This past weekend, Dan, Eric, Angie and I trekked (in the car, that is) two and a half hours to the Berkshires of Massachusetts to make a day out of two stops (three if you count McDonalds on the way - which is a road trip staple, in my opinion): The first was the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. The second was Chocolate Springs in Lenox.

Chocolate Springs is an artisan chocolatier that I discovered a few years ago (in Boston you can get their chocolates at Formaggio Kitchen). This past Saturday was the first time I visited their chocolate cafe. The beautiful cafe (which is also where they make their chocolate confections) offers countless varieties of handmade truffles that range from classic to quite curious, pure chocolate bars and chocolate dipped goodies , lovely cakes and confections, truffle and nougat bars, mini chocolate sculptures, the ideal hot chocolate, and other chocolate treats too numerous to name. And it's a cafe, so that means that there are tables where you can sit with your friends. And we did, for around 2 hours.


Chocolate tasting with good people is, without a doubt, the very delicious reason that I got so into chocolate in the first place. Here's a great idea for a fun afternoon for four friends:

• Go to the nearest chocolate boutique that offers table seating
  
• Select 10 chocolates (to start) and grab a bottle of water for each of you
  
• Cut each truffle or chocolate into 4 pieces
  
• Taste each chocolate as a group and have a fabulous, magical afternoon
  
• And then get a light dinner somewhere after (Optional, but highly recommended)
  

Creme Brulee: A white chocolate ganache sprinkled with flakes of burnt sugar and dipped in dark chocolate. Wonderful texture, at once smooth and creamy and a tiny bit crunchy sweet.

Rose Tea: A black tea truffle. The tannins from the tea leaves come through in a very interesting way in this tea truffle (as well as other tea truffles that we tried), leaving that sensation on your palette that you have when you've just had a cup of tea.

Venus: This milk chocolate ganache with a touch of rum was an all around favorite. On a side note, we all noticed that this truffle looks somewhat... female. And then Joshua told me that truffle is, indeed, a nipple-inspired design, hence the name Venus (originally "Venus' Nipple").

Mint: Oh fresh mint leaves. Why are you not utilized in more desserts? (Garnish doesn't count.) This truffle was so fresh and delicious. Another instant favorite.

Jas-tea-sia: This was the one that blew us all away. They didn't have any Jas-tea-sia truffles left, so we would not have had the chance to experience this chocolate miracle if Joshua had not popped by our table offering a tiny vessel of freshly made Jasmine tea ganache and 4 spoons. Utterly fascinating. The tannins came through alongside all of the subtleties of gentle, complex Jasmine green tea.

A few more pics from our daytrip on are on flickr.

So I realize that I'm falling a little behind on my posts for Hot Chocolate Fortnight at The Tasty Show. That said, I've decided to extend my deadline. This 'fortnight' will now last through the end of the month and is thus renamed Hot Chocolate Month at The Tasty Show.

Hot Cocoa at Athan's
Moving right along, my friend Jon and I went to Athan's European Bakery in Brookline to check out their hot chocolate. First let me say that Athan's is hands down one of my favorite pastry shops in the city. Their goods are European-style and the owners are Greek, so we've got fruit tarts, classic orange pound cakes, French-style mousse tortes, individual tiramisus, napoleons, and panna cottas alongside a wide array of baklavas, shortbread biscuits, and chocolates.

That said, I had high expectations for the hot chocolate. Probably too high. Athan's offers a hot cocoa (rather than hot chocolate) that is quite sweet, with more of an overall sugary sensation that real cocoa flavor. Jon said that it reminded him of Swiss Miss, and I have to agree that it was kind of instant-y. The hot cocoa at Athan's is made of dutch processed cocoa, dried skim milk, cornstarch, confectioners sugar, and Callebaut milk chocolate. I'm surprised by the use of milk chocolate - I wonder if it would be more up my alley if it was dark? Either way, I'm probably going to stick with the solid sweets at Athans, rather than the liquid ones.

