Everything goes with chocolate
January 29, 2008, Karen Miltner staff writer, Democrat&Chronicle
South Wedge business adds intriguing twists to many people's favorite flavor
Basil and pistachio. Lemon and pepper. Cranberries and pecans.
It's easy to think of the first pair with rice or pasta, the second on fish or chicken, the third in stuffing or chutney.
But take a leap of imagination and put each in a truffle made with fine French chocolate, and you have the essence of Hedonist Artisan Chocolates. The South Wedge chocolatier is making waves among thrill-seeking chocolate lovers with its unique flavor combinations used in truffles and drinking chocolates.
"A lot of these flavors have existed before. We simply find ideas we like and make our own recipes," says chocolatier Jennifer Posey, who cites the Vosges Haut Chocolat of Chicago as one source of inspiration. (Vosges' exotic candy bar line includes a Black Pearl Bar with wasabi, ginger and black sesame seeds and its Barcelona Bar with hickory-smoked almonds and gray sea salt.)
Posey an Ecole Chocolat graduate launched the Internet business last year with partner Zahra Langford.
Really, ideas for new truffles spring from almost anywhere. That lemon pepper truffle that is part of Hedonist's 2008 Valentine Spice collection and happens to be Posey's current favorite? That combination came about through a Weight Watchers meal of cottage cheese and pineapple with black pepper that Posey enjoys. One day she decided to swap in lemon for the pineapple, and the concept for a new truffle was born.
Other truffles in that collection include orange chipotle, raspberry wasabi, peanut butter cayenne and coconut curry. Hedonist's new drinking chocolate line is similarly unique, with a yerba mate tea and milk chocolate blend and a white chocolate, lavender and lemongrass blend.
Convincing potential customers at the frequent tasting events the couple hold is not hard. "You can put anything in chocolate and people will consider eating it," notes Langford, a Xerox design analyst who oversees Hedonist's Web site and photography.
Posey, 36, is the culinary force behind Hedonist and works full time at the business as its primary chocolatier. A former parks and recreation director in Milan, Mich., she has been studying chocolates for several years and for a while worked for Santa Cruz, Calif., chocolatier Richard Donnelly. She took an online chocolate-making course at Ecolechocolat.com, with the goal that she and Langford would start a business.
The couple's primary focus is Internet sales, though their products are available at a handful of local retailers, and they regularly conduct tastings to introduce people to their chocolates.
"A lot of people are intrigued by the unique flavor combinations," says John White, who runs Equal=Grounds, a South Avenue cafe where Hedonist has its own display case.
"My first impression was 'Oooh, how interesting, I want to try it.' They had dark chocolate with chipotle chile. You put it in your mouth. It's sweet and then spicy at the same time," says Corinne Nelson, who first tasted Hedonist chocolates at the Savor Rochester food and wine event last fall.
The Harris Corp. secretary was so tickled by the chocolates that she suggested them for the sales department's December gift giveaway. "Everyone got a box of truffles and some drinking chocolate. People were thrilled," says Nelson.
Production takes place in a commercial kitchen in Rochester's South Wedge neighborhood. Hedonist shares the 13-foot-by-24-foot space with another local specialty food manufacturer, Creekview Ice Cream. The location is currently not set up for retail sales, but Posey and Langford hope eventually to do so. Future plans also include a line of artisan ice creams.
Hedonist's truffles are formed by hand, giving them a more rustic look than molded chocolates. When Posey first began, she also tempered the chocolate the old-fashioned way, by pouring melted chocolate on a slab of marble and heating it again and again until the proper temperature and consistency is reached. The labor-intensive process is necessary so that the chocolate will harden into a glossy finish and have a crisp snap when bitten into. Posey now relies on a commercial tempering machine, which improves the consistency and makes it easier to enrobe the truffles.
Room temperature and humidity are also important in working with chocolate, says Posey. The wintertime indoor 62- to 64-degree range is ideal. "That is one reason why Rochester is a good place to make chocolates. It's colder."
Hedonist is engaged in more trends than just exotic flavor combinations.
For starters, Posey uses Valrhona's Guanaja chocolate for the couverture (coating). Single origin (from a specific growing region or estate) chocolates like this one are in high demand by chocolatiers, and the French-made Valrhona is generally regarded as one of the best chocolate producers in the world.
"Dark chocolates tend to be more versatile than milk chocolates," says Posey. "They allow other flavors to come through."
This week, the chocolatier introduces a white chocolate truffle with raspberry filling that is embossed with artwork created especially for Hedonist by Rochester artist Joe Guy Allard.
The five-truffle collection presents "modern-day spins on the idea of love or people getting together," says Allard. "I like the idea of (my art) being in a new medium."
The images are created with colored cocoa butter on transfer sheets, then applied when the chocolate couverture is still warm.
While Hedonist's best seller is the classic espresso truffle, Posey has found that no matter what she comes up with, someone will like it.
"Every chocolate we make is someone's favorite," she quips.
Still, there are some flavors that even she and Langford must veto, such as cayennelike African bird pepper they experimented with.
"We ate the truffle and started sneezing," says Posey.
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