference, it would be: Cayenne and cacao nibs, Espresso and anise, Raspberry and lemon, Ultimo dark, and lastly, Banana and macadamia nut.

Last Day to Win Free Amano Chocolate

Today is the last day to enter to win free Amano chocolate on Food Interviews. Comment on each of the five parts of the interview for your best odds of winning! On some of the posts, there are less than 20 entries, so your odds of winning are very high!

Also, I received an email from Gina from A Half-Dozen Eggs with her great review of the Vere chocolate that she won during the Vere chocolate interview. Be sure to check out her blog post, but here is a summary that she said I could publish:

Cayenne + Cacao Nibs: Wow! The smoothness of the chocolate and then *pow!* the heat of the pepper - delicious. I gave my husband a small square (yes, I shared...some). He's not really a chocolate fan but even
he was impressed.

Espresso + Anise: I love chocolate. I love coffee. I do not like licorice at all. However, this was a great chocolate bar. The licorice flavor was very slight and not at all overpowering. I like this one but it's not my favorite.

Raspberry + Lemon: I thought the lemon overpowered the raspberry in this bar; however, I loved the raspberry seeds in the bar. Don't give me seedless raspberry anything, why bother? So I was glad to have the seeds. Loved it!

Banana + Macadamia Nut: I couldn't really taste the banana until I had quite a bit of chocolate in my mouth. I liked the bits of macadamia nuts rather than big nuts

Ultimo: is just that - the ultimate. Plain, dark chocolate. And I don't mean plain as an insult. Plain and simple are *good* things sometimes and they're great things in the case of this chocolate. Smooth, delicious, bittersweet chocolate. And even better because it is organic.

Announcing Food Interviews: Another Chocolate Interview and Giveaway!

Photo by Amano Artisan Chocolate

After two sucessful interviews on Cupcake Project, one with Vere Chocolate owner Kathy Moskal, and one with Supreme Spice owner Anjali Damerla, I am now hooked on interviews!

I have started a new blog, Food Interviews, where I will be doing all of my future interviews.

If you enjoyed the interview about Vere Chocolate, you will probably enjoy the interview I'm featuring this week with Art Pollard, founder/owner of Amano Chocolate (you may remember that I reviewed Amano chocolate and I LOVED it!).

Just like the Vere interview, there will be 5 chocolate giveaways, so be sure to check it out and leave a comment each day this week.

Although Food Interviews won't always be about something cupcake related, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as you enjoy Cupcake Project.

Oh - and don't worry - I'll still be making cupcakes here!

A Quick Vere Giveaway Followup

I also wanted to let you know that I have heard back from two of the Vere chocolate winners.

Ivy posted a review of the chocolate on her blog, Little Ivy Cakes.

Tish sent me an email:

The chocolate arrived at my house all beautifully packaged and in perfect condition, so I would have no hesitation in purchasing on-line.

The quality of this chocolate was arguably the finest eating chocolate that I have
ever consumed. I know that qualitative statements like that will always start a
riot, but I prefer bittersweet dark over milk chocolate.

I had no difficulty picking up the fruity notes in the chocolate itself, and the additions such as banana and raspberry were not overpowering. Just a hint of banana. A whisper of raspberry-lemon. The sensual burn of chili. All wrapped in the caress of intoxicating chocolate.

Wow.

I really loved this chocolate. Just one small square of it is plenty to satisfy my craving. And believe me, I have a real need for chocolate every day.

Thank you so much!

I'm so glad that they both enjoyed the bounty!

Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon and Chocolate: A Vere Inspired Cupcake

Raspberry cupcakes with lemon and chocolate wrap up Vere week. Start back on Part I to read all of the Vere week posts.

The details of the raspberry cupcakes are after the break.

The Raspberry Cupcake Inspiration

The raspberry cupcake was based off of Vere's raspberry lemon organic dark chocolate bar. When Kathy first sent me the sample bar, I could barely taste the raspberries. However, when she sent me the full-sized bar, I could taste the berries and I was in love. First, you taste the chocolate, then the raspberries, and then it finishes with the lemon. The flavor combination was incredible.

I wanted a cupcake that would do the same thing!

