After a long incubation period, the new fine chocolate industry association Direct Cacao was finally launched during Chocolate Week in London on 12 October 2012. Less than a week later, many of the founding members were in Amsterdam for the second yearly ‘Origin Chocolate Event‘.

Flemish Belgian chocolatier Geert Vercruysse was also at the event, exhibiting his chocolates in the central hall of the Royal Tropical Institute in (Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen). Geert has a reputation for experimentation, using different chocolate from makers from around the world in different combinations in his ganaches.

So it was a moment of serendipity that Geert’s latest collection could almost have been designed as a ‘Direct Cacao’ special, featuring chocolate from members, potential members and other direct sourcing chocolate makers. It was a must, then to take away a box of Geert’s inventive creations to sample.

There’s some free thinking here, with whole, flavoured chocolate bars used to make ganaches – Geert is like a kid in a toy box, but at least he’s playing in the right toy box with the best toys to be found in the chocolatey world. Overall though, the quality of the chocolate used is key and everything else follows effortlessly – good ingredients and good technique equals good chocolates. Easy.

Original Beans Cru Virunga 70% enrobed Grenada 38% Felchlin

Like the Grenada ganaches, Geert has made a special cocoa butter transfer using the Original Beans logo, so there’s really no mistaking whose chocolate is being used. This is direct sourcing and transparency taken to a new level. An interesting milk/dark combination here, with the milk unusually being on the outside.

At first the two origins fight a little, but as the ganache melts the Virunga sweet plum notes come through, with green tea, honey and of course milk popping up because of the milk/dark combination. There’s also a slight floral edge going on, again probably the result of the match of chocolates rather than a distinct note in either. This is rather like matching chocolate with wine or whisky, putting two things together and getting something new that wasn’t in either.

The Grenada Chocolate Company 65% dark-raspberries enrobed Cru Sauvage 68% Felchlin

Tart fresh raspberries paired with the sulphurous rum notes of Grenada 65% couverture. Beautiful chocolatey aftertaste with a burst of raspberry mousse. The raspberries create a great textural effect, somehow both munchably thick but meltingly light at the same time. A very innovative and successful combination.

Pacari 70% Raw enrobed 38% Grenada Felchlin

Something of extremes here, Pacari 70% Raw almost ironically enrobed in a 38% milk chocolate. Very palatable and rounded, with the cream ganache creating a green tea note from the usual Pacari green banana.

Enjoyable, but the cream and milk chocolate probably hide the more interesting notes of Pacari Raw – though some might prefer this softer and more controlled interpretation.

Danta Finca Las Acacias milkganache enrobed Cru Sauvage Bolivia 68% Felchlin

Milk chocolate made in Guatemala from local criollo cacao, mixed up with a dark coating from Felchlin’s famous Beni. Notes of hay and green grass create in a delicate milk ganache that’s not too sweet and that has a clean milk aftertaste.

Original Beans Beni Wild Harvest 68%

Purely Original Beans Beni, both inside and out. Soft toffee notes, blackcurrant jam and hints of coffee, though I suspect closeness in the box to the Grenada dark-raspberries piece has had some influence here. Lightly tannic at the end, but overall very smooth.

Askinosie Del Tambo Ecuador 70% & nibs enrobed Cru Sauvage Bolivia Felchlin

Full peachy dry raisin and wine notes in an exciting ganache that really enhances the flavours of the Del Tambo bar, losing the slightly rougher, drier Askinosie texture but gaining another level of flavour. Geert being Geert has thrown the whole bar in, so you get the nibs as well, though they do tend to go a bit soft inside the ganache.

Akesson’s Black pepper enrobed in Cru Sauvage Bolivia 68% Felchlin

Another ‘whole bar’ experiment, this time with the already flavoured Åkesson’s Organic – Madagascar 75% with Black Pepper. As well as being the source of some of the best cacao in Madagascar and the Pralus-made chocolate he makes from it, Bertil Åkesson is also a master of pepper. His is some of the best you can get and is pretty much all I use in my kitchen. A lot of chocolatiers agree – you’ll often find Åkesson to be the source behind their pepper ganache or bar creations.

Here the ganache softens the initial effect of the pepper, with a creamy fruity notes you’d expect of a Madagascan ganache, then the quality of the pepper coming through softly in a controlled way at the end. Not at all overpowering.

Others in the collection: ‘The Grenada Chocolate Company 82% enrobed in Grenada 38% Felchlin’ – an extreme of Grenadan contrasts with an initial milky hit followed by deep Grenadan fruity rum.

Without knowing it, Geert’s created something special here – a leading edge ganache collection using chocolate from leading edge, directly sourcing chocolate makers. If Direct Cacao and supporters like Geert are a success, this is the future of the fine chocolatier.

The post Directly Traded collection from Geert Vercruysse appeared first on Seventy%.

Morin are not exactly a household name in the UK, but their chocolate has recently made a splash here since they’ve been working with London chocolatier Marc DeMarquette. Morin are the chocolate maker behind Marc’s award winning Vietnam bar, which was launched last year in conjunction with UK aid charity, ActionAid. Marc worked with Franck to create the bar, and has since worked with him on a number of other origins, including a rather interesting Peru.

The collection

I had tried Morin’s chocolate, but not their filled creations. It was a pleasant surprise then when a box arrived just before Christmas last year. It seemed only fair to post a review, but somehow two thirds of 2011 has already vanished! So here then is a very late posting of my notes from the end of 2010.

Morin chocolate box

Chocolate coated nougat

I’m not normally a nougat fan, having been brought up on the hard sticky-sweet stuff traditionally served in the UK. But as is often the case with well known and seemingly mundane foods, there’s often a little more depth and subtlty when you get to the quality end.

Cutting the Morin nougat and on the first bite it seems like it’s going to be quite hard, but the nougat quickly melts on the mouth. The aroma is of good fresh nuts,

As the nougat melts it gets sweeter, but not cloyingly so. The Morin chocolate coating adds a good compliment to the mix, but plays second fiddle to the nougat. After-taste is pleasant and clean.

Palet D’or praline

Most chocolatiers have a classic ‘Palet D’or’ in their collection, a usually round chocolate coated bonbon with a dash of gold leaf on the top. In this case, Morin have gone for a praline rather than ganache filling, with a very understated gold fleck. Praline could well be the traditional filling for a palet d’or in the area, but this is a first for me.

On cutting, there is a very good nut aroma. Eating reveals a rather sweet praline centre with a slight hint of the bitter taste of nut skins. The after taste is delicate, but somewhat sweet, with finally a little oil. The chocolate again is a good compliment, without its own outstanding flavour, but carries the filing very well. Very palatable, though on the sweet side.

Petit rocher

Morin chocolates

A classic rocher has a soft gianduja nut praline centre, surrounded by chocolate enrobed nut slices, usually almonds. That’s the classic version anyway, but each chocolatier will have their own particular take. (Which is usually a million miles away from the famous confectionery version found on sale in gas station forecourts.)

The Morin version is really a normal sized bonbon with a dark gianduja filling, with nuts in the coating chocolate. Unusual, but here Morin’s own chocolate comes into play and this is a much less sweet offering than some others in the collection.

The cut aroma is very good chocolate and hazelnut. The filling is very fine and suitably soft.

