By John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg
(Reviewed by Nancy Jelinek)

The many delicious recipes in The Essence of Chocolate are divided into three sections: “Intensely Chocolate,” Essentially Chocolate,” and “A Hint of Chocolate.” The last includes rubs for meat, soups, and baked beans—food not usually associated with chocolate. The photographs alone make your mouth water. The book includes the prerequisite techniques and tools section, but also discusses chocolate, specifically Scharffen Berger chocolate and the men who developed it, Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger. This book is much more than the standard cookbook!

It begins with the different paths Scharffenberger and Steinberg took before coming together to make chocolate. Between recipes are pages covering the legend and lore of chocolate. The fifth chapter reviews how Scharffen Berger makes chocolate, from cleaning and roasting to tempering and molding. The cacao tree and its pods, cultivation, and fermentation are covered in the seventh chapter; the future of cacao in Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Panama, as well as the question of whether or not chocolate is good for you, is addressed in the ninth chapter. Hint: Nibs, with all the good stuff of chocolate without the sugar, are a great substitute for chocolate chips or nuts in recipes. 

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker was sold to Hershey’s in 2005, but both men say they will stay involved. Hershey’s own history may be found in Joel Glenn Brenner’s The Emperors of Chocolate.

Hyperion
ISBN 1-4013-0238-6