Today I’ve been trying one of Marc Demarquette’s house blend bar, left over from the Awards. This is Marc’s own blend of Valrhona chocolate, made as far as I know by combining different Valrhona couvertures during tempering.
Marc uses this as his base chocolate for all his products, as he showed us at our Valentine’s tasting last week, where Marc did a guest spot.
I think we’re looking at a mix of Caraibe and Tropillia, maybe some Guanaja and a little Manjari thrown in – but Marc’s not telling!
The result is fairly balanced and typically Valrhona, with perhaps a leaning towards ‘bread and butter’, light acidity and occasional earth notes, maybe a little Mango in there? Certianly a good munching chocolate, as it evens out some of those weirder Valrhona extremes we’ve experienced in the last few years.
Well done Marc!
EDIT: mmm, just noticed a little cream at the end as well – nice! Quite sweet after taste though.
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Marc has pointed out that there’s no Tropillia in his blend, I still suspect Caraibe and Manjari. (Do the math!)
Perhaps some fellow chocolate nerds can try out Marc’s bar and make a guess? Also if you make the trip down to Marc’s shop, make sure you try out the rather excellent champagne ganaches.