There are just enough nuts in the enrobing chocolate to give a good crunch, so despite the larger centre, the effect is very good.

There’s just a slight bitterness in the after taste, but this is still one of the highlights of the collection.

Kirsch cherry

Enrobed cherry in kirsch is something that’s plagued many a traditional English box. Usually, cloyingly sweet with a tasteless chewy cherry, wrapped in sweet, cheap chocolate, most likely with added vegetable fat and a bunch of preservatives.

It has to be said though, that with real pure kirsch, a quality cherry (watch out for the odd stone) and good chocolate, the result can be something quite different. Morin’s version sits squarely in this latter category. Good cherry flavour, good kirsch – sweet of course but this is balanced within the overall flavour and Morin’s own dark chocolate. The aftertaste is quite fine, with a slight salt.

Quite, quite edible. Perhaps I might change my mind about kirsch cherry.

Walnut coffee marzipan

A traditional combination that on the face of it sounds unlikely to work that well – coffee and walnut don’t necessarily spring to mind as ideal pairing.

The smell is really strong sweet coffee, and on biting the filling is very sweet too and somewhat grainy. This could have been quite disappointing, but the walnut on top is very good. It’s only when the walnut combines in the mouth with the coffee marzipan that this chocolate really starts to work. Perhaps too sweet in the mouth, it’s actually after eating that this offering seems most satisfying.

Truffle

A gold paper foil wrapped truffle, with a cylinder shape and dusted with cocoa powder. The filling is a milky, sweet gianduja ganache with a very clean after taste. Not exactly what I’d think of as a truffle, but this works well in Morin’s traditional style.

Pistachio marzipan

For me this is where marzipan really starts to get interesting, the flavour of pistachio taking a sweet classic to another level. The Morin version is ground fairly roughly, with a delicate pistachio flavour, especially in the aftertaste. Nicely done, but again a little sweet.

Summing up

Overall, a traditional collection done very well. There’s nothing modern or flashy here, just a quiet celebration of traditional craft, executed in a classy manner. While obviously geared towards more traditional, sweet tastes, this is not stuffy tourist fare, just gentle local quality.

Xoconuzco 70% – sample bar

Along with the Morin bonbon collection, an unbranded sample bar came in the pre-Christmas package from France. This is presumably an experimental bar or chocolate in development. As this does not appear to (yet) be availably commercially, I won’t add a formal review to the review section as yet, but instead here are a few quick thoughts.

Historically Soconusco was a satellite of the Aztec area of influence, extending through the modern state of Chiapas in the south of Mexico into Guatemala. Reputedly, it contained the personal cacao groves of Motecuhzoma, the famous and last-but-one – and ill-fated – ruler of the Aztecs.

Despite its history, Soconusco is not such an obvious source for fine cacao, as most of the ancient Mayan stock has been overplanted with inferior forastero hybrids. The region is now being rediscovered though, with many chocolate makers seeking out better cacao from the region – Bonnat and Askinosie being a few examples. It looks like Morin are soon to  join this trend.

The bar has yellow fruits, plum and a touch of sulphur, with a prune and citrus ending. It’s one of the better Morin bars I’ve tried, with a more controlled roast that some other origins. It certainly shows the promise of this until now little known chocolate maker, whose reputation I suspect is about to extend outside of their historical regional French home.

Info

Chocolaterie A. Morin
26290 Donzere
Drôme Provençale
France

Tel: +33 (0)4 75 51 60 76
Fax: +33 (0)4 75 51 58 97

Email : info@chocolaterie-morin.com
Web: www.chocolaterie-morin.com

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Bounty bar

If you grew up or live in the UK, then you are more than likely familiar with Mars’ Bounty bar – a candy bar with a coconut cream filling, coated in milk or dark chocolate. (In the US, Hershey make the very similar Mounds bar). Now William Curley has dug into his childhood memories and come up with his own posh bounty bar, made with fresh ingredients and coated in Amedei chocolate. So here’s a side by side review, pitting top chocolatier right up against your all night corner shops finest. (In this case, my old local store in Gospel Oak).

William Curley's new bounty bar (left) and the original Bounty (right)

On a visual comparison the Curley version is a little larger and not curved at the ends (a shape that was the subject of a failed trademark attempt, according to Wikipedia). Both feature ‘chevrons’ on the top, Curley’s being somewhat more delicate, and the chocolate on his version is a few shades lighter than the commercial version, as we’d expect. (Cheaper cocoa tends to get roasted more to hide defects, hence the chocolate is usually darker).

Paradise lost

Opening the real Bounty, there’s an immediate, artificial smell of plastic or rubber. This could be down to the packaging and newsagent storage though, to give the benefit of the doubt. The aroma when cut is dominated by a leather from chocoltate, reminiscent of something from Sao Tome. There is only a faint hint of coconut.

A dark Bounty bar from Mars

The taste is also dominated by the strong leather note of the chocolate, which fades into sweetness at the end. This is probably fortunate as it hides any bitterness from the chocolate. Apart from the first few seconds, where there is a brief flirtation with coconut, the filling provides only texture (something like wet All Bran) and sweetness, rather than flavour.

Luckily the chocolate has some flavour, or we’d only be working with sugar here and a texture that I imagine is something like how eating dried garden worms must feel. The after effect on the tongue is a fizz from too much sugar.

I actually feel rather down and depressed after eating just a couple of slices of this. There was some promise at the beginning, at least some flavour spark from the chocolate. The longer it’s left on the tongue though, the more alkali is the effect. Feels like I’ve just drunk bicarbonate of soda in water.

Maybe I could have closed my eyes, thought of England and munched my way through it – stopping to consider the finer flavour notes is definitely not a good idea.

No taste of paradise here. Not even of coconut. If you asked me to take it or leave it, I think you can guess my choice. (You can read an alternate and somewhat more enthusiastic review of a shop bought Bounty bar over at Chocablog.)

Seventh heaven

William Curley bounty bar

Cutting the Curley version takes you into another world. The aroma is strong fresh, deep coconut, the chocolate a mere delicate second fiddle. It’s a full deep smell that suggests fresh coconut and butter in the mix. The colour is off-white, a rich butter cream.

On the tongue, William’s version is crunchy and buttery, solid enough, but melting away into munchy coconut with a long rich taste that comes together with the chocolate very well at the end.

The coconut dances around and dominates the chocolate, which somehow manages to linger on without being overwhelmed.

The after taste goes on, and on. Just a few bites are satisfying, with a balanced richness lingering on for many minutes.

This is like a painting of a Campbell’s soup can. An imitation that remakes an original into a whole richer and more meaningful experience on every level. It’s chocolate candy as you remember it, rather than as it actually tastes.

The William Curley version weighs in at about 40g and costs £3.00, fresh from the Belgravia store (and they seem to sell out pretty fast, so check before you go if you’re on a special mission).

Mars’ offering was just under 60g and cost me £0.60p. So William’s version is about 7.5 times the price, but then what price do you put on paradise …?

Jaffa Cake

I was never much of a fan of Jaffa Cakes – another British lunch box institution. Disappointingly jelly like blobs of vaguely orangey jam sit atop a bath like sponge, coated on the top with cheap cake chocolate. (Chocolatiers take note – never send me bonbons with jelly in them, they won’t go down well here.) A product ripe, then, for another of Curley’s cheeky reimaginings of standard high street fare.

