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Id never entered a contest before, unless you count the lottery where all Im judged on is my ability to select random numbers (a skill, by the way, I appear to be miserable at), but when I heard that my favorite chocolate boutique, Chocolopolis ,was having its first Serious Chocolate Contest , I thought Id try something daring and throw my bonbons into the hat to see what happened.

Click here to read all about it at The Chocolate Covered Kitchen .

Just got the schedule for the Salon de Chocolate, which is held now for the third year and sponsored by the Franco-Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce. I was invited to participate as I was last year, but had to decline since we are too busy. Also, just was not convinced that spending a couple of hundred dollars (since it's not really an invitation but a paid chance to participate), with a "successful" turnout of maybe 700 people, would be good for business. Unfortunately, there's just not that much local interest in chocolate here and while the networking opportunities might be good, well, they're not that good.

I did see that Martin Christy will be giving a tasting, and a few other names in the cocoa (but not really chocolate) industry will be presenting. So it's more of a mix of some academic type presentations and I don't know what else. I'll try and make a stab at running over there but I can't promise. I'm also not a big fan of one of the presenters chocolates, and not a big believer in another. As well, last year there was another large Chocolate Expo in Guayaquil, and from my contacts in the industry it was not too much of a success. So I'll continue to just keep my head down for now and keep doing what I'm doing.

As I've alluded to but not made exceptionally clear in my comments and few postings here, one of the issues with local chocolate production here that only slightly irks me is the fact that there is one company who produces chocolate for a large number of brands coming out of here. I have no issue with the company that produces; they are good people and just acting as a contract manufacturer. None of these brands have a lot of recognition worldwide, and some have more recognition than others. But the bottom line is, almost all of them are produced in the same factory, with no transparency being provided by the companies that own the brands as to what kind of beans they are using or any of the other interesting stuff that interests serious chocolatiers. I'm not sure either if the company producing all this chocolate even does anything special for any of these different brands; they could all be sourced from virtually any type of bean, with the exception of those with FT and/or organic labels. Other than that, there may be no real distinction among the chocolate with the exception of the wrapper that labels it!

About 12 years ago I bought the Dutch translation of Chantal Coadys book The Chocolate Companion. One of the chocolatiers that got very high rates was Paul de Bondt. I had never heard of him but I became very curious after reading her review. Although he is Dutch his shop is not in The Netherlands but in Pisa, Italy. But I knew then: one day I will visit Pisa!

A few years later I discovered a few of his bars at Le Salon du Chocolat in Paris. They were excellent!

In September 2008 I met Paul and his wife Cecilia at a food festival in Rotterdam. I admired his products and I learned a lot during his chocolate tasting.

One year later, when I was already ambassador for Original Beans, I asked him if he would like to do a workshop for us. He did! A day I will never forget! The most amazing recipe he created with our Piura Porcelana chocolate was a tapenade, of course based on olives, capers and anchovies. Everybody loved it!

And last week I finally visited Pisa! Yes! I had a great time! Paul and Cecilias shop is located along the river Arno. Bars with dried fruit, nuts and spices. Chocolates/bonbons (the coffee ganache is the best I have ever tasted) andalmost three weeks after Eastern there were still some eggs! Lucky me because they are delicious! I dont know which one I like mostgianduia, rocher, creminoall made of the finest hazelnuts (Gentile). Paul only uses the best ingredients and as local as possible. He also showed me his laboratorio, very well equiped. One last dessert before I had to leave Pisa: a chocolate semifreddo with passion fruit. Yummy!

Thank you for the wonderful time Paul and Cecilia!

Chocolate-loving friends, in Ecuador, South America, we have the best cocoa in the world for its good taste and quality, we are the leading exporter of cocoa Fine Aroma variety Arriba, I invite you to visit my country, where I can offer a tour of the main sectors of production of cocoa beans, the tour route of cocoa , then visit the centers of production of cocoa liquor for coverage and places where they make handmade chocolates, made by the peasant associations.

Do not miss the delightful experience of tasting the beans fresh from the cob, which is an almond covered with a white-fleshed sweet and pleasant, also experience the pleasure of seeing and smelling the aroma of roasted cacao, enjoy exciting taste of freshly from cocoa liquor, and finally taste the delicious handmade chocolates produced by the natives of the area.

The tour will be great, do it for the path of cocoa and learn all about this delicious grain, you can visit many wonderful places, because we have beautiful places, both in the mountains of cold weather (6-18 C/43-64 F), where we have beautiful mountains with snow on the coast where we have beautiful and large beaches with a sea rich (20-32 C/68-90 F), then there is the East with its warm and humid, with large trees, lush vegetation and beautiful waterfalls (22 - 30 C / 72-86 F).

If you decide to visit my country Ecuador, also enjoy a variety of typical dishes from each region, and finally, if you are interested can visit the Galapagos Islands or Enchanted Isles, with its wonderful wildlife, giant tortoises and marine species unique the world who have been declared World Heritage Site, so mind and travel, forming a good group of 20 people, give me 30 days to organize everything and I have the great pleasure to be your guide on this wonderful adventure.

Sincerely,

Ivn Andrade

info@dissupp.com

http://www.dissupp.com

"Fine chocolate is expensive, but less expensive than therapy" - a visitor's T-shirt

The long-awaited San Francisco International Chocolate Salon finally arrived on April 17th at Fort Mason, a beautiful waterfront structure overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. There were over forty chocolatiers who attended the salon, bringing with them chocolates with dozens of exotic flavors. There was everything to please your eyes and satisfy your taste buds, including fine quality and beautifully hand painted chocolates.

