Caffe Dell’Arte Modica
In the town of Modica on the island of Sicily, Caffe Dell’Arte crafts chocolate on a metate—an ancient type of millstone—using a practice that Spanish colonials brought from the Aztecs to Sicily in the late 16th century.
This chocolate is worked and then combined with sugar granules at room temperature. It is subjected to none of the heat or additives that almost all modern chocolate makers utilize. Since the chocolate and sugar are not melted together as the bars are made, it maintains a delicate, granular texture. The bitter chocolate and intact sugar crystals marry for the first time in the mouth, allowing the chocolate’s pure character to be experienced and the flavor of the bar to evolve as it is eaten. It is chocolate in its raw form, handled with patience and restraint, and it has broadened our expectations of what a chocolate bar can be.
This chocolate is worked and then combined with sugar granules at room temperature. It is subjected to none of the heat or additives that almost all modern chocolate makers utilize. Since the chocolate and sugar are not melted together as the bars are made, it maintains a delicate, granular texture. The bitter chocolate and intact sugar crystals marry for the first time in the mouth, allowing the chocolate’s pure character to be experienced and the flavor of the bar to evolve as it is eaten. It is chocolate in its raw form, handled with patience and restraint, and it has broadened our expectations of what a chocolate bar can be.