Jaffa cake

The Curley jaffa is fully covered with (Amedei) chocolate, twice the height of the official version and topped with a fleck of gold, just so you know you’re travelling first class now. Cutting into the piece lets out the most outrageously strong and fresh orange aroma, which comes from the soft, runny marmalade topping centre inside. It’s almost worth buying just to experience that smell.

After that the cake practically just falls onto the tongue. The sponge/biscuit (ask the UK tax man for a definition) is very light, almost not present and quickly combines with the chocolate, ganache layer and orange centre in a very pleasant mêlée.

The star here though is the orange, the rest of the ingredients are merely supporting cast.

Millionaire’s Shortbread

Millionaire's Shortbread

Also hot off the Curley chocolate ‘press’, almost as I write, is his new millionaire’s shortbread, a well known shortbread, caramel combination, topped off with chocolate (and with a surprisingly short Wikipedia entry, so go Google it yourself!)

Though a promising concoction, the examples you can find in many a British store (and particularly in tube station ‘delicatessens’) are rarely much to write home about.

Usually a very fatty shortbread cake is topped by sweet artificially flavoured caramel and a fatty cooking type brown stuff on the top. This is the kind of substance that used to be called ‘cooking chocolate’  when I grew up, but you can now find on a bottom shelf somewhere at the back of a supermarket labelled ‘chocolate flavoured cake covering’ – it can’t legally be called chocolate any more, not even by the UKs low standards.

The principle is a good one though, and William Curley has always carried an accomplished, yet perhaps overlooked, range of handmade biscuits. The Curley version is fully coated in chocolate, which is the first departure from the standard mass baked fare. Plus there’s a fleck of gold on the top, which you really don’t get from your local chain baker.

Next comes the aroma on cutting – dark, rich, intense. Tones almost of a single malt coming from the caramel, plus of course rich sweetness. It’s really worth stopping to enjoy the smell of this, which you might not always think to do when eating what is essentially a cake.

In the mouth the layers blend together well and are not at all sticky or fatty, the after-taste rich and clean with strong muscovado hints. If I had one criticism, it would be that the caramel could be softer. It’s a little chewy at first, though melts well enough once you get going. As ever, proof of quality ingredients is in the length, and you’re left with great flavour in the mouth many minutes later.

So, we have to wonder exactly which High Street candy classic Mr Curley will be tackling next? A Mars bar? Snickers? Wagon Wheel? Answers on a postcard … (or comments below of course).

Info

William Curley ‘Bounty bar’ and ‘Jaffa cake’: £3.00, Millionaire’s Shortbread: £3.50

William Curley
198 Ebury Street
London
SW1W 8UN

Tel. 020 7730 5522
www.williamcurley.co.uk

The post William Curley vs your local sweet shop – Bounty bar smackdown appeared first on Seventy%.

Getting organised is not always my forte though, but luckily this weekend my sister and family were staying with me, so guided buy the lovely Sarah Pillar (née Christy), the collection is now organised (though not yet entirely sorted) into the following categories:

Family help with the chocolate collection

Chocolate catalogue categories

Review bars

Bars in the queue to be reviewed. I’m always behind with this, despite best efforts. I may list these in date order at some point, so they get dealt with while at maximum freshness

‘Heritage cellar’

Chocolate laid down for posterity and preserved as well as possible. Examples include Amedei Chuao from 2003, Domori from the launch of Hacienda San José in 2004 and Valrhona Gran Couva 2004 (might even be earlier, I have to dig deeper). The collection took a blow about though two years ago when a plumber unplugged the chocolate (ie wine) fridge and I didn’t notice for about three weeks. I still need to go through it all and assess the damage.

Long term, it would be good to establish this at a more permanent location in a controlled environment. This might sound quite nerdy, but I think it could be really useful in the chocolate world to know how, for example, Valrhona Caraïbe tasted seven years ago. Who’s to say it’s the same and therefore that recipes based on it then are still valid now? In any case, comparison sampling of different batches produced over time can be very illuminating.

A-Z archive

A laid down reference of various samples given to me or acquired at various times, which I started ‘filing’ some time ago. Generally, these are not from top rank chocolate makers and wouldn’t get used for tastings or events, but are worth keeping for reference. As such, I’ve not made a priority of keeping these in good condition – it’s not so much the chocolate that’s relevant, but the brand or company. Includes quite a few country origin bars picked up in Ecuador, Venezuela, etc.

More often than not bars in this category are worth trying once for reference, but there’s not much to be gained by going back to them. (With more time, they might have been reviewed – but, so many bars, so little time …)

Palate reference

Quite often older samples that have been opened for tastings, or bars that missed reviews and our now out of date. Also bars that don’t quite make it into the ‘Heritage’ section, but are still worth keeping for comparison with later batches or as the only sample available of a particular chocolate when, eg, writing about a related chocolate. Useful to double check how something tasted, especially if not yet reviewed. Could also include bars kept for the relevance of their bean origin, rather than for the quality of the actual chocolate.

Tasting stock

A small pool of bars, carres and samples for tasting and events, usually provided by chocolate makers or companies.

Couverture

Used mostly in workshops or our public talks, usually supplied by makers or distributors.

In progress

Bars or samples I’m thinking about or have to do something with, but not review. Could be bars I’d like to blog or Tweet about, get back to someone about, retry or perhaps a development sample. In actuality a couple of plastic boxes I tend to keep in the study. A kind of chocolate ‘inbox’.

Curiosities

Odds and sods and collectables, weird and wonderful bars or other chocolate items picked up or given to me in various places. Sometimes with a nostalgic rather than quality meaning, like a box of chocolates from Dina’s chocolate shop in Panajachal, on the shores of lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Not world beating chocolate, but a reminder of a great experience (was there for my birthday on 08-08-08!)

Consumables

Leftover, open event bars, out of date tasting stock or couverture, samples no longer required. In other words anything that doesn’t fit in the above and can sit by my desk for casual snacking purposes – a guy’s got to have some fun some time!

There were a couple of other categories that came and went during the initial clearout: Rubbish – old, spoiled or out of date chocolate that just wasn’t worth keeping or passing on to anyone. This ended up in the bin. Spare – extra samples or items that I wasn’t going to keep, but could be used for munching or cooking. These went to the Pillar family for their hard-work, love and support.

This all sounds a bit complicated, but hopefully will leave me more organised and better able to get through my review list, and will help getting a whole batch of bar photos done as well.

I’d welcome any comments or suggestions or would love to hear anyone about how anyone else ‘curates’ their collection.

The post Cataloguing a chocolate collection appeared first on Seventy%.

Damian Allsop – Pure Collection

‘The Pure Collection’ – Valrhona

Pure collection ganache

Rather than cream, Damian’s ganache (truffle) centres are made with water. This changes the way flavours are experienced in the chocolate filling. The idea is that you get a much more pure and clean version of the flavour notes than you would with a traditional cream based ganache.

Taking things a step further, the ganaches are also enrobed in the same chocolate as the origin chocolate used in the filling.

This takes extra time and care – most chocolatiers will use a standard chocolate to coat most of their filled chocolates – otherwise they have to clean out their tempering machines, etc, each time they use a different coating chocolate.

