Blogs

It is an honor for us to be the 5th "portrait head " of the site Macarons et Gourmandises , n 1 french online media dedicated to the top pastry and chocolate . Included in this section with great pastry as Pierre Herm , Christophe Michalak , Patrick Roger and Stephane Glacier, is a real pride for us.

Hey Chocolate-lovers !

Our Paris year's 30-concept is all about chocolate and the bohemian art of living in Paris around 1935..

The moment you enter our chocolaterie, it's like you enter the movie "Chocolat".

As we are famous for our nice collection of Absinth too, we decided to let a top-chocolatier of our hometown (who was at the world-expo in Shangai as a chocolate-ambassador for Belgium !!) make a unique praline (the super and typical, small Belgian chocolates you know).

The Absinth -praline is born and oh my God.. it's great and addictive to chocolate-lovers !!

If you want to stay inour wonderful "time-machine"... that's possible.. we are a Bed and Breakfast too !!

Three different theme-rooms will give you the perfect holiday-feeling.

AND... we can arrange a "Discover Belgium Arrangement" !!

We can give you inside-information of all our beautiful old cities packed with history.

They are all at maximum 1 hour drive. If you book for 4 persons, we will drive you to Gent, Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges and pick you up in the evening after a full day of super experiences..

Look for more info : www.bonbonjournuit.be (sorry, for now only in Dutch) or send me a mail with questions (sorry, for now only in poor English LOL)

HOPE TO HAVE YOU AS OUR GUESTS... AND COME AND TASTE ALL OF THE CHOCOLATES HERE !
Shipping them towards you is also possible.

Nice "Bon-Bon" greetings

Chris and Brenda

With 98 degree temps, and humidity levels up to 90% outside, I am have difficulties pouring chocolates.

With the AC running at 65 & dehumidifier running - I can only obtain a 70 degree temp & 49% humidity level. When I pour my chocolates, I set them in the frig for 10 min & pop out and let sit on the counter for about 15 minutes before removing from the molds. Having major issues with larger bars - swirly light areas. Would this situation be resolved with a Hilliard Cooling Cabinet - the one for setting chocolate - about 36" wide by 40" tall with slots for 6 trays ($2500). Help! I use a counter top tempering machine (Chocovision Revolation)X3210 I am pouring 3 oz bars. (rectangle shapped from Tomric - custom design)

I just got back from the Big Island in Hawaii, visited with a few farmers and chocoalte makers, while our chefs did three pastry and chocolate demos in Maui, Kona, and Honolulu. What a great experience, and what a motivation for me to get to know more about the growing, fermenting, and drying of not just cacao beans, but also the amazing and creative means people have of making their own chocolate. I have seen many huge production factories all over the world, but never have I experienced true chocolate making like I did in a few hours with my new freind Sharky near Hilo. Now my hunt must continue, to find more Sharky's around the world, and find a selection of say 10 of the most exotic top quality beans so I can fulfill my dream of producing the best possible chocolate possible, here in Southern California. Anyone knowing where I can find and experience some of the best beans on the planet, please let me know, and I will keep you up to date on my progress in sourcing the most advanced equipment that will enable me to make, from a mechanical standpoint, the very best chocolate

Hello, fellow chocolate lovers and all those reading The Chocolate Life!

I am relatively new to the world of chocolate and would appreciate any advice you were willing to give me.

May I please ask a favor?

I am looking for a contract chocolate manufacturer in either the US or Colombia who can produce 85 % plus cocoa, gluten-free and allergen-free batches (certified).

Can anyone suggest someone?

Thank you!

Regards,

James Swanwick

james at jamesswanwick.com

The world is supposed to end today and I have no idea what to fix for supper, much less who to invite. The prospect of having to prepare my last meal on earth is entirely too overwhelming. All I can say is, just about the time Doomsday hits, no matter how grand the plans or big the roast Ive marinated, I just know Im going to decide that wed might as well order pizza. Making chocolates is pretty much like that. I sketch out half a dozen varieties in my head that I know I can whip out in an afternoon, and by the time the ganaches are made and the first couple of pounds of chocolate are tempered, I realize I need a bigger kitchen and another day to get it all done.

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

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!