The shape of chocolate
On mythologies, mouthfeel and a new wave of delicatessens.
Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome to The Boil Up, The Spinoff’s weekly food newsletter presented in partnership with Farro. I hope you’re hungry!
Every family has its own mythologies, stories told so often it hardly matters if they’re still true. Many of the ones about me are, unsurprisingly, food-related, such as the time my mum asked me, a six-year-old, how the custard was and I thoughtfully replied, “needs more vanilla.” A less flattering story is the tale – or should I say, tales – of the little girl who would spend an hour in the sweet shop, heaven turning hellish as she grew steadily more overwhelmed, paralysed by desire and indecision. It wasn’t so much that I was greedy and wanted it all (not that I would have said no) but that I wanted so badly to make the right decision, to choose the sweets that would bring me joy. Because despite my legendary sweet tooth, I was actually pretty fussy. When it comes to lollies, I still am. I want a sweet that tastes of more than sugar. These days, most lollies make me feel sick after just a couple (perhaps they always did) but the same can’t be said of good chocolate – especially when there is some textural element involved or it’s been wrapped around some soft thing like a ganache, a marshmallow, or a piece of salted caramel.
On a recent scour of the web, I ended up down a rabbit hole as I tried to find answers to certain chocolatey questions such as why Easter eggs taste so much better than plain old bars, and when was it that Cadbury chocolate stopped being delicious? As it turns out, the answers are curiously related. As this 2013 article – penned in response to widespread claims in the UK that Cadbury Dairy Milk had become “oily” and “sickly” – divulges, the shape of a piece of chocolate has a significant effect on how it tastes. When Cadbury changed the shape of their classic Dairy Milk squares to the more bubble-like forms we have today, they also changed the speed at which their chocolate would melt in the mouth, and therefore the order and speed at which different food molecules are released on to the tongue and into the nose. A rounded shape is likely to melt faster in the mouth than a square one and so we perceive flavours differently, possibly heightening our sense of the chocolate’s sweetness or the oiliness of the cocoa butter, but our expectations also play a role. We eat with our eyes first, so if you’ve had a delicious experience with an orb of chocolate, you’re already primed to enjoy the next one you pop in your mouth.
This all goes some way towards explaining why adults continue to adore Easter eggs and bunnies – although I wouldn’t discount the excuse to consume extra chocolate. I personally love the differing thicknesses, and therefore flavour experiences, offered by a Lindt bunny (or a Whittakers kiwi). But as a decidedly textural eater – that is, someone who derives particular pleasure from the tactile sensations and varying mouthfeel of different foods – I actively seek out different textures in my chocolate, am drawn to forms that provide crunch or extreme creaminess. On a recent, fleeting visit to Queenstown, I made an obligatory stop at Patagonia Chocolates where I was compelled to buy flaky wands of rama – a Patagonian style chocolate made by thinly spreading chocolate on a marble top then picking it up at just the right time to flake it, forming the light, crunchy flakes into branches (hence the name, rama meaning branch in Spanish). To crunch on quality chocolate – especially sitting beside a frigid lake, breath leaving my mouth as steam – is a textural dragon I will be chasing for a long time.
One final chocolatey textured memory: at a supermarket in Los Angeles, my friend suggested I pick up a disc of Taza stoneground Mexican chocolate, and after sampling just one intense, grainy, cinnamon-laced shard, I made a mental note to buy a dozen before flying home. This is chocolate to eat slowly, intentionally, feeling the gritty, biscuity texture between your teeth and on your tongue.
Make mum’s day (and her dinner!)
This Mother's Day, celebrate mum with something special from your local Farro, like vibrant fresh flowers, hand-picked to brighten her day. Or peruse their selection of delicious ingredients, perfect for whipping up a heartfelt homemade meal just for her. And, of course, a huge range of locally made sweet treats, each crafted with love and care, just like she deserves.
Weekly bites
Speaking of sweet treats… the question of whether to tax sugar continues to be debated in Aotearoa despite more than 100 countries having already made the shift. In the UK, the Soft Drinks Industry Levy has been in force since 2018 and has resulted in over 47,000 tonnes of sugar being removed from soft drinks while in Mexico they saw a 5.5% drop in the sales of sugar-sweetened beverages after just a year of higher taxation – and they’ve now been taxing at 10% for over a decade. While health minister Dr Shane Reti has previously stated his openness to exploring the issue, the issue now lies with associate minister of health Matt Doocey. For an in-depth discussion of the subject, this podcast episode is a great resource.
