F1 choc bar challenge
Seventypercent’s editor foolishly takes on an ‘F1 chocolate bar challenge ‘ from Duffy Sheardown, owner of new English chocolate Red Star Chocolate. Follow our race calls and progress here.
Duffy Sheardown – a second UK bean to bar chocolate maker
Red Star Chocolate, a new UK artisanal bean to bar chocolate maker has started production in Cleethorpes, in the North East of England. Kate Johns of Nudge and I donned our winter woolies and set off on a mission in search of Britain’s newest fine chocolate maker.
Raymond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets – BBC fudge
Raymond Blanc hits our screens with his favourite chocolate recipes, but the BBC’s inept editorial policies make it little more than eye candy.
William Curley – new Pimlico shop
William Curley’s new flagship store opens in London’s Pimlico Green. More than just a chocolatier shop, this is a spacious chocolate emporium that raises the bar for London chocolate shops and gives London even more of a claim to be a world class chocolate destination.
Callebaut buy Chocovic
Swiss giant Barry Callebaut, the choco-saurus of the chocolate world, has swallowed up Spanish fine chocolate maker Chocovic for an undisclosed sum. Pending European competition rulings, the deal should be complete by the end of the year.
New arrivals from Amedei
Amedei have a few new products on the way, which come along at the same time as a packaging overhaul of their entire range. The redesign will see the whole of the bar range brought into line as 50g bars, the format currently used for the current Chuao, Porcelana and ‘9′ bars.
The really good news [...]
A tale of two rivers – Amano ‘Dos Rios’
A new origin chocolate from Amano, and this time a rather unique one. ‘Dos Rios’ is made from cacao with outlandish bergamot, rose and spice notes, created by Nazario Rizek in the Dominican Republic using an experimental fermentation technique. Oh, and Seventypercent played a small part in bringing it to life as well …
Chocolatier Blue
When Art Pollard and Matt Caputo were in town last week for the Academy of Chocolate Awards they very kindly brought me a box of bonbons to try from Chocolatier Blue, a US based chocolatier run by Chris Blue, previously of Charlie Trotter’s. I managed to work my way through the collection and in spite WordPress being a little troublesome, here are a few of my thoughts on Blue’s best.
2009 Chocolate Awards diary – part 2
June 2nd saw the official ceremony of the 2009 Academy of Chocolate Awards. In a week full of rushing around and hosting visitors, this was the big highlight – and the hottest night of the year so far.
The chocolate Apprentice
Tonight at last saw the airing of the final of the fifth series of the UK version of The Apprentice.
The last challenge for the two finalists was creating a chocolate brand and selection in just three days – a tough ask. Finalist Kate Walsh worked with Paul Young of Paul A Young Fine Chocolates, while [...]
2009 Chocolate Awards diary – part 1
The presentation ceremony of the 2009 Academy of Chocolate awards takes place this Tuesday 2nd of June, and everyone is in town to collect their medals or just catch up with long unseen friends in the fine chocolate world.
I’ll be churning out a hastily written diary of the night and the surrounding week, if I’m still in one piece after all that award-winning chocolate.
William Curley at Westminster Kingsway College
As if a visit to Paul A Young’s last Friday wasn’t enough, in the afternoon I went along to a promotional demo by William Curley for Amedei at Westmintser Kingsway College. I just about survived the three desserts and freshly made sea-salt caramels, with a little chocolate eating space to spare.
Posh pecan whip with Paul A Young
The latest from Paul A Young, including new seasonal flavours, his summer range of chocolate ice cream and details of his forthcoming book. We also look at Paul’s ‘reimagining’ of a childhood confectionery classic.
Butterflies that Melt
We catch up with the latest products and happenings from Notting Hill chocolatier, Melt. This month featuring the seasonal Butterfly collection, new ice cream offerings and a limited edition bar.
Real Food Festival
Today was the opening day of the Real Food Festival at London’s Earls Court exhibition centre. I managed to get a few hours in at the show where I caught up with Mott of the Grenada Chocolate Company at the Rococo stand.
After Hurricane Ivan struck in 2004 followed by Hurrican Emily in 2005, the local [...]