Blogs

Thank you for being part of my chocolate world. It has been almost four years since Exotic Chocolate Tasting was launched. Many of you have been with me since the beginning appreciating chocolate in a whole new way. Just like you, I have evolved, too. With each experience I've been blessed with new insights that I can't wait to share with you.

This year has brought many changes to Exotic Chocolate Tasting. No longer focused on public events, most of my chocolate and wine pairings are for business socials, special occasions in homes, and not-for-profit fund raisers. With these changes comes unique challenges and great opportunities.

Recently Nicosia , a Sicilian winery seeking an importer chose to feature

Roxanne and the Nicosia team at the Culinary Loft in SoHo. (click to Culinary loft)

their wines paired with chocolates to the New York City wine community. Fifth-generation owner, Graziano said, "When Roxanne proposed us to pair wine and chocolate, we were not totally convinced; we typically mix cheese and wine and making something different was out of our comfort zone. So we trusted in Roxanne, crossing our fingers, until the first piece of chocolate came in our mouth; then we understood. After the event, we had the feeling to be part of a community of high skilled people and we really want to build up a long time relationship." The event was a success and they have secured an importer. Read blog by Peter Conway, wine writer on the event

Already planning my third trip to Italy with my husband to explore the Northwest wine country of Piedmont, the Nicosia wine family invited us down to Sicily to learn more about their Etna wines. Well, of course, I said, "Yes!"

Mt Etna, Europe's only active volcano

Lorenza could not be a more gracious host, starting in the waterfront town of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna, where the winery and vineyards of Nicosia are located. The grapes draw from its unique volcanic soil that give their wines its distinct flavor profile. After a traditional Sicilian lunch in their restaurant, Giuseppe gave a tour of a 200 year-old wine
making structure when women would stomp on grapes to songs, then fast-forwarded to today's methods. The experience of visiting Nicosia will live with me forever; the charm, passion, and hospitality of the Nicosia family matched the beauty of the winery and the wines. Link to photo album

The next day Lorenza took us to the charming Baroque town of

Roxanne, Pierpaolo, Lorenza, & Antonina

Modica, once occupied by Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries. There the Spaniards passed on the secrets of Mexico's Aztec chocolate making. Chocolate maker, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto , who has the oldest chocolate shop since 1880, gave us a tour and tasting led by six-generation Pierpaolo Ruta. Not only are the chocolates world class and held on to the original recipe of stone grounding the cacao beans, the bakery offers the best handmade cannoli I've ever had. A very different savory traditional little pastry stuffed with minced meat, chocolate and spices, called Mpanatigghi, was another surprise treat. Pierpaolo took the time to demonstrate to us this ancient art of chocolate making, then presented a gift of his chocolate bar collection. I hope to pair his bars with Nicosia Etna wines in a future event in New York. Link to photo album

Back in Turin (Torino), the beautiful capital city in the heart of Piedmont surrounded by the western Alpine arch, now known for the birthplace of Fiat, Vermouth and the chocolate capital of modern chocolate, I visited the finest chocolate maker Guido Gobino in the city center. Since 1946, this family-owned business has had an eye towards innovation with the respect for the traditional recipes of Turin. The classic Gianduja (chocolate and Piedmont hazelnut) was born here and the first

Guido Gobino

wrapped chocolate in history. Luca escorted us to a private room for a tasting of all their chocolates. Gianduja, Cremino, a three layer square of chocolate and Gianduja, single-origin chocolates of South America, and many other confections. Ending with Vermouth and a surprise treat, a cracker with their award-winner, Cremino al sale, a Gianduja with sea salt, drizzled with regional olive oil on top. Amazing! We left with a gift of all their chocolates and a book, Chocolate Turin . Soon I will be able to feature their chocolates in select chocolate and wine pairing events. Link to photo album

In the rolling hills of the Langhe region of Piedmont, we met winemakers and winery owners of some of the famed makers of Barolo, Barbara and Nebbiolo. In Malvira , Massolino , G.D. Vajra , Vietti , Borgogno , and Banca Del Vino , the wine bank where they store most of Italy's wine in a castle cellar for historic preservation, we sipped vintage wines to not-ready-to-be released wines in barrel tastings. Again, meeting the most generous and friendly people, rarely leaving

Meet Jairo Gustavo Neira, winemaker for Malvir

without a bottle or two. The wine community here has embraced the concept of chocolate and wine pairings as Nicosia has done in the south of Italy. Plans are underway to host chocolate and wine pairing events in New York City that will feature these fine wines. Link to photo album

After 12 days of collecting wine, chocolate, and many regional foods, the challenge was how to get 20 extra pounds back to New York safely! Not an easy task. We were like mules carrying the additional delicious treasures, along with our original baggage, through the airports, Immigration, customs, and security...all with success! I now have more friends in Italy and maybe more in New York, now that I have so much to share.