For these kind of chocolates though, you’d get a confusion of flavours with two different chocolates mingling in the mouth, so enrobing with the same chocolate is pretty essential.

Damian has chosen Valrhona as his source chocolate for the first ‘pure collection’, exploring the fine chocolate stalwarts country and plantation origins.

Origins

So onto the tasting and an assessment of what ‘the pure collection’ offers.

Madagascar 70%

This is strengthened up Valrhona Manjari – Damian has added in some 100% Manjari paste (fully finished, unsweetened chocolate) to the usual 64% Manjari couverture to create a 70% strength chocolate. A good move, since Valrhona’s percentages often seem too sweet these days – the world has moved on since they were first invented (in Manjari’s case, this was about twenty years ago) and we are now more used to stronger recipes.

Sweet, creamy, delicate citrus, chocolate fruit dessert finish.The usual Manjari fruit is actually mellowed in the water ganache, moving more towards cream and toffee, without being too sweet. After eating, the flavour just carries on, as you’d expect from Manjari. Could easily eat a pile of these over a good HD movie.

Domincan Republic 68%

Domincan Republic 68%

This beautiful, beauiful looking red dashed ganache is made with Valrhona’s Tainori -Valrhon’s second Dominican Republic based chocolate, after their original, Caraïbe.

The water-based ganache really brings out the best notes of the chocolate cheese, stilton, apricot, red currants, muesli, ginger at the end, leaving behind the slight mustiness found in the straight chocolate.

Ghana 70%

The surprise of the pack – the cacao genetics suggest this should be the least interesting of the collection, but this ganache is actually very light and creamy.

The aroma is leather-cheese, almost stilton with hints of apricot. On the mouth the effect is quite different, with ginger, light spice and while not exactly fruity, a pleasant top. (What you’d expect with Valrhona’s fruity style applied to not-too fruity beans.) Texture is creamy, ginger biscuits towards the end.

Only in the after-taste is the origin given away – dry and tannic with a quick end. An enjoyably pleasant surprise though.

Palmira single plantation – 68%

Pure Collection chocolates

The gold-splashed star of the collection. From Valrhona’s vintage range, but at a higher strength than the bar. Valrhona make Palmirae couverture at 68%, compared to the bar at 64%. So no strengthening by Damian, in case you were wondering.

Aroma is clean and fruity, floral perfumed and travels quite some distance (I could pick up the smell from the table, without even lifting it to the nose). Cut, the aroma has much more fruit – towards passion fruit and mango.

The flavour in the nouth carries on with fruit, adding cream and nut – a much fruitier expression than the plane Palmira bar. Towards the end there’s chocolate and nut (as we’d expect – these beans are Porcelana from Venezuela). The length is clean chocolate, though a little light, but does gently linger.

The cacao variety shows its quality, though 2010 was not Palmira’s best year – that’s the nature of single estate chocolate though.

Brazillian 68%

Light aroma of dried fruit, raisins and tobacco, liquorice. On cutting, this is much more towards apricot and some fresh nut

On biting we have salt, liquorice, biscuit, going towards apricot toffee apple near the end with a little pleasant savoury flavour and a creamy chocolatey note, but then some bitterness clicks in.

After-taste is very dry-biscuit tannins. A real tongue scraper, which is down to the cacao origin. (Brazillian genetics are mostly forastero. Although a lot of work has been done on quality, this can’t make up for the varieties currently in Brazil.)

Venezuelan 76%

The cut aroma is very light and clean, with distinct red fruits. On the mouth, instant cream and toffee, with raspberries following, then more toffee, sinking into dark cooked sugar and chocolate. Very Venezuelan. Toffee nut at the end. The end is powdery, full dark fruits, light tannins and hangs well.

The length has a slight ‘fizz’  and ‘wafer’ biscuit notes, as well as dried fruit, but carries on quite happily for some time, without turning ‘off’.

This could be strengthened Araguani, but my batch of that seems to have strong bitter almonds and a scrappy, earthy after-taste. Possibly the water ganache ameliorates that, but this seems much more towards toffee and cream (which are more genuine notes of the Aragua region in Venezuela – the state that includes the Choroni region and the Chuao valley.) If it is Araguani, then it’s another example of how Damian’s water-based ganaches often taste better than the original chocolate.

Better than a bar?

Pure Collection box

All-in-all ‘the pure collection’ is fantastic introduction to, and expression of, the flavour notes of Valrhona’s origin chocolate. The ‘pure’ idea takes chocolate tasting a step further, and many of these (and other examples of Damian’s) actually taste better in the water ganache form than on their own as chocolate.

As an experience, this is a must if you want to get to know Valrhona better, and enjoy some great chocolates in the process. Hopefully though, this is only the beginning. The idea can easily be applied to other brands, or for example, featuring chocolate one country origin. (Venezuela would work particularly well). So, what chocolate brands would we like to see Damian feature next?

Info

Price: £18.95 – buy online direct from Damian here.

Website: www.damianallsop.co.uk

The post Damian Allsop ‘The Pure Collection’ appeared first on Seventy%.

So what next for this small Utah chocolate maker? Well, like many of their longer established European counterparts, the second part of 2010 saw Amano produce their own bonbon confectionery line. This is a well trodden path, though often with mixed results. The confections of some of the more famous chocolate producing names tend to be bulk produced, overly sweet and often don’t do justice to their chocolate.

Amano 24 piece truffle and confection collection

Amano have gone instead for small production, with an emphasis on freshness and quality. For this they’ve brought in a specialist chocolatier pastry chef  from New York, Rebecca Millican as their master chocolatier.

The confections and truffles are all of course made with Amano’s own chocolate and are usually enrobed in the same chocolate as used for the filling – except where something different is called for by the recipe, e.g. a white chocolate coating.

The bonbons are on sale loose or boxed from Amano’s factory store in Orem, Utah, or can be bought online through their website or from selected stores in the US. Their fresh short shelf life nature makes it unlikely that they’ll be on sale outside of the US for now.

The collection

I was lucky to receive the Amano package just before Christmas – especially lucky given the usual North London postal chaos. The box was delivered to an office about twenty doors down, whose staff had to play postman to most of the high street. It seems that half a bag of local post was dumped on their doorstep.

The package was given to me while just on the way out in hunt of other deliveries – a lucky break, otherwise the box could have been sitting next to an office heater over the holidays.

A few days later I had to time to open the bonbon box. The selection inside was colourful, creating a splash for any would be gift receivers. The chocolates were well moulded, with good attention to details and capped off smoothly on the bottoms.

Art Pollard – Amano’s chocolate maker – told me that they’ve used a local cream for the ganaches. (Though he couldn’t give me names of the actual cows.) The cream gives a good full flavour with a slightly cooked taste, creating a ‘hot chocolate’ effect, most noticeable in the plain ganaches.

The general style is for a firm ganache, a little heavier than my personal taste, but the flavours are still delivered well enough and there are considerations such as shelf life to take into account for products sold online.

Dos Rios Palet d’Or

Dos Rios Palet d'Or

The aroma of this ganache is at once distinctive and unmistakable, just like the source chocolate – orange blossom/bergamot, lavender, rose, tea.

