Bean To Bar Master Chocolatier Kristine Insalaco-Gaioni Enjoys Sweet Success

A Milan-trained master chocolatier, Sarasota-based Kristine Insalaco- Gaioni is not new to garnering accolades for her confections.

But her latest venture—chocolate bean-to-bar crafting, a method of making from-scratch treats via innovative roasting and conching)—is a whole new experience, and it is proving to be as soulfully rewarding as it is sweet.

“I’m a certified bean-to-bar chocolate maker and I’m new to chocolate bean-to-bar crafting. It’s really like being a sweet scientist,” Insalaco-Gaioni says. “I love it. I’m enjoying the process.”

This is one of many culinary processes that Insalaco-Gaioni has undertaken. In 2009, her company Sapore della Vita began purveying organic olive oils, aged vinegars, honey creams, and other rare Italian delicacies. She and her husband, Fabio, distributed the products to gourmet retail shops and restaurants throughout Florida. Her small-batch Lick My Spoon Caramel Sauce went on to become an award-winning signature product.

“The focus of my confections business is to make the Italian, modern, traditional treats I have grown to love while spending my annual summer vacations in Italy, and to make the American classics we all know and love here in the United States,” she says.

The bean-to-bar endeavor has taken her confection crafting, and her company, to another (ultra-sustainable) level.

“It’s an awesome feeling to know I have the control as to the flavor profile the bean has, based on my roasting. My focus is on the background of the bean, and the beans I purchase must be fairly traded,” she says. “It’s important to me to know that the farmers are being paid properly to survive in their third-world countries—to encourage their passion to carry on this tradition and to pass it on to their children, which will allow cacao to survive for many future generations.”

Bean-to-bar crafting truly begins with the farmers and their well-cared- for, eco-consciously produced beans. When Insalaco-Gaioni receives these beans, she sorts them by size and roasts them meticulously.

“I roast according to the method I see fit and what flavor notes I want to be pronounced in my chocolate. I then allow the beans to rest for 24 hours and begin the processing to chocolate, with the next steps of winnowing (removing the outer husk) and then conching/refining the beans for several hours (up to three days) to produce the chocolate we all love and know,” she says. “The final steps are where the cacao really starts to take on what we know as chocolate. With the addition of organic sugar, I can control the sweetness.”

Also, by adding organic milk, fruit, and dairy-free powders, she can turn the same bean into a passion fruit, white chocolate, or milk chocolate bar. Her latest white chocolate bar, called the Moroccan Spice Bar, is packed with roasted almonds, Medjool dates, and an elegant spice mix called ras el hanout. She purchases her couverture chocolate from a company in Venezuela because of its robustness and aroma.

“This company I purchase from is paying their farmers at above-premium market prices. This is the lead for my elegant bonbon ganache centers and for all of my pastry uses (my frostings, pastry creams, namelakas, elegant mousse cakes and cookie bases),” she says. “Speaking of cookies, my Italian cookies are [called] ‘the best that I have ever had’ from my dear customers. Some of the favorites are the Pasta di Mandorle (almond paste cookies) and our macaron-style cookie that my Northern Italian husband absolutely swoons over.”

The industry is equally swooning over Insalaco-Gaioni’s work, as her award roster grows more impressive every year. Her caramel sauce received a Good Food Award in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and was named “Best Caramel Sauce in the U.S.” in 2016 by Food & Wine magazine.

Her Cardamom Rose Caramels won an International Chocolate Salon award in 2017 and were featured on “The Today Show” that year. Her Orange Ginger Caramels, Orange Cardamom Crunch Chocolate Bar and Passion Fruit Caramels all received International Chocolate Salon awards in 2018, and the organization named her one of the “Best Chocolatiers and Confectioners in America” for her overall products. Her Cardamom Rose Caramel Sauce also won a Good Food Award in 2018.

“As always, it is my husband’s judging that assists me in making the best products,” she says. “They taste so good because he is a tough judge with a very particular palate.”

Customers can purchase her products from her website or by phone, or pick them up at the company’s new commercial kitchen in Sarasota.

Sapore della Vita: 941-914-4256; kristine@saporedellavita.com, saporedellavita.com