Past Newsletters

April 2007

Joseph Schmidt Confections: The Tasteful Art of Chocolate

Listen to Joseph Schmidt talk about his chocolate, and you'll hear that he can't help but say with pride, "It's what I was born to do". About 20 years ago, he started experimenting with chocolate in his kitchen, and today? Well, today his factory in San Francisco's Mission District produces over 200,000 chocolate Easter bunnies and 10 million chocolate truffles a year! Let's now take a closer look at the history of these acclaimed creations, shall we?

Audrey Ryan and Joseph Schmidt had comfortable positions as pastry chefs, earning their keep with jobs they enjoyed. However, they both felt a need to do more, namely, to go into business for themselves and deliver their own specialty products to the world. They wanted to bake European-style pastries like petit fours that were hard to find in the U.S. and sell them to local gourmet shops. In 1983 they left their pastry chef jobs to start a "cottage" business in their home kitchen. To round out their selection of international, custom made, delicacy-styled pastries, they added a delicious line of Belgian chocolate truffles.

Uniquely striking, their chocolate creations took off within two months and they were busier than they had ever imagined. While it was pastries that originally fueled their creative passions to create gustatory delights, their baked goods were soon dropped from production entirely and their chocolate products, which were originally added as an afterthought to supplement their pastry lines, took center stage. Interestingly, it was Audrey was who had received formal training in chocolatiering, but it was actually Schmidt who fell in love with the medium. Although Joseph was trained as a baker and not as a maitre chocolatier, he soon realized that his special talent was in chocolate sculpting and the development of innovative new techniques for which he is now world renowned. We at In Pursuit of Chocolate are thrilled to bring you one of his most famous creations—his much sought after signature truffles.

Rising to fame as meteorically as he has, Joseph Schmidt is clearly a maverick within an industry known for adhering to centuries old chocolate traditions. Being unfamiliar with traditional chocolate making procedures and conventions, he honed his talent by experimenting freely. As Schmidt puts it, "In Europe, everyone learns from a master and follows it like a bible, but by not having any formal training, I didn't see any restrictions over what I could do." This freedom, matched by his creative spirit and sculpting talents, has indeed made him one of the most beloved artisan chocolate makers—not only in the United States, but the world over.

Essential to the Joseph Schmidt line has been his partner Audrey Ryan. Let us not underestimate her influence in this mix of innovation and reputation. Chocolates are, let's face it, a designer delight. The finest chocolate treats of the ages are typically presented in packaging that is just as aesthetically pleasing as the treats inside are palatably pleasant. Your lovely box of truffles is from Joseph's acclaimed designer collection, and comes in a box designed by Audrey Ryan. Her attractive box designs are works of art in themselves, so attractive that up-market department stores such as Saks 5th Avenue and Neiman Marcus routinely display them on their shelves. The chic box of designer truffles you now have at your disposal includes sinfully delicious flavors such as the following::

• Bailey's Irish Cream
• Cappuccino
• Champagne
• All Milk Chocolate
• All Dark Chocolate
• Double Latte
• Hazelnut
• Grand Marnier
• Jamaican Rum
• Raspberry Brandy
• Venetian Cream

Schmidt's Achievements

In addition to earning the reputation as the "Rodin of Chocolate" and achieving local celebrity status, Joseph has received many awards and numerous acknowledgments within the industry.

• 1992 Awarded the Antonin Careme Medal from the Western Chefs Association
• 1993 Distinguished Visiting Chef at Johnson & Wales University
• 1993 Honored with membership in the Honorable Order of the Golden Torque
• 1993 Honored with membership of the Chaine Des Rotisseurs
• 1994 Honored by the California State Senate with a Certificate of Recognition
• June 5, 1994 Designated as Joseph Schmidt Day in California
• 1996 Honorary Degree from Johnson & Wales University, Doctor of Culinary Arts, Honoris Causa

Special commissions have included...

• Eiffel Tower for the French Ambassador
• A 25 pound cable car for the Queen of England
• White dove for Nelson Mandela
• Giant panda for Prince Philip and the World Wildlife Organization
• Chocolate California state bear for a banquet hosted by then-Governor Pete Wilson
• An anniversary present for President Reagan commissioned by Nancy Reagan
• Gift for Mikhail Gorbachev
• Chocolate pandas for Mayor Feinstein's trip to China

Lavishly decadent, his largest creation to date was crafted in 1992 when he designed a Christmas exhibit entitled the "Chocolate Celebration," filling 14,000 feet in the lobby of One Market Plaza, San Francisco. The project consisted of 14 different themes using 10,000 lbs. of chocolate! Included in the exhibit was a full-sized chocolate table with a Christmas feast, a skillfully decorated 3-1/2 foot chocolate tree, a Victorian side table complete with top hat, gloves and cane (all in chocolate), a Dresden toy chest overflowing with toy sculptures, an alpine village, and a 12 foot high pear tree. Joseph completed the massive display in less than three months!

Of course, despite the scale of such a masterpiece, it was not, in fact, his most expensive endeavor. His costliest work was a $12,000 Easter extravaganza of 2,000 eggs, dozens of tulips and crocuses all sculpted for an extravagant landscape garden show held in his home city of San Francisco.

Venerated as he is, it's no surprise that photographs of Schmidt's work have adorned the cover of Manufacturing Confectioner eight times. His work has also been covered in numerous newspapers and magazines including the Denver Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, San Diego Sun Times, San Francisco Examiner, Toronto Star, Japanese magazines Pronto and Axis, German travel magazines, and the Italian Confectioner to name but a few. Even CNN has covered him five times internationally, and every month there is a local comment or profile on network programming that reaches large audiences.

There's certainly no denying the name he's made for himself! Upon sampling the truffles we've sent you this month, we're certain you'll understand how his creations have enabled him to become so successful. Youthful creativity drove his early experiments with chocolate bowls, giving him the opportunity to discover the malleable qualities of chocolate. "Chocolate is the most fun material in the food industries," he says. "It gets soft quickly, you play with it, and in a few minutes, it's hard as a rock." As you may know yourself if you've ever cooked with chocolate, it can be a wonderful or maddening experience. Heating it a bit too long or allowing it to cool just a degree too much and you're left with anything from a soupy mess to a rock hard mass that seems to have a tensile strength approaching that of concrete! Practice makes perfect, and with all the hours he's logged working with chocolate, Joseph Schmidt is about as perfect a chocolatier as they come.

Overly imaginative some may say, Joseph dreams up methods of taming and sculpting chocolate that many in the field had originally scoffed at. Like a kid turned loose in a chocolate factory, Schmidt lets his imagination soar while working with his favorite medium. He demonstrates his true artistry through the amazing detail in all his creations, be it a batch of his truffles or an acutely sculpted masterwork. His inspiration has catapulted his name into many a household and his work into previously unseen horizons of the chocolate world.

Undoubtedly, and we'll be the first to admit this, these truffles are a bit unconventional given their large size. Joseph says when people first see his rather large truffles, they frequently comment that they're too large, but after one bite they find them so delicious that they usually ask for a few more. And on occasions where someone comments that the chocolates are too beautiful to eat, Joseph responds: "Don't be afraid, enjoy!" To that we will say only that there's plenty more where that came from, as Joseph expects to continue showcasing his talents for some time to come.