About 5 seconds into eating the full flavour of Amano’s Dos Rios hits the tongue: delicate rose water, lavender, a hint of mint. Then the cream comes in, warming up the flavours with a dusty chocolate effect while hitting some top notes of lime. The ending is delicate tea – less tannic than in the bar form, followed by a hint of salt.

I’ve always been a fan of Dos Rios (having had some involvement in its origin), but have found it be more of an ‘interesting’ chocolate rather than a bar to sit down and eat. I suspected though that the strength of Dos Rios as a  chocolate would really show when it’s worked with in recipes, and this ganache really proves that.

Or put more simply, I could quite happily eat a whole box of these. Very good.

Guayas Palet d’Or

Guayas Palet d'Or

On first smelling the Guayas palet, there’s a chocolatey, ginger aroma. When cut, a more delicate cream cheese comes out.

On biting, a pleasant crunch from the shell combines well with the ganache – which as mentioned before is not at all runny.

The flavour is quite strong, with spicy raisin flavour, running into honey and cream and getting more delicate as we go – back to biscuit and ginger towards the end, with a warm spicy after-taste. After eating, the feeling is of having had a well made hot chocolate.

A nice journey and quite satisfying. This one went down very well.

Ocumare Palet D’Or

Ocumare Palet d'Or

It’s not that often that the aroma of a bonbon is a significant factor, but as the featured origin palets are also enrobed in the chosen chocolate, then sniffing the bonbon is just as relevant as when trying a bar. In this case, it’s strong, full, wood, current, a little spice and tobacco and dark fruits – all the elements we’d expect from a chocolate made with Ocumare cacao.

The mould is a ‘double reverse wedge’ shape, so splitting the chocolate in half with a knife gives you two nicely shareable pieces. More fruit comes out of the aroma of the ganache, with a little more of a fermented head.

Once on the tongue, the flavour simply pours out, like an Islay whisky, peaty and toppy, until the cream kicks in and we’re into a pleasant black forest gateau – full forest fruits and cream.

The after flavour is very correct – chocolate and fruit, no deviations. Actually makes you want to sit and enjoy even just a small piece for several minutes.

Not sure if there’s something genetic here, but Ocumare always makes me happy. This ganache does it in spades. Eat it slow for maximum effect!

(A side note here – eat chocolate too fast, and it will generally seem more tannic if it is a tannic bean. This is something we’ve discovered from our ‘melt or munch’ test, as featured in our workshops. Let this ganache melt slowly and you will be rewarded with a creamy chocolate fruit hit at the end. Go too fast, and while it will still be good, it will appear tannic at the end. Definitely ‘melt only’ for Ocumare!)

Yemeni Sidr Honey with Guayas chocolate

Yemeni Sidr Honey

This honey ganache comes in a lightly sprayed polygonal mould. Inside is a light ganache combined with one of the world’s most expensive honeys.

On cutting, there’s a good, sweet spice golden treacle aroma. Honey is a typical note of Nacional – the heritage Ecuador cacao variety, so Guayas makes an interesting base that should support and emphasise the honey.

The first taste is dominated by the chocolate. The honey is rather delicate at the beginning, combining with the chocolate to create some spice, then rising in a gentle golden syrup note, which takes over the palate but is never strident.

This is honey at its best, without being too sweet or too overpowering.

Key Lime with Guayas chocolate

Key lime ganache with Guayas

One of the most striking in appearance of the Amano collection, sprayed in green and dashed in white. This really says ‘lime’, but personally I’m not keen on food colourings used in chocolates – perhaps a necessary evil to attract attention, but when you already have the best of ingredients, flavour should be enough.

Even the uncut chocolate has a lime note, which is pungent and stronger when cut. The flavour is violet/lime cream, with the bitterness expected from key limes coming at the end with a creamy pudding end.

If you like key limes, this will surely appeal, but personally I’m a fan of the green Persian type that has a citrus zing and makes a great mojito.

Yuzu white chocolate ganache

Yuzu white chocolate ganache

This is a first – white chocolate made by Amano, never before tasted as it’s not something they produce as a retail bar. (Made though with bought in cocoa butter, as is the case with almost all chocolate makers, though perhaps this will change in the future.)

Fans of William Curley in the UK will be familiar with this Japanese citrus fruit, which has a delicate flavour somewhat like grapefruit, but more intense and without the bitterness.

Trying the chocolate, the aroma comes mostly from the milk powder in the white chocolate, with only a hint of the yuzu.

On tasting, the white ganache does not feel too sweet, considering it’s made with white chocolate. At first the creamy white really dominates, but just when you think the yuzu will only remain a faint background note, it springs through and gradually rises, dominating by the end.

Raspberry ganache with Guayas chocolate

Raspberry ganache

The Californian raspberry ganache is merely enrobed in white chocolate, and beautifully sprayed with a red top. The ganache is again Guayas – the origin of choice it seems for ganaches in the Amano collection.

The aroma is sweet raspberry milk chocolate, suggesting something mild and sweet. A few moments in though, there’s an almost shocking hit of pure raspberry, which quickly turns into the exact flavour of a good vanilla ice cream dribbled with a raspberry coulis sauce – an impressive effect!

The after taste is to die for and carries on forever. Forget eating a tub of Häagen-Dazs, just eat half of one of these!

Cinnamon Ganache with candied pecans

Cinnamon ganache with candied pecans

The candied pecans in this case are on the top of the palet and are rather excellent, but you need to make sure you get some of these when you bite into the ganache, to get the full effect of the combination.

The ganache itself is a good, clean, cinnamon with cream coming towards the end. Worthy, but no fireworks on its own. With the crunch and flavour of the pecans though, the experience is very moreish, not too sweet and creating something of an upmarket candy bar feel.

After taste is long-lasting and appropriately chocolate and nut. Does what it says on the label, and does it very well.

Cardamon and pepper ganache with Dos Rios chocolate

Cardamon and pepper ganache with Dos Rios

Dos Rios is a very distinctively flavoured chocolate in its own right – orange flower water, lavender, rose, green tea are just some of the typical notes.

That’s an interesting, yet challenging starting point for a flavoured ganache. Fruit flavours are likely to get lost or confused with the natural notes of the chocolate. Something in opposition and complimentary is required. Spices like cardamom and pepper seem a pretty good choice.

The aroma is surprisingly cheesy, with just a little orange. This is all the more of a surprise as there’s no cheese hint of this in the flavour, which is overwhelmingly the Dos Rios notes, with the spices kicking subtly in after a few seconds.

This is pretty much a Dos Rios ganache ‘plus’. The cardamom and pepper adding just a touch of complexity and drying out the fruitiness a little. Equally as enjoyable as the plain version, this is perhaps a little more approachable and balanced than the more exotic unflavoured Dos Rios, unlikely as that sounds.

Tangerine ganache with Ocumare milk chocolate

Tangerine ganache

For the only milk chocolate based ganache of the collection, the aroma of the uncut chocolate is actually quite spicy with no hint of sweetness.

When cut we get warm tangerine and milk chocolate, which floods the mouth with flavour on eating.

As well as the tangerine, there’s a wine or whisky note going on, generated I would say by the fruit interacting with the milk and those spicy Ocumare beans.

A good addition to the collection without being too sweet.

