During the course of Chocolate Week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Santiago Perlta, General Manager of Pacari on several occasions. Santiago is absolutely passionate about his chocolate and the organic, ethical and sustainable practices that Pacari use at every stage of the chocolate making process.
Having had the chance to try a lot more of his chocolate, that passion really shows in the finished product. Without exception, Pacari’s products are unique, distinctive and packed full of flavour.
This is a raw chocolate, meaning the beans are fermented at low temperatures and not roasted. Raw chocolate is sometimes considered a ‘superfood’ because it contains high levels of flavanols, but many of the raw chocolates on the market today just aren’t very appetising. Often they have a soft or fibrous texture, and simply don’t taste that great. Pacari is different.
The chocolate is dark in colour, with a nice, glossy appearance and a pleasing snap – a very different experience from any other raw chocolate I’ve tried.
The flavour is incredible. The salt is initially quite predominant, but as soon as the chocolate starts to melt, all kinds of wonderful flavours start to appear. There’s a distinctly woody note – partly enhanced by the raw cacao nibs, a green, grass-like notes, banana, and finally a warm caramel that’s highlighted by the salt. It’s quite difficult to believe that just four ingredients (cacao beans, cane sugar, salt and sunflower lecithin) can produce such a range of flavour.
This is one of my new favourite chocolate bars. Not only is it produced completely ethically, but it really is quite addictive. The only problem at the moment is that it’s not particularly easy to get hold of. If you’re in the UK, you might be able to get some from Chocolate and Love, or visit the Pacari website to contact them and find a local distributor.
When someone offers to take you out for breakfast in Kirriemuir, your expectations aren’t particularly high but 88 Degrees proved me wrong.
It is a wonderful little coffee shop with a ridiculously well stocked deli, plus the owner Johanna Woodhead also turns out to be an artisan chocolatier with plenty of her wares on display. I gravitated towards the glass case which had an assortment of handmade chocolates and got one of each. I neglected to make any notes about the names of the chocolates, but I’m pretty sure I’m not a million miles away.
Snickers Bar
Organic peanut butter and salted caramel in a pretty dark and white chocolate cup, with a bonus ganache layer to add that extra punch of chocolate. Despite that, it is the peanuts which win the day and it all works out remarkably well. There’s very little to complain about here.
Chocolate Truffle
A relatively generic chocolate truffle which I was more than happy to eat, even although there wasn’t to make it stand out from anyone else’s chocolate truffle. Or to put it another way, it was a good chocolate truffle, but not much else.
Mint Truffle
Another very good chocolate with a decent level of mintiness and a lovely smooth filling. Again, nothing too out of the ordinary but still very pleasant and I’d quite happily work my way through a few of these if given the chance.
Salted Caramel
A nice crisp shell conceals a very rich caramel inside which verges on being just a little bit too sweet for my tastes. A little less sugar and a touch more salt would definitely improve things.
Raspberry Truffle
My opinion of this chocolate changed at the midway point of consumption. At the start, it felt terribly underfavoured with not nearly enough raspberry, but this is one of those subtle experiences where the fruitiness just builds and builds to exactly the right level as the smooth truffle filing melts away. Probably my favourite of the quintet.
So all in all, a very nice collection and a very pleasant surprise at the end of breakfast. I shall definitely make a return visit next time I’m in Kirriemuir, and in the meantime I just need to coax a friend to send some other goodies from there until I’m back in Scotland again.
88 Degrees, 17 High Street, Kirriemuir, DD8 4BA, Scotland
The most chocolate-filled week of my life has come to a spectacular close. All in all, I attended 11 Chocolate Week events, from simple tastings to a lavish Valrhona book launch at Claridges. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a more enjoyable (or more exhausting) week!
The icing on the chocolate cake was Chocolate Unwrapped at a packed Vinopolis in London. The event was so popular in fact that at one point on Saturday we saw people being turned away or asked to wait because there were simply too many hungry chocolate lovers inside. Many of the exhibitors we spoke reported brisk sales with some so popular that they were running out of stock halfway through the first day!
The thing that I love most about this event is the mix of old friends and new faces. We had the chance to catch up with many of our chocolate industry friends as well as get updates on some of the smaller bean-to-bar chocolate makers, and try some extraordinarily good chocolate.
We tried new chocolate from Duffy Sheardown, Rasmus Bojesen, Original Beans, Benoit Nihant, Idilio Origins and many, many more.
One of the more interesting exhibitors for me was actually Lindt. Many fine chocolate lovers might be surprised or even shocked at that, but the very fact that the most mainstream of European chocolate producers was in attendance was an acknowledgement of just how exciting the London chocolate scene is.
When we started Chocablog, we knew nothing about fine chocolate and Lindt was a stepping stone towards the higher end chocolate we prefer today. Although we don’t write about Lindt as much as we used to, there’s no denying they will have been a draw for many of the thousands of average chocolate consumers in attendance, which in turn helps to increase exposure for the smaller, chocolatiers and chocolate makers at the show.
All in all, I think there as a perfect mix of exhibitors large and small, and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. I can’t wait for next year’s event!
Here’s part one of a series of video reports we made for our sister site World Chocolate Guide. To see the rest, and our coverage of this week’s Salon du Chocolat in Paris, head on over to the World Chocolate Guide blog and subscribe!
