Chocolate Week: 1st event: Damien Allsop and Seventypercent

Some of the bars we tried:


My chocolate high is only just beginning to fade... It's good though because I've been really productive since I got home. I was even productive on the tube on the way home!

It was a fabulous night. Damien gives such great talks about the science behind chocolate. Here is him making a ganache for us:



I learnt the very useful fact that when chocolate appears to seize it just needs more of whatever liquid you are adding to it! And I learnt - by comparison - that a chocolate ganache made with water is MUCH nicer than one made with cream. Oh and I learnt that I REALLY want a foam maker. The silver canister-thing that uses little gas cylinders to produce instant food foam (or instant chocolate mousse equivalent).
This is a picture of the water-based chocolate foam:



Here's my tasting plate. I like to try a little bit of each and save part of the piece so I can compare along the way (because the plate fills up one piece at a time):




Damien also told us a little about his current pet project: adventures with an olive oil ganache, which we got to try with a fifteen year-old balsamic vinegar. I love the balsamic and chocolate but I'm personally not overly fussed about the olive oil. Especially after having the water-based ganaches which are so much lighter. Apparently the size of the microns of fats are larger than those of your tastebuds so fats tend to coat your tastebuds thus impeding your taster to some degree (as well as adding texture/"mouth feel".



Gosh, I really need to sleep. I'm off to a preview of Stardust tomorrow night (non-chocolatey).

Oh, I've finalised more details for Saturday. There's only four tickets left now though! If you want one of them go to www.chocolateecstasytours.com/luxury.htm.

Sweet chocolate dreams...

Chocolate Week has started!

Hooray! It's finally here. In some ways it started for me on Saturday with one of the regular tours - we managed to squeeze 14 people on this one! I did my best to limit my choc consumption on this one, knowing the week that lies ahead. I'm not actually going to be able to go along to too much as I have a full schedule in my day job this week and I have to prepare for my own event on Saturday: the Full Day Chocolate Ecstasy Tour. (If you haven't bought a ticket yet there are just a few left! Click on the previous link to buy now.)

I am planning on popping in to Seventypercent's event with Damien Allsop tomorrow night on origin chocolates. My chance to input into a new creation? I couldn't miss that one!

If you want help choosing what to attend this week (there's so much on the website!) drop me an email through my website, or post to this blog!

I'll post a review of what I do get along to.

Have a delicious week!

PS. Newsletter readers: I will post the pics of my chocolate fondant tonight, I've had computer issues this week!

John Scharffenberger - an American pioneer of chocolate

Last night I was invited to a talk by one of the co-founders of Scharffen Berger, the US chocolate company, Mr Scharfenberger himself. Cloistered in a basement room in a Mayfair members' club a group of around ten chocolate obsessives listened as John gave us a history of his own career and Scharffen Berger chocolates, and the complete biography of cacao. Rather than being a patisserie chef, as most of the people who start their own chocolate shops are, Scharffenberger was an agricultural historian, and then a successful sparkling wine maker (Scharffenberger cellars is now owned by Maisons Marques & Domaines).

We tried the "candy bar" brands, the ones sold in most supermarkets. Still real chocolate, but the 70% was a bit rough and woody, according to John this was because there were too many Ghana beans in the mix, and not enough Venezualan. In Venezuela right now the political situation is such that no one can get cacao beans from there except Domori. Sadly, political unrest and poverty affects so many countries that grow cacao. John also brought along a few of the artisan bars for us to sample, including a delicious bar solely from Trinidad and Tobago that had a hint of black cherry to it. In Trinidad and Tobago the reverse is true, where people are choosing not to farm cacao because industry is so great there they can get paid better in other jobs. Scharffen Berger have been making efforts to make it more worthwhile for them, so we get to keep eating chocolate made from their delicious beans.

One of the most interesting bars he brought along was a virtually unconched bar. It was very grainy, sugar crystals and bits of cacao nibs, crunchy and fun like a "candy bar" as I would refer to them - chocolate with extra bits. Keeping the ingredients in more of their natural form means added antioxidant benefits for all of us.

The guests were rather a who's who of the chocolate world in London, which makes sense because it was hosted by the Academy of Chocolate, whose mission is to support and encourage the creation and consumption of fine chocolate. There were obviously many missing, the chocolate world is expanding fast here in London, it's fun to get together with its constituents and discuss (and eat) the good stuff from time to time. Damien Allsop brought along some of his divine ganaches. His USP is that he makes his ganaches without cream. They are water based, though one he brought along was from a fine vintage olive oil, "plant to press in 8 hours". He topped the enrobing on one side with a pinch of maldon sea salt and indented the 2nd bite to hold a small drop of balsamic vinegar. These ones are sold in three restaurants in the UK, the waiter joins you at the table to pour the balsamic, quite an experience. I enjoyed the fuss of this one, though my two favourites of those he brought along were a milk anise with a pear jelly layer, and the pure ganache he made from Bill McCarrick's couverture created here in the UK. Bill, of Sir Hans Sloane Chocolates, is one of only two UK companies to make their own couverture from "scratch". I've been invited to go and visit his studio in a few weeks time - I can't wait!