How many times have you heard Marilyn Monroe or Nicole Kidman or even yourself wailing that from the mountaintops of your soul? Everyone likes pretty things and if you’re reading this ‘zine, then you also must like chocolate. How much better would it be if it were chocolate diamonds and jewelry?
As recently as the beginning of September, during Fashion Week in New York this year, Eva Longoria stood on stage for Mars M&Ms and welcomed the new M&Ms Premiums as "chocolate gems" (here). Yet, the Mars M&M’s company is simply riding the crest of a wave of a trend that is taking advantage of the combination of the appeal-ability of chocolate and jewelry (both costume and fine). The abundance of chocolate jewelry in different incarnations is only slightly less amazing than the fact that many of these incarnations have been around for quite awhile.
Real Gold and Diamonds?
Yes, but not necessarily real chocolate. Chocolate gold, for example, is derived by a vaporization process that turns rose gold into a rich brown gold. Chocolate diamonds are merely what used to be known as brown diamonds, considered lower grade, usually a C4-C6 on the scale used by mines. True chocolate pearls are actually Tahitian pearls that have been bleached using a proprietary process, while "knock-off" chocolate pearls are created using silver nitrate to dye the pearls. These chocolate gold, diamonds, pearls, and other chocolate jewelry pieces are currently available on sites that range from Overstock.com (here) to Zales (here), to de Grisogono (here).
It is also possible to get chocolate beads (http://www.dragonbeads.com/chocolates.html), glass beads each individually crafted to look like chocolate truffles. Chocolate Charm (website) is another company that creates faux chocolate truffles that look good enough to eat. Or, for those who get a kick out of chemistry, there is a necklace made in the form of the theobromine molecule (http://www.madewithmolecules.com/theobromineearrings.html), one of the feel good chemicals found in chocolate. (Note: If you click on the caffeine molecule, you’ll see how much it looks like the theobromine.)
What About Real Chocolate?
Believe it or not, there are also chocolate gems and jewelry that are both edible and wearable. European chocolatiers seemed to have jumped on the chocolate jewelry bandwagon a little sooner than chocolatiers in the United States.
Burie Chocolate in Antwerp, Belgium is possibly the first chocolatier to present chocolate diamonds to the world. Antwerp being the historic center for diamond trading, it seemed only natural to create chocolates in the shape of diamonds. For decades, they have been selling chocolate diamonds (milk, dark, white, and marbled) (website). Inside sources say it is possibly the best chocolate they have ever had, no matter the shape.
Food is Art, owned and run by chocolatier Prudence Emma Staite out of the United Kingdom, not only creates chocolate sculptures, paintings, plates, shoes, and shot glasses, but also makes edible, wearable chocolate necklaces and earrings (Food Is Art). This jewelry is created using a combination of chocolate and sugar paste.
Barbara Uderzo of Uderzo Design in Italy has created what she calls "Bijoux Chocolat". These are chocolate bangles, necklaces, and rings that are created "specifically as romantic items for couples to eat together" (Uderzo). The rust color is obtained using a traditional chocolatier method of cocoa dusting, while the gold foil is edible.
In Switzerland, Laurent Thierry Nessi and Daniella Irmgard Nessi of Swiss Cocoa Gourmet, have created chocolate, jewel-covered confections. Each chocolate piece in the Haute Joallerie Collection (just created this summer, 2008) is covered with edible silver or gold foil, or edible diamonds or gemstones (Swiss Cocoa).
Finally, an accessory shop called Q-pot has sold chocolate rings and tiaras at Tokyo’s Takashimaya department store (website). These are more truffles placed on a piece of jewelry than jewelry actually being made out of the chocolate. But the idea is the same.
And On This Side of the Pond?
As of the writing of this article, chocolate jewelry and gems in the United States seemed to be limited to either fine jewelry or such chocolatier shops as Chocolate Gems (http://www.chocgems.com/) in North Carolina and Chocolate Jewels (http://www.chocolatejewels.com/) in Georgia. However, it probably won’t be too long before the Leonida’s or See’s Candies down the street or at the mall don’t just offer chocolate truffles that come in jewelry boxes, but also the real thing – chocolate jewelry. Fine, chocolate jewelry.