We did, however, ask a lovely Athan's barista for suggestions on what treats to enjoy alongside our cuppa cocoa. She directed us to a bunch of little cubbies that held all different kinds of shortbread-type cookies, which she called biscuits. We tried all sorts of delicious ones and they do, indeed, pair extremely well. Similarly to the brioche that we had with the hot chocolate at Flour, these biscuits were simple and not extremely sweet. And they are dry and crumbly and a little crunchy in a really awesome, satisfying way, particularly when enjoyed with hot chocolate. We tried an almond flavor, a coconut cherry pistachio, and a mustokouloura, which is made with grape molasses and sesame.

Conclusion [regarding hot chocolate + dessert pairing]
Shortbread! Rich, buttery, but not overly sweet shortbread. Delicious with hot chocolate! Not everyone can pop over and pick up some of Athan's delicious shortbread-like biscuits, but shortbread is available everywhere in one form or another and pairs beautifully.

I ate a lot of cupcakes on Sunday. Thankfully, Dan was there to help. We stopped by Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square and tried the following cupcakes:

Chocolate Stout: These little cuties are made with chocolate cake filled with a chocolate stout ganache that's made with Callebaut bittersweet chocolate and Rogue Chocolate Stout. The cupcakes are topped with chocolate stout butter cream frosting and crushed pretzels. And in honor of the Pats, each one sports a little Patriots ornament.

In light of my recent obsession with chocolate and beer, I was pretty excited by this cupcake option. I'm still utterly convinced that the many delicious brews available are vastly under-utilized as both accompaniments to dessert and ingredients therein. The only other beer-themed dessert I can think off of the top of my head is a really delicious Guinness ice cream that Toscanini's makes. (And anyone hear that Toscanini's may have to close its doors soon?!)

That said, the answer is yes, I'd certainly recommend trying the Kickass Cupcakes' chocolate stout cupcake.

Deep Fried Cupcake: I've never had much desire to attend Red Bones' fried food fest, but I am now considering being interested. Did you know that deep fried things are delicious? I feel like everyone but me already knew that. The Deep Fried Cupcake is a classic vanilla cupcake filled with a little bit of sweet cream, then dipped in a sweet batter, deep fried, placed in a paper cone, and drizzled with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. (See Dan marveling below.) It was kind of insane, and very messy. Quite the experience.

Those are the ones we ate in the store. We then ate two more cupcakes in the car while drinking milk from a thick glass bottle. It was totally sweet.

If I was slightly more awesome than I am, I'd always post about things right after they happen. Sadly, that's not the case. You can only be as awesome as you already are. That's my excuse for not posting about this awesome chocobeer party I had like a month ago, like, a month ago.

Anyway, according to yours truly as quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times (also, of course, several weeks ago), all you need to have a chocolate and beer pairing are the chocolate, the beer, "a small bouquet of flowers, and napkins." A bizarre quote indeed. And also according to me in the article, these 4 items will entertain a group of 2 or 20.

That said, I pulled together most of the above items (minus the bouquet of flowers) to host a chocobeer party at the office of my friends/clients at Street Attack in Boston. And we had around 20 people or so, so I guess I was right. There were 6 different kinds of chocolate and 7 different kinds of beer. I paired each chocolate with a different beer - some pairings were based on past tastings, others were being tested out for the very first time. I stuck with Belgium for all, and featured Cote d'Or chocolate and several Belgian beers (and one Belgian-style that's made in the US):

Ommegang + Cote d'Or Milk: Ommegang is the Belgian-style beer that's made in the US. I've talked about this pairing a lot before. It's not new, but it's so good that I incorporate it to my chocobeer tastings as often as possible. The combination is just incredibly complementary. The sweetness of the beer connects with the warmth and caramel flavor of the chocolate. Ommegang makes an excellent beer pairing with sweet milk chocolates in general.

Westmalle Tripel + Cote d'Or Lait Intense: This was something of a non-pairing. The beer and chocolate didn't really clash, but didn't complement each other in any way either. It's almost like they were ignoring each other. I wouldn't recommend this pairing at all. Totally boring. Separately though, they're each quite delicious. The problem when you put them together is that the Trippel is too light and tart to meet the chocolate halfway. One taster mentioned that the Trippel has some floral qualities that would pair well with an Earl Grey-infused dark chocolate. Interesting idea. I haven't tried it.

