Patric Chocolate is a small "micro-producer" of artisan chocolate bars based out of Columbia Missouri, and is one of four such companies currently operating in the USA that seek to strenghten traditions based on quality rather than quantity (Amano, Askinosie, and De Vries are the other three). The difference between these producers than, say Domori and Amedei, is simply scale of production. Patric Chocolate bars are available online exclusively, through Patric's website. Alan McClure, owner and founder, answered the following interview.

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CC: How did you choose Patric Chocolate as the name of the company?

The name “Patric” is rooted in my middle name: “Patrick.”  I removed the ‘k’ so that it would sound a bit less Irish, since the Irish are not historically known for their fine chocolate making abilities. 

 

CC: Why did you want to produce your own chocolate, from bean to bar? Do you have prior experience in chocolate making?

I have always loved food, and I straddle the line, so to speak, right between gourmand and gourmet in my love for food in general, and my passion for the excellent in food.  I simply find sitting down to a good meal to be one of the primary joys in life.  Because of this, there were many times, when I was younger, when I toyed with the idea of culinary school, but for some reason it didn’t ever really seem like a realistic option.  However, I never could get food out of my mind, and when I lived a year in Beaujolais/Lyon, due to an odd set of circumstances, I ended up spending most of my time as a culinary adventurer.  Chocolate being one of my favorite foods—probably the favorite—I got to work trying everything that I could find and discovered brands like Valrhona, Bonnat, Pralus, Michel Cluizel, and Bernachon.  At the time I did not really have any idea of the difference between a bean to bar chocolate maker and a chocolatier, but still, I seemed to have an innate interest only in searching out the best chocolate bars; bonbons didn’t attract me.  Though I can appreciate the work of the best chocolatiers, I still find pure dark chocolate to be more exciting, which I suppose is normal for someone in my profession. 

My path to making and selling chocolate professionally was borne out of experimentation and study over a few years. At any rate, this search for fine chocolate bars continued as I began to discover Italian brands such as Amedei and Domori, and also American companies such as Scharffen Berger, Guittard, and DeVries Chocolate.  However, for some reason, though I had probably the best chocolate in the world available to me via the internet, I wasn’t completely satisfied.  I wasn’t necessarily looking for a way to make better chocolate at the time, but I wanted to understand how the different products that I did like could taste so different; I guess that one could call it an extreme curiosity.  This curiosity soon led me to start researching online whether it was possible to make chocolate at home.  Though there was some information online, I wasn’t quite happy with it, so I began to read the standard industry manuals by Minifie, Beckett, and then Cook.  This research, combined with a few kitchen appliances, allowed me to start experimenting with home-made chocolate on a level beyond what I had already attempted (i.e. roughly-ground Mexican-style chocolate for home-made mole).  Finally, as I began to create something that seemed to slightly approach decent quality chocolate—quite an exciting moment to be sure—the idea occurred to me that if I kept working at it that I might be able to make a career out of it.  At first this thought seemed like an improbable dream, and I didn’t dare voice it to friends and family.  I guess that even I didn’t truly think it would be possible.  However, there was a turning point, and it started with a phone call.

Early in 2006, I managed to read about Steve DeVries, of DeVries Chocolate, and then after tracking down his website and calling him, received a call back.  After that conversation, and reading a number of books that he suggested, most of which were from the late 1800s or early 1900s, the idea of starting my own company started to seem altogether different, and much less like only a farfetched dream.  In fact, over the following months, as I experimented, read, and tasted more and more chocolate, I came to feel as though there was no other option other than to start the company, and so I did…at least on paper.  Soon thereafter I headed down to Tabasco State, Mexico with my wife as translator, on my first-ever trip to search for quality cacao.  Ever since, I have pursued Patric Chocolate with single-mindedness.

 

CC: Who have your role models been throughout the process?

I would have to say that DeVries would be first and foremost.   As for other individuals, I certainly was enchanted by the skills of Tessieri and Pralus, though I have not had the pleasure to speak with either one of them.

 

CC: Currently, you have a Madagascar bar in production. What other origins do you plan to release in the future, or at least, what other origins are you thinking about experimenting with? Which are the most exciting?

What other origins?  That is the question!  For quite some time I was planning a Dominican Republic release, but it isn’t looking like that is going to happen.  I simply haven’t been happy enough with any of the samples of 2007 DR with which I have experimented.  Something could still work out, but it isn’t looking likely.

A Venezuelan origin is always possible, and I spent some time in Venezuela last year at this time searching for, and finding, some interesting origins.  So far, however, nothing has come out of that trip, but I wouldn’t count it out yet.

I also spent some time in a certain Central American country from which I am trying to source cacao.  This origin has been a long and hard battle, and that battle still continues. For this reason, I’d like to keep the name to myself for the moment, but I am hoping that something positive comes of it in the near future.  It is a very interesting origin, and I would love to work with it.

