Many consider Scharffen Berger a worthy rival of top European-produced chocolates like Valrhona, the favorite of many pastry chefs and candy makers. Calif. Gary Guittard, the fourth generation of Guittard chocolate manufacturers in Northern California, agrees with Medrich to a point. The problem, according to Guittard, is that his chocolate and others like Ghirardelli have traditionally been used in candies and baking, not sold directly to consumers. Last fall, thinking that Americans were ready for another step up, Godiva introduced four praline fillings, the classic Belgian combination of roasted hazelnuts and chocolate. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, about 75 percent of Godiva's sales in the United States was milk chocolate.
Milk chocolate is the type of chocolate used in candy bars.
For connoisseurs, it is the white Zinfandel of chocolate. In 1995, the United States cracked the top 10 list of chocolate-consuming countries, with 11.5 pounds per capita annually, up from 9.67 pounds in 1983. The Swiss are the world's leading consumers, at 21.1 pounds annually. The problem with most American chocolates is an excess of sugar, which can mask the taste of good chocolate and hide imperfections in inferior chocolate, according to Larry Burdick, whose L.A. Burdick Chocolates company in Walpole, N.H., produces spectacular chocolate confections. For years European chocolates, especially those from France, Switzerland and Bel-gium, provided the standard of quality.