03.06.12
Commitment to innovation
Michael Szyliowicz

 

Innovation is at the center of everything we do. It has shaped our company’s heritage, laid the groundwork for our bright future and even influences our daily decisions at Mont Blanc Gourmet. 

We’ve proven to the food and beverage industry time and again that we’ll take a chance to bring about positive change for the industry. 

Mont Blanc Gourmet was the first in the industry to introduce fair trade chocolate sauce, a decision we made because it was the right thing to do. We also were the first to bring the industry single-origin chocolate sauce. We dared to develop the industry’s first dairy-free blender mix, and at SCAA 2011 we hosted the “Invitation to Innovation,” a wildly successful breakfast with creativity coach Artie Isaac that helped industry leaders start looking at creativity and innovation as tools to improve business. 

For an industry that traditionally waits for the largest companies to change before following behind, Mont Blanc Gourmet stands out from the pack, constantly driving industry ingenuity and imagination. 

We’re deeply committed to innovation, and in the next year, Mont Blanc Gourmet will again prove that commitment through some very exciting announcements. That’s all we can formally announce so far, but stay tuned for some stirring innovations in 2012. 

 

Beverages, Diary of a Chocolatier, Innovation, News, Sustainability
dairy-free, fair trade, INNOVATION, scaa, single origin
09.29.11
Happy National Coffee Day!
Rebecca Gelston

Did you know that September 29 is National Coffee Day? That’s right—somebody, somewhere claimed this day as the annual celebration of coffee in America, and as specialty beverage providers who love to concoct delicious and inspiring specialty coffees, we would like to wish you a very happy National Coffee Day!

To celebrate, we encourage you to take advantage of the discounts and promotions associated with the “holiday.” Visit the National Coffee Day website for details on where to score discounted coffee.

If you’re feeling very festive, try making one of our signature specialty coffee drinks; the recipes can be found on our Recipes page. We recommend the “Ghana Single-Origin Gingerbread Mocha” as a perfect way to celebrate the day!

Ghana Single-Origin Gingerbread Mocha
1.5 fl. oz. (3 pumps) Chai Tea Concentrate
1.5 fl. oz. (3 pumps) Ghana Single-Origin Chocolate Sauce
1–2 shots espresso
Top off with steamed milk
Top with whipped cream and drizzle with Ghana Single-Origin Chocolate Sauce

Beverages
chai, coffee, single origin
11.09.10
One Source with Remarkable Differences – Madagascar Chocolate
Michael Szyliowicz

Over the past several years, single origin chocolate has gained in popularity and become better understood by the public. Now, bars from Madagascar are ubiquitous. During my recent trip to Paris, I tasted a great example of a single origin bar from that country. As you might imagine, it was not very sweet and carried flavors of red berries and citrus. In talking with the product’s producer, I learned that all of the beans for this bar came from his own estates in Madagascar, and he sells the cacao beans to virtually every other single origin chocolate bar producer in the world. He had a display of bars from Madagascar on a stand, and we discussed each of the different taste characteristics. The fascinating part is that even though all of the beans come from the same source, each bar tastes remarkably different. Changes in roasting temperatures, times, grinding and conching all contribute to the distinguished tastes. We discussed the ones we like, and both...

Beverages, Diary of a Chocolatier, Travel
cacao beans, chocolate, madagascar, marketing, paris, single origin
09.16.10
The Trifecta
Michael Szyliowicz

Papua New Guinea Cocoa

Papua New Guinea grows cacao beans, some of which are used in single-origin chocolate bars. I’ve always liked the description on Michel Cluizel’s bars hailing from Papua Nouvelle Asie, and on this trip I asked to visit a cacao farm. Boating upriver along the Karawari, we suddenly veered to the riverbank, and I was told to jump out. Scrambling up the muddy slope and following the guide, he showed me the cacao trees, some with ripe pods. The guide told me that growing cocoa in Papua New Guinea is now encouraged by the government as part of a sustainability initiative, and there are 17,000 trees under cultivation. The government provides money to grow the crops and then purchases the beans from farmers to sell to chocolate producers. We plucked a pod and returned to the boat, where we cracked it open.

It is always surprising tasting fresh cacao beans, since they don’t have a chocolate flavor but instead remind me of citrus. These beans had...

Diary of a Chocolatier, Travel
cacao beans, chocolate, citrus, papua new guinea, single origin, sugar cane