SAVORING THE MOMENT AND CONNECTION THAT CHOCOLATE BRINGS
By Ellen Spear
From the pages of our Spring 2023 Issue.
Joshua Needleman has assembled a carefully curated experience at Chocolate Springs, his artisanal chocolate shop in Lenox. Four separate sound systems and four separate air handling systems create the optimum environment in which to enjoy his exquisite handmade chocolates, cakes, and drinks.
While at a spiritual retreat, Needleman was asked to formulate a credo that would serve as the foundation of his business. He settled on this: “Chocolate is a joyful energy. We will be facilitating expression and the sharing of love and joy.” It is hard not to feel love and joy while tucking into a pure Madagascar chocolate bon bon sipping some Serious Hot Chocolate topped with Chantilly cream.
The joy of chocolate Needleman embodies is apparent in his penchant for dancing while he makes little chocolate treasures and his reminder that what we are experiencing together is a big chocolate party.
Chocolate Beginnings
Needleman grew up in Lebanon Springs, New York. In the fifth grade, he created his first artwork that presaged a career in artisanal chocolate: He made a ceramic mug with the words “I love chocolate” painted into the glaze. His mother kept it, and Needleman proudly displays it at his shop to this day.
It wasn’t long after making the ceramic mug that Needleman took his first turn as a chocolate chef in the sixth grade. “I wrote a report on Swiss chocolate making. I made a map with lights pointing out places related to Swiss chocolate.” And he made a chocolate ganache into which he dipped strawberries—to the delight, no doubt—of his teacher and fellow students.
Trained at the Culinary Institute of America and apprenticed at La Maison du Chocolat in Paris, Needleman is equally at home explaining how chocolate contains 500 chemical compounds as he is urging his staff to dance while they make chocolate, assisted by one of the soundtracks playing in the store. He is as concerned about where his chocolate goes, who has it, who is giving it to others—“the community connection”—as he is about perfecting the conditions and techniques for the making of his beautiful and soul-satisfying confections.
Needleman’s aesthetic for his shop and his chocolates were also influenced by his time apprenticing as a cook at a Japanese restaurant in New Lebanon. (“I cooked for Seiji Ozawa when I was 16,” he notes, gesturing toward a poster of the maestro on the shop’s wall with a dedication to Needleman.) That aesthetic surfaces in the meticulously painted designs on his chocolates, the beautiful ceramic plates on which his creations are artfully arranged, and the mugs that contain his other-worldly hot chocolate.
During the past two years, Needleman enlarged his company’s shipping capacity to meet the demands of homebound people starved for a little of the love that comes with chocolate. On December 24, 2021, he was completely sold out—his cases of jewel-like bon bons completely empty for the first time in his establishment’s history.
“People want chocolate,” he says. Needleman believes that the past two years have helped people determine what is absolutely essential and how the sharing and community that comes with chocolate fits the bill. “The essential nature of chocolate,” he says, is something that people were not willing to give up, even when times are tough.
Chocolate Tips
Needleman is all about sharing his love of chocolate, and that goes for some pro tips. He counsels that one should keep chocolate in an airtight container—preferably glass or metal. He explains that chocolate picks up other flavors and aromas. “Put it next to garlic in the refrigerator, and it will taste like garlic,” he says. Keeping chocolate cool and out of the light also is important.
He also suggests that a hairdryer is a useful tool to keep melted chocolate in temper. The dryer, he says, will reheat the chocolate gently around the edges.
As we made hot chocolate from a mix that took Needleman a year to perfect, he confesses that his commercially made chocolate guilty pleasure is M&M’s. “That sugar coating on the outside is really hard to do.”
For his hot chocolate mix, Needleman has blended five different cacaos to achieve the balance he prefers—not too sweet, but not as bitter as something that contains more of the darker varieties. He was trying to achieve something between the sweet commercial mixes and the dark chocolate mix that Maison du Chocolat offers.
It does not disappoint.
Making Hot Chocolate
Needleman suggests making hot chocolate with enough time to let it sit for about a half hour before it is consumed. This, he says, gives the chocolate time to blend and steep. He starts by heating milk (or water, a combination of milk and water, or alternative milks such as oat, almond, etc.) slowly until steam rises from the pot.
It is important to add a bit of the milk to the chocolate mix and melt it thoroughly rather than dumping the chocolate into the milk. Keep adding more milk, a little at a time, stirring after each addition to be sure the chocolate is melted.
After the milk, he suggests other flavors can be added, like cinnamon, cardamom, lavender, or alcohol like cognac or rum to taste.
Then let the mixture sit. It can be rewarmed gently on the stove or in the microwave before drinking. Needleman guilds the lily with a mound of heavenly Chantilly cream and shaved dark chocolate shards. Not to malign anybody’s parents or caregivers, but the result is a far cry from what most of us got after coming inside after a full day of play outside.
Needleman says he is satisfied and grateful since starting the business in 2001. He is honored that the community continues to support him and his exceptional chocolate creations. More importantly is the community he has created in his Chocolate Springs shop—where people can experience the joy and love-sharing that is chocolate, consumed from beautifully handmade plates, while listening to specifically chosen music in a room of perfect temperature or outside in the Japanese garden, bringing us to a place where we savor the moment and the connection with others.
Chocolate Springs Serious Hot Chocolate
For one cup (use this ratio for the number of cups you would like to make)
3 tbsp Serious Hot Chocolate Mix1 cup liquid (milk, alternative milk, water, or mixture of water and milk)
In a pot, heat the milk slowly until steam rises and small bubbles start to form around the edges.
Put the hot chocolate mix into another pot large enough to hold the mix and the liquid. Pour a small amount of hot liquid into the chocolate mix and whisk until it forms a smooth paste. Slowly pour in the rest of the liquid, whisking until well-blended.
Serve with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, alcohol of your choice—or chilled over ice.
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