Chocolarte

When it comes to creating chocolate art, as in any trade, there are artisans. The chefs that participated in the "The Art of Chocolate" Sunday at the IU Art Museum were all such chocolatiers. "The Art of Chocolate" was just one event that comprises the ongoing Week of Chocolate, a celebration of chocolate and the local community.\nThe week kicked off on Saturday with "The History of Chocolate" at the Monroe County History Center and featured delectable chocolate desserts from historic restaurants and bakeries around Monroe County that are no longer in business. One of these restaurants was the once popular Tao Resturant, a Bloomington staple in the 1970s. Its Coffee Toffee Pie was recreated using an old recipe book. Susan Rinne, executive director of Options For Better Living, lived in Bloomington in the '70s and has a Tao Restaurant recipe book. Rinne was a big fan of Coffee Toffee Pie, but her favorite chocolate dessert came from the IU Memorial Union.\n"My favorite was going to the sweet shop (Sugar and Spice) in the Union and getting a chocolate oatmeal cookie. After a test I would go straight to the sweet shop and get one. It was the most incredible cookie in the world, there was nothing like it," Rinne said. \nThe Week of Chocolate continued on Sunday with "The Art of Chocolate" at the IU Art Musuem. "The Art of Chocolate" featured wine tasting (courtesy of Oliver Winery) and chocolate creations from eight local chefs. Approximately 150 people sampled concoctions such as chocolate candies and chocolate chili. Melissa Copas, development director for Options For Better Living, said chefs attend "The Art of Chocolate" to showcase the beauty of their dishes.\nOne of the chefs there was Kristen Tallant, the pastry chef for the local Tallant Restarant. Tallant made a Mexican spice chocolate crema with a cinnamon whipped cream and homemade churros on top. "Churros" are fried dough, similar to doughnuts, that are common in Latin America. "Crema" is a custard, with a consistency somewhere between a mousse and a pudding. The ingredients in the crema included red wine with chilis and cinnamon infused throughout. The crema was served in a silver bowl with a churro placed neatly on top.\nDavid Tallant, husband of Kristen and chef at Tallant restaurant, explained his wife's creative process.\n"First, she makes sure the dish tastes good," he said. "Then it must also look nice. People tend to taste with their eyes initially. If something doesn't look good (people) won't eat it."\nChocolate company BLU Boy Chocolate also attended "The Art of Chocolate."\n"We really feel that chocolate is a luxury item," said David Fletcher, BLU Boy Chocolate pastry chef and chocolatier. "We make a great effort to pay tribute to the special quality that chocolate can have. We do that visually. Something that looks lovely is appealing. Chocolate nowadays is bland. We focus on flavor."\nFletcher, who is also a physician at the IU Health Center, showcased his painted chocolate candies in a glass display case. To create them he uses melted cocoa butter mixed with a powdered food color to colorize the candy. He paints the inside of a mold with the cocoa butter, lets it set and then pours chocolate into the mold. The melted chocolate fuses with the colored cocoa butter and creates the colors -- from blue marble to pistachio green -- on the shell. The mold is then filled with the flavor the candy is going to be and then the chocolate is sealed. The candies are boxed and sold at Goods for Cooks.\n"My favorite flavors are the salted caramel and pistachio," Fletcher said.\n"The Art of Chocolate" held on the first floor of the IU Art Museum, also included a silent auction that featured paintings by local artists. The proceeds from the auction benefitted local charities.\n"The goal of the 'Week of Chocolate' is to bring about awareness of all the organizations our community offers," Melissa Copa the development director at Options For Better Living said. "The Week of Chocolate is making Bloomington a destination for chocolate lovers but also a destination for people who want to see the community at its greatest. Helping all those agencies (Options, Girls Inc., Wonderlab, Girl Scouts, Rhino's Youth Center. and Citizen Advocacy of South Central Indiana) to raise awareness is key."\nOther upcoming Week of Chocolate events include Chocolate Carnival, The Great Girl Scout Cookie Caper, "Team Up!" with Chocolate, "Death by Chocolate Murder Mystery," "Chocolate Prom" and "Chocolate Fest." "Chocolate Fest" is in its 10th year and features the event "Chocolate Creation." \n"Chocolate Creation" is a forum for chefs of all talents to submit a chocolate dessert and have it judged in a contest. \nIU professor and Bloom food writer Christine Barbour has been a judge in the "Chocolate Creation" contest in the past and will be a judge this year. She attended "The Art of Chocolate" this year and said, "I like the people. I think Options is great. The chefs are great -- they really knock themselves out. I would recommend it to people that don't even like chocolate"