Choosing the Raspberry Cupcake Recipe

Bon Appetit recently featured a lemon raspberry cupcake. It looked great, but it used raspberry jam. I wanted to use fresh raspberries.

I ended up turning to the now-retired-from-blogging but still ever useful Chockylit. She had a recipe for raspberry ricotta almond cupcakes that sounded amazing. Of course, modifications would need to be made - most notably, I used no ricotta and I added lemon extract and chocolate. I'm sure my cupcake tasted nothing like hers, however I must give credit where credit is due. Her recipe got me going in the right direction.

What's Happening On Top of Those Raspberry Cupcakes?

To accentuate the lemon flavor on the raspberry cupcakes, I baked some lemon cookie dough (well, it's not really cookie dough as you'll see later, but close enough) on top of some of the cupcakes. I made the cupcakes three ways:

1. With cookies in cookie shape. Unlike the cookie on the snickerdoodle cupcakes, this one kept its shape and did not meld into the cupcake. It has a completely different taste and texture from the cupcake. It almost looks like I just put the cookie on top of the cupcake, but it's actually baked on. It was topped with a small swirl of chocolate whipped cream and a fresh raspberry.
2. Crumbles of cookie dough on top. This cupcake kind was also topped with the chocolate whipped cream and raspberry combo.
3. No cookie dough. I simply covered the top with lots of chocolate whipped cream and of course the fresh raspberry.

How'd the Raspberry Cupcakes Taste?

I was excited that the raspberry cupcakes left me with a similar experience to the chocolate bar. I could taste all three flavors (raspberry, lemon, and chocolate) at different times, but also the wonderful combination of them together. The cupcakes were extraordinarily moist, but not so much as to be messy.

Check back for additional tasting notes and Bride and Groom 2.0's thoughts. Things have been vere busy and they haven't been able to taste the cupcakes yet.

Update: People raved and drooled over these cupcakes. They were a huge hit! Everyone loved their moistness and complex flavor. One friend and frequent taster even said that if it were his wedding, he would choose these!

Everyone, however, does not include Bride and Groom 2.0 and the friend that tasted with them. Bride and Groom 2.0 thought they were too dense and not moist enough. I will not judge their comments, but note my comments above about everyone else and moisture. Bride and Groom 2.0 also didn't like the texture of the raspberry seeds. That's definitely understandable. It's not for everyone. Groom 2.0 was, however, excited about the chocolate bits in the cake: "Oooh - chocolate bits!" Lastly, Bride and Groom 2.0 both enjoyed the frosting.

The Raspberry Cupcake Recipe

As I noted earlier, the raspberry cupcake recipe was an extreme modification of a recipe by Chockylit:

Makes about 18 cupcakes

• 1 C almond flour
• 1 C sugar
• 1/4 C plain yogurt
• 1/4 C sour cream
• 1/2 C (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 t lemon extract
• 2/3 C flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 C finely chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
• 1 C raspberries

1. Mix almond flour and sugar.
2. Slowly add yogurt and sour cream.
3. Add butter, one tablespoon at a time.
4. Gradually add the eggs.
5. Add lemon extract.
6. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder.
7. Fold in the flour mixture.
8. Fold in the chocolate and raspberries.
9. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. These cupcakes will not rise very much. If you want them to be taller, you can fill them ever higher.
10. If you are not putting the lemon cookie topping on the cupcakes, bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or until the top bounces back when touched. If you are putting the lemon cookie topping on the cupcakes, don't put them in the oven yet! After you put the cookie topping on, follow the same baking instructions.

The Lemon Cookie Dough Recipe

The recipe that I used for the lemon cookie dough is actually tart dough from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent Price. I've used this recipe as a pie crust for apple pies since I was a kid. It's a lousy pie crust in that it doesn't roll well at all, but it tastes so good that I just don't care. One of my favorite parts of preparing this recipe is that everything is mixed by hand. Get messy and lick your fingers!