Overall impression

Amano have done a good job with this collection, once again proving that it is possible to produce something of high quality from a standing start, if you stick to high standards. Choice of ingredients is the first key step here. Amano already have world-class chocolate. To this they’ve added what is in their opinion the best in class for sources of each flavour, always using fresh ingredients as the starting point.

This collection catapults Amano right into the top league of world chocolatiers. Amano have proved again that if you let taste be your guide and don’t compromise, the sky’s the limit when it comes to chocolate quality.

Info

Amano website and online shop: www.amanochocolate.com/confections

Amano Factory store: 450 South, 1325 West, Orem, UT 84058, US, Tel: +1 801-655-1996

The post Amano confection collection appeared first on Seventy%.

New dessert launches at William Curley

Long time member of Seventypercent’s community online Per Liss has been coming to Chocolate Week every year since the annual celebration of fine chocolate in the UK first began in 2003.

Per, better know as Masur in our forum, is also Seventypercent’s Links manager, responsible for maintaining our list of chocolate companies, makers and resources, and for weeding out some of the whackier link requests we sometimes receive from inappropriate candy companies.

He’s become something of an institution and Chocolate week wouldn’t be the same without his annual visit to London.

His trips are also a great chance for us to catch up on chocolate gossip.

Per was over for a conference on Friday and is back off to Sweden tomorrow, so we took the chance of a Saturday pre Chocolate Week trip round a few chocolatiers to get in an early taster of the week.

After quick stops at Paul A Young in Angel and Artisan du Chocolate, we made our way to Pimlico Green for some high-end chocolate desserts.

New patisserie tasting at William Curley’s

So here we find our selves in William Curley’s Belgravia store, sitting down surrounded by some of William’s latest patisserie offerings, accompanied by hot chocolate and cold water.

Per Liss in William Curley's Belgravia shop

Chocolate Macaroon

We started with a plain chocolate macaroon – a full sized model rather than the popular French bite size style favoured by Pierre Herme. The macaroon was soft and cut easily in half. Definitely a real chocolate taste and ‘sweet but not that overwhelmingly sweet’ according to Per.

Certainly good flavours, but neither of us are huge macaroon fanatics, so our pleasure level was merely at ‘normal’. The combination of textures worked well, without any sugary crispness, and the after taste was very clean.

Chocolate macaroon

Pistachio macaroon

Hazelnut bouchee

Pistachio Macaroon

While on a macaroon roll, we thought’s we go for the pistachio – a light crumbly macaroon flavoured with roasted pistachios and a chocolate ganache filling. This was sweeter without the chocolate, and hence had more crunch.

The pistachio flavour was very light, it came through more as a pistachio marzipan effect towards the end, rather than a nutty burst at the beginning.

Hazelnut Bouchee

This is so new it’s not even on the menu yet and a description had to be whisked up from the kitchen. Smelling the bouchee there’s right away a good buttery, chocolate, hazelnut aroma. Biting let our teeth loose on the sweet, crunchy hazelnut base.

I tried the base on it’s own without the ganache topping, and the flavour just goes on and on. The layer had a really good crispiness as well, which combined nicely with the ganache toppiong and chocolate coating. I am slightly reminded of a Toffee Crisp, and I’m beginning to suspect William is on some kind of 1970s chocolate confectionery recreation trip.

‘Jaffa cake’

'Jaffa cake'

Not sure about the legality of this, but sticking with the ‘recreation’ theme, next up was a high end fine, turbo charged Jaffa Cake. For those of you not living in the UK, Jaffa Cakes are a McVities biscuit/cake product, consisting of a small biscuit size sponge cake, with a dollop of orange jam type stuff on the top, which is then covered with – let’s be generous – ‘chocolate’.

My main memory of these is a rather dry, sweet sponge and of course fatty, sweet low grade chocolate. Probably tasted quite artificial though.  They were never my favourite.

The Curley version is a totally different experience of course. Fully covered with – in this case Amedei – chocolate. The orange flavour is amazingly fresh and full and lingering, the sponge light and melting.

I don’t remember having this kind of taste journey when I sat down to watch telly after coming home from school and was let loose on afternoon snacks – back in the day.

Hazlenut and almond sables

Hazlenut almond sable

After a short break tasting some esoteric chocolate samples (two choc nerds in the same choc shop, what do you expect?) we took a break from the dark stuff by sampling a Curley biscuit – not a new product, but a nice interlude none-the-less.

Simple and straightforward, a good biscuit recipe, made with good ingredients, very light and loads of butter. The flavours hang on the tongue and really develops after eating, with good nut flavour and light spice.

Yuzu Cake

We finished off with an oval chocolate cake with yuzu flavoured ganache centre – yuzu being a Japanese citrus fruit. Per thought the cake might have been on the dry side, it was the ganache centre that really brought it alive though. The yuzu flavour was outstanding and really lingered.

Yuzu ganache cake

Basil infused ice cream with blackcurrant compote

Ok, no more chocolate, but one more taster, this time from the new dessert bar menu. This dish is the starter, and we thought it would be a good way to lighten up our palates after all that chocolate.

Basil ice cream is a strange beast, and at first I thought I was eating pesto, until the blackcurrant compote kicks and puts you back in dessert land, making a sweet, savoury combination. An interesting taste journey and it must of worked as we cleaned our plates.

As ever, all the dishes were up to the usual Curley standard and you could say we were just a little chocolated out by the end of it all.

All in all a great start to Chocolate Week and great to catch up with an old friend in such pleasant surroundings. Let’s hope it’s less than a year before we meet again!

The post Live tasting with Per Liss at William Curley appeared first on Seventy%.

Tomorrow the chocolate is finally being launched at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, and is already available from the Amano factory store. The news about Amano’s new Chuao bar is live on their website.

Chuao, the legend

The Chuao cacao cave (also known at the production office)

Yes, that’s right, Amano have taken on one of the most famous of cacao sources, Venezuela’s Chuao. (You can read my travel blog about my 2008 visit to Chuao here). Famous as one of the most fought over of cacaos, until last year Amedei had exclusive rights to the village’s yearly production. Amedei had taken the Chuao origin to new heights; in doing so they helped to make the name internationally known as a byword for the best chocolate.

Amedei’s Chuao is a multi-award winner and is both complex and appreciated by connoisseurs, but also approachable and instantly likeable for beginners. In other words, most people agree it is a great chocolate. (At time of writing, it is still our number one rated bar.)

When Amedei’s exclusivity ended last year, a number of other chocolate makers were suddenly producing chocolate from Chuao’s cacao. The rather mixed results combined with not the best of harvests last year led to questions about Chuao’s continued reputation at the top of the cacao pecking order.

So it’s a bold move then for Amano to take on Chuao’s latest harvest as their new source. Can Amano live up to the expectations that come with Chuao, and perhaps help the source to live up to its past glories?

The making of a chocolate

I had an anxious and excited call from Art Pollard one night. His latest chocolate had recently finished conching and was now ready for tempering and moulding. Chocolate makers don’t usually call me when they have a part finished chocolate, so this must be something pretty important.

A few days later, a FedEx’ed package arrived with chocolate straight out of the conche. This was something unusual that I’d not tried before – chocolate that was finished, but had never at any time been tempered. Ripping open the package, I got to try the chocolate pretty fast. It was strangely grainy as the cocoa butter crystals had never been set.

