The Brooklyn based chocolate business is known for their carefully wrapped chocolate bars. However, the Mast Brothers Chocolate Company, which hs been selling expensive treats might just be a cover for recycled chocolate.
Before you pick up the Mast Brothers Chocolate Bar when checking out of the grocer's today, you might want to think twice. According to an online source, the two chocolatiers lied about the origins of their advertized "bean to bar" sweet treats. And this allegation is not just recent. Apparently, this has been going on since the beginning of their chocolate business careers.
The allegations focused more on the raw ingredients. Not the beans, but the mass-produced chocolate. These are then melted down and resold in retail stores and suppliers in their pretty packages - the Fancy Hipster Chocolate. This is the same chocolate dessert that won the heart and proud nod of Thomas Keller.
Who are the Mast Brothers? Michael and Rick Mast formed the business back in 2007 and have already since then advertized that their chocolates come to them raw from a specific farm source. A version of their farm to table theme, giving the public a sense of responsibility that they are supporting local sources.
The recent allegations are now turning their chocolate sour. The pair originally produced re-melted and re-wrapped French chocolate at $10.00 a piece in the United States. These allegations have been supported by other peers in the chocolate industry.
One, Aubrey Lindley of Cacao in Portland, noticed something that made the Mast chocolate bars stand out:
...had an overly refined, smooth texture that is a trademark of industrial chocolate. No small equipment was achieving a texture like that. It also tasted like industrial chocolate...
Lindley ended with saying that the chocolate was just inedible for her own personal standards.
This may not be a big deal for the artisan world but the two bearded brothers are facing judgey eyes from the food industry.
The Mast Brothers denied the allegations, sources indicate.