• 1 1/4 C four
• 4 T sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 C) butter, room temperature
• 2 egg yolks
• Grated rind of 1 lemon

1. Put flour on a pastry board or any clean surface.
2. Make a well (basically a hole) in the center of the flour.
3. Put all the other ingredients in the well.
4. Use your hands to work all of the center ingredients into a paste.
5. Knead in the flour.
6. Keep working the dough until you can make it into one big ball.
7. Do with it whatever you want! I made little patties with some of it and laid them directly on the cupcakes before baking. I crumbled some of it over other cupcakes. I still had some left, so I rolled it into little balls and baked them on a cookie sheet at 350 F for 15 minutes.

The Chocolate Whipped Cream Recipe

As you can see from the photos of the cupcakes, on 2/3 of the cupcakes I used vere (will I ever stop spelling it like that?) little frosting. If you want to cover your cupcakes in frosting, be sure to double this recipe.

The picture above is of my frosting staging area. Every time I frost, I use a little test plate to pipe a bit before piping onto my cupcakes. This gives me a chance to play with ideas and get a better feel for the consistency of the frosting.

• 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
• 2 T sugar
• 2 T cocoa powder

1. Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.
2. Beat in sugar.
3. Beat in cocoa powder.
4. Pipe or spread or just lick the beater.

Vere Week Interview and Giveaway Part IV - About Kathy

This post is part of a 5 part series on Vere chocolate. To get the most out of this series, start on Part I.

Part IV: About Kathy

How much chocolate do you eat? Do you eat chocolate all the time?

Yes! The thing is, I was never a sweets person. I love flavor. I love things like salt and vinegar and all that but I really don’t like sweet. I say to my husband, “It’s a good thing we make chocolate, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to eat any.”

I did eat chocolate before this. I would eat La Maison Du Chocolat - their darkest chocolate. But, now that we make chocolate, I have quite a bit of chocolate every day. I found that I really need it every day now.

Do you only eat your own chocolate?

Exactly - since we made it to my tastes. You tweak it and it suits you, so it’s nice to be on the receiving end. When you make something and you become really familiar with it and make it a lot of times, you can taste subtle differences that other people don’t in terms of appreciating or not appreciating something. It’s like you look for different things.

What do you look for when taste a piece of chocolate?

I look for not tasting sweet first. I think if you taste the sweet first you are already probably missing out on some of the other subtler flavor profiles. Chocolate is like wine - if you added sugar to any wine, even a wine that was naturally sweet, you would taste less of that wine than you would ordinarily.

I also try to taste whether it’s fruity or does it have more of a tobaccoy, earthy, or a different flavor to it. Then, the texture. I hate dry chocolate. I really hate dry chocolate, so if a chocolate is dry, right there it goes against me. It has to have a nice consistency when it melts - not be grainy, have a kind of luscious quality to it, and make your mouth water as you’re letting it melt.

When you are not making chocolate, what are your hobbies?

Starting a new business is like having a baby, you pretty much don’t have time for anything else. But, my loves are visual things. I love looking at art and looking at fashion. I love shopping with my eyes and I love movies and eating.

I really have through this come to appreciate food in such a new way. I think when you are in the food business it’s in a way very humbling. You start to really understand how much goes into something that’s really artisinal. You really start to appreciate the farmers and what they do - how hard their lot is and everything that it takes to bring something to you in a natural form.

Then, the food business itself. So many of the buyers in the food stores work so hard. When I go to call buyers, some of them will say you can reach them tomorrow at 6 am and this is on the weekends. They also might have a late shift. If you want to call, you need to call at 11 at night. It’s a hard business.

How does being a visual person come into play when you are designing the packaging?

A lot. I appreciate what Erika does. She does these incredible caramels. Each of them is hand decorated. There is somebody there putting little lavender pieces on top or cacao nibs or whatever. They are like these little works of art.

If you look at the rest of our line [the packaging] is very classic and so much of my background comes into play. I love that part! I love to get to play with the packaging and those ideas.

Even the bags you are giving away are so cute!

I know. Whenever I get too stressed out, I think, I’m going to make some bags. It’s just so therapeutic. I feel like so much of our food is packaged. Unpacked food is so luscious and beautiful. You want the package to at least kind of represent what you hope your product is or is going to taste like or stands for. It would be like if you had to hide your beautiful cupcakes in a box and you couldn’t see them. You’d want the box to evoke the deliciousness of the cupcakes and the whimsy or whatever you are putting into that particular one.

If you were Bride 2.0, what would your cupcake choice be?