Despite his election promise to cut the free and healthy school lunch programme he has previously described as “wasteful”, “unaffordable”, and a “marketing stunt”, Act party leader and associate education minister David Seymour has this week declared that he’s “saved it.” While the ACT Party website details Seymour’s alleged desire to investigate why up to 1500 lunches were going to waste each day and create “good public policy” in response to research, his new plan involves simply reducing the cost-per-meal from $8 to $3, focusing on sandwiches and fruit rather than hot meals or foods he deems “woke” such as quinoa, hummus and sushi – a statement that has caused many to wonder, what exactly is “woke” food?
An observation: Delicatessens are back, baby. This commentator believes the trend may have started when Cazador made a smart pivot during the pandemic and reimagined half their restaurant as a delicatessen slinging coffees, pastries and some of the best sammies around (the truffle cheese toastie!) as well as portions of their famous charcuterie, duck liver parfait, rillettes and chocolate mousse alongside a curated array of cheeses, olive oils, tinned fish and so on. In the years since, delis have been popping up all over the Tāmaki scene: Westmere’s pasta delicatessen, Stracci; Deli di Bossi, the gourmet Italian deli nestled beside its sibling, Bossi the restaurant; Remuera’s Knead on Benson now has Knead Next Door, a European-style deli-cum-gelateria. Ponsonby restaurant Beau similarly took over the shop next door, this week unveiling Beau Delicatessen, while at the other end of the strip, the folks behind Parade announced via Instagram that their new spot – New York Italian-style deli Bodega – will finally open its doors later this month. Meanwhile, Pitt Street’s Lebanese Grocer has done things in the reverse order, unveiling their new coffee spot next door the popular Grocer – which is really another word for deli, no? I’d love to know of any more deli-esque openings or must-visits outside of Tāmaki! #deliwatch
More-ish:
For lovers of Black Forest Cake, this New York Times article (also available in audio) tells the fascinating story of how it became the world’s favourite dessert.
As students across the world protest the ongoing genocide in Gaza, this Eater article explores an often unthought of facet of protesting: who feeds the protestors?
Make room for the shroom
BurgerFuel went underground, turned out the lights, left nature to her frenzy and got… The Shroom Shroom. The meatiest meatless burger. Marinated Portobello mushrooms, seared and topped with melty double cheddar, pickles, aioli and Dijon mustard then served up on an artisan bun. It’s mushroom mayhem in a burger.
Get your hands on a Shroom Shroom at your nearest BurgerFuel today. Limited time only.
Snack of the week
Duck Island S’mores Ice Cream Sandwich, $9.49 for 140g from Farro Dominion Road
Given I am willingly shilling out around $10 for an ice cream sammie on a semi-regular basis (love how they have these at Capitol Cinema), it felt like time I gave them a review. This is perhaps also as an exercise in self-knowledge: why am I so willing to exchange so much hard-earned cash for something so… frivolous? My gut reaction to this question is this: I’m paying for quality, for craftsmanship. I have made enough ice cream sammies in my time to know that it is not an easy dessert to master. The cookies need to be the right size, the right texture – you want them soft enough to bite through but firm enough to provide textural contrast and integrity. The ice cream needs to also be the right texture, and the sandwich itself must be assembled when both cookie and ice cream are at their respective correct temperatures. Duck Island goes above and beyond, has perfected all of these elements and created grade-A flavour combinations: their Mint Choc sammie contrasts sweet Peppermint Slice ice cream (my favourite of their offerings) with an almost bitter cacao biscuit and a dark chocolate dip, while S’mores is a pitch-perfect take on the classic combo with toasted marshmallow ice cream as well as a lick of actual toasted marshmallow between salty graham cracker cookies dipped in milk chocolate.
Having tried all of the Duck Island sandwiches, S’mores is the one I come back to most often, despite being a fervent mint chocolate fan. Why? I’m not sure I know myself well enough to say, but it might have something to do with the smoky sweetness and curiously bouncy texture of the toasted marshmallow ice cream – I’ve never had anything quite like it. The first time I had one of these, I was so intrigued and enraptured that half an hour later I was on my way to pick up another one. Writing this now, I’m considering doing it again. 10/10
Mā te wā,
Lucinda
