This week I went to Borders, one of my favorite book stores in New York City, close to Madison Square Garden. I was so impressed with the amount of chocolate books they have. They are really expensive, but you get your money’s worth with all those delicious chocolate recipes and photos. In fact, I spent a lot of time there having fun and collecting some material that I would like to share with you.
A Year in Chocolate – 80 recipes for holidays and special occasions, by Jacques Torres, was one of the books that most called my attention. Do you see the illustrations on the cover? Pay attention to what is suggested:
The world-renowned pastry chef and chocolatier, Jacques Torres, presents us with a calendar’s worth of treats sure to make every celebration of the year more luciously enjoyable. All the holiday classics are in the book. Valentine’s Day bonbons, a molded chocolate Easter Bunny, ice cream sundaes for the Fourth of July and chocolate Caramel Corn for Halloween.
Adapting all his recipes for the home cook, Jacques Torres showcases his favorite chocolate creations – from traditional French pastry to classic American treats.
With 150 ecstasy-inducing photos of the finished dishes, A Year in Chocolate is the chocolate cookbook that has to be on your kitchen table. If you are a professional chocolatier or a chocolate seller, this book is also a good source of inspiration to find creative ways to promote chocolate recipes according to the seasonal sales.
Making Artisan Chocolates, by Garrison Shotts, includes more than 40 recipes for chocolates, truffles, and confections using spices, vegetables, fruits and herbs for flavor. It also features tried-and-true culinary tips, techniques and methods for homemade confections every time.
Today’s chocolates have gone upscale, mixing flavors such as chili peppers, caramel or wasabi with high-quality bittersweet or imported chocolate. But creating such mouth-watering confections no longer requires a cooking degree and Making Artisan Chocolateswill teach you all the inside tips, techniques and methods for making designer-quality chocolates at home. Once only available to pastry chefs, the techniques shown in the book will help you create chocolate to rival those found in upscale retail stores and chocolate shops.
Forget milk chocolate candy bars – the recipes in this book combine daring and unusual flavors to create truly unique culinary creations using ingredients such as vanilla beans, mint and fresh raspberries.
Doing research on the company history of The Chocolate Line, a store that I visited in September this year on a trip to Belgium –I have already commented about The Chocolate Line on a previous post – I discovered a very curious thing:
According to the chocolatier, sniffing cocoa helps enhance the pleasure of the chocolate experience. You can get the “Chocolate Shooter” experience with cocoa and raspberry or ginger and mint, for example.
Tony Hawks and Dominique in front of The Chocolate Line in Bruges
Tony Hawks, the famous British comedian and author, visits recently The Chocolate Line store and shared a video showing his interview with Dominique, the inventor of the “Chocolate Shooter“. Dominique says the idea came from when he was asked to prepare desserts for a party that some of the Rolling Stones would be attending. Then, he began to consider the concept of sniffing cocoa.
During the interview, Dominique holds his patented device below Tony Hawks nostrils and instructs him to breathe in on the count of three, at which point he will catapult chocolate powder.
If you get the chance to visit Bruges – one of the most famous medieval cities in Belgium – take a walk down the Steen Street to the Markt – a great square and one of the liveliest places in Bruges. When you arrive at the corner of the Simon Stevinplein Street stop by The Chocolate Line store.
The Chocolate Line front store in Bruges, Belgium
On my trip there in September, I saw many people gathered in front of the store and I decided to get there. When I arrived in front of the The Chocolate Line’s show window and I noticed people were having so much fun watching a fancy family of Penguins.
The Penguins, made of styrofoam, were holding in their beaks little pieces of chocolate molded into different shapes: sea-shells, fishes, sea-stars and whatever other shape imitating sea-animals. It is an awesome idea, isn’t it?
The Penguin Family made by styrofoam
In fact, it is a creative strategy to attract more customers. Do you see in the picture how many people are interested in seeing the Penguin Family? The next stop, for sure, was to get into the store to buy all those wonderful and delicious chocolates of The Chocolate Line. I went in also to investigate and buy some chocolate and I was so impressed with the variety of shapes and unusual flavours of chocolates.
Every flavour imaginable was represented in some way, even wasabi. I particularly loved the cinnamon one, but they also have lemongrass, chili with meant, garlic confit in the olive oil with Mexican coffee, basil mango, guacamole and a range of ingredients which I would never have imagined going on chocolates. You must to go to The Chocolate Line in Bruges and taste them!
I just checked out The Chocolate Line website to see if I can buy any chocolate online and unfortunately not. I will definitely go back to Bruges to get more chocolate from this store.
