Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

Kosher Dark Chocolates at Ardelys

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010
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Ardelys' Parve Chocolates
(c)Discover Paris!

Having discussed their delicious lamehadrine milk chocolates on last Wednesday’s posting, we now turn to Ardelys’ parve dark chocolates. We purchased four to sample.

The Jerusalem is a heart-shaped confection—a thick, dark-chocolate shell encasing a smooth, rich, dark-chocolate fondant. The word “fondant” refers to the soft filling of the chocolate. The sales clerk told us that it has the subtle flavor of strawberry. I could taste this, but my partner could not. I also found the chocolate slightly piquant. We both enjoyed this sweet.

The Diamantine is a gianduja (hazelnut and chocolate paste) sold in a tiny foil cup. I found it to have a slightly smokey flavor. My partner said that she did not find it as sweet as other giandujas that she has tasted. Neither of these observations, however, mean that we did not like this délice. Au contraire!

The Jakarta’s thin dark-chocolate shell enrobes a dark-chocolate filling whose pronounced aroma of pineapple we found delightful.

The sales clerk told us that the Sydney has the flavor of whisky. We did not taste this, but, nonetheless, found the dark chocolate fondant quite agreeable. The flavor lingered long after the chocolate had been consumed.

Fondant fillings are not common in traditional chocolates—most chocolates are sold as ganaches. But the Ardelys fondants that we sampled passed our rigorous taste test with flying colors!

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Kosher Lamehadrine Chocolates at Ardelys

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
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Ardelys Milk Chocolates
(c) Discover Paris!

Ardelys, a smart-looking boutique at 157, rue Manin in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, sells kosher chocolates. But these chocolates are more than kosher, they are lamehadrine, an extra-strict form that guarantees that the food product is above suspicion and beyond reproach.

We entered and purchased four milk-based chocolates made with lait chamour, or milk that has been under rabbinical surveillance from the moment that it is drawn from the animal. While we are not competent to enter into discussion or debate about the technicalities of kosher food production, we are capable of recognizing good chocolate when we taste it. And these chocolates are delectable!

The Roma has a thick, milk-chocolate shell encasing a soft filling redolent of orange. Although the sales clerk told us that this variety of chocolate contains a hint of rum, we did not detect any. We were not disappointed, though, as the aroma of orange is quite strong.

The Rosario has a thin, milk-chocolate shell covering a coffee-flavored praline. And what an assertive, espresso-like flavor it has! This was our favorite of the four.

The London has a caramel center enrobed in white chocolate. The chocolate shell is thick and firm, and the caramel tasted as though it had a soupçon of rum in it. Nice!

And finally, the Barcelona has a white-chocolate shell enveloping dark-chocolate praline. Examining closely, I could see that the praline center was slightly pasty. But when I bit into the confection, the white chocolate shell blended into the praline, giving a rich, smooth taste experience.

As well as milk chocolates, Ardelys sells dark chocolates. We will have something to say next Wednesday about these!

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Nicolsen Chocolates

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
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Nicolsen Chocolates
(c) Discover Paris!

Nicolsen has been making chocolates for eighteen years. We recently purchased three varieties of spicy, dark-chocolate ganaches from its shop on rue Mouffetard.

Poivre – The first bite tasted semi-sweet and smoky, followed by a tingly aftertaste of pepper on the tongue.

Cannelle – This has the same dark-chocolate shell and dark ganache as the first, but it is flavored with zesty cinnamon rather than pepper. The ganache has a slightly grainy texture.

Gingembre – Biting into this chocolate is similar to eating candied ginger. The ganache contains chewy ginger fibers and is quite piquant.

Nicolsen has one shop in Paris, one in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, one in Boulogne, and one in Chavenay, where its production facility is located. As well as its own artisanal chocolates, it also sell Berthillon ice cream. Yum!

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Damyel Kosher Chocolates

Sunday, August 29th, 2010
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Bag of Damyel Chocolates
(c) Discover Paris!

Damyel Chocolates, located at 29, rue Richer in the 9th arrondissement prepares parve chocolates that contain no animal fat or milk protein. We stopped by and selected five different confections to sample. All have dark-chocolate coatings containing dark-chocolate ganache.

The first we sampled is a rectangular-shaped confection displaying the molded image of a leaf. It contained a whole, blanched almond nestled in the ganache.

The second was in the shape of an artist’s palette. Similar in taste to the first, it contained morsels of pistachio that were layered between the dark-chocolate shell and the ganache.

The third, in the shape of a dome, displayed a molded flower. I identified the bits of nuts that it contained as crushed hazelnut.

The fourth, chestnut shaped, contained bits of crunchy cocoa.

