Unsweetened chocolate

[Kerry Beal]

little off topic but unsweetened makes for a great joke

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Oh, you are cruel!!!

[aguynamedrobert]

Here is a Canadian place that you can order a few different types of chocolate...

http://www.atasteforchocolate.com/catalogue.html

[paulraphael]

Not sure if they ship over the border, but for anyone in the boonies in the U.S., try chocosphere:

http://www.chocosphere.com/

I haven't shopped there but have heard good things.

On a separate note, I'm having an interesting time right now trying to adapt a brownie recipe to work with good chocolate. When made with Bakers' and the equivalent, the chocolate flavor is 2-dimensional, but the brownies have a great dense, fudgy texture. When made with good chocolate (I've tried Valrhona at the high end, and Callebaout and El Rey as more economical choices) the brownies loose the chew. They're delicious, but become exceedingly soft and tender. I'm trying to get the good flavor AND the dense texture.

I haven't found a solution yet (am messing around with fat content and starch content) but the message is pretty clear: good chocolate and supermarket chocolate aren't even the same kind of product.

[gap]

Here's another, Australian based, source for unsweetened (or 100%) chocolate:

http://www.tava.com.au/

Tava make their own chocolate using beans from Vanuatu

Edited May 8, 2007 by gap (log)

[phaelon56]

I'd probably be pretty disappointed to pay top dollar for a dessert, especially one that's about the chocolate, only to find out that it was made with Baker's chocolate.

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Or even more disappointed to find out that the $9 or $10 piece of cake came from Sysco or Bindi (and that scenario is far more common than most peopel would suspect - even in "nicer" restaurants).

On an ingredients note... is it safe to assume that I can use unsweetened chocolate in place of bittersweet in a recipe if I increase the amount of sugar by a bit? I made brownies this weekend (first time ever making brownies and one of the only times I've ever made a dessert other than pies or fruit tarts). The recipe called for 8 oz of bittersweet chocolate and a cup each of dark brown and white sugar. I had only unsweetened chocolate so I guesstimated and increased each sugar by an 1/8 cup or a tad more. Tasted fine and was plenty sweet for me.

[prasantrin]

I checked out all the links provided, thanks for your help! They all seem to want me to buy huge quantities, but for home baking, I just can't use that much. I can get a 400g bar from Tava for AU$32 including shipping (the shipping is $12 alone). There's also the problem of shipping during the summer, which is when I'll be home.

I guess I will have to plan on picking some good quality unsweetened chocolate when I'm in the US in August. I'll be in Chicago and Minneapolis, so I'm sure I'll be able to find something in either of those places.

I also found out that I can order cases of unsweetened chocolate from a Japan-based mail order company (they bring in cases of stuff from the US). It will still be expensive (about $1/oz, plus I have to buy a case). They only offer Baker's, Hershey's Premium, and Ghirardelli's. Baker's is clearly out for me, but does anyone have an opinion of Hershey's Premium vs Ghirardelli's unsweetened? I don't really like the eating chocolates of either of those companies, but maybe unsweetened baking chocolate will be different?

[merstar]

I don't like Ghirardelli to eat out of hand, but I bake with their unsweetened, bittersweet, and semi-sweet often, always with excellent results.

Edited May 19, 2007 by merstar (log)

[sanrensho]

I checked out all the links provided, thanks for your help!  They all seem to want me to buy huge quantities, but for home baking, I just can't use that much.  I can get a 400g bar from Tava for AU$32 including shipping (the shipping is $12 alone).  There's also the problem of shipping during the summer, which is when I'll be home.

Not sure　if this helps, but this company (Japanese only) lists 2kg bars of "bitter" unsweetened chocolate for 1,650 yen. It is a lot, but perhaps you could split with someone or freeze/refrigerate. It doesn't list the source of the chocolate, but I wonder if it's a Meiji or similar domestic product?