In the past several years, the bean-to-bar movement, in which the entirety of the chocolate making process takes place in one location, has been steadily picking up speed, cropping up in artisanal shops and dessert lists in restaurants across the country (and abroad). In late summer and fall, two famed bean-to-bar chocolatiers have cookbooks coming, both from publishers in their respective hometowns.
While the phrase bean-to-bar is now entering mainstream lexicon, Amy Guittard’s family has been producing chocolate that way for nearly 150 years. Chronicle will release her first book, Guittard Chocolate Cookbook, on August 18, which traces the history of the Guittard family’s eponymous chocolate company, founded in 1868 by Guittard’s great great grandfather, Etienne Guittard, while offering 60 chocolate recipes.
“Chocolate is a subject I always get excited about, and Guittard is my go-to chocolate for baking at home,” said Sarah Billingsley, who edited the project at Chronicle. “As a San Francisco-based publisher, we are always excited to work with other wonderful local brands and talents.”
In addition to supporting a Bay Area company, Billingsley also noted that part of the project’s appeal lay in the rising popularity of the bean-to-bar movement. “Chocolate lovers are more and more savvy about where their chocolate comes from, how it is treated, and how it tastes,” said Billingsley. “I think palates have grown more sophisticated; walk into any grocery store with a decent chocolate selection anywhere in the United States and you’ll see locally produced bean-to-bar chocolate.”
Guittard first took a stab at writing the cookbook while in college, but admits that she spent “more time surfing that summer than writing.” When she officially began work at the family business, Guittard stumbled on an old formula for how the company makes chocolate. “As I leafed through it, I realized that now was the time to marry the stories that the formulas tell, with the stories that our recipes tell.”
Like Billingsley, Susan Roxborough, an executive editor at Seattle-based Sasquatch Books, is also a chocolate lover. When she moved to the city in 2006, she discovered Theo Chocolate, a popular, a local chocolate maker with a focus on sustainability. “As I learned more about Theo’s philosophy and guiding principles and their commitment to Fair Trade, I developed a deep respect for what they were doing,” said Roxborough. “Sasquatch is interested in exploring what we refer to internally as ‘cool stuff from here’ and Theo has got to be one of the coolest brands in the Pacific Northwest.” Sasquatch will be releasing Theo Chocolate by company co-founders Joe Whinney and Debra Music in September.
The book’s 75 recipes branch out from sweet confections, and move into savory territory. “It was important to us to showcase the wide range of flavors that cooking with chocolate has to offer, moving chocolate to the center of the plate where it belongs,” said Music. “The biggest challenge is turning people on to the palate pleaser of cocoa nibs and their rich, nutty, not so sweet, flavor. But once they’ve tried them, they realize what a delicious addition they can be to salads, sauces and a plethora of other savory dishes.”