There are other possibilities on the table, but it simply comes down to quality, and unfortunately I haven’t been satisfied with a lot of what I have seen.  This is likely a common lament of smaller bean to bar chocolate makers who focus on quality of production over quantity. 

 

CC: What do you look for when selecting beans? Is there a certain way to tell if the beans are of good quality before making chocolate out of them?

Well, one has to do the normal things like learning about the genetics of the trees and the way in which the cacao is being fermented and dried (i.e., sun or force-dried).  Cut-tests also need to be done, and sometimes even simply smelling the cacao can be telling if one notices a musty or off-note, but even if everything seems to check out, I don’t think that one can bypass running some test batches to really see what type of chocolate one is going to get.  Of course, if one can be on the ground when the cacao is harvested, fermented, dried, packed and shipped, then this takes some of the mystery out of the equation, but it is hard to be in all places at all times, and though I am quite intent on growing close relationships with farmers, that is a challenging long-term goal and requires good amounts of ongoing effort, and money of course.

 

CC: Are you concerned about Fair Trade and organic cacao? Do you think these classifications are important in chocolate?

This is a tricky subject as these certifications are costly and the vast majority of farmers wouldn’t be able to pay for them single-handedly.  This means that either a cooperative or company must step in to pay for them, or else cacao that may be organic, and bought at a high price, may be labeled as neither fair trade, nor organic.  A related issue is that since these certifications are usually issued in relation to a cooperative, if a farmer sells directly to a smaller buyer outside of the cooperative framework (for example, when the cooperative itself is scared of losing business with a larger company if it sells to any other buyers), which certainly does happen, then legally, the buyer cannot claim to have purchased organic cacao, and even if the price paid to the farmer is higher than fair-trade, it can’t be advertised as fair trade.  None of this makes things easy for the smaller players, whether they are farmers or small companies.   In short, then, I support the principles of organic and fair trade, but feel like the actual mechanisms need some work.

 

CC: Do you age your chocolate, and if so, how much importance do you place in aging?

Yes, I do age my chocolate.  It is aged in large blocks prior to tempering and molding, and I think that aging definitely does make a positive difference in overall flavor, at least that is what my taste-buds and nose tell me based on aging my own chocolate.  Let me quote an interesting passage written by L. Russell Cook from his excellent book “Chocolate Production and Use:”

The deliberate aging of chocolate has for many years been recognized as an important part of the manufacturing process of high quality dark chocolate, in that it develops flavors that can be acquired in no other way.  It is true that conching accomplishes some of the purposes of aging, but it cannot substitute for it.  Just what scientific explanation could clarify the causes or effects of aging, no one knows.  Oxidation and chemical interaction among complex organic compounds of the material we know as chocolate undoubtedly take place, but that is a most unsatisfactory answer to the question of just what occurs.  All that we know is that some of the most prized dark chocolates ever made are quite ordinary and, in some cases, almost objectionable when freshly made.  Yet, when aged three to six months, these products are truly ‘food of the gods.’

It is interesting to see that 25-30 years after this passage was written, there really still aren’t many scientific studies that would explain flavor changes during aging.  We understand better that cacao and chocolate absorb oxygen fairly readily, which may allow for the oxidation changes that Cook describes, and it is clearer, according to some authors, what some of the chemical changes possible during storage may be, such as an increase of furans, chemicals responsible for toasty and caramel flavors, and development of sulfur compounds that likely impact the chocolate flavor in a positive way, but these explanations are still rather rudimentary, and since large companies, who have the funds to hire food scientists/technologists, do not age their chocolate, I would be surprised if much more scientific data would be added in the coming years.  So, we are left with having to use old-fashioned scientific instruments to tell if aging makes a difference…our noses and mouths.

 

CC: On the ingredients list, only cocoa beans and sugar are listed. You add no extra cocoa butter? Forgoing vanilla is becoming more common nowadays. Do you have personal reasons for doing this?

Indeed, there is no added cocoa butter in the 70% bar.  I have been intrigued by 70% bars without added cocoa butter ever since I discovered Domori, and the more I worked with such chocolates in small batches, the more I liked the flavor and texture.  I am not a fan of chocolates with a lot of cocoa butter added.  That said, I do have a small-batch cocoa butter press, and the next bar I release (probably January), will be a 67% Madagascar with a bit of added cocoa butter from the same beans that are in the bar.  I’m adding just enough to make up for the extra sugar.

As for vanilla, I just personally don’t like it in chocolate.  I can deal with it when used in extreme moderation, but would prefer its absence.  I feel like vanilla generally makes chocolate a less interesting product rather than the other way around.  I cringe when I open a new bar and I can smell vanilla before anything else. 

