The Gnomes Of Cocoa

摘要

Miel patisserie on 17th street in Philadelphia is an opium den for chocoholics. The honey ganache is enrobed in chocolate with a 71% cocoa content, while the cakes and patisseries are heavy with chocolate hazelnut, mousse and layers of the brown heroin moistened with rum. Just stepping into the store clogs the arteries. But maybe not forever. This artisanal shop gets its raw chocolate from Zurich-headquartered Barry Callebaut AG, the world's largest manufacturer of cocoa and chocolate. In Europe this $3.5 billion (revenue) industrial supplier of chocolate is on the verge of launching a polyphenol-rich chocolate that—if ongoing scientific studies pan out—will tower your cholesterol. "If it tastes good and is good for you," says Robert Bennett, Miel Patisserie's chef and owner, "I will use it to the hilt."