Vous connaissez cette chocolaterie ? Oui ? Non ?

Cre en 1906, cette chocolaterie familiale, situe sur la commune de Chimilin dans l'isre (39490) s'efforce perptuer la tradition familiale, entre saveur et innovation. Les chocolats De Marlieu (le fameux chocolatier d'exception) ont bercs toute mon enfance, et je pense bien que je ne suis pas la seule ! Je dguste souvent les fameux chocolats malakoff que je peux retrouver grce internet !

Que j'tais malheureuse quand j'ai du dmnager il y a 14 ans pour des raisons professionnelles ! Ces chocolats malakoff je ne les retrouvais nul part ! Vive la technologie et vive internet !

Aujourd'hui, depuis mon petit PC, je peux commander des tonnes de bons chocolats traditionnels De Marlieu, et ce, sans sortir de chez moi. Ahhhh que c'est beau le progrs .

Tout a pour vous dire que si comme moi, vous tes la recherche de ces chocolats malakoff qui ont bercs votre tendre enfance, sachez maintenant que la chocolaterie dispose aujourd'hui d'un superbe site internet et une boutique en ligne. De quoi assouvir ses besoins de chocolats...

Pour finir, j'ai une question poser : connaissez-vous les chocolats malakoff ?

Definitely my favourites are the Original Beans Esmeraldas-Truffles of Toot Sweets ! They are not covered with chocolate, its just ganache andcocoa powder. So you must pick them up carefully, because they are very soft. They melt lightly and creamy, like silk on your tongue. Incredibly delicious!!

Second: the hand-made chocolates by Rococo . The ones I tasted were all extremely delicate: Kalamansi Lime Caramel, Passion Fruit & Rosemary Caramel, Salted Chocolate Toffee & Hazelnut Praline, Apricot & Lavender Ganache, Red Berry Madagascar and Autumn Spiced Apple. Need I say more?

Third: the water based ganaches of The Chocolatier Aneesh Popat. You surely can taste his passion in the chocolates. Unique combinations of ingredients. All fresh and bright. My favourite is the Rose & Cinnamon. Royalty stuff indeed.

CasaLuker, a Colombian family-owned enterprise founded 100 years ago, is currently promoting its

chocolate couvertures and

Cacao Fino de Aroma derived products in the Russian market and

showing there the quality and sensorial characteristics of the cocoa produced in Colombia -South

America-. To achieve this, the company has decided to build a strategic alliance with the pastry

chef and chocolatier Emmanuel Hamon.

Chef Emmanuel Hamon, was born in 1969 in Brittany, a maritime region on the west coast of

France. He earned his title as a pastry chef, chocolatier and confectioner in 1987 and has been

working in the field ever since. Today he is renowned for his exquisite creations which combine

flavour, design and originality. After a one week visit to CasaLuker chocolate factory and its cocoa

Research CenterGranja Lukerhe fell in love with Colombia, its Cacao Fino de Aroma, and the

scientific work undertaken by the company over the past 50 years.

Today, Chef Emmanuel has decided to share all his knowledge and experience in the world of

chocolate and to take on the challenge of taking CasaLuker chocolate portfolio

Luker Caca o with

chocolate blends,

Luker 1906 with single origin chocolates and Luker Maracas chocolate covered

tropical fruitsto the Russian pastry professionals and chocolatiers and to the demanding Russian

market. Working hand in hand with the company and its distributors, they all expect to have a

stronger presence in the Russian market with the Fino de Aroma quality of Colombian cocoa.

we are marketers of cocoa beans looking for interested buyers. you can contact me for further details.

emile

skype - emigye

email - emigye @ yah0o . com

It's Thursday morning here on London, barely 48 hours after I arrived at Heathrow for the start of my Euro2013 Road Trip.

This year's trip will see me traveling to Amsterdam, Milan, and Paris after I leave London. It's chocolate festival season here in Europe. It is true, however, that I am missing some events in the US - the festivals in Chicago for example, as well as Dallas. While I would enjoy being able to attend either or both those events, the lure of being back here in Europe was just too great to ignore.

It's Chocolate Week in the UK which means that there are all sorts of activities going on and people in town from all over.

