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Bourdain & Ripert Join Chocolatier for “Good & Evil” Chocolate Bar

  • Spence Cooper
  • October 24, 2012

Grub Street’s Collin Keefe reports that a sneak peek party is planned involving “Good & Evil” chocolate bars at New York’s Ardesia Wine Bar.

The sneak peek party will precede next month’s Salon Du Chocolat, where the “Good & Evil” bar is scheduled to make its official debut.

Anthony Bourdain and three Michelin-starred chef Eric Ripert have joined forces with chocolatier Christopher Curtin of Eclat Chocolate to create the “Good & Evil” chocolate bar.

Keefe claims Christopher Curtin and Ripert have been working on the special project for more than year.

Last spring, Ripert told Grub that he was going to Peru with Curtin to investigate a plantation where a rare form of Peruvian Pure Nacional cacao had recently been discovered growing.

“We are going to see the trees, and the plantation,”Ripert told Grub. “We want to know where it’s coming from, and make sure they don’t have 5-year-olds harvesting the cocoa beans. If everything checks out, we will end up with a chocolate bar”

Keefe notes this particular type of Peruvian Pure Nacional is special because of its seed pods, which contain both white and dark cocoa beans.

The chocolate was heralded as the best in the world, and was abundant in Ecuador, but since 1916, was believed extinct.

“That is, until it was discovered growing in Peru. Eclat Chocolate’s Curtin personally hand selected the raw beans for the Good & Evil chocolate bar.”

Keefe believes the white and dark cocoa beans were likely the inspiration for the Good & Evil plug line, and explains that Bourdain’s involvement is due to his powerful marketing clout.

Last year, Grub reported Curtin is one of only five chocolatiers in the U.S. to be working with the ultra-rare Fortunato No.4 cacao, the chocolate bean whose seed pods contain both white and dark cocoa beans. The bar will debut sometime after November 8.

Chocolate Dates Back to Mayans

Archaeologists have found traces of chocolate 2,500-years-old on an ancient plate in Mexico that might have belonged to the Mayans.

The chocolate traces were found in the Yucatan peninsula. The initial theory was that chocolate was used as a beverage in pre-Hispanic cultures, either by mixing them with liquids or crushing up cacao beans.

Some claim such a drink was reserved for the tribal elite.

Eating Chocolate May Make You Thinner

Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, at the University of California, wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine, claiming those who ate chocolate about five times a week had a body mass index one point lower than those who didn’t indulge.

For someone who weighs 120 pounds and is 5 feet tall, one BMI point translates to about 5 pounds, Golomb said.

The results were based on a survey of a total of 1018 men and women aged 20 to 85 years from San Diego, California, all without known cardiovascular disease.

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