 

CC: Recently, other small-scale chocolate makers have been popping up on the market such as Amano and Askinosie. Do you think this is a trend, and if so, where do you see it going?

I think that it is a trend, though I won’t pretend to know where it will go.  It could result in a number of excellent-quality small chocolate makers; it could also result in a number of people trying to make some quick money as they see other companies being bought out by the likes of Hershey’s.  Whatever happens, I obviously wish for the former scenario, and think that the growing market for fine chocolate in the US could make such a trend possible.  I have said it before, and will say it again, I don’t see other small chocolate makers as competitors, but rather as colleagues.  I feel heartened that there are other people out that that feel as passionately about chocolate as I do.  We each see things differently, sometimes very differently, but that is definitely a good thing for the micro-chocolate movement. 

 

CC: Your tagline is “French tradition, Italian innovation, American revelation.” Please explain what exactly you mean by this.

I respect the French tradition for many things: bread, wine, pastries, haute cuisine, charcuterie, and of course, chocolate.  It is the French ideal of quality above quantity, and a focus on craftsmanship and true artisanship that is very romantic to me.  This is an ideal that I strive to embody as I make chocolate.  That said, I realize that there is room for change, and that the French way is not always the best way.  In this I also admire the Italians, or at least two in particular:  Amedei and Domori.  Specifically, I admire their innovative focus on working more directly to obtain excellent quality cacao.  This is not to say that no other company, French or otherwise, has ever taken a similar approach, but I personally feel like Amedei and Domori have most clearly articulated this cacao-centric approach.  I also like the fact that these two companies were able to clearly prove that it isn’t only the French who can do fine dark chocolate well; the French don’t have a stranglehold on fine dark chocolate anymore because of these two relative newcomers.  I like the innovation in thought that has brought these changes about and the energy behind them.  It is an energy that I try to instill in my own company; the energy that can lead to such innovation and therefore such excellent products.  Even so, as a micro-producer of fine chocolate in the US, I hope not to be hidden in the shadows of the great companies that have come before me.  Through my work, my chocolate, I hope to rise up and create a place of my own, in a way, a chocolate revelation from another land.  It is an aspiration really—something for which to strive; I draw upon this rich French tradition, the energy of the Italian innovation as I see it, and push to make my own chocolate revelation.  On the Patric Chocolate blog I have written a piece called “History of Fine (Bean to Bar) Dark Chocolate: A 3000 Year History and Then Some…”  It is mostly a history lesson, but it is also part homage to some of the French and Italian companies that have impacted me and my vision.  It can be found here.

 

CC: What advantages do you have due to your scale of production that other artisan producers, say Amedei, don’t have? Disadvantages?

Being small gives me flexibility to make smaller runs of products if I like, and to make them without having to plan for a year to do so.  If I find 10 bags of excellent cacao I can buy them and release a limited edition bar.  I anticipate that over the next few years I’ll be able to take full advantage of this flexibility, and this is good because I’m not interested in having 10-20 products that I have to continue making in quantity ad infinitum.  I want to keep things interesting.  Being this small also means that I have more control over every part of the chocolate making process, and I feel more comfortable that way.  Everything comes back to me.  Of course being smaller means less working capital, and that does limit my ability to do some things.  For example, I can’t afford to have my own plantation, or even to buy up all the cacao from a single plantation, like some companies can.  

 

CC: Do you think that location is crucial when deciding where to establish a chocolate-making operation?

Not crucial, but it does make a difference.  I do wish that it were drier here in Missouri; commercial dehumidification is not cheap.  That said, I think that excellent chocolate can be made just about anywhere with the right tools and know-how. 

 

CC: What are some of your favorite chocolate bars, and what do you look for in a bar that is not your own? What are some of your favorite flavors?

On the whole I like bars by Amedei, Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, and Pralus.  Put simply, in chocolate I look for an intriguing flavor profile that is also delicious.  I am not a fan of chocolate that is interesting in terms of complexity, but just doesn’t taste good, or that has a decent flavor, but is extremely simple.

Favorites?  I hate to say it, because it is on everyone’s list, but I really do like Amedei’s Chuao.  I also enjoy Valrhona’s Gran Couva and Araguani.  I have to admit that I don’t eat as much chocolate from other companies as I used to; you can probably imagine that I get a fair share of my daily chocolate intake at work.

 

CC: What is your favorite television show and/or channel?

I don’t own a TV, but I do enjoy movies from time to time.  Most recently I watched Annie Hall by Woody Allen.

 

CC: Read any good books lately?

I am constantly reading non-fiction pertaining to chocolate, either in books, or in the form of scientific papers.  I used to read more fiction, but I guess I don’t really have the time at the moment.  That’s all right, though, as the real-life drama of the cocoa bean is far more interesting than anything an author could dream up.