It has been a while since my last update so here is a brief summary of some of the highlights of the last 5 months! For full details and pictures of all previous events see the Meetup website at http://www.meetup.com/london-chocolate-meetup-group/.
Chocolate and wine tasting evening – 21 May
In May, twelve of us from the group attended [...]
UK viewers can catch a Seventypercent tasting tonight on Channel 4’s docu-drama series Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory.
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 [...]
Recently on the forum, there has been a lot of discussion centered on a simple yet decadent dessert we all know and love: chocolate mousse. It all started when a forum member posted his recipe and then requested that everyone else share their variations.
Well, this innocent little post incited a detailed and at times academically [...]
Bumped into Mott Green at a recent Academy of Chocolate meeting, and Mott brought one of his latest Grenada Chocolate Company bars to try. The efffects of various hurricanes a few years ago meant that Grenada were forced to use imported beans from Costa Rica, and the chocolate was just not the same – it [...]
We’ve been caught up with preparations for Chocolate Week recently, so I’m a little behind telling you what chocolate has passed my way recently, but not behind with eating it! The last two Club editions have feature bars made by British chocolatiers, and I’ve been finishing up some tasting samples recently.
Valrhona Alpaco, by William Curley
It’s [...]
So the temperature is slowly dipping here in the UK, a little disappointingly after such a useless summer, but this does bring a small thrill inside as everything seems to be moving a little faster and there’s a more of a buzz on the streets. Then there’s that ‘nip’ in the air, which tells us [...]
So after some disappointment brought about by my Guanaja kilo, a bar of Manjari the following day restored some of my faith in Valrhona. Fruity and light and full flavoured, this was a real treat and shows how good Valrhona can be at their best. Still, this is again in contrast to reports over the [...]
My first encounter with fine chocolate was back in 1993.
On one foodie wandering day, I was in Harrod’s food halls and was, unsurprisingly, lingering in the confectionery room. There I found myself face to face with a small display of products by a company called ‘Valrhona’. At the end of an aisle and no more [...]
‘Best before’ dates are tricky. No one wants to receive or buy something that’s close or past it’s ‘best before’ date, but it should be remembered that those dates mean best, before – not "eat by this date or the chocolate will suddenly decompose into grey powder".
If you keep your chocolate well, there’s a good [...]
Last week the Academy of Chocolate was invited to show their collective wares at an ICCO event in London. Seventypercent was their to promote the fine chocolate message and offer samples of origin chocolate to representatives of cocoa growing and consumer countries from around the world.
Big events almost always mean left over samples, and while [...]