Easter. Blonde or pink? French and Swiss fight for the fourth color of chocolate

As with the Tatin sisters’ tart, this chocolate was born from a chef’s accident. That of Frédéric Bau, demonstrated in Japan, who left white chocolate a little too long in a bain-marie… four days. “As if by chance, as if by enchantment, because it was stored in an improbable place, well it became blond. I saw this chocolate with an incredible color and smell,” recalls the chef, creative director of the Valrhona chocolatier. If the recipe, registered by the Drôme giant of chocolate for professionals, has remained secret, it is based on a chemical reaction well known in cooking: the ”Maillard reaction”, a sequence of chemical reactions which results in a browning of the material and aromas that we call ”cooking”, close to toasted.

For pastry chefs who generally snub the White chocolate, associated with the guilty gluttony of the industrial tablet of childhood, blond chocolate opens a new playing field. “It is very different in taste from other chocolates, it gives a taste of something very biscuity, very gourmet”, explains Nice pastry chef Philippe Tayac, who combines it with hazelnuts for a tartlet. Frédéric Bau combines it as a pure fondant dessert with freshly oven-roasted apples and Tahitian vanilla cream, but also recommends “breaking it up” with more distinct fruity combinations, such as citrus or fruit. red.

Transalpine battle

Despite the steps taken by Valrhona, blond chocolate did not obtain entry into the decree of 1976 which regulates the sale of chocolate in France, i.e. a minimum content of 35% cocoa which is available in levels according to the historical “three colors”. Legally, blond chocolate, now imitated and also produced by Belgian and Swiss chocolatiers, therefore remains a white chocolate, the last color recognized after its invention in the 1930s in Switzerland by Nestlé.

And on the other side of the Alps, a tasty marketing duel between chocolate giants is underway around this promising fourth color. Direct competitor of Valrhona, the giant Barry Callebaut has thus introduced through major marketing campaigns since 2017 its own ”fourth color” also 100% natural chocolate, this time pink and called ”Ruby”. It comes from beans with particular properties in color and taste.

“The best chocolate in the world is the one that gives you a moment of indulgence, regardless of where it was produced and whatever the color,” replied the management of the Swiss group when asked about the transalpine war for the fourth chocolate.