Finally, A Place As Obsessed with Chocolate As You Are

 

There’s Nothing Like Chocolate and

Piedmont Makes Chocolate There’s Nothing Like

 

The true chocolate connoisseur knows the world can be broken down into a few delectable morsels. There are places that make good chocolate and places that make great chocolate. And then there is Piedmont. 

 

Remember Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory? Imagine if he expanded into a chocolate city – one might even say a chocolate paradise - and you’re starting to get the idea. The world-class city of Torino (Turin), in the heart of Italy’s Piedmont region, is to chocolate what Paris is to art, New York to theater and, well, Piedmont is to food.

 

While the Aztecs discovered chocolate, and Spain takes the credit for introducing it to Europe, Turin can rightfully claim title to having perfected the art of chocolate.  The recipes and techniques, passed down through families since the 1600s, result in chocolates of aristocratic breeding and intensity. If good chocolate is a guilty pleasure, the layered, complex chocolate of Piedmont is the original sin.

 

As the production of chocolate is an art, so eating it in Piedmont is much like visiting a museum.  Choosing between sweet or nearly spicy, creamy or crunchy, milk or dark, with nuts or without, is no small task.

 

The sweet and sexy union of chocolate and hazelnuts was hit upon by necessity. When, during the Napoleonic wars a naval blockade made it difficult to obtain cocoa, an enterprising local chocolate maker decided to stretch his supply by mixing it into a paste with these slightly sweet, mellow nuts that grow in abundance throughout Piedmont. 

 

The result of this entrepreneurial spirit is Gianduja (pronounced jan- doo-yah) a luscious concoction that is the progenitor of more familiar addictions. Take, for example, Nutella, that creamy spread of the gods that turns everything into a mouth-watering dessert. Or consider the foil-wrapped ecstasy that is Ferrero Rocher. These are the ancestors of gianduja. The explosion of pleasure in every bite is sparked by the gentle, lingering warmth of toasted hazelnuts. 

 

To be authentic, gianduja must be crafted according to exacting standards and contain only the finest ingredients. Today there are still chocolate houses that insist on sticking to an old-fashioned, handmade method of making the paste, ensuring that at least 34 percent of the mix is hazelnuts. Any less and the mixture is considered not just inferior but in fact, not gianduja.

 

 

And not just any hazelnuts will do. The nuts must be the prized Tonda Gentile variety, cultivated only in the ancient hills of Piedmont and only from this year’s crop to result in impeccable freshness.

 

For a taste of this tradition, stop into family-owned shops like Guido Gobino, one of Turin’s highest-rated chocolatiers, or Peyrano, where this family of confectioners offers 90 different kinds of chocolate along with swoon-inducing cookies and pastries. Stratta offers tempting displays of candies, chocolate, maroons and pralines amid precious crystal and wood; and Gertosio, a tiny cake shop is famed for its chocolate and hazelnut torta sabauda.   For those who want to sample many, the city offers a special ChocoPass.  http://www.turismotorino.org/index.php?id=688&navCmd=reset

 

Another time-honored tradition in this lively and food-obsessed community is opining about how to properly make bicerin (Pronounced: bi-che-rin) and who makes the very best in town. An ethereal mix of melted chocolate, coffee and milk, bicerin is practically synonymous with Piedmont. This jolt of fudgy velvet is what every mocha-flavored American invention aspires to be.

 

Born in the 18^th century, the bicerin gets its name from the Italian word for little glass.  So integral to daily life in Piedmont is bicerin that the government had even regulated the price to ensure that all Piedmontese - and happily, all visitors - would not suffer the deprivation of a day without it.

 

As the locals will tell you: where you choose to sip your bicerin might say a lot about who you are, so choose your haunts accordingly. There are, of course, the parlors of the older, established society, and the raucous debating societies-cum-cafes where the university set hangs out. Try, for example, Fiorio, established 1780, which is said to be famed for its conversation. One taste of its gianduja sundae, a rich chocolate ice cream, crunchy hazelnuts and cream, and you might suspect its popularity has less intellectual roots.

 

For the newest, latest and hippest in chocolate sipping sensations, try a fragrant, steaming hot chocolate from Pasticceria Abbrate in via Po.  It’s no wonder this popular gathering place feels so utterly contemporary. The fact that it only opened in 1866 makes it one of the new kids on the block.

 

The smell of chocolate is not just an afterthought in Piedmont. Here chocolate is something you experience with the whole of your being. Like a sigh of perfect satisfaction, it is the Piedmontese way of life and heritage; as rich and as deep as the chocolate itself.