http://chocolatenews.org Exploring the world of artisan chocolate Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:34:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Taza Chocolate is a new American bean-to-bar chocolate company that has brought an unusual approach to chocolate-making. Their new, limited edition Chiapas 75% chocolate bar is made from beans from Chiapas, in southern Mexico. It has great earthy-nutty-nutshelly notes and some fruit and spice to boot. The ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/08/13/uno-mas-de-mexicbar-o/ For the last month or so we have offered a class on the making of salted caramels at The Meadow.  Our friend and master confectioner David Briggs of at Xocolatl de David led us through the various stages of caramelization and saltiness. Below is the Ultimate Salted Caramel Recipe as perfected ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/07/30/the-ultimate-salted-caramel-recipe/ Butter, margarine, confectioners sugar, heavy cream, evaporated milk, condensed milk, brandy, vanilla extract. What do all these things have to do with chocolate? Why not add Eye of Newt to the mixture? Fondue recipes proliferate. Many are unduly fancy. Some are simply mired in preconceived notions about ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/05/11/very-dark-and-nibby-chocolate-fondue/ Der Spiegel, the popular German magazine and website, has published a great story based on a visit to Claudio Corallo at his plantation on Sao Tome and Principe. The story communicates pretty nicely the general impression one gets that Corallo harbors little love for the chocolate industry in general, ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/02/28/claudio-corallo-featured-in-der-spiegel/ After an examination by a committee of experts of the London Academy of Chocolate, Amedei (Tuscany, Italy) has won the Golden Bean award for "the best bean to bar chocolate in the world." That has a nice ring to it. Once someone told me my Cassoulet de Castelnaudary ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/02/22/amedei-takes-the-golden-bean-best-bean-to-bar-award/ Bacon and Chocolate. To explore the latest Vosges entry, Mo's Bacon Bar, my mind drifts, my soul swells, nostalgia and the unrequited passions of my youth swim in the deep glittery motes of my doe-like eyes. "Love, sweet love." These most beautiful words, the plaintiff yet serene ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/02/02/vosges-mos-bacon-chocolate-bar/ I have it from a friend that the famed, fiery, and furious Blacksal Salted Chocolate Bar by Domori has been discontinued! Blacksal, long a favorite of mine, combined a Ecuadorian 75% dark chocolate with pink Andean salt also from Ecuador. The result is a big bang of tobacco ... http://chocolatenews.org/2008/01/24/domori-blacksal-killed-by-the-machine/ There is so much to say about the combination of salt and chocolate that I will just stare, paralyzed, at the computer screen for three hours of insect brain-deadness... Salt and dark chocolate, salt and milk chocolate, salted chocolate, chocolated salt (I actually do have both). But as with everything ... http://chocolatenews.org/2007/12/16/salted-chocolate/ If there is one go-to chocolate bar in our entire store, it is the Valrhona 2002 Chuao dark chocolate bar. Looking for something delicate? Try Valrhona's Chuao Bar from 2002. Looking for something with perfect, silky body? Try Valrhona's 2002 cru bar from the Chuao valley in Venezuela. In the mood ... http://chocolatenews.org/2007/10/30/valrhona-2002-chuao-chocolate-bar/ Question: What looks like a chocolate bar, has the same mouthfeel as a chocolate bar, and satisfies many of the same senses as a chocolate bar, but is not a chocolate bar? Answer: A coffee bar. Caffe Acapella has created a bar replacing chocolate solids with coffee solids. Or to be ... http://chocolatenews.org/2007/10/23/caffe-acapella-coffee-bars/