Everything about food, from matching food and wine to recipes, techniques and trends.

Chocolate Tasting

Moderators: Jenise, Robin Garr, David M. Bueker

no avatar
User

Eve Lejeune

Rank

Wine geek

Posts

57

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:39 am

Location

Paris, France

Chocolate Tasting

by Eve Lejeune » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:52 pm

Last week I was invited to a wonderful chocolate tasting taking place at the French Senate in Paris. We were welcomed by the President of the Chocolate Club of Paris, Danielle Monteaux, a charming lady who shares her passion for chocolate with a few hundred privileged members of this prestigious club.

The club invited 4 of the most famous chocolate masters: Pierre Hermé, Jean-Paul Hévin, Michel Richart, Gérard Mulot. To be quite honest I had never tasted the creations of Pierre Hermé (I'm too lazy to stand in line for 1 hr outside to buy a piece of chocolate!). And my laziness was rewarded as I had a huge table where the best creations were offered for me to taste: the fabulous macaroons and the 90% chocolate bars. Well... disappointment: it's too fat and rich.

Let's move to Gérard Mulot who is also a baker, a traiteur and a pastry maker. His most interesting products are the chocolates filled with various flavors like ginger or orange. They're fine but not quite light enough for my taste.

Jean-Paul Hévin had a rather discreet and selective selection of chocolates. I tasted a fine milk chocolate with salted butter caramel. An original creation but also a little too rich.

Last stop but not the least, the chocolates of Michel Richart. They are wonderful! Very fine, very light, they're based on the best cocoa from Madagascar, Venezuala, Ecuador and Papouasia. They're divided in aromatic "families": balsamic, grilled, citrus, fruity, herbal, floral, spicy . They're packaged in elegant square white boxes and they're so good. I tasted the geranium and ylang ylang dark chocolate as well as a chocolate filled with a creamy salted caramel. There is just the perfect balance between the sugar, the flavor and the cocoa. Try them with a glass of older Maury and you'll be in heaven. If you want more details go to their site : http://richart-chocolates.com

Enjoy!
no avatar
User

ChefCarey

Re: Chocolate Tasting

by ChefCarey » Tue Apr 11, 2006 2:07 pm

Trying hard to imagine something more decadent than "The Chocolate Club of Paris"...not succeeding, I'm afraid.
no avatar
User

tsunami

Rank

Ultra geek

Posts

102

Joined

Sun Apr 16, 2006 12:59 am

Re: Chocolate Tasting

by tsunami » Mon Apr 17, 2006 4:25 am

Tsunami alias Albino
no avatar
User

Paul Winalski

Rank

Wok Wielder

Posts

7974

Joined

Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:16 pm

Location

Merrimack, New Hampshire

Re: Chocolate Tasting

by Paul Winalski » Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:34 pm

Are "geranium" and "ylang ylang" varieties of cocoa, or are they things added to the chocolate?

Wow! That tasting sounds like a wonderful experience.

I suppose that there must be differences in cocoa grown in various parts of the world, just as there are differences in coffee, tea, and wine, but few other than chocolatiers are aware of them. Is there a formal or informal AOC or other classification scheme for cocoa?

-Paul W.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 3 guests

Powered by phpBB ® | phpBB3 Style by KomiDesign