Chocolate & Olives
Yes, really. Chocolate and olives are a thing… even a common combo when you look.
The combination of chocolate and olives may sound strange if you haven’t encountered it before, but maybe it is familiar. Quite a few people have stumbled across this interesting combination in different forms. If you are quick to reject this possibility, think of how great chocolate and cheese is. Or chocolate and wine. Imagine a cheese plate with nuts, preserved fruit, and chocolate. Could olives go on that plate, too? You bet. Pair the plate with wine and we have entered my snack heaven.
My first introduction to olives and chocolate was a friend’s recommendation Napa Valley’s Keller Manni, which makes chocolate with fancy olive oil. Not having access to this chocolate at the time (now available on their website or through Caputo’s Market), of course I had to make a version myself. The result was surprising. The olive oil made the chocolate flavors more pronounced and altered the mouthfeel to coat more easily and cleanly. So I’ve known for years that olive oil and chocolate is an awesome combo, and yet I wasn’t quite prepared when I recently heard about combining whole olives and chocolate into savory snacks.
I learned about mixing olives and chocolate from an interview with Steph Ferrari on one of my favorite radio shows Good Food. Her book Stuzzichini: The Art of the Italian Snack describes two recipes starring Sicily’s modica chocolate in savory roles. One is Pane Con Tapenade di Cioccolato (Chocolate Tapenade Toasts), which blends black olives and modica chocolate with optional herbs and spices into a spread served on sourdough toast. The other is Cracker Con Accioghe, Cioccolato Fondente, & Ricotta, which features anchovies instead of olives as the salty, savory counterpoint to chocolate. (I posted a photo of the anchovy recipe on my instagram. The addition of fennel seeds brings together sweet and salty in a complex, super delicious bite!)
If you have read my book or previous Substack posts, you already know that after hearing the interview curiosity commanded me to immediately buy some olives to try for myself. My experiments in combining olives and chocolate in proportions where the olive dominates, as in Ferrari’s recipe, have produced lackluster results. In short, the flavors go almost too well together. Especially with black olives like kalamata, the flavor of the chocolate almost disappears. In a tapenade, I’ve noticed the chocolate adds a pleasing base, rounded flavor supporting the olive flavor. Heavy salt sharply cuts the finish short. Chocolate holds its own better with Spanish green manzanilla olives, but the olive flavor still dominates.
If you have read my book or previous Substack posts, you already know that after hearing the interview I immediately had to go buy some olives to try for myself. My experiments in combining olives and chocolate in proportions where the olive dominates, as in Ferrari’s recipe, have produced lackluster results. In short, the flavors go almost too well together. Especially with black olives like kalamata, the flavor of the chocolate almost disappears. In a tapenade, I’ve noticed the chocolate adds a pleasing base, rounded flavor supporting the olive flavor. Heavy salt sharply cuts the finish short. Chocolate holds its own better with Spanish green manzanilla olives, but the olive flavor still dominates.
To make a chocolate-enhanced olive tapenade, add around 1/3 by weight or volume ground chocolate to your favorite tapenade recipe. You will likely find that the chocolate slips in behind the olive flavor, so this may be a good way to use a batch of chocolate with, um, not-so-well-balanced flavors.
While I didn’t love Steph Ferrari’s tapenade recipe (which honestly may be because I want the chocolate to play more of a leading role than it is meant to play or may easily be due to a difference in olives that can be sourced in Italy versus Hawai'i), I was inspired by her book to make a crostini that works for my preferences. I brushed olive oil on thin slices of roasted breadfruit, toasted it in a pan, then topped with kalamata olive tapenade, my neighbor Julie’s goat cheese, and my nibs. Seriously delicious. Adding herbs into the cheese would make it even better. I think this construction works for me because separating the olive and chocolate flavors allows them to each keep their own character. The nibs also provide a welcome crunch of texture. (See photo above.) You could use toast instead of breadfruit for this crostini, of course.
Now that it is part of my world of possibilities, I will continue to experiment with olives and chocolate. I hope to hear of your experiences with this flavor pair, too! While savory olive and chocolate recipes seem to be few (I did find this bread and this one with ricotta), the internet gives us many inspirational sweet recipes using whole olives (not just olive oil of which there are tons of recipes) and chocolate:
Olive and chocolate florentine cookies found by my friend Marcia
Olive shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate from Betty Crocker
Available for purchase: kalamata olive bonbons, Kalamata olive strawberry marzipan bonbons, green olive chocolate bar
Olive oil chocolate:
I wouldn’t leave you without describing how I make that sensuous olive oil chocolate! After tempering chocolate (I use 86% but try any and all), mix in 10% olive oil and mold as usual. Play around with the type of olive oil and the flavors in the chocolate. I like a peppery oil paired with a fruitier dark chocolate.
Interested in reading more about modica chocolate of Sicily? This is a good article about it.
As always, please share your thoughts and experiences!