Clark Goble and Art Pollard in the early days back in 2007

The flavour really showed promise, but under advisement from Art, I needed to melt then freeze a sample to begin to understand it. An impatient fifteen minutes later I had my first taste. There were a strong, fermented, cacao head, despite the cold temperature, then darker fruit, plum, then cream chocolate. A rather large smile came over my face. This was Chuao, and it looked like it was going to be pretty good.

A few days later I managed to get down to Paul A Young with my 200g or so sample, and a few days after that, was able to pick up a couple of nicely made, finished, bars. Back at Amano base camp, the chocolate had not actually been tempered yet, so we here in London were the first people in the world to try finished tempered and moulded Amano Chuao. An exciting moment.

Over the next few weeks there were hushed moments in private corners as I was able to give tiny samples to a small few who were sworn to secrecy. The reaction was always good and always excited, even among complete non-chocolate heads.

Then finally about a week ago, came another call from Art, followed a few days later by another FedEx package containing  fully finished – but unboxed – Amano Chuao bars.

The result was almost an anti climax. I’d been on my crazy no-chocolate diet, and perhaps my palate wasn’t quite were it should have been. That initial cacao hit and three stage roller coaster of a flavour journey was not quite so pronounced. The dark plum fruit had veered towards grapefruit. Perhaps the two day long English summer wasn’t helping.

I spoke to Art and my reaction was “well, this is good, but not quite as exciting as when I tried that first sample. Maybe it needs to settle a little”. The flavours of a chocolate often change and develop during the first few weeks after it’s made. It’s widely known that Amedei’s Chuao is left to sit for three weeks before moulding, so it seemed likely that the same would apply to Amano’s version.

Amano Chuao

A week on and a few days before the official release of Amano’s Chuao, it’s now perhaps a better time to make a first assessment of Amano’s work. Thankfully, the exciting flavour evolution was back, and with a happy ending.

The Chuao church by Diane Whitehead, from the Amano Chuao bar box

Take a piece of Amano’s Chuao and smell it and it is at once familiar. Side by side with Amedei, this is clearly the same source, though the Amano roast is clearly lighter.

I’ve given this chocolate to a few people now, and everyone goes through the same journey. At first we get mild chocolate. The chocolate seems good, well made, with mild flavour and we perhaps don’t expect much else to happen.

About 5-10 seconds in though something really interesting starts to develop. The flavour becomes a little ‘green’ – fresh, with a hint of fermentation. To me it tastes exactly like cacao eaten off the ground while drying. There’s no vinegar and it’s not too tart, but just enough to give a thrill. You feel like you could be in Chuao. This lasts about fifteen seconds.

Then comes the fruit – classic Chuao plum, marmalade, some background liquorice, green olives, the tiniest hint of Chuao toffee – pleasantly sweet and very palatable. (You can also detect these at the start, once you know there are there).

Then we get cream, cream toffee – a chocolate cream that’s typical of Venezuelan criollo, and perhaps in Chuao comes through at this point, late in the mouth, along with hazelnut praline. (Chuao is a mix of probably over thirty varieties, forateros and triniatios – some of which will have more criollo genetics).

The length is gently tannic, combining with the cream and the fruit to create a fruit salad and chocolate pudding effect, perhaps with a green tea on the side. It holds up really well.

So, did Amano’s work stand up? Well this is certainly one of the best Chuao interpretations I’ve tried. It’s not too bold or over-roasted, not at all flat, the full fruit flavour is there and you’re taken on a fantastic chocolate journey with each piece. Yet this is still a very accessible chocolate.

Chuao is a deep, complex source, and different maker’s bars will each have their own appeal and we may all have our own favourites. Amano Chuao certainly hit the spot for me, and as a company they only seem to keep improving.

Personally, some chocolate just makes me really happy inside when I try it.   In this case, the big smile was back.

Info

Amano Chuao available from the Amano factory store in Utah, Caputo’s Deli in Salt Lake City. Hopefully to hit shelves in the UK soon!

www.amanochocolate.com

The post Amano Chuao appeared first on Seventy%.

I finally took the plunge last week, with a last minute booking to Milano and a flight back from Firenze (Florence). This gave me the chance to visit just a few of the Tuscan valley’s famous chocolate destinations.

After a night on the outskirts of Milan visiting Jorge Felix of World Foods, I took the fast EuroStar train to Florence, which cuts nearly two hours off the slow train route. Arriving early evening, I settled into my hotel (overlooking the medieval bridge at the centre of the town, Ponte Vecchio), then met up with Monica and friend for the first of a some fantastic Tuscan food.

I could write another whole blog about the food – beautiful pasta, bread, oil, corn cakes – and the great wine and coffee. I’ll try to confine myself to the chocolate though.

Skipping breakfast in favour of chocolate, in the morning we set off in search of the best of Florence’s chocolate.

Andrea Bianchini

An award winning pastry chef, Andrea opened his two ‘La Bottega del Cioccolato’ stores about six years ago. He’s since become one of the leading Italian chocolatiers, winning the highest accolades and being named ‘best chocolatier’ in Italy for 2009.

Andrea Bianchini in la bottega del cioccolato

Andrea uses couverture from Valrhona, Domori and Felchlin, creating his own blends for different products. This seems to be the case with many Italian chocolatiers, as I discovered. Very few seemed to feature a single, individual couverture or origin for a particular bonbon or ganache.

The shop was small, yet stylish, with ganaches in the French style and beautifully made cakes. Andrea is very enthusiastic about his ingredients and it was clear every flavouring ingredient was chosen with care and for a reason.

Chefs at work at La Bottega del Cioccolato

His personal favourite is ‘cocco e rhum agricol’ made with rum from Martinique and just enough coconut to add texture to a semi-liquid ganache, without adding too dominant a flavour.

La Bottega del Cioccolato is not just about chocolates though. What started as the recreation of a childhood memory of American cookies as a summer filler has turned into a regular part of the shop’s trade. Andrea now has a range of five different cookies, all using chocolate in some way.

Biscotti by Andrea Bianchini

My personal favourites were ‘Sablé al mais’ – made with corn/maize and the absolutely divine ‘Cookies’ con pezzi di cioccolato’. The aftertaste of these was long, buttery and just amazing. I brought back a large bag.

A visit to one of Andrea Bianchini’s stores is an absolute must if you visit Florence.

Info

Andrea Bianchini
La Bottega del Cioccolato
Via de Macci, 50
50122 Firenze,
Italy
Tel: +33 55 2001609

Rivoire Pasticceria

Rivoire have been serving patisserie and chocolates made in their own kitchens since the 1870′s. It’s the kind of traditional, tourist friendly place you’d find in most European city squares. In many cafe restaurants of this type, there’s a sense of history, but often the patisserie and chocolates are bought in as economics take precedence over quality. This is not the case at Rivoire though.

Rivoire's chocolatier staff with the roll refiner

Only fifteen years ago, Rivoire still made their own chocolate from the bean. City regulations put a stop to this though. Rivoire still have their old roll refiner though and a blender conche with static wheels though. They use these to finish refining cacao mass – finished, unconched 100% chocolate.

