or Nobody Knows the Truffles I’ve Seen

If you believe (as I do) that a day without chocolate is like a day without sunshine, then the Annual Chocolate Festival can provide enough rays to tide you over many a gloomy winter’s day. Friends of the Rehoboth Beach Public Library and Rehoboth Beach Main Street sponsored the 14th Annual at the Convention Hall, and what a sweet event is was. Made even sweeter by all the love and effort put into it by the many volunteers and participants.

Having buried my carb counter in my back yard, I headed over to the Convention Hall with firm belief in my theory that chocolate slows down the aging process...that may not be true but I certainly wasn’t going to chance it. At day’s end I did feel the bloom of youth on my cheeks, or was that just a film of excess chocolate? Fountain of youth or not, chocolate, at the very least should be a religion. And, several thousand years ago when the Maya discovered cacao beans, they came pretty close to making it one. The scientific name of the cacao tree’s fruit is "Theobroma Cacao." Translation: food of the gods. I’m a believer.

This year’s festival brought out over 2,000 people eager to sample the 250 or so delicacies that were displayed on tables throughout the Convention Hall. Eager to sample? That’s an understatement. When Main Street’s Fay Jacobs officially opened the doors at 11:30 with a call of "Ready, set...chocolate!" it was a veritable stampede of chocolate junkies armed with zeal, determination and fistfuls of sampling tickets. It’s a cheap way to fix your chocolate jones. Admissions tickets are only $1.00 and tickets to sample are a mere 50 cents each. No wonder so many folks show up with Tupperware containers clutched in their arms and smiles on their faces. There were so many "oh my gods" that you might have thought you were at an Oral Roberts tent meeting—or an orgy.

The Chocolate Festival is wide open to anyone who wants to enter and compete. There are just a few rules: Submit an Official Entry form and have your entry at the Convention Hall between 7 and 9 a.m. on the morning of the festival. Entries do not have to be made from scratch, just as long as some type of chocolate or white chocolate is included; and recipes don’t have to be your own creation. You can submit as many entries as you like.

Judging is in five major categories:

• Restaurant—entries are made in the name of a restaurant
• Bakery—entries are made in the name of a bakery
• Professional/Chef—an entry from any individual whose income is derived from baking or cooking
• Amateur—that’s you if you’re not in the professional category!
• Kids 12 & Under—and, you don’t have to be "this tall" to ride this ride

Thirty judges, working in teams of three, wound their ways around the floor tasting samples from such a vast array of things chocolate, presented in such an eye appealing way, that judging was a truly difficult task. There were cookies, candy, pies, brownies, cakes and cheesecakes, many decorated with fruits, flowers and in shades and shapes of chocolate seldom seen.

Then there were the not-for-sampling showpieces. The imagination and work that went into these stunning creations was staggering. There was a minutely detailed jewel box complete with an open drawer and a doll pirouetting from the center. It was so authentic that I stood in front of it waiting to hear it play "Lara’s Theme." What seemed to be a china cup and saucer surrounded by cookies, at second glance turned out to be a cup and saucer made of white chocolate, filled with a chocolate sauce for dipping the cookies. Two lighthouses, one tall and stately and authentically detailed, the other a smaller version rising from a chocolate sea complete with white-capped chocolate waves. It was hard to believe these creations were chocolate, and they truly had to be seen to be believed.

Some of Letters readers favorite eating-places had entries in the Restaurant categories. Blue Moon, Cloud 9, Dish!, Cultured Pearl, and Back Porch, to name a few. It should be noted that all entries are "blind"—that is, there are no markings to indicate who submitted what so partisanship in the judging is non-existent on any name recognition. Wooden Indian, the only Godiva Chocolate seller south of Dover had a stand that had not only those fabulous chocolates but, among other things, chocolate covered pretzels, dipping sauces and a "Not Your Kids Peanut Butter" with, you guessed it, chocolate as a prime ingredient.

The future standard bearers of the Chocolate Festival Hall of Fame were easily seen at the kids table. I was blown away by what I saw there. Candy mice so real that I almost jumped up on a chair and squealed, a pizza begging to be carried out, a Barbie doll wearing a chocolate star dress and holding out a big kiss just for you, and the Star of the Sea Hotel with its beach umbrellas and cookie boardwalk. The Topolski family from Milford boasted five children each with their own entries in this category. Prolific, to say the very least.

To take a chocolate break, I grabbed a cup of coffee from the Coffee Mill’s stand and wandered over to The Soap Fairy. Soap? At a chocolate festival? Out of place? Not hardly. Once you see the chocolate rose soaps, the soap fudgesicles complete with sticks, fudges of all flavors made out of soap, and the chocolate raspberry bundt cake made of soap it will almost make you sorry that these weren’t around when your mother had to wash out your mouth when you let slip a four letter word.

When the judging was over I had the opportunity to talk to judges Lee Mills, owner of Coastal Frameshop and Gallery, and Cathin Bishop a retired middle school teacher who currently substitute teaches in Sussex County and also is a gallery associate and framer for Peninsula Gallery in Lewes. I wanted some insight and tips on chocolate judging. Both agreed that the competition was taken seriously but in a healthy way with no animosities.

Lee has been judging the event for five years now, and says he believes that, in judging, more energy goes into taste rather than appearance. His strategy is to get up early and brush his teeth right away so he doesn’t bring any mint aftertaste with him, come with an empty stomach, have no coffee, or take any pills early. He admits to having a post-judging chocolate/caffeine rush and a big chocolate glow. Lee says he always looks forward to the festival and hopes to be invited to judge again next year.

Cathin says she’s been judging for three years now—"Can’t you tell by the size of my hips?" (No, you cannot!). She feels that the judges are "chocolatiers with discriminating, cultivated chocolate palettes." Really? Well, at the very least they are chocolate lovers. Cathin herself is no chocolate snob and says she’s never met a chocolate she didn’t like. She believes that each entry has its own personality so every taste is a distinct one, and she constantly rethinks each taste as she progresses through the judging. She says the whole event, from those who enter to those who judge, is a serious business, done in the fairest way possible and is a "great, fun thing to do." She confides that it’s "how to undo three months of the South Beach Diet in one hour—it’s the Rehoboth Beach Diet!"

Hard as it was to believe, at day’s end there wasn’t a crumb of chocolate left in the room. A true testament to the success of the event. As for me, I’m looking into a 12-step program for chocoholics—one with the motto "Never be more than twelve steps away from chocolate."