Westmalle Dubbel + Cote d'Or 54%: The Dubbel, with a lower alcohol content than the Tripel, has a heavier mouthfeel and sweeter flavor. It's flavor is deep and soft. It was an awesome pairing with the 54%. The two mellowed each other out. The pairing was smooth and pleasing.

Rochefort 6 + Cote d'Or 70%: Another Trappist ale with a similar alcohol content to the Dubbel (around 7.5 ABV), the Rochefort 6's flavor profile did not mesh with the dark chocolate we tried it with. The beer was spicy and tasted a bit like root beer. The pairing was bizarre and random. One taster pointed out that it would be a fabulous pairing with white chocolate. I could definitely see that. It'd be like a rootbeer float. But here's the thing, a few tasters really liked this pairing. They felt that the beer mellowed out the bitterness of the chocolate - I was totally shocked, but it just goes to show that everyone's tastebuds are different.

Lindemans Raspberry Lambic + Cote d'Or 86%: I've talked about this awesome pairing so many times that I'm completely sick of writing about it. See an indepth description of what this pairing is like in this previous post. A big hit at the party, that's for sure!

Delirium Tremens + Cote d'Or Orange: I chose this pairing because the Delirium has an orange, piney taste to it that I hoped the orange bar would connect with and potentially mellow out a bit. Overall it was an excellent pairing. The beer, which has quite a bite to it, softened when it was combined with the chocolate. The orange came through both the beer and the chocolate beautifully. Deliriously delicious!

Overall, the Ommegang and Dubbel pairings are my top picks. And I continue to be convinced that mixing good chocolate and tasty alcohol is one sweet way to make friends. Check out a few more photos on flickr.

ps. I created the super cool stylized pic at the top of this post on befunky.

Yesterday I had the following unopened bars sitting on my desk in my office:

• Vosges Mo's Bacon Bar
  
• A selection of 5 of Soma Chocolatier's Micro-batch Single Origin Bars
  
• Taza's Chocolate Mexicano (not really a bar, and this one's actually half eaten)
  
• Scharffen Berger's Bittersweet 70%
  

I've been thinking about mood-matching chocolate a lot lately. Here's a list of 5 excellent pure chocolates that cater to 5 very different moods:

• If you're feeling edgy or impatient: Scharffen Berger's 70% - a burst a sweetness and deep chocolate comes through asap for instant gratification.


• If you're feeling reflective: Valrhona's 70% Guanaja - this bar has a deep aroma that moves into a long, interesting flavor experience with an equally long finish (aftertaste), leaving you lots to think about.


• If you're feeling sexy: Valrhona's 66% Caraibe - this bar is ultra-velvety smooth, mildly fruity, and will coat your palette with sensual deliciousness.


• If you're feeling mellow: El Rey Dark 58.5% - this bar is well-balanced and an all-around crowd pleaser - there aren't many ups and downs in this bar's flavor profile, it's pretty much smooth-sailing from beginning to end.


• If you're feeling angry: El Rey Milk 41% - this sweet, buttery, caramel-y bar always makes me smile.

This past Saturday, me and Dan met up with my friend Jeff and one of his friends at a Fluff festival, and then bumped into our friends Eric and Angie, who bumped into a friend of theirs, and then Jeff and his friend saw two of their friends, and we all ended up at the bar next door eating gourmet Fluffer Nutters (which I'll probably post about later).

Coincidentally, Jeff also brought me some chocolates that he got in Australia made by a company called Haighs.

So there I was in a bar with a pretty random group of people with a box of chocolates in my bag. Dan suggested that we open it up and try some. It was kind of sad though, because we came up with that great idea right after my friend Jeff left - my friend Jeff who actually gave me the chocolates. So he didn't get to have any, but a bunch of his friends did. We hung out in the back corner of the bar and tried 4 or 5 odd-tasting filled bon bon-type Australian chocolates.

The chocolates featured 3 native Australian flavors: Quandong, a desert fruit that was present as a dried fruit paste in one of the chocolates. It was sweet, kind of like a combination of dates and dried apricot. The wattle seed chocolate was sticky, kind of like toffee with a little bit of nuttiness maybe. It had a "w" on it for "wattle" (see pic above). And another chocolate we tried was called "Lemon Myrtle." Lemon myrtle is a bushy rainforest tree that produces flowers that have a lemon limey flavor. And the Lemon Myrtle chocolate tasted just like that - lemony, limey, and floral. And super sweet. All of the chocolates were sweet and chewy-sticky. Curious, but not quite my style. What was good was the company. It was fun to pass the box around and have people taste the different chocolates and talk about them.