Shortly after arriving in London on Tuesday morning I made my way to the judging room for the 2013 World Finals judging of the International Chocolate Awards. 6 sessions over the course of two days judging the winners of the various regional competitions in order to arrive at the top picks, which will be announced during the inaugural London Salon du Chocolat (formerly Chocolate Unwrapped) over the weekend.

I arrived in time for the second judging session of the day and to lots of familiar faces and new.

Also at table 1: Maricel Presilla.

The judging process at the ICA is will thought out and quite detailed. The process and all of the forms and instructions used are posted online for anyone to see, and, more importantly, they are subject to regular review based on the feedback of entrants and judges. The judging process is designed to tackle managing subjectivity - the fact that every judge has different tasting abilities, experiences, and biases.

This turns out to be a very good thing because during the first judging session I took part it, something went haywire with my mouth and everything (we were judging plain dark/origin bars) and I mean everything, tasted over-roasted and astringent. I mentioned this to the organizer of the judging (Martin Christy) because I know that there are statistical checks that can be done to identify consistent outliers (like my giving everything a 3 or 4 when the average scores of all the other judges was much higher) that will enable them to take that into account when doing the final tallies.

Over the course of two days I participated in four judging sessions. On Wednesday, that amounted to 8 flights (plates) of between 3 and 6 pieces. Judges are never asked to taste more than 6 entries before returning to a "palate check" chocolate that helps judges know when their palates start to get fatigued.

The overall judging process is very different from the one I encountered at the Good Food Awards, which makes sense as the Good Food Awards is looking to award different things and has only one general chocolate category (not separate ones for dark, milk, white, and flavored/filled) and one general confectionery category.

While one may quibble with the results, given the huge number of entries, the process is better managed than any other I have encountered and been involved with. I've organized and managed judging and it's tough to do well. What's very cool is that I have no idea who the winners are going to be, I just have my impressions of what I tasted.

After finishing the judging what did I do? Go to a chocolate tasting, of course. This was a presentation I was asked to do for the Guild of Food Writers, co-organized with the Academy of Chocolate. The title of the presentation was What Is Fine Flavor Cocoa? This is a topic that's getting a lot of interest these days with organizations as diverse as ICCO and FCIA trying to figure it out. I am giving the presentation again at the Salon du Chocolat over the weekend, as well as another presentation, How Chocolate Gets Its Taste . After the presentation last night I sampled five different chocolate, four of which were award winners either in previous ICA competitions or Good Food Awards, and/or were entrants in this year's competitions. Three were from Fruition Chocolate (Hudson Valley, NY) - 66% Peruvian Dark, Peruvian Dark Milk, and Toasted White Chocolate. The fourth was from Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate ; not the fig bar which was an ICA winner, but the Dominican (Elvesia) bar. That's because the fifth bar, Chuao Chocolatier 's Salty Crunch bar, had inclusions and I didn't want two of the five bars in the tasting having inclusions. Both Dick Taylor and Chuao are represented in this year's ICA world finals judging, as is Fruition.

Today is an "off" day to relax and enjoy. There is a reception to attend in the evening, but nothing planned until then. Time to wander, sightsee, and enjoy London. (Because it's not raining.) And no, I did not see Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Rhys Ifans, or anyone. I am staying near Earl's Court tube station at a flat I found through AirBnB and it's turning out to be an incredibly convenient location. I had to connect through Notting Hill Gate station to get to the ICA judging location.

The next update will probably be on Saturday morning, after my first full day at the Salon du Chocolat. On Sunday I leave London for Harwich en route to Amsterdam via the overnight ferry. Next Wednesday is the Origin Chocolate conference where I am co-presenting with chef-chocolatier Kees Raat.

Hi Guys,

The Chocolate Tree in Edinburgh is a little chocolate cafe which sells its own beautiful handmade chocolate. Young Perspective is a newspaper entirely written for and run by young people.

The two organisations have come together to bring you the chance to win beautiful bars of chocolate tree chocolate here : http://www.youngperspective.net/win-handmade-chocolate-with-young-perspective.html

Young Perspective is not-for-profit and supports young writers, please support us by clicking on this link.

I use Capol 254 W to seal my Chocolate covered dragees. Then I polish them with Capol 425M . I have started production of Hard Sugar panned Dragees. I am not sure which Capol products will seal and polish my hard sugar coated Dragees. Any suggestion?

Raji from India.

Before our Indiegogo launch, here is the introduction video:

Mokaya Chocolate Maker

Hi! Looking for options to package my gourmet hot chocolate mix. I am considering 1/2 lb coffee bags or a tin for something a little more elegant. If I do go with the tin - do I also need it to be in a heat sealed bag within the tin? Thanks!

Kalibri