The Journey Towards our Proprietary Blend

Before arriving at the classic Recchiuti blend we know today, Michael had to go through an intense process of flavor investigation

To achieve the unique and often unconventional flavor profiles that Recchiuti has become known for, Michael had to workshop a variety of different combinations, culminating in the base proprietary blends that serve as a jumping off point for all our truffles and products.

“When we were first getting started, we reached out to Valrhona, and discussed creating custom blends that weren’t available to anybody else. So I headed out to the South of France, to visit their production facility, located in Tain-l'hermitage. I went through what was called a ‘Sensory Evaluation’, they had me smell botanicals, different types of tobacco, different types of fruit, all sorts of flowers... even some unpredictable scents like burnt wood and concrete. There are so many elements related to chocolate, it was important for me to identify what they should bring in to build the flavor.

Once we identified what that flavor was, the next step was for me to choose the beans. I responded to red plums, for the brightness and tartness, I liked bananas, for the deep flavor, and even tobacco. I’m not a smoker, I’ve never smoked in my life, but I lived in Lancaster Pennsylvania, back when I was running a restaurant, and we would drive through these tobacco fields, and I would always catch this deep wonderful smell.