![]() Before I’d even tasted the chocolate, I’d gleaned the basic elements of the story from the folks at Felchlin: Agronomist enters Bolivian rainforest and makes startling discovery. ![]() HIS NAME WAS Volker Lehmann, and he was the only reason Cru Sauvage existed. When the feeling finally began to subside, I opened my eyes and started looking for the man responsible. That might sound ridiculous, but I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time “researching” the best chocolate in the world, geeking out on it like the most obnoxious sommelier, and this was something entirely new. The flavor dove into a deep, rich place, and then, just as I thought I had a handle on it, the bottom fell out and it dove some more. It hit me with an intense nuttiness, but without the slightest hint of bitterness, a combination I’d never experienced. This incredibly rare and expensive chocolate was produced by the venerable firm of Felchlin, which claimed that it was unique in the world, made from an ancient strain of cacao native to the Bolivian Amazon-i.e., wild cacao, au naturel, unmolested by millennia of botanical tinkering. ![]() The tropical cacao tree has secret things to tell us about flavor and desire, and for more than a decade I’ve made a hobby of tracking down those secrets. It takes the vast library of taste and blends it into one revelatory package. (Red wine has only 200.) Chocolate can be bitter, sweet, fruity, nutty, and savory all at once. It contains more than 600 flavor compounds. Chocolate is the one of the most complex foods we know.
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