Chocolate goes upscale

I am a self-confessed chocolate addict. I've reformed and now will only consume dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa. According to an article in the washington Post I'm part of a growing trend.Chocolate has gone upscale.

Once, it was enough just to unwrap a bar of chocolate and eat it. Now, you must understand it.

Note the glossy shine that indicates the strong bond between the cocoa butter and the cocoa mass, instruct the makers of Vosges Haut Chocolat on the packaging of their Barcelona Bars. Release its complex aromas by rubbing your thumb across the top, and savor the smell. Only then should you finally taste it, feeling the chocolate melt around your tongue.

Like coffee before it, chocolate is going complex and upscale. This holiday season, look for Tasmanian honey wrapped in dark chocolate from Godiva and custom-made boxes tied with double-faced satin ribbon at exclusive Manhattan specialty store Bergdorf Goodman. Christmas is the peak time for premium chocolate sales, and big candy companies and small chocolatiers alike are rolling out some of their most high-end products to date.

"Chocolate is not always about eating," said Laure de Montebello, co-owner and chef of Sans Souci Gourmet Confections, an independent chocolate shop in New York that fills those custom-made boxes at Bergdorf's with peppermint truffles. "Chocolate is a 'feel' business."

That may be why readers of December's Vogue opened the magazine to find a gorgeous model giving a come-hither look -- to a piece of Godiva chocolate. Godiva wants customers to feel like divas, a play on the company's name and the focus of an advertising campaign that began last year targeting women ages 25 to 40. That demographic is the most likely to buy chocolate, consuming roughly eight servings each month, according to a report on premium chocolate by consumer-research firm Mintel.

And this doesn't even mention the studies which show the many medical benefits of eating dark chocolate. For more details go to the Washington Post article