When I go out, I meet a lot of people who want to talk to me about chocolate and who want to be invited to my next chocolate party (that I have at my house every so often.) From my own experience, chocolate is a pretty sweet way to connect with people. That's one of my favorite things about it. This post on my friend Toby's blog inspired me to not only talk to strangers, but to invite them to taste some chocolate and then see how many new friends I can make that way. Coincidentally, I also met Toby in a bar. Though I did not have any chocolate with me at the time.

Here are a three points about why you should have a mini chocolate tasting in a bar with strangers. Note that these are all based on my personal experiences:

• You might get bored and need a conversation starter.


• Someone might give you a really big box of chocolates that you don't really want to eat all by yourself.


• Chocolate makes many people really happy.

In my last post, I outlined a pairing session in which we tested out the full range of Lindemans Lambic beers with 6 different Cote d'Or chocolates. The goal of the pairing session was to develop 3 'perfect' pairings to present at the All Candy Expo in Chicago (which was last week). Below are the 3 pairings that I decided on, along with in-depth tasting notes and a summary of reactions from the hundreds of people who tried them at the expo. In general, I have tasters go from light, sweeter chocolate to darker, more intense chocolate:

Lindemans Pomme (Apple) Lambic with Cote d'Or Lait Intense: The Lait Intense features a layer of dark (54%) chocolate encased in milk chocolate. The bar has notes of warm caramel that come through quickly. The sweet, light cider-like apple lambic has it's own gentle caramel nuance. Together, the caramel notes in both elements connect for an explosive 'caramel apple' combined flavor. Milk chocolate has a lower melting point than darker chocolate, and therefore the chocolate begins to coat your palette immediately; it's flavor and sweetness come through really quickly - you don't have to wait for anything, it's really instant gratification. This pairing was an ideal one to start with because it was instantly convincing to the many tasters who came by who had never imagined that chocolate and beer could be a good pairing. Also note that this pairing is the least subtle of the 3 that were being presented.

Lindemans Pomme Lambic with Cote d'Or Noir Orange: With this one, I chose to pair the same lambic we had in the first pairing with a different chocolate to demonstrate that a different chocolate will change the taste of the beer altogether. That said, most people who tried this second pairing were extremely surprised that the beer was the same one that they had just tried. When a particular chocolate and a particular beer are paired, they combine, interact, and change each other and become a single flavor experience. So rather than connect with the caramel warmth as the Lait Intense did, the Noir Orange, which is a 64% bar with candied orange peel, interacted with the bitter notes of the lambic and highlighted its tartness. The pairing was light, tart, extremely crisp, and quite summery.

Lindemans Framboise (Raspberry) with Cote d'Or Brut 86%: The raspberry lambic has a heavier mouthfeel and fuller body than the apple. The dark berry flavor of this lambic also has more depth, and can stand alongside an extremely dark chocolate such as the 86%. The 86% has a much slower melting process than the Noir Orange and (certainly) the Lait Intense. It needs something that will last alongside it with a flavor that will measure up and not be easily overpowered. The raspberry lambic at once softens the bitter notes of the 86% without covering up the cacao flavor. It also brings out some of the very subtle dark berry nuances that are inherent in the 86%. This pairing was velvety and rich.

Reactions: People's overall response to the pairings was (1) surprise at the concept that beer and chocolate could be paired together, (2) surprise at how caramel-apple like the first pairing is, and how quickly and clearly the tastes come through, (3) surprise at how different the very same beer tastes with a different chocolate in the second pairing, (4) surprise at how gentle yet deep the cacao flavor of the 86% is in light of the softening effect of the raspberry lambic. Since the expo was for buyers and retailers, many people asked how they might hold such a chocolate and beer tasting at their respective boutiques. A lot of people also commented that all of the beers in the pairing were quite sweet, asking if that's why the combinations were so complementary. My response to this is that in addition to the sweet lambics, dark, rich, and/or malty beers that have notes of molasses, honey, and/or caramel have great potential to make beautiful pairings. The beers that won't go so well are the light, tart ones.

