Sweet rewards for two Utah chocolatiers

Two Utah companies are getting sweet rewards from the chocolate industry. Amano Artisan Chocolate of Orem and Chocolot Artisan Chocolates of Ogden were both honored in multiple categories of the Las Vegas International Chocolate Salon, announced Aug. 31.

Sponsored by Taste TV and Chocolate Television, the salon judges artisan, gourmet and premium chocolatiers and confectioners.

Chocolot, owned by Ruth Kendrick, won Top Artisan Chocolatier, Best in Salon, Best Comfort Chocolate, Best Traditional Chocolates, Best Milk Chocolate and Top Toffee awards. It also won silver medals for in the categories of Artistic Design, Best Gift Set, Best Flavored Chocolate, Best Presentation and Packaging, and Most Gifted Chocolatier, and a bronze medal for Most Delicious Ingredient Combination.

Amano won gold medals for Best Milk Chocolate, Best Milk Chocolate Bar, and Most Gifted Chocolate Maker; and silver medals for Best Traditional Chocolate, Best Flavored Chocolate and Best Dark Chocolate Bar.

These are pretty nice awards considering that both companies are only a few years old.

Full disclosure here: Last spring I agreed to be one of 10 culinary professionals to judge this contest, long before I knew who any of the entries would be.

A month or so later, a big box full of chocolate samples arrived on my desk. The aroma was so strong that a couple of co-workers gathered around for a taste before I even had the box open.

Since it was July and the weather was hot, I spread all the samples out on a table in my basement, When I realized there were two Utah companies in the mix, I made a point of setting aside hometown bias to objectively judge (and rejudge) each sample on its merits.

Eating chocolate is enjoyable, but it's not as easy to judge, especially when there were so many categories and such a wide variety to compare against each other — truffles, caramels, toffee, mellow milk chocolate, bars that were nearly bitter-black due to their high cacao content.

Confections starred everything from bacon, goat cheese, salted caramel, purple yam, roasted hazelnuts, peanut butter and jelly, figs, pine nuts and sage.

I used to roll my eyes when people complained about "palate fatigue," where yummy things like chocolate are concerned. But in this case, all the rich, intense flavors can easily oversaturate the taste buds. I spread my judging task over three nights and tried to stick to tiny nibbles of each sample, jotting down my impressions as I went, then retesting as needed.