Notes While Dipping the Whites

I am a hard core, dark, bittersweet chocolate loving man. I have always pooh-poohed the whole white chocolate thing. I only developed this recipe because the people who are into white chocolate are so into it. Usually people who claim milk chocolate can be shamed into trying the real thing and they get hooked right away.

The difference in this batch to all the others is the Tahitian Vanilla. The flavor literally explodes into your mouth. But, listen to this from the man who made the vanilla possible Maheanuu Tane:

The Vanilla comes from the Island of Raiatea, and was grown, harvested, and dried by my daughter's father in law. For those out there who do not know about vanilla, it is the seed pod of an Orchid (V. tahitensis). The work is very intensive as each flower must be married (hand pollenated). Absolutely no insecticides, or chemicals of any kind are used in the growing and care of the plants. When the beans are ripe, they have changed from a dark green to a lighter lime green with black blotches on the skin. At this time the beans are picked and wrapped in muslin to be laid out in the sun during the day and watched constantly. Each evening every bean is massaged to break down the walls of the pod and allow the oil to mix well in the bean pod. They are kept dry and warm during the ripening and drying process and the air is heavy with the wonderful smell of vanilla. When I said that it was work intensive, I mean it. The vines flower over the period of a couple of weeks and during that time they must be hand pollenated individually within the first 5 days or you will not have a set from that flower. All of the older Tahitians where I live are very capable of pollenating several thousand flowers a day, while I kill more flowers than I pollenate.

Here's what happens in your mouth when you eat these. First with the straight whites you simply get a big jump of flavor that will even radiate up into your sinuses with the orchid's redolent and voluptuous aroma. It's the same sensation as when you are eating a perfectly made horseradish sauce, except without the pain. It's a big, huge, beautiful flavor.

Moving to the white gingers, you get the very same explosive vanilla shot, but it is followed by first a hint, then a whisper, then a statement of the ginger. The ginger eases into the flavor experience and then finishes it decisively.

If you thought that both strength and complexity were enough for one mouth to experience, you were wrong. The way that the raspberry whites work is the same but reversed. Here, the first flavor that jumps is the delicate twinge of the raspberry. Softened, as if in a bowl of clotted irish cream. Then, subtly building the vanilla comes on. The vanilla is the final taste, and aftertaste here.

Exquisite.

3B's