It was truly an awarding experience to attend the chocolate salon. I sampled chocolates infused with dozens of exotic spices and flavors that you don't usual find in the store, such as goat cheese, purple yam and durian from Marti, sweet fungus from Salt Side Down, fig roasted walnut and berry truffle from Coco Tutti...etc. I cannot say if I dislike any of the participants there, but I definitely love three: Vice, William Dean, and Amano.

Vice Chocolates is on top of my list for its quality, creativity and a wide variety of exotic flavors. Vices logo design is a capital "V" with a graceful serpent head eyeing covetously at a lovely bird, conveying a simple message: the sinful pleasure of eating.

Vice's dark chocolate passion fruit and Thai chili, smelled and tasted strongly of the passion fruit at first bite, then a chili flavor that is a little spicy, just enough boost your blood circulation a bit but the sweetness and spicy quickly softened each other into a good balance. The dark chocolate shell melted a couple of seconds later, created a nice creamy sensation in your mouth. Its smooth texture and exotic fruit flavor makes it worth a try if you are looking for a little thrill and chill.

High percentage dark chocolate are my favorite.And Vice 88% dark sea salt chocolate is verydelicious. The chocolatehad a hint of flavorful sea salt that really brought out the chocolate flavor, and complimented the bitterness of the high percentage of dark chocolate. It was very smooth and creamy, and had a deep and intense chocolate flavor with a long lingering aftertaste.

I like most of Vice's chocolates, especially soft caramel with pear & ginger and black lager beer with crispy brown rice. Overall Vice's chocolates are all smooth and beautifully made.They are all well balanced and fresh with playful flavors.

William Dean chocolates are very stylish and trendy, and there was a long line of people waiting to try his chocolates. He had various assortments packed in signature blue boxes imprinted with the initial WD. While tea flavored chocolate is very trendy, most chocolatiers usually only make jasmine tea chocolates. However, WD pushes the envelope and makes a full selection of tea flavors: Masala Chai, Earl Grey, Matcha, Mint, and Jasmine Lychee. WD also makes granola bars with milk and dark chocolates for those who are very health conscious. They are crunchy and flaky, not too creamy and not too sweet. I was surprised to see that he even has Asian influenced chocolates: wasabi and Goji berries bars. Goji berry is a small red oval-shaped wild berry that is believed to have medicinal values. I tried both and liked them all. The wasabi bar was spicy, playful and fun to eat. Goji bar had this nice sweetness, and soft fruity flavor.

Amano is well recognized as one of the best brands of chocolates. Amano keeps its classic tradition, but is flexible with new trends. Its colorful animal shaped chocolates are very beautiful.

Amano's honey truffle was made with Sidr honey from Yemen that costs $85 per pound. Sidr honey is made from bees who only feed on the nectar of the Sidr trees, that are indigenous to Yemen. Sidr honey is the rarest and most expensive honey in the world because of its exquisite taste and medicinal properties, it is even known as an aphrodisiac. The truffle had a velvety texture, a subtle honey flavor and not very sweet. Unlike other fancy chocolates, Amanos honey truffle is "simple and elegant".

Amano's 70% dark chocolate from the Dominican Republic was absolutely delicious. It had a strong fruity, smoky flavor, and a little acidic. Interestingly, a friend tasted a little tobacco that I did not detect.

There is something unique about Amano that is indescribable. It might be their incredible smoothness and silky aftertaste, balanced flavors, or most probably the whole combination.

Another chocolatier that is worth mentioning is "toffee talk" chocolate. Their toffee is the best I have ever had. It had a soft and creamy layer, then a layer of crunch toffee,topped with dark chocolate and crushed nuts. What distinguished them from others was that the toffee was easy to bite into. It was not hard and did not stick to your teeth. It had a nice chocolate aroma and a strong almond flavor, sweet, but not cloying. I usually avoid toffee but eating "toffee talk" toffee was a true treat.

The Salon was a great experience for chocolate lovers.After spending almost all day there, you might bea little frustrated for not beingphysically able to eat chocolates all day long. Next time, be prepared to fully indulge yourself like the realchocolate salon goersin the picture below.

Absence of chocolate is just not happening, just my absence while making some real transitions in my life, mostly that of moving part-time to Ecuador related not to cacao, but coffee....and cacao.

Now that may seem strange as a combination, but I have long had a passion for coffee and have developed one for dark chocolate as well, knowing the health benefits offered from this incredible food. So following my heart back to Ecuador, fully immersed in coffee, cacao trees are in many cases used as shade for coffee trees. This is also a way to diversify crops and sources of income.

So, as I move forward and eventually secure my own small coffee plantation, cacao trees will be in place even before the coffee trees! There will also be banana trees and likely papaya, as it grows virtually wild in the area where I will be located in Southern Ecuador.

Current plans include a potential trip to visit Kallari Organic Chocolates, one of the Organic dark chocolate manufacturers in Ecuador this summer, of which there are several, and get an up close and personal experience of just how it's done. I will be potentially be meeting up with Roxanne Browning to visit both the factory and plantation in June. It should be a great experience, at least for me!

So interesting things lie ahead with cacao! I should be making some additional posts here on my visit, assuming all goes well and I don't "fall in a vat of chocolate!" :D

My newest Sweet Paradise Chocolatier chocolate boutique is soft opening May 1st at the Wailea Gateway Center in Wailea, Maui. The official "Grand Opening" will be June 16th. This has been a 9 month process to get permits and open a store here and it doesn't even have a kitchen! Talk about island time. The store features my own truffle/confection collection focused on Tropical flavors but also bars from various Hawaii chocolate-makers- Original Hawaiian, Malie Kai, Waialua Estate, Madre Chocolate, Garden Isle Chocolate and other bars from around the world. We also carry Tropical Dreams ice cream and sorbets. I will post some pictures next week when our indoor cacao tree is "leafed out" and we can actually put some product in the store.

If you are visiting Maui, please stop in and say hello!