My cupcake choice would probably be like the cayenne and cacao nibs bar - a spicy chocolate cupcake with a chocolate frosting. That’s probably what I would love.

A ganache?

Yes! And the frosting wouldn’t be spicy, but the cupcake itself would have the chipotle chili. It would be spicy.

It's been so much fun talking to you. Thanks so much for your time and your chocolate. On behalf of all of my readers, we appreciate it so vere much!

Continue to the Vere inspired cupcake

Vere Week Interview and Giveaway Part III - Choosing Flavors

This post is part of a 5 part series on Vere chocolate. To get the most out of this series, start on Part I.

Part III: Choosing Flavors

How do you come up with your flavors? Where do you get your inspiration?

I have a really great chocolatier, Erika Erskine. She’s really amazing. She’s young, maybe 23, but she studied at La Cordon Bleu in London so she’s classically trained. But, because she’s young, she’s really open and interested in health. She’s up on all the latest stuff and she happens to have a really good talent for flavor combinations. She knows how to layer flavors so you get one flavor, then the other. She’s really responsible for the flavor profiles.

I’ll come up with an idea like Crunchy Stuff. My idea was to make this crunchy stuff like a snack food but with chocolate that has healthy ingredients and that’s delicious. I’ll give her a concept and she’ll work it out. She’ll solve a problem.

I’ll come up with some of the ideas for some of the bars. I think the anise espresso was mine, but she’s really the flavor genius. I am more a concept person and do the groundwork, but really in terms of the product itself, she’s really vere, vere talented.

Are you working on anything new?

Just these 70% bars. [Note: In Part I, Kathy talks about how they now only have 75% bars.]

I think I sent you some of the little 10 gram chocolate boxes. [Note: She did. I wrote about the 10 gram vere chocolates here.] I might rework some of the packaging on that. They are really cute and great but it is so hard for the people to make them and package them. [I would like to] find a way that I can deliver them where they won’t get broken, etc. or do less packaging on them because I love that little format. I always like to put a couple in my pocket. When I want something, I just break one of those open.

In the banana bar, I was disappointed that I couldn’t taste the banana.

It may be one of those things where the banana quickly takes on the chocolate flavor. There is a little crunchiness in the banana bar. It’s not like nuts. It’s kinda like the crunchiness of halava, but it might be one of those things where the chocolate just kind of overwhelms the banana flavor. We might have to put more bananas in the next batch!

What’s your favorite flavor?

My favorite bar of the bars we make is the cayenne and cacao nibs. What I love with that one is that I’ll put it in my mouth and I’ll let it start to melt. I get the lusciousness of the chocolate itself and it's smooth and creamy. Then, I start to get some heat. As its melts more, the little cacao nibs get exposed and so I feel that texture – another thing I love is texture that has to do with ingredients. Then, I’ll bite on the nibs which are kinda fruity. That bar has all the qualities I love.

Continue to Part IV

Vere Week Interview and Giveaway Part II - Running a Chocolate Company

This post is part of a 5 part series on Vere chocolate. To get the most out of this series, start on Part I.

Part II: Running a Chocolate Company

How large a company is Vere?

It’s not very big. I have a factory in Manhattan where we make our artisinal products. The factory is a nice size – it’s 5000 square feet. We only have about 6 people working in the factory and we’ve only really started selling our products about 2 years ago. It took about 2 years to do the research - to find the beans and build the factory. We’re still small. My focus now is getting into retail stores around the country.

How’s that going?

Good. The people who get what we do are places where you have an educated consumer - where people really read the package and care about what they are putting in their body. We just started to get into the various Whole Foods in Manhattan. We are in a smattering of stores around the country. We do very well in gourmet stores and we do really well in health food stores where people look for organic particularly.

I’m trying to target that customer who really understands the difference between chocolate and candy. I’m really focusing on the chocolate person. I just started to approach and get into some higher end coffee shops and also wine stores. Since dark chocolate isn’t very sweet, it pairs really nicely with wine.

How does running Vere compare to your experience with HUE?

It’s so different - I can’t tell you. Fashion is really fast. About 8 week after we had our first product, we had orders from Bergdorf Goodman, Macy’s, and Neiman Marcus. With food, it’s so slow. People have already set their shelves so they’ll say, “Call me in 6 months” or “Call me next year.” It’s really, really different.

