Live from the floor of the Fancy Food Show 2007, San Francisco
Or really, I should say dead on my feet from the floor of the Fancy Food Show....How can walking around for just five hours really be all that exhausting? But it is, as can be attested to by the looks on the faces of my fellow food show attendees. Granted, some of these folks are suffering from jet lag. After three hours of tasting chocolate I found myself on the cheese row stuffing myself with oddly flavored Stilton cheese from England. What is with the English that they need to flavor their cheese? But you don't really care about cheese do you? You are here to read about chocolate...
Highlight of the day? Have you seen 'Charlotte's Web'? Remember when Fern is holding the pink piglet Wilbur in her arms? Well that was me today at noon as I held and caressed my first Trinitario Cacao Pod. The outside was a beautiful deep burgundy and black. The surface glistened. The pod was cut open cross wise so that you could see the center of the pod and cacao beans. Amazing. The charming folks at Nacional de Chocolates didn’t seem to think my request to hold the cacao pod was so odd. They sell a single origin chocolate from Colombia under the brand name CHOCOLATE SANTANDER. Social welfare is a fundamental part of their corporate principles. See their website for more information.
COCO-LUXE: Nostalgic flavors, natural ingredients, great design and packaging. The ‘Banana Split’ confection that we tasted had a nice up front banana flavor with a tart cherry finish.
MOONSTRUCK CHOCOLATE CO.: Many confectioners depend on standard issue chocolate molds that are readily available from chocolate supply companies. Getting new molds custom designed is an expensive proposition. While they are able to distinguish themselves through unusual flavor combinations and cute transfer illustrations on the tops, for the most part the shapes are fairly standard. I don’t know what is going on at Moonstruck but they have the CUTEST shapes I have seen anywhere. There is an adorable ‘cupcake shape’ in a one bite size that will have you oohing and aahing for hours.
CHOCOLOVE XOXOX: Their line of Chocolatour single origin, vintage (year produced) was one of the more interesting chocolates we tasted today. A comparative taste of single origins will certainly yield taste differences. I am sure that different years will also have nuances of taste differences. The vintage idea is cute and interesting. For now I will stick with appreciating the different flavors inherent in different terroir. I don’t have the self control to let a chocolate bar go uneaten for longer than a month so vintage is moot to me. I do love that they give the consumer as much information as they can about the product.
MONBANA CHOCOLATIER: These folks get the 'most charming' award for the day. And their 'Neopolitan' chocolate square, which their company invented in 1973 to be served with your coffee, is very good. This is their first year at the Fancy Food show.
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