Tesla Engineer ‘Perfects’ The Chocolate Chip 80 Years After Its Invention
Image via Dandelion Chocolate
Before the chocolate chip, there was the chocolate chip cookie. The first-known version was created by Ruth Graves Wakefield, a chef from an inn with a name most would be familiar with: Toll House. Wakefield’s cookies—filled with chopped chunks from a chocolate bar—were so phenomenal, they caught the attention of one Nestlé, which purchased her recipe in 1939.
Wanting to make the treat scaleable, Nestlé came up with a design for cookie-friendly chocolate in 1941. Fast Company reports. It was a tiny teardrop of solidified melted chocolate, minuscule enough to be easily mixed into batter, with a dense base to hold its shape under high temperatures in the oven.
But true chocolate aficionados would turn their noses up at these morsels. While chocolate chips succeed logistically, they’re sorely lacking in a key aspect of the chocolate-eating experience: mouthfeel. “The chip isn’t a designed shape,” Tesla engineer Remy Labesque told Bloomberg. “It’s a product of an industrial manufacturing process.” So, when San Francisco-based confectionery Dandelion Chocolate Factory engaged Labesque to create “the best chip for the experience of tasting chocolate,” that’s what he did.
Rather than putting it down to a simple bout of Willy Wonka-type madness, it was critical for Dandelion to perfect the chocolate chip. To make its ‘Maybe The Very Best Chocolate Chip Cookie’, its employees would have to hand-pipe quarter-sized chocolate discs, a process that would take four laborious hours. Traditional chocolate chips have the efficiency, but not the effectiveness, and it’s high time they finally marry the two.
Numerous sketches, computer drawings, and 3D-printed molds later, Labesque arrived at a pyramidical diamond wafer with two waiflike edges, allowing the chip to instantly melt in the mouth; and two thick ends, to retain part of its structure. Overall, its flatter design is better embedded into the broad surface area of a cookie for a pleasant texture.
Image via Dandelion Chocolate
The redesigned chocolate chips, officially called “facets,” tastefully live up to Dandelion’s expectations. “We had multiple goals,” CEO Todd Masonis told Fast Company. “To melt [on your tongue] but hold up as pretty big chunks in our chocolate chip cookies. And also having our own unique design and personality—we wanted that to shine.” Plus, since Dandelion’s chocolate has strong floral and fruity notes, “we wanted a shape or experience that isn’t too overwhelming,” he added, so nothing crazy like the Cybertruck.
Now that the chocolate chip has been reimagined not just for businesses, but for actual chocolate lovers, the only gripe one might have is its price. A 17.6-ounce bag goes for US$30, though it’s worth noting that the facets are made from high-quality chocolate that’s also 70% single origin.
Image via Dandelion Chocolate
Image via Dandelion Chocolate
[via Fast Company and Bloomberg, images via Dandelion Chocolate]
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