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Local chocolate shop crafts culinary wonders

Aleppo peppers, single malt whiskey, African coffee, ginger and pear may not sound like chocolate flavors, but at Éclat Chocolate they are only the beginning.

Éclat Chocolate is a premier chocolate shop located in downtown West Chester, Pa. Éclat opened for business six and a half years ago and has been crafting fine chocolates ever since.

Christopher Curtin, 45, is the driving force behind Éclat.

A master chef and chocolatier, Curtin said he has been in the kitchen his whole life, but when it came to culinary school he made a bold decision.

"They weren't teaching me what I thought they should," Curtin said. After arriving at this conclusion, he left the United States for Europe in search of different instructors.

Curtin spent 12 years under master pastry chefs and chocolatiers in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Japan. According to Curtin, he handselected certain chefs and chocolatiers to each teach him his own individual particular expertise.

The French care more about flavor and appearance, while the Germans are more interested in the engineering behind making chocolate, he said. After completing his journey, Curtin returned to America with a vision.

He wanted to show the public a whole new side of chocolate.

Since then, Curtin opened Éclat, a word which means "a brilliant display or effect," an idea that he attributes to his mother.

Although Éclat has evolved throughout its six and a half years, Curtin remains involved in the entire process.

"I'm 100 percent hands on with the chocolate," Curtin said. "And if I'm not making it, I'm always somewhere nearby."

Dana Boyes, a manager at the store, has worked for Curtin for two years and helps run the store with six other people. Boyes has a degree in public relations and marketing, but says she enjoys working with the chocolate and the other employees.

"Everyone does every job here," Boyes said, adding that although she was trained to deal with marketing and press releases she does not shy away from working with the chocolate.

A staple of the Éclat experience and a passion of Curtin's is collaboration with local chefs and culinary artists, he said. Curtin has teamed with professionals like the executive chef of the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City and, more recently, Happy Cat Farm owner Tim Mountz.

The Happy Cat organic chocolate bars combine Éclat chocolate and fresh herbs like basil, rosemary, lavender and lemon verbena from Happy Cat Farm, a familyowned farm based in Lancaster, Pa.

Curtin selects his collaborators according to a simple but important process, he said.

"First, I find people who are passionate about what they do," he said. "Then I ask them what they would do with chocolate."

The process of making chocolate involves intricate measurements and meticulous preparation, according to Curtin. First, the cacao beans must be selected.

Cacao beans, known more commonly as cocoa beans, are the seeds of the cocoa tree, which is native to the Americas. Chocolate is made by first drying the beans by sun or artificial light, then roasting the beans and finally grinding them into a paste to be combined with sugar, which hardens to become the chocolate.

For Éclat, this process is very precise, as most of the chocolate the shop produces is single-origin chocolate, Curtin explained.

"Single-origin chocolate" is a term meaning that all the cacao beans used in the particular piece of chocolate are from the same area, sometimes even the same farm. This enhances the flavors inherent in that region's beans, giving the piece of chocolate a more defined flavor palate.

After the beans have been selected, they travel to Pennsylvania to be made into the chocolate used in Curtin's creations.

"I am involved from bean to bar," Curtin said, "and everywhere in between."

He said he never knows where or when he could be inspired. He remembers being inspired by something as simple as the smell of old oak leaves on a walk.

It is this same inspiration that is behind Curtin's current favorite confection: mendiants. Mendiants are a traditional French chocolate in the shape of a thin disk.

Éclat's mendiants are single origin chocolate from various countries such as Ecuador, Madagascar and Tanzania. The disks are shaped and textured according to their own place of origin, giving them an aesthetic individuality in addition to the unique flavor profile.

This idea of aesthetic individuality combined with culinary excellence is the philosophy that fuels Éclat, Curtin said. After 20 years of making chocolate, it is also what fuels Curtin.

"For me, it's all about creativity," Curtin said. "And we hope our customers enjoy that creativity as much as we do."

Contact Bill Baxter at communitarian@mail.dccc.edu

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