The tasting lasted around two hours, during which the guests learned a bit of chocolate history and lore, how chocolate is made, and how to taste fine chocolate.  We sampled six chocolates from various regions and of various percentages and characters, including chocolates from Ghana, Guatemala, Venezuela, and Africa, and to refresh ourselves between chocolates, we enjoyed noshes of Spanish Marcona almonds, artisanal Manchego cheese, and fresh local bread.

It was a grand evening for all. Happy Birthday K!

A year ago, after our last day of class at Valrhona, several fellow chocolatiers and I crossed the ancient stone bridge over the Rhone River that seperates Tain L’Hermitage from the town of Tournon. We selected a comfortable-looking restaurant and enjoyed fine French food with soft Rhone wine from the trellis-covered hills beside the town. Dessert was a perfect scoop of homemade Poire William ice cream, a simple cookie, and a filigree decoration of tempered chocolate. Not just any chocolate, but Valrhona Araguani, a 72% blend of Venezuelan cacaos with notes of pear and a bright clean finish, a perfect play off the Poire William ice cream. The French notice these things.

It’s as it a chef were to choose a grocery store tomato over an heirloom variety because the flavor is easier to work with.

There’s magnificent chocolate in the world. From single-origin chocolates like Alan’s bold plummy Sambirano Valley Madagascar or Art Pollard’s haunting Jembrana from Bali (Amano Chocolate) to the delicate blends and origins of Valrhona or Francois Pralus. Chocolates that can make a dessert sparkle and shine. You chefs who take care with each ingredient and who would never use a hothouse tomato when there’s an heirloom to be found, please use good chocolate.

It occurs to me that small business owners must say “thank you” frequently as a business grows–there are just so many people who help us along the way. My family, friends, customers, suppliers, partners, I thank you! You make Dancing Lion Chocolate the pleasure that it is!

For those of you who were able to attend the Dancing Lion New Kitchen Open House (and my Best of NH 2010 Celebration), it was fantastic to see you; I only wish I could have spent more time catching up with each one of you. I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did!

African Sunrise
Venezuelan chocolate ziggurats filled with a bright ganache of African Rooibos tea,  fresh garden mint, and lime. “The flavors keep changing in my mouth!” exclaimed a recent customer while reaching for a second bonbon. (Total available: 24 pieces)  SOLD OUT

The Nibby Strawberry
Bronzed cacao pods filled with Venezuelan milk chocolate and strawberry ganache and a sprinkling of crushed cacao beans from Sao Tome. Sweet, dark, smooth, crunchy. (Total available: 24 pieces) SOLD OUT

The Strawberry Truffle
Fresh strawberries and Venezuelan milk chocolate ganache enrobed in a paper-thin shell of my own dark chocolate blend. Bright and happy; life is good. (Total available: 40 pieces)

Buy Chocolate

Best of NH 2010, “Chocolate as Art” category

What a wonderful surprise! Look for Dancing Lion Chocolate in the Editors’ Picks section of the upcoming Best of NH 2010 issue of New Hampshire Magazine.

Bars the Lion is noshing this week…

Patric Sambirano Valley 67% from Madagascar. Bold and powerful with flavors of plum and fresh cherries. $6.50 per 50g bar.

Danta Finca Las Ujuxtes 60% from Guatemala. Layered and complex flavor with no trace of bitterness. This has become one of my favorite “go to” bars. $6.00 per 50g bar.

All bars are $1.00 off for current Cacao Connoisseur’s Club members.

Buy Chocolate

To celebrate, I’m throwing a New Kitchen Open House on Friday, June 18th, from 5PM to 8PM. Stop in to say hello and join me for appetizers and elegant dusted truffles.

Where: The Franco-American Centre, 52 Concord St., Manchester
(Between Elm St. and Chestnut St., two blocks south of Bridge St.)

When: Friday, June 18th, 5PM to 8PM

I look forward to seeing you!

