Your Subtitle textAbout Nolia
Nolia Chocolates are small batch confections each individually crafted by hand with fresh quality ingredients and no added preservatives or wax. That means when you enjoy our chocolate you are experiencing the pure, rich complexity natural to chocolate. We develop our own flavors and use a specialty single origin chocolate grown in Venezuela.
Since each chocolate is handcrafted, some slight variations in size and appearance can be expected. Each chocolate is truly individual and hand molded, hand dipped and/or decorated by hand. We won't divulge our secret recipes but all of our truffles flavors are made in house using fresh cream, real fresh and dried fruit, quality nuts, real alcohol, fresh ground spices and even fresh brewed specialty coffee. We also make our confections including the peppermint patties for the Mint Cookie, our own homemade marshmallows and flavored caramels. We love our flavors and hope you will too!
Nolia started with one person in a home kitchen as a dark chocolate and caramel lover's hobby. The chocolate "experiments" became popular enough that in 2009 the hobby grew into a small confectionary business based in Philadelphia. We've since moved to a dedicated kitchen and are now two people strong. Why the name Nolia? Nolia is a derivation of Magnolia--a beautiful and delicate flowering tree--and has several special meanings to the founder. Plus it's short, sweet and easy to remember!
Cheers!
Kristin and Samantha
Please Note: We use fresh organic cream in our truffles and in some confections we use real butter. Therefore we recommend that Nolia Chocolates be enjoyed within two weeks of arrival. Nolia Chocolates do not require refrigeration. Please see How to store your Nolia Chocolates for freezing instructions.
About Chocolate
Chocolate grows on a tropical tree predominately found in area of the world known as the “Cocoa Belt” that stretches from Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa and South East Asia. Chocolate is made from the beans of a beautiful tropical plant named, Theobroma cacao - The Food of the Gods. Cacao grows in humid, warm forests sheltered by a canopy of taller trees. A mature tree will bear between twenty to forty pods a year. Each pod contains from twenty to forty almond shaped beans enveloped by a mucilaginous ivory tinged substance with a delicious tart flavor. Depending on the variety, a cacao tree will produce between one to three kilos of dried beans per year. Like wine, the flavor of the cacao beans is not only dependent on the variety, but also on the soil, temperature, sunshine and rainfall. It is now possible to buy chocolates made with cacao beans from one single region and thus compare the aromas; these chocolates are often called specialty chocolates, in contrast to ordinary chocolate which are made with mostly cheap less flavorful cacao beans from several regions and with more than one cacao variety.
The chocolate we use at Nolia comes from the single origin Carenero bean, a regional type of cacao that grows in Venezuela. Carenero beans come from the Trinitario variety which is a crossbreed between the Forastero and Criollo, and is mainly cultivated in Central and South America and Asia. It gets its aroma from the highly prized and rare Criollo and the disease resistance and productivity of the Forastero. Since the colonial period, the Carenero has been renowned for its complex flavor notes of fruit, flower, nut, and spice, and intense chocolate taste. The Venezuelan Carenero we use is highly regarded for its flavor and quality.
How to store your Nolia Chocolates
Chocolate is actually rather delicate and reacts to both heat and cold. We temper our chocolate to give it firmness so it melts in your mouth but not on your fingers when you pick it up. Tempering also give the surface of the chocolate a shininess and it ‘snaps’ when you bite or break it.
The ideal storage for chocolate is either to wrap it or place it in an air-tight container and store it at a constant temperature of 55 to 60 degrees F with a relative humidity of about the same with neither temperature nor humidity varying much. A wine cellar is a perfect place to store chocolate in as it is temperature and humidity controlled. You can also store you chocolate in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place but do not refrigerate your chocolate.
Freezing Chocolate: Our chocolate can also be frozen for up to 6 months. Just double bag the chocolate in freezer bags being sure to remove any excess air from the bags. When you want to eat your Nolia Chocolates remove them from the freezer but DO NOT open or remove them from the freezer bags until they are completely defrosted and at room temperature. This can take several hours. If you remove the chocolates before they are at room temperature condensation can form on the chocolate which can result in a hazy film on the chocolate’s surface called “bloom”.
Please do not refrigerate your chocolate! We do not recommend refrigeration because of the humidity in the refrigerator. Please enjoy your chocolate at room temperature. Cold chocolate is very hard to bite into and looses the complexity of flavor and melt in your mouth quality that it has at room temperature.
If your kitchen is particularly hot and humid, and you can't find a cool, dark place to store your chocolate, placing chocolate in the freezer is still a better choice than refrigerating it. If refrigerated, there's a good chance the chocolate will "bloom"— the cocoa butter will separate out from the chocolate and it forms a thin layer of cocoa butter on the surface. If bloom occurs, the chocolate is completely fine to eat and will have the same flavor but won’t look as beautiful and shiny.
What is Bloom?
Bloom (Fat Bloom or Sugar Bloom) on chocolate is a hazy white or grayish film on the outside of the chocolate that occurs when the chocolate is stored in too warm or too humid conditions.
Fat Bloom occurs when the structure of the fat crystals changes during too-warm storage. It looks like gray-white swirls or streaks on the chocolate when it is exposed to heat during storage, usually warmer than 75 degrees F. Storage at a constant, cool temperature is recommended. To keep the chocolate cool, you can freeze it, but then you have to worry about the second type of bloom, called sugar bloom.
Sugar Bloom or Crystallization occurs when the sugar crystals are affected by moisture. This happens when the chocolate is stored in damp conditions, either from humidity in the air or condensation from refrigeration, causing sugar to dissolve and come to the surface, which leaves it rough. It is visible as white streaks and dots and grainy texture. When the water evaporates afterwards, the sugar on the surface recrystallizes into rough, irregular crystals on the surface. You can prevent sugar bloom by preventing temperature shocks. When chocolate comes out of a cold room, it should be stored in a warm area long enough before opening the package to keep direct condensation from forming.
Information adapted from: http://www.baking911.com