Eric Ripert's White Cocoa Beans

WATCH: Every Whack-Job Montage From Last Night's MasterChef Auditions

by Mariella Mosthof

MasterChef Season 4 kicked off last night with a two-hour premiere, and, as we look forward to every summer, the kooks came out of the woodwork for the open audition rounds. Of course, those are way more entertaining than the tear-filled, moving stories of overcoming adversity or whatever, so we conveniently compiled all the Crazies Montages in one convenient space for your perusal. You're welcome.

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Lady Chef Stampede: Here's Why Amy Scherber Is The One Baker Ever To Be Profiled In This Column

by Tina Nguyen

This week, on the Lady Chef Stampede, we get baked with Amy Scherber, the woman behind Amy’s Bread. Normally I am deeply suspicious of bakers, regarding them as a mutant offshoot of pastry cooks (if you want to know about pastry cooks, I suggest trying reading some H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote about them in great detail).

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Amy Bouzgalo Served Time In Federal Prison For Social Security Fraud

by Tina Nguyen

In an Arizona Republic article, Jennifer McClellan reports that Bouzgalo formerly went by the name "Amanda Bossingham," and spent 14 months in federal prison in 2008.

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The Braiser Is Hiring Summer Interns!

by Laura Norkin

If you know your Blais from your Bourdain and are passionate about the culture surrounding food; if you can write in a compelling -- if sometimes sarcastic -- tone and wait with bated breath for the James Beards Award announcements and other foodie news, please apply.

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Eric Ripert Discovers Rare White Cocoa Nibs, Is Now Willy Wonka

by Tina Nguyen 1:45 pm, March 4th

Somewhere in the mountains of Peru, as he was personally harvesting each and every cacao pod for the Good and Evil bar (the chocolate bar he makes with his best friend Anthony Bourdain), Eric Ripert discovered an extremely rare, wondrous plant:

We found in Peru secret location the only 5 trees in the world w when cacao pod is open 100% white nibsAMAZING taste twitter.com/ericripert/sta…

— Eric Ripert (@ericripert) March 3, 2013

In case you think that your eyes/Photoshop is deceiving you, this is a real phenomenon: according to the New York Times, white cacao beans “are mutations that happen when trees are left undisturbed for hundreds of years,” resulting in a “more mellow-tasting, less acidic chocolate” that happens to be “extremely expensive.” (Their words, not ours.)

So now that Eric Ripert is basically the Chris Columbus of cocoa, what’s next? Our money would be on a Jacques Torres knife fight over the secret tree location, but let’s hope that doesn’t happen. Here’s what Ripert actually has planned:

“@nicoleva: @ericripert is this going into the next Good and Evil bars?”No ultra limited serie(25kg) + 2013 harvest good &evil bar + more.

— Eric Ripert (@ericripert) March 3, 2013

“@chocophilenyc: @ericripert Seriously?You think that’s the ONLY place?”Until U prove us wrong YES!@eclatchocolate can you confirm?YES!

— Eric Ripert (@ericripert) March 3, 2013

@ericripert @chocophilenyc @dallasfoodorg until we find more these are the the only ones (know to mankind) in the world. This benefits all!

— Christopher Curtin (@eclatchocolate) March 4, 2013