Marco Bianchi conching and mixing sugar in the Rivoire kitchen

Rivoire buy cacao mass from Icam – cost limitations prevent using anything higher end, but at least they can stamp their own character on the chocolate and create their own blends. So some tradition survives and this is streets ahead of anything that would happen in a similar establishment in the UK.

Marco Bianchi, Rivoire’s chocolatier, did tell us though that he has been experimenting with cacao mass from Domori, so we look forward to some interesting results from this.

I only had time to try a few samples of chocolate and grab a cappuccino, but for a commercial, tourist serving, mainstream location, Rivoire do a pretty good job and are well worth a visit.

Info

Piazza della Signoria angolo Via Vacchereccia, 4R
Firenze
Tel. +39055214412
www.rivoire.it

Paul de Bondt

Our day ended by taking a train almost all the way to Pisa, a stop or so short at Navacchio. Here Paul de Bondt and Cecilia Iacobelli have their factory (and a small factory shop), and it’s here that they combine around fifty different sources of chocolate to create their own range of blends.

Well known chocolates or 100% mass from the big names are combined with more obscure sources, creating a range of flavour profiles and textures. These are matched to compliment specific flavouring ingredients; most chocolatiers use one or two courvertures for all their products.

De Bondt have hundreds of options from which they can choose the perfect chocolate for a particular flavour. This takes a lot of time and real dedication, and a real passion for experimentation. De Bondt seem a mixture of slightly mad-scientist and innovative presentation, which could well reflect the characters of Paul and Cecilia!

A few products from Paul de Bondt's range

De Bondt first opened their shop in Pisa in 1993. They’ve been winning awards ever since, opening their ‘laboratory’ in 2005 and moving to a new store in 2006.

Info

De Bondt Cioccolato e Affini‎
Lungarno Pacinotti, 5
56126 Pisa, Italy
Tel +33 (0)50 316 0073
www.debondt.it

Luca Mannori

Luca Mannori prepares samples for tasting

Only time for one chocolatier on my last day. This did though include breakfast and tasting in a patisserie, a factory visit and lunch, all in various establishments owned by Luca Mannori.

I made a point of skipping breakfast in my hotel again, and this turned out to be a good move given what was waiting for us at the Via Lazzerini pastry store.

As appetisers (yes, really), we were given mini chocolate cupcakes and mini chocolate éclairs with a chocolate cream filling.

The éclairs were pure heaven.

Next came croissant and cappuccino (so good I had two), then a sampling of other pastries, like a custard and rice filled crispy flat pastry – yum.

After a taste of a couple of mini cakes (ok, serious diet due when I get home), Luca brought out a selection of ganaches for us to try.

In common it seems with many Italian chocolatiers, Mannori like to create their own house blends, using in this case finished chocolate from a number of sources, dominated by Valrhona.

Ganaches ranged from Long Jing tea to single malt whisky, ‘mix of peppers’ to the three layered gianduja cremino, which being Italian, was especially good.

A much needed break took us off for a tour of Mannori’s impressive production facility. This was a large space, with cooling tunnels, cold stores, work spaces and packing facilities.

Cakes on display in the Luca Mannori pastry shop

I’ve seen bean to bar chocolate factories that are smaller, and this entire space is almost entirely devoted to supplying the two shops and Mannori’s restaurant.

It gives you an idea of how much quality chocolate the Italians like to consume.

The chocolate counter at Mannori restaurant

After the factory, it was off to the Mannori restaurant next for lunch, and my final indulgence of the trip.

Following a starter of roasted vegetables and on a light, circular bread made in a pannetonne mould, I took the home made gelato for my main course. Things really were beginning to go too far.

Luca Mannori and wife, with restaurant team. Monica Meschini in front

Leaving Florence, I stocked up on olive oil at the airport and went home with a fresh pannetonne from Luca Mannori as an extra passenger (which when shared back in London was universally agreed to be the best anyone had tasted.)

Info

Mannori Pastry
Via Lazzerini, 2
59100 Prato (PO)
Italy
Tel: +39 (0)574 21628
www.mannoriespace.it

See website for details of the ‘Espace’ chocolate shop.

I don’t really need to sing the praises of Florence as a place to visit, but I hope I’ve inspired a few trips to some of the regions better chocolate establishments. Of course there are many names missing – two nights is hardly enough. I feel it is my duty then to return very soon and eat even more chocolate. After the diet that is.

The post Tuscan chocolate taster appeared first on Seventy%.

Steel drum music at the opening of the new Rabot Estate shop

I was expecting something flash and out of place. Perhaps a commercial sector variation on the Hotel Chocolat branding that might have marked the beginning of the ‘Spitalfieldisation‘ of Borough Market. Instead, the new store has something of a Caribbean street food feel, with plenty of exposed brickwork, recovered timber and corrugated metal.

The store opens directly onto Stoney Street and a steel band (well, band of two) greeted the guests on this first official day of the new shop. This ‘open’ day featured plenty of free sampling of Rabot chocolate, chocolate tapas and desserts and cocoa tea.

Angus Thirwell speaking at the ribbon cutting ceremony

Rabot Estate bars

On sale at the store are Rabot themed bars, including Rabot Estate, St Lucia and other country origin chocolate bars – all made for Hotel Chocolat by their chocolate maker partners in Germany, Coppenneur.

The most successful of these was the new 120 hour conched ‘Island Growers’ 65% dark. This has full yellow fruit and honey notes, with a slight tobacco hint and a clean after taste – certainly the best St Lucia so far to come our of the Hotel Chocolate/Coppenneur partnership.  The 65% also worked pretty well in bars with whole Piedmont hazelnuts.

Hotel Chocolat founder Angus Thirwell told me that the equivalent recipe for the single plantation Rabot Estate bar was not quite ready for public consumption yet, but would be available soon.

Single source means seasonal variation, so recipes often need to be perfected for each batch.

Dash of milk

Instead the Rabot beans pop up in the new ‘Dash of Milk’ range – strong milk bars that are not pretending to be a conventional milk chocolate, but feature milk powder in place of sugar to take some edge off.

So in fact, the 70% ‘Dash of Milk’ is only 10% sugar. The lack of sweetness takes some getting used to, but the milky hit at the end takes the edge off.

For the more feint-hearted, the 50% ‘dash’ with 20% milk powder and 30% sugar comes in 150g packs with cacao nibs, though I did find this combination a little ‘meaty’ in flavour.

Sampling chocolate treats on the opening day

As well as Rabot coated nibs and flavoured bars in simple, artisan style packaging, the store includes a selection of the regular Hotel Chocolat range – there aren’t quite enough Rabot products to fill up a whole shop yet, and they’ll probably always be some room here for the shinier Hotel Chocolat gift products. (These are made in Hotel Chocolat’s own factory in Huntingdon, England, using Callebaut chocolate.)

The shop also features a food bar serving cocoa tea (optionally with a shot of St Lucian rum – should I really have tried that at 11am in the morning?) and a selection of sweet and and savoury dishes using St Lucia chocolate.

All in all a pleasant surprise and an impressive new addition to the London chocolate scene, adding a different take to our growing selection of chocolate shops.

Info

Rabot Estate
2 Stoney Street
Borough Market
London
SE1 9AA

Tel: +44 (0)20 7403 9852

www: www.rabotestate.com

Opening Hours: Monday – Saturday, 07.00 – 18.00

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