Chef Erika Dupree Cline Chocolatier Extraordinaire
Some people like chocolate. Some people love chocolate. Some people are obsessed with chocolate. And then there is Chef Erika Dupree Cline: The Wizard of St. Croix Chocolate. Her Bleu Chocolat Workshop in the Caravelle Arcade, Christiansted, has recently celebrated its 1st Anniversary. Chocolate Lovers Rejoice!
Over the past twenty-five years, this celebrated pastry chef has created some of the most scrumptious desserts and chocolates on the planet. But she clearly enters the upper stratosphere when exhibiting her love and passion for making chocolate. And it’s lucky for us Crucians, Chef Erika has finally decided to land here on St. Croix to give chocoholics the chocolate treat of their life.
Her list of awards and accomplishments are indeed mind-boggling to say the least. She began her career as a pastry cook under the country’s first Certified Master Chef, Milos Cihelka. From there she took off in all culinary directions, perfecting her passion for the culinary arts at renowned establishments like The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, and the Ponte Vedra Country Club in Jacksonville. She went on to develop the chocolate program for Graycliff Chocolatier in Nassau, and became one of the few celebrity chefs to spokesperson “Sunday Dinner Chefs” for Publix Supermarkets. Chef Erika showcased her culinary talents as one of the main foodie attractions at Black Expo (located in several cities across the U.S.), and Epcot Food & Wine in Orlando.
Chef Erika was one of the original 2010 Cheftestants on Bravo’s “Top Chefs Just Desserts” and won three competitions while receiving great accolades for her cookies and ‘Tequila Bombs’ by the top chef judges. She has been featured in the Huffington Post, the Pastry Arts Magazine, Afar Travel Magazine, Black Enterprise, and has made numerous television cooking appearances, along with serving as a judge for the Food Network’s “Rock n’ Roll Pastry Challenge.”
“St. Croix is a fountain of chocolate,” Chef Erika told the St. Croix Times. “We have cacao growing in the rainforest. The Caribbean has a whole different history of chocolate than the rest of the world. The Spanish brought the seeds over from Venezuela in the 1500’s. We have wonderful cacao trees growing at the Botanical Gardens. You can just walk in and touch them.”
There is indeed something special about a person who devotes their life to making people happy through food. All you have to do is bite into a piece of Chef Erika’s delicious chocolate treats, close your eyes and savor the moment. Voila! Instant Happiness!
One explanation why chocolate makes us feel so happy is to be found in the particular components of cacao. The main ingredients of chocolate are known to have a mood-elevating effect. One of those ingredients is tryptophan. The body uses tryptophan to produce the mood-elevating substance serotonin, also known as the Happiness Hormone. The sugar in the chocolate also plays a role in this uplifting of the spirits. The insulin released in response to the sugar facilitates the journey of the tryptophan to the brain where it engenders happiness.
But that is not the only miracle component found in cacao. In addition to stimulating caffeine and caffeine-like theobromine, it also contains a substance called phenylethylamine, which is a substance that is also released by the body when ‘new love blossoms.’
Granted, it’s a Reporter’s job to report the facts, but Good Grief! who cares about all these five and six syllable words, all these chemical actions and reactions inside our body when we take a little bite into a piece of chocolate. It almost seems like a scientific attempt to take the pure joy out of eating it. Should we let a scientist explain in scientific terms why we fall in love with someone? Does anyone really care about the why? Love happens and we feel really good about it. Chocolate happens, it melts slowly in our mouths, and Boom! Boom! We are feeling at the top of our game again!
“I just want the world to know what we have here in St. Croix in the way of chocolate,” said Chef Erika. “The locals deserve to have something that is originally theirs. The Theobroma Cacao Tree or ‘Food of the Gods’ is native to the tropical rainforest. I want to make it a natural product of the USVI.”
In 2008, as a devotee of the pastry arts, Chef Erika created a nonprofit organization called Culinary Wonders USA (CWUSA). Their mission is to introduce, share, and cultivate the culinary arts to minorities. As President of CWUSA, Chef Erika believes that mentoring, scholarships, and volunteerism is a great avenue for providing minorities a direction in the culinary world.
Her motto is: A Day is Never Good Without Chocolate.
So, take it from all the certified Chocoholics in the world, go on and lift up your spirits. Have a little chocolate today. Make a Chocolate Stop at Chef Erika’s chocolate shop. It’s bound to get your tryptophan moving into your brain and produce serotonin. The Happiness Hormone.
Bleu Chocolat Workshop
Caravelle Arcade
Downtown Christiansted
340-725-8993
