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We all know that good coffee beans come from Colombia. But what about good cacao beans, the stuff from which chocolate is made? And does anyone really know how chocolate is produced?
Education of the customer and of themselves as a company is an ongoing pursuit at Berkeley-based Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Inc.
As the builders of the first new chocolate factory in the United States in the last half century, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is a true groundbreaker. And its co-founders, Robert Steinberg, a former family medicine doctor and actor, and John Scharffenberger, former owner of the successful Scharffenberger Cellars winery, are true detectives.
Steinberg, a real Bay Area foodie, has always loved chocolate. After being diagnosed with lymphoma in 1990, he left his medical practice to learn among other things, how to make chocolate.
"I called as many people as I could locate, mainly large companies who deal in millions of pounds of chocolate," said Steinberg. "I didn't get very far. People were discouraging to me due to the complexity of making chocolate."
Eventually Steinberg's research led him to visit the renowned Bernachon Chocolatier in Lyons, France, where he learned about bean selection, blending, roasting, and conching - a manufacturing technique where huge machines with rotating blades blend the chocolate for 12 to 72 hours to give it a smooth texture.
Back at home in the United States and full of enthusiasm and European secrets, Steinberg approached his friend Scharffenberger about producing chocolate in the United States. The two men had known each other for a decade - first due to bumping into each other repeatedly at San Francisco and Mendocino restaurants, and later as doctor and patient.
Scharffenberger, who had just sold his winery to LVMH and was taking some time off, found Steinberg's idea appealing. He'd made wine, why not chocolate?
In 1996, the friends tested nearly 30 varieties...