The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 11, and I have a name to submit to the list of nominees: Frederic Bau.
Bau is a pastry chef and director of the Ecole du Grand Chocolat, the Valrhona Chocolate School (why oh why didn’t I go there for undegrad?). He’s stumbled upon a discovery that, if distributed widely and, say, air-dropped in conflict zones, could send people of all creeds, religions and ages into such a state of extreme well-being that peace would undoubtedly ensue.
One day in the kitchen at the École, Bau put some white chocolate to melt on the stove in a bain marie (a French double-boiler). He got distracted and only after 10 hours—600 minutes!—elapsed did he remember to check the pan. The first thing he noticed was the aroma: like “roasted Breton shortbread.” When he tasted the result, he realized he’d struck chocolate gold.
The result is Dulcey, which has recently gone on sale in the U.S. The tasters at DuJour used these words to describe it: “caramelly,” “butterscotch,” “amazing.” “buttery,” “creamy,” “rich,” and “amazing.” Stockholm, are you listening?
Dulcey is 32 percent cacao. The feves, or disks, are sold at select Whole Foods stores in the Northeast, and feves and bars are available at valrhona-chocolate.com.