I think it’s more that [in food] the consumer drives the store rather than the store driving the consumer - which is what happens in fashion. In fashion, they don’t want anything that they think is going to sit in the stores for more than 3 months. In food, they’ll say if you can’t give me at least six months shelf life, I don’t want to take you in. It’s like totally opposite. In fashion, they want something new all the time. In food, once they get you in with something, they’ll pretty much keep that. There are pluses and minuses to both.

Do your bars have a particular shelf life to them?

The stores really want a year shelf life. With some of ours, we can get more than 6 months. Our artisinal products can only get 6 months because we use a lot of nuts and stuff in them. The stores would love a year, but it’s like I tell the stores, “I’d rather have you order less and order more often because we make the stuff fresh.” You don’t really want your stuff sitting on the shelf for more than 6 months. Who wants to buy anything that’s been sitting there that long?

Many people think chocolate can just sit around. They don’t think about their bars going bad.

It can, but once you start adding things - like if you start adding nuts (certain nuts are hardier than others) - after a while the nuts have oils in them so they can go rancid. If you use fruit, if it’s a dried fruit it’s OK. If you use freeze dried fruit, you want it to be crisp - you don’t want it to go soggy. We try to use other kinds of ingredients in our chocolate, not just essential oils. We do use nuts and seeds and different spices and stuff, so we really would prefer that they would be fresher.

It sounds like you’ve had a lot to learn with the food.

Yes! Of course! One other thing, in fashion you just have to say what the ingredients are: 100% cotton, made in the U.S., etc. In food, it’s such a different thing - all the nutritional testing, all the allergen information, plus your packaging is a big part of it. Whereas in fashion, your image is a big part, but you might have to just make a label.

Continue to Part III

Vere Week Interview and Giveaway Part I - The Vere Beginning

Vere week is here - your chance to win free chocolate!

The following winners have already been drawn: Ivy, mrschloesmom, Verena, and Gina!

But, it's not too late to enter. Read the interview, then comment on the post for the correct day of the week to enter. Even if you already entered, you can enter again for another chance! A winner will be drawn each day!

• Monday - Interview with Vere founder, Kathy Moskal, Part I: The Vere Beginning
• Tuesday - Interview, Part II: Running a Chocolate Company
• Wednesday - Interview, Part III: Choosing Flavors
• Thursday - Interview, Part IV: About Kathy
• Friday - A cupcake inspired by a Vere chocolate bar flavor combination

The interview begins after the break.

I interviewed Kathy Moskal by phone and split the transcription of that interview into the four sections you will read this week. I made a few changes to the order of the conversation just to make for a better flow, but other than that and the removal of "ummms," "well, you knows," and laughter we both had, it should be just as if you were listening in on our conversation.

Part I: The Vere Beginning

How did you become interested in chocolate and starting a chocolate company?

My entire life was in the fashion business. I had co-founded a legwear company called HUE and my partner and I sold that. I had retired basically for ten years and then a family friend was dying from the aftereffects of diabetes. She was a great gourmand. She loved to eat. She was a great baker. As a matter of fact, she was the one who taught me how to make truffles many years ago - she was real chocoholic.

At that point, she couldn't walk anymore and I thought since her only pleasure left was eating, I’m going to get her the best chocolate in the world that she could eat. I searched the Internet, I looked in Europe, and I looked all over the States. Everything I found was really awful – it was filled with chemicals even a well person shouldn't eat. All of the chocolates that weren't filled with chemicals had way too much sugar.

This was in the fall of 2003. Now, there is a lot of dark chocolate on the market. But, at that point there really wasn't. I just thought, "OK, I’m going to hire a pastry chef," because I really am not a cook and I’ll start with just 100% dark chocolate (plain chocolate) and I’ll have the pastry chef just make some things that are healthy and minimally sweetened for my friend, Carol.

I just started doing research about chocolate. I became really fascinated with chocolate as a food. It is this incredible foodstuff with all these vital chemicals and all these great healthy things - that if you don’t degrade the chocolate – are available to you.