The fifth was dome-shaped and topped with a swirl. It reminded me of the standard shape of a chocolate-covered cherry. However, in this case it contained not a cherry, but a whole hazelnut.

We found the dark-chocolate shells of all of the confections to be fairly firm, and the ganache to be almost as smooth as gianduja. While they are delectable sweets, we were disappointed that the only difference from one chocolate to the other was that different nuts were used. The taste of the chocolate shell and the ganache was the same.

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Four Chocolates

Monday, August 2nd, 2010
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Four Chocolates
(c) Discover Paris!

Yesterday, we purchased four chocolates from Mococha, our favorite chocolate shop on rue Mouffetard: Dôme praliné fondant, Carré blanc avec pépites de praliné, Ganache pain d’épices, and Dôme vert avec caramel. All are made by Patrice Chapon, who won the Grand Prix de la Mairie de Paris 2003.

The Dôme praliné fondant (upper right in photo) has an assertive flavor. It is composed of a crispy mix of nuts (almonds, hazelnut, and pistachio) enrobed in dark chocolate. A touch of salt (sel de Guérande) gives it zest.

The Carré blanc contains a sweet hazelnut filling. The confection is topped with grains of crunchy hazelnut seed. The subtle flavors of the white chocolate and light praliné filling blend into a delicate taste sensation!

The Ganache pain d’épices with its intense spice-cake flavor of cloves and nutmeg stirs memories of the Christmas season!

Finally, the Dôme vert avec caramel (lower left in photo), is made with smoked and salted butter, lime, and dark chocolate. The finely speckled, tangy lime-chocolate dome contains a soft filling of delicious caramel.

Marie Gantois, proprietor of the shop, told us that it will close for the summer holiday from August 9 through August 23.

The Pavés of Charles Chocolatier

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
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The Pavés of Charles Chocolatier
(c) Discover Paris!

On our way to last Thursday’s Tweet-up we stopped by Charles Chocolatier at 15, rue Montorgueil in the first arrondissement. Their speciality is the Bûche à l’ancienne, 70% Cacao made from a chocolate-based praline of hazelnuts from Piedmont (Italy), peppered with bits of hazelnut, and whole and crushed pistachios from Sicily, all enveloped in a 70% dark-chocolate coating. However, instead of purchasing the bûche (in the shape of a log), we decided to try their pavés, which are similar in concept, but have different shapes.

The Pavé de bûche is the round confection shown in the photograph. The dark-chocolate exterior was firm to the bite, while the interior was smooth and melted readily in the mouth. It contained chunks of pistachio.

The Pavé de feuillante is the bar-shaped confection. It contained fine, crunchy praline.

The square-shaped confection is the Pavé de gianduja. It had a supersmooth filling of gianduja, a paste made from ground hazelnut and chocolate. My partner found that the flavor of the gianduja was less intense than the flavor of the other pavés.

All Charles Chocolatier chocolates are handmade. The chocolate shells and the fillings contain no animal fat, only cocoa butter. The absence of cream or butter makes the interiors a little more pasty than one finds in other chocolates — whether or not you like this will depend on your individual taste.

None of the confections were very sweet. Americans who are accustomed to intense sweetness in their chocolates might not care for these.

They are, after all, French chocolates! Vive la différence!

Charles Chocolatier Boutique
(c) Discover Paris!

Chocolate for Saint Patrick’s Day

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
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Patrick Roger's Saint Patrick's Day Chocolate
(c) Discover Paris!

Curious to see if any chocolate boutiques in Paris were selling special chocolate confections for Saint Patrick’s Day, we inquired at numerous shops over a period of several days. We were surprised to learn that one sales clerk had never heard of the holy man! Others had prepared or were preparing their molds for Easter, but had no plans to honor Saint Patrick. During our research, we also learned that the wonderful cacao-whisky sorbet made by Berthillon contains Scotch, not Irish, whisky.

Finally, Gary Lee Kraut told us that we could find chocolates for Saint Patrick’s day at Patrick Roger. We quickly learned that only the Roger boutique on avenue Victor Hugo still had a supply. When I entered the store, none other than the great chocolate craftsman himself was there! I was able to purchase some of the last few ganaches that they had in stock.

Patrick Roger’s special chocolates are made with Guinness, the famous Irish dry stout. Although we found the confection to be rich, smooth, and deliciously bittersweet, we could not taste the Guinness. Later, I entered Connolly’s Corner, an Irish pub, and purchased a half-pint of the brew. To my taste, the beer has a mild chocolaty flavor, which would account for its imperceptibility in the chocolate ganache.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Master Craftsman Patrick Roger
(c) Discover Paris!