£35 per person (incl wine and truffles), 7.00pm-9.00pm, Weds 14 Oct 2009
Melt, 59 Ledbury Road, Notting Hill, London, W11 2AA
The second of our season of joint Seventypercent.com and Melt Chocolates growing country chocolate tastings, a Chocolate Week special featuring Santander chocolate from Colombia.
Book your tickets online here.
Drying cacao on the slopes of the Andes
Colombia is not well known as a fine chocolate cacao origin, with only a handful of bars using beans from the country, despite its location just next door to Venezuela.
There’s a good reason for this – Colombians eat a lot of chocolate, though this is mostly in the form of confectionary. As a result, Colombia is a net importer of cacao, Ecuador being one of its principle suppliers.
One of the most interesting cacao growing areas in Colombia is in the Magdalena valley, sandwiched between two spurs of the Andes, in the Department of Santander.
Over the mountains to the east is Sur del lago in Venezuela, home of Porcelana and the source of many other great Venezuelan varieties. The genetics of the cacao in Santander are closely related to Venezuelan criollo, making this an exciting bean source for fine chocolate.
National companies play a large role in domestic chocolate production in Colombia, competing head to head with the multinational confectionery conglomerates. Compañía Nacional de Chocolates is the leading producer for the domestic market, and also exports to and invests in surrounding countries. The company will be more well known to fine chocolate followers for their fine chocolate export brand, Santander, named after the bean source.
For this month’s growing country chocolate event, Martin Christy reports back from his recent visit to Colombia, which was hosted by Santander chocolate producer Compañía Nacional de Chocolates. Featuring slides and bean samples, Martin will introduce fine chocolate from Colombia with chocolate from Santander and other companies.
Melt Chocolates have been using Santander for their truffles for several years now. These will be on offer as part of the tasting along with a glass of wine and other treats, and goody bags with featured products will be on sale take home.
Info
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Please bring a copy of your PayPal receipt to the event as your ticket.
Tickets also available from Melt, see details below.
Growing county chocolate – Santander, Colombia
7.00pm, 14 Oct 2009
Melt
59 Ledbury Road
Notting Hill
London
W11 2AA
Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 11am-4pm
Tel: +44 (0)20 7727 5030
Web: www.meltchocolates.com