Photo Gallery
To mark the start of Chocolate Week, Paul A. Young and Providores owner and Kiwi fusion food wizard Peter Gordon hosted a special six course chocolate themed dinner upstairs at Peter’s Providores restaurant in West London.
Paul and Peter had collaborated to bring a small group of chocolate lovers a unique menu incorporating chocolate and fine dining, complete with a selection of wines from New Zealand (where else?) to compliment each course.
The evening kicked off with a cacao bean aperitif – a Cacao Nib Sipsmith Vodka Sour, which basically did exactly as you might expect. Sharp, ice cold vodka sour with a lovely cacao undercurrent and a wonderfully sour aftertaste, toped with a couple of sour cherries.
The rest of the menu read like this:
Mast Brothers Chuao 70%
Grilled aubergine, tamarind caramel, grapefruit, green mango, coriander.
Served with a 2008 Seresin Estate Reserve Chardonnay, Marlborough.
Every element clearly defined on the palate, and the grapefruit a surprising yet essential addition in the overall flavour complex. The tamarind caramel was another surprise sweet treat, again, splendidly offset by the green mango and that all-important grapefruit. The wine was a revelation to me, but this is a chocolate blog, so suffice to say it was a big chunk of buttery oakiness. The 70% Mast Brothers Chuao sauce was light enough on the palate but packing enough of a dark chocolate punch to blend in with the mixture of earthy aubergine and vibrant fruit accompaniments.
Michel Cluizel 50% mangaro milk chocolate.
Smoked Eel, sautéed Salsify, toasted Sourdough crumbs, Date chipotle Cilli Purée
2007 Richardson Pinot Noir, Cromwell Basin, Central Otago
Much anticipated and calling out from the plate the second it arrived at the table, this was a real “you thought the last course was good?” moments. The smoked eel was pungent, whisper light in the mouth and combined with the date and chipotle chilli purée (where do I learn how to make that?) the salsify and sourdough it was a truly amazing first mouthful. The light milk chocolate sauce lent a sweetness to the smokiness of the eel which in turn brought out new depths in that fruit and chilli purée. The wine was a surprise choice – until the first sip. An amazing Pinot Noir which added a burst of fruit and some good tanins to cleanse the palate.
Duffy Panama 72% Tierra Iscura, from Bocca Del Toro Island
Master-stock roasted duck, prune sauce, wild mushrooms, porcini powder, broad beans
2006 Kawau Bay Merlot/Cabernet Frans/Malbec, Matakana
Beautiful pink Gressingham duck (the only duck you should ever buy) with a fruity prune sauce, mingling with earthy wild mushroom, enhanced with Porcini powder and sitting next to some vibrant broad beans. A more full bodied wine, and a more full bodied chocolate sauce in the mix. The eel dish was always going to be a hard one to follow, and while you couldn’t fault this as a dish in its own right, I could still remember the eel, and would happily have swapped my duck for another eel.
Valrhona Venezuelan 64% (Paul A. Young exclusive)
Crispy Pork Belly, crusted Ox tongue, Butternut Coconut curry, Pine Nuts
2009 Dog Point Chardonnay Wairau Valley Marlborough
The ox tongue was surprisingly light in the mouth and delivered lovely iron richness, while the pork and curry added further dimensions. Almost a meal of two halves, I found the tongue and chocolate paired extremely well, while the Pork and the curry seemed to be made for each other. Another surprise wine choice – more oaky buttery loveliness. It’s official – I like Chardonnay again.
Åkesson’s 755 Brazil Fazenda Monte Alegre
Braised beef cheek, roast caramelised quince, smoked chickpea panizza
2008 Man O’War Dreadnought Syrah, Waiheke Island, Auckland
For me this course was back up there with the eel dish. The beef cheek was melt in the mouth, packing a ton of rich, deep, meaty flavours. The quince and chocolate took some of the iron out of the meat, with the smoked panizza throwing in a new kick to the final taste. It was a big, smokey, rich mouthful, nd the wine really speaks for itself. A big, fat fruity mouthful with tannins to go with the meat. The choice of Åkesson’s chocolate was again inspired (read the review here). Superb.
Dessert Using Orinal Beans Cru Virunga
Tart of malted Virunga chocolate and sea salted caramel, buffalo milk ice cream, sesame praline
Novat 10 Year Old Tawny Port
I managed to come home without a decent picture of dessert. Blame it on five amazing courses and numerous glasses of wine. Needless to say, the ice cream was much lighter than I expected, and the sea salted caramel and Virunga chocolate were just the right blend of sweet and savoury. The praline packed a good sesame punch, rounding things off nicely with the coffee.
The meal wasn’t just about the food though. Both chefs stood up and introduced each course, giving a short talk about how the dish came about, with Peter filling in on the wines. They were both table-hopping between courses as well, so I had a chance to talk to both Paul and Peter during the course of the evening.
The overall impression was that both men had thoroughly enjoyed the process of creating this very special dinner, and that there had been relatively little in the way of stress or problems. My dinner companion and fellow diners were unanimous in their praise of the dishes, and the intimate surroundings of the upstairs room at Providores was perfect for the introductions and for questions to be heard and answered clearly.
Looking at the menu, there’s a lot of fruit and meat combinations going on there – it’s almost medieval in that respect, but the addition of chocolate to each course (plus the design of each dish) added a further dimension. I thoroughly enjoyed every course (although of course there were a couple of personal favourites) and the wines that went with them.
A unique dining experience, and one I am glad to have shared.