I just got hooked and I thought, well I’m going to go from the beans. So, I did a lot of research and found that the Arriba bean (sometimes called the Nacional bean), which is what I use in all my chocolate, is really high in antioxidants. It only grows in Ecuador and it has a really mild, fruity flavor so it doesn't require a lot of sweetening. It tastes very earthy and real. Like wine, it reflects the terroir (the place that it was grown).

One of the reasons I picked it, besides that I really liked the flavor of it, was that the first step in making chocolate is fermenting the bean and that’s also the first place that the antioxidants get degraded. Since this one [the Arriba bean] has a short fermentation cycle, it doesn't need a long fermenting to develop the flavor and it also doesn't degrade the antioxidants as much - so it starts out with more antioxidants.

How did you find out about that bean?

Just really by doing a lot of research, but I had tasted the Arriba bean in a chocolate that someone was doing. It was a plantation chocolate (Vintage chocolates). This French guy, Pierrick Chouard, made a line of chocolates using the Arriba bean. That was the first time I tasted it and I liked the kind of flavor and the mildness of it.

What makes Vere different from other chocolate companies?

We’re different from a lot of chocolate makers in a lot of ways. First, we do make our own base chocolate and we make a real high grade of it where the [particle size in] microns is really small. We add more cocoa butter so it’s called couverture which is like the most premium chocolate. Most chocolatiers don’t make their own couverture, they buy their chocolate. If they are buying good chocolate, they buy from Valrhona or Michel Cluizel or they'll buy chocolate from Guittard or various other producers. Then they will melt it and make their chocolate. Even companies like NewTree make chocolates in California, but they use a Belgian chocolate. (Update: I received an email from NewTree with a correction: "NEWTREE manufactures all of its chocolates in Belgium and imports and distributes them in the U.S. They are truly Belgian chocolates in every sense of the word.") They don't make their own couverture. Probably in most chocolates that you've tasted, the people don’t make their own couverture. People are starting to do that more though. Theo chocolates makes their own couverture.

Also, we are probably the only company in the world that makes all of the products from 75% cacao content. We are going to make some bars of 70%, but that will be it because to get the benefits of chocolate you really need it to be 70% or higher.

What about companies that are doing chocolate from bean to bar?

Well, we don’t process the beans ourselves. People are doing a lot of good stuff in a lot of ways, we chose to process the beans in Ecuador because you leave more money in the local economy so instead of taking their precious resource out at the lowest possible price, which is the beans, we make the couverture there. This is just part of our philosophy. That’s another way that we are kind of unique and different.

Do you have a relationship with the people in Ecuador?

Not a business relationship, a hand-shake friendly relationship. It’s interesting because there are three men who have spent their lives in the chocolate industry so they know a lot, but their dream when they retired was to have their own chocolate factory. They are small like we are and so they try things for me and have done things for me that a larger company would never make the effort of doing. We’re kind of moving along together here.

Continue to Part II

Announcing Vere Week: Giveaways, Interview, and a Cupcake

Last month, I wrote about the free Vere chocolate I received from Kathy Moskal, Vere's owner. While I had a few complaints about the strength of the flavors in their flavored bars, I found their chocolate quality to be top-notch. Many of you wrote that you enjoyed reading the review. Now it's your chance to review - read on!

Monday through Friday of next week is going to be Vere week around here. Each day I'm going to share some of a phone interview I did with Kathy. You'll get to learn about Kathy, her company, and her chocolate. I'll be making a Vere inspired cupcake too (don't worry, the cupcakes will always be here)! Best of all, each day - Monday to Friday - one lucky commenter will win this:



In case you couldn't tell, that's four full sized Vere chocolate bars in a vere cute gift bag! All that I ask is that if you win, you share on your blog (if you have one) or in an email to me what you thought of the bars. I'll do a small round up of the winners' reviews. You don't need to be an expert chocolate reviewer. I'll even take, "YUM!" if that's your review.

Kathy is an amazing person. She has a huge passion for chocolate and I hope you will all enjoy reading about her and her company as much as I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with her.

What's That Again?

To summarize:

• There will be a prize winner every day from Monday to Friday.
• You can enter once per day by commenting on that day's post.
• If you win, you need to write a short review which can be shared on this blog.