And people's favorite pairing was split pretty evenly between the 3 pairings. Each person identified with the flavor set that best matched his or her style and preferences. Personally, my favorite pairing is the 3rd one.

A couple weeks ago I held a Cote d'Or and Lindemans Lambic pairing session with a bunch of friends to test out some ideas for my Cote d'Or presentation at the All Candy Expo, which was this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. In this post, I'm going to go through all of the pairings that we tried during the first pairing session. In my next post, I'll go through the final pairings that were presented at the Expo, more in-depth tasting notes, and so on.

A Lambic is a spontaneously fermented beer that can only be made southwest of Brussels in Belgium. As a matter of fact, it's one of the oldest styles of beer in the world. And by spontaneously fermented, I mean that within around a 20 mile radius in that region, there are wild yeast cultures in the air that descend upon the brew all by themselves. The yeast is never actually added, Lambic breweries pretty much just leave the windows open and things happen all on their own. As I learned this past Sunday while I was at 'beer school' in a bar in Chicago with Brian Van Zandbergen, an incredibly knowledgeable beer expert from Lindeman's importer, Merchant du Vin, Lambics are 60% wheat, 40% barley, and are made with "aged" (also known as stale) hops. Most of the Lambics that I tested out in our pairing session two weeks ago were fruit Lambics - such as apple, raspberry, and cherry - all quite sweet, though with varying levels of depth and body. Brian explained that Lindemans, one of a handful of Lambic producers in Belgium, adds their fruit (in puree form) after the fermentation process is complete, so that the sweetness of the fruit is preserved. Another Lambic producer that I tried a couple months back, Mort Subite, adds their fruit before the fermentation process, so you get more of the tartness and much less of the sweetness of the fruit. That said, overall, the Mort Subite line of Lambic beers does not make a very good pairing with chocolate, while the much sweeter Lindemans pairs extremely well. Tartness (in beer, wine, or other spirits) quite often goes sharply against the taste of chocolate.

Anyway, here's a brief rundown of what we tasted during the first pairing session. We were pairing the Lambics below with the Cote d'Or Lait, Lait Intense, Noir 54%, Noir 70%, Brut 86%, and Noir Orange:

Lindemans Pomme (Apple) Lambic: The general consensus with this one was that it paired very nicely with the Cote d'Or Lait Intense, a bar with a layer of dark chocolate encased in milk chocolate, and with the Cote d'Or Noir Orange, a 64% cacao bar infused with candied orange peel. It was not a good match with the darker chocolates, the 70% and the 86%; and it was ok (but not spectacular) with the 54%, and the Cote d'Or Lait.

Lindemans Peche (Peach) Lambic: This one was pretty good with several of the bars in the line, but not remarkable with any one of them. Almost everyone preferred this one with the Lait Intense layered bar, a couple of us liked the darker (70% and 86%) pairing, and a couple of us liked the Lait pairing. Looking at my notes today, it looks like no one really liked this Lambic with the 54%.

Lindemans Framboise (Raspberry) Lambic: This one was fabulous with the 86% (I'm familiar with that pairing from past sessions... and it was still just as good), and quite good with the 70% and medium good with the 54%. I thought it was horrible with the layered Lait Intense, but some people in the group liked that pairing, much to my surprise.

Lindemans Kriek (Cherry) Lambic: So, the Mort Subite Lambic I had a month ago that I mentioned above was also a cherry Lambic. It was incredibly tart and sour and made a 100% terrible pairing with the 86% bar I was hoping to pair it with at the time... so, having not yet been to beer school and not understanding the difference between different Lambic production processes, I thought that the Lindemans Cherry would be terrible as well.... but that wasn't the case at all! As a matter of fact, it was an all-around favorite. It went beautifully with practically everything in the Cote d'Or line, but the star pairing was with the Noir 54%.

Lindemans Cassis Lambic: This one went best with the 54%, but was too odd and tart for the lighter milk chocolates and went bitterly against the 86%. Not an ideal pairing either way.