The new Dancing Lion Chocolate commercial kitchen in the Franco-American Centre is just about ready for production. As you can see, I’m mostly moved in. The tablecloth on my work table is for an upcoming chocolate tasting; it’s stainless steel underneath.

That’s Nyangbo I’m holding onto. Couverture, precious couverture!

View from the entrance

View from the changing area

Rich, with Chocolate

See y’all tonight!

Handpainted Chinese Masks, each unique, each exquisite.

Fruity Madagascar chocolate balanced against a ganache of fresh mango, coconut milk, and orange blossom water.

An experience to look at, an experience to taste. Chocolate as Art.

Chinese Masks are $3 per piece.

And what a trip it was! I’ve followed the path of Theobroma Cacao from healthy pods at Finca Los Ujuxtes–near source of its domestication some 4,000 years ago–through the fermenting and drying process, the conching and near-magical conversion to some of the world’s finest chocolate, and finally into the collaborative creation of some innovative new truffles and bonbons.		Beans drying in the sun
Jorge & I amongst the pods	Finca Los Ujuxtes is a mystical place, where the cacao is grown Maya-style scattered in the rainforest, where the stove is wood-fired, where the stone swimming pool is fed by a local spring, and where the nearest modern civilisation is  hours away. Jorge, the owner is jovial and pleasant beyond description, and Eduardo, the overseer is in his own way as quality-minded as the sharpest Malcolm Baldrige expert.
Back at Danta Chocolate in Guatemala City, we surveyed the fruits of our labours as I packed some 30 kilos of chocolate bars for the flight back. The weather was fine as I hugged my new friends and we parted for what will certainly not be the last time.
And now, here I am in New Hampshire with 30 kilos of fine Guatemala chocolate from Danta. Dark Finca Las Acacias 75%, thenew Las Acacia Milk Chocolate, the hauntingly complex Dark and Milk chocolates from Finca Los Ujuxtes, and of course, the incomparable White Chocolate with Nibs. And with the rather low shipping costs, this batch of bars is $6.00 each.		Five New Flavors

Chocolate from the origins of cacao. The real stuff. It’s good to be home.

Me with the Danta Crew

Guatemala City. Note the volcano in the distance.

Carlos and I are having a fantastic time making chocolates. I’ve now been through the complete process of turning beans into bars, or in Carlos’ case, ice cubes. (He’s found ice cube trays a cheap and effective way  to store working chocolate).  Tomorrow we’ll make the drive to Finca Los Ujuxtes to see how the cacao is grown and processed.

It occurs to me y’all might want to see some pretty pictures. Here’s Guatemala City from Carlos’ place. Lush, eh? Note active volcano Pacaya in the distance.

One of the first things we did when I reached the Danta Chocolate shop was to mold White Chocolate bars with Nibs. Here’s a shot of Angelica, one of Carlos’ three assistants, wrapping the finished product.

Angelica wrapping bars

The best fun though, was me and Carlos melding our individual styles to create some collaborative truffles and bonbons. After a run to the market we settled on five recipes.

Blackberry Truffle, a white chocolate ganache of tart Guatemala blackberries and New Hampshire apple cider syrup enrobed in Las Acacias milk chocolate and finished with a blush of lavender lustre.

Plantanos Verdes y OO, green plantains caramelized in fruity olive oil and coarsely pureed, wrapped in a swirl of Las Acacias 60% dark chocolate.

At the market

Chili-Maple, pure New Hampshire maple syrup infused with Guatemala chilis, dusted with allspice, and wrapped in squares of  dark chocolate. And finally, the queen of the batch,

Mango with Green Jalapeno and Lime, fragrant fresh mango blended with jalapeno chilis and lime juice in an orange-speckled dome of Las Acacias 60% dark chocolate.

If you’d like to buy these pieces you’ll have to stop by Danta Chocolate in Guatemala City; I’m bringing back our recipes, but not our results. (There’s no room with all the bars I’m packing!)

Time to get back to work folks. Next round I’ll post some photos of the finished pieces.