Archive for the ‘kosher’ Category

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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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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