Lindemans Cuvee Rene Grand Cru Gueuze Lambic: So this Lambic doesn't have any fruit added to it. Gueuze is a blend of one-year and two-year Lambics that then go through a second fermentation in the bottle. The taste is incredibly crisp and tart with notes of green grape skins and granny smith, which, while rather interesting all on its own, made a pretty terrible pairing with the chocolates we were trying. The only one that was somewhat tolerable was the Cote d'Or Lait. But 'tolerable pairings' weren't quite what we were going for.

Photographs of Lindemans Lambic Beers from Merchant Du Vin website.

I had the pleasure of having lunch with Larry, co-founder of Taza Chocolate last week. Taza Chocolate is a pure chocolate-maker based in Somerville, MA (which is the very same town I live in). They released their very first bar, a 70%, this past winter, and then followed shortly after with an 80%. So last week I was excited to learn that they are rounding out their line with a third bar, this one a 60%, which will be coming out within a couple weeks. Taza's chocolate bars are stone-ground using antique Mexican molinos (stone grinders). When I was at their chocolate studio a few months ago, the Taza guys explained that using a stone grinder (rather than a steel grinder, which is what most other chocolate-makers use) to process their cacao preserves more of the natural flavor of the bean. They have an online chocolate journal that has some pictures of the molino and explanations of exactly how their chocolate is made.

Taza 60% Stone Ground Organic Dark Chocolate: I have to admit that I shared this bar with all sorts of people and did not end up being able to taste a whole lot of it. But what I did manage to note was its earthiness and bold notes of raisin and spice. The Taza bars most certainly do not fall in the smooth and velvety category. The bars are minimally refined in order to keep the chocolate flavor as close to the natural form and flavor of raw cacao as possible. That said, the mouthfeel is quite textured and a little gritty; overall, a wholly different experience than other pure chocolates. I'll have more indepth tasting notes once the bar comes out.

So once the 60% bar is out, I'll post an update! In the meantime, you can get Taza Chocolate's other bars online or at one of these places.

I went over to the South End for brunch this past Sunday and happed to stop by two boutiques that have been on my places-I-need-to-stop-by list for a while now:

Olde Dutch Cottage Candy: A fascinatingly eclectic space full of antique wares and old school candy. It's all about the classics here - candy lipsticks, rock candy, every kind of gumdrop and taffy among glass jars of Mary Jane candies and Squirrel Nut Zippers (it was a caramel candy made in Massachusetts before it was a band from North Carolina...), and multi-colored candy corn line the crowded counters. Candy necklaces and stuffed animals hang from the ceiling, and the cramped floorspace is stocked with antique tea sets, layers upon layers of crystal dishes, stacks of silver trays, old books, posters, and framed mirrors, various chests and antique wooden furniture pieces. I found all the penny candies that I remember from when I was little - except for flying saucers... but there was so much to look at I might have just missed them. Next time I go in there, I'll have to ask.

Choco Choco House: I've always liked Choco Choco House ever since I discovered chocolatier/founder Aliya Wali's couture chocolate purses a few years ago. Late in Fall 2006, they opened a retail boutique in the South End where they've got chocolate handbags, chocolate shoes, truffles (pictured above), and other chocolate confections. Choco Choco House has always been into using really unique flavors - rose petals, curry powder, chili pepper, lavender, and champagne (no, not all in the same recipe), among classics like cognac and hazelnut. We tried two truffles:

Goat Cheese Truffle: Chocolate and goat cheese is a combination that I have done a lot of experimentation with. As unlikely as it sounds, the tanginess of fresh goat cheese can be a heady, rich complement to chocolate. Sometime I'll have to post my recipe for fig and goat cheese appetizers with chocolate balsamic vinaigrette. Anyway, the Choco Choco House goat cheese truffle sports just a bit of tang - nothing too overpowering. It flirts with your palette, giving you a subtle introduction to a potentially explosive flavor combination. The ganache is coated with dark chocolate and cocoa powder.

Fresh Mint Truffle: This truffle was extremely herbal. It takes a step beyond plain ol' minty freshness and made its way into the grassy, earthier origins of fresh mint leaves. The texture of the ganache is quite firm and dense, similar in style to that of the goat cheese truffle.