Have you already tasted the delicious organic chocolate experience recently created by Navitas Naturals? If not, what are you waiting for?
All you need is hot water to melt the cocoa butter, a candy mold or ice-cube tray in which to pour the melted chocolate and mix-ingredients, and a freezer to quick-set your finished product.
Organic Superfood Chocolate Kit by Navitas Naturals
Nothing tastes as good as homemade . . . anything… and chocolate is certainly no exception. By using this kit, it’s easy to create these gourmet of pure homemade chocolates. Choose from three recipes: Goldenberry, Cacao Nib and Goji Berry.
You may have heard that chocolate can actually be good for you and this chocolate kit doesn’t make just any ordinary chocolate. Every ingredient provided in these kits is a Navitas Naturals organic and raw superfood: including premium cacao, maca, lucuma, mesquite, and superberries. These are immensely powerful foods: packed with free-radical fighting antioxidants, dense with minerals and vitamins, and overflowing with phytonutrients. The result is chocolate in its most potent form: a sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, and truly energy-charged treat.
Come and enjoy 3 days of chocolate tasting, lectures & presentations
If you are passionate about chocolate, make sure you schedule at least one day at The 11th Annual Chocolate Show in New York City. Or, if you live a real “chocolate life” and need to discover new recipes, best suppliers, top ideas and marketing strategies for your business, you should spend all three days going through more than 40,000 square feet devoted to chocolate.
The Chocolate Show 2008. I took a picture of the entrance visiting the show last year.
Visitors to the show will have the opportunity to sample prestigious American and International chocolates and attend more than 50 demonstrations given by top pastry chefs and chocolatiers. Chefs and authors will be on hand to sign their cookbooks. Some books will be for sale at the show.
According to the organizers of The Chocolate Show, this year’s new features include:
The Chocolate Beauty Pavilion, a showcase of chocolate within the beauty industry and its wide variety of uses.
Kid Zone, an area devoted to young chocolate lovers and their parents, with fun, creative and educational activities related to chocolate.
The Chocolate Show is part of a worldwide festival for the public produced by Event International, and event producers Sylvie Douce and François Jeantet. You can “follow the chocolate” all around the world. Other shows include:
If you can afford a trip to Belgium – home of the most famous and delicious chocolate of the world – I would recommend a visit to the Cocoa and Chocolate Museum – in Brussels – a must-visit venue for fans of chocolate!
Front of the Cocoa and Chocolate Museum at Rue de La Tête D'or, in Brussels, Belgium.
The Cocoa and Chocolate Museum, located in Brussels, just around the corner from the main market square in the Grand Place, tells the story of chocolate from its discovery by the Aztecs, its development of African cocoa bean plantations to the invention of the Belgian pralines.
Upon entering, visitors receive a Speculoo cookie dipped in fresh Belgian chocolate to savor as they take in chocolate-making machines, videos, and posters. Displayed in glass cases, there are some samples of chocolate molds in a variety of shapes and sizes including: Saint Nicholas, fishes, waffles, seashells, turtle shells, bunnies and chickens. In the same section, there is a 100-year-old almond broiler and a centrifuge machine for sugar created in 1910.
One of the most exciting attractions at the Museum is the live presentation by a master Belgium chocolatier who demonstrates, from scratch, how to prepare the famous Belgian pralines and truffles. He spoke about the importance of how to work with chocolate at the correct temperature to guarantee bright appearance and better consistency:
dark chocolate: between 87.8 to 89.6 (farenheit degrees)
milk chocolate: roughly 86
white chocolate: about 82.4
At the end of the session, some delicious chocolate samples, prepared with Callebaut Brand – one of the most famous Belgian Chocolates – were offered to the visitors.
With Mr. Snackers, the chocolatier, after a live chocolate presentation. He recommends to work with Callebaut Chocolate Brand.
On the second floor, visitors can find a continuation of the chocolate story with more posters, artifacts – including chocolate molds dedicated to the Belgian Royal family –some videos and an old canoe used by Island natives on their cocoa bean harvesting missions. “In my opinion, this could possibly be a good object to inspire decorations of chocolate stores!”
Although the Cocoa and Chocolate Museum could be updated, it is placed in a perfect location of a quaint and historical Brussels. Visitors who are chocolate fans or entrepreneurs will find it a good source of inspiration to rearrange or improve their business in terms of decoraction, molds and other old-fashion things that are related to the chocolate’s history. “It worth a visit. Get inspired”.
