Tain L’Hermitage, in the Rhone Valley of France, is home to one of the world’s best chocolate makers – Valrhona.  Tim and I spent two days in this small town (population 6,000), which was a good break from the larger cities we had visited.  On the downside though, it was winter and it appeared that many of the shop owners were still on Christmas break so most things were closed, so we took many long walks along the river and caught up on some much needed rest.

Another small lesson in visiting small town France is that the town closes down from 2-4pm which we learned the hard way; leaving lunch until 2pm was a bad idea! Luckily however, we had stumbled upon the most glorious pastry shop that morning so had stocked up on beautiful pastries!  Franck Broyer’s pastries were probably one of the best that we had in France.  This shop completely redeemed the town in the fact that all other shops were closed in the town… we really only needed this one!

The first thing I bought was a ‘Mille Feuille’, and it was amazing. Tim had a bite, and we had to go back immediately to get him his own.  The ‘thousands of layers’ of pastry were flaky, but not crumbly and the silky custard was heavenly.  The slice had a wonderfully decadent (but not sickly) layer of icing on the top to finish it off.

The shop lady got to know us well in our brief visit to the village.  I think we went five times in the two days that we were there, so she would giggle every time we set foot in the shop.

The actual reason for being in Tain L’Hermitage was because we had been invited for a private tour of the Valrhona chocolate making factory.  This was a fabulous opportunity as the factory is not open for public tours.  Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take photos on the tour, so I don’t have any photos to include here.

Valrhona is recognized as one of the best chocolate makers in the world, and I can see why.  Their attention to detail, from the harvesting of the cacao beans through to the packaging is exceptional. In addition to the quality of the beans used, they develop the flavour profile of the chocolate by increasing the conching time to create a spectacular product. One of the very cool things about the tour was the different aromas resulting from each step in the chocolate making process.  The roasting room had a warm coffee aroma to it, where the conching space had a heady  chocolate aroma to it.

After a tour of the factory, our wonderful host took us to Valrhona’s Ecole De Chocolat which was a chocolatier’s dream commercial kitchen, complete with mobile marble working stations, an airbrushing room, and all types of equipment.  There was a tasting room with an espresso machine and a library of chocolate and pastry books – I could have lost myself in there!   I could picture my heroes sitting in that room discussing their latest projects and new ideas.  I am sure that it is a room where great ideas were born!

To finish off the tour, we went to the Valrhona factory store.  We were greeted with a warm cup of Celaya (Valrhona’s drinking chocolate) which was perfect on that cold, rainy day.    We purchased a lot of chocolate at the store, but the most exciting purchase I made was a beautiful Valrhona recipe book, which I started to read as soon as we got back to our hotel.  The foreward of the book was written by Pierre Herme- one of my chocolate idols- so that was a very good start!

Following are a few photos that we took at the store.  Next up- a posting about our chocolate adventures in Paris.

A brand new collection will be launching on Feb 2nd, just in time for Valentine’s Day!  This fabulous new collection will feature six new flavours, and will be available online and at the retail partners (Bon Ton Bakery, Everything Cheese, Credo and Cafe Haven) from Feb 2nd onwards!

Here is a sneak peek at the new collection…Be in quick as stock is limited for Valentine’s Day (keeping in mind that the chocolates are fresh, and have a 3 week shelf life).

As promised, I wanted to dedicate a blog posting to Weiss Chocolatiers.

Tim and I stumbled upon this little shop on our way back to our hotel on our last day in Lyon.  It was such a gem!  Everything from the decor in the shop, to the product displays, the packaging, to the customer service were all really fantastic.  We were warmly greeted when we entered the shop by the two shop assistants, and we began a conversation in my broken French!

The shop assistant informed me that Weiss chocolate is made (from the bean!) in a town called St.Etienne about 45 minutes from Lyon.  Apparently, they were one of the first artisans in France to market single origin chocolates!

The chocolate and macarons were truly a pleasure (perhaps the experience in the shop also made me partial to their confections!).

Unfortunately, the chocolates got a little damaged in the bag before we took this photo- but they were perfect when we bought them!  We purchased the following bonbons:

Crunchy Caramel- This was a chewy fudge like centre kissed with caramel croquant enrobed in dark chocolate.  Very delightful depth to the flavour!

Rouge Baiser (cute name!) – Layer of Raspberry jelly on top of  a layer of lemon ganache in white chocolate.  Very refreshing and not sickeningly sweet which is sadly too often a result of white chocolate!

Miel Noix- Honey and nut ground into a beautiful dark chocolate ganache.  Interestingly, this chocolate was dipped twice so it has quite a thick shell.  I am guessing that they opted for a functional layer (less air- better shelf life) and a beauty layer.

Jasmine Square- This really was a beautiful piece.  Very light (in texture) ganache with a subtle jasmine fragrance.  The shell was impressively delicate on this piece.  A few pieces of dried jasmine adorned one corner of the chocolate.

Weiss also had a selection of cocktail inspired chocolates, so naturally we had to sample these as well (part of my job – remember!)… We tried the Caipirinha and it was a bit of a shock to the taste buds!  For some reason, I had expected these beautifully foil wrapped chocolates to be a ganache infusion, but instead it was a liquid liqueur chocolate.  The taste was too strong for me (but Tim enjoyed it), so I left the rest of the cocktail chocolates for him!  Although the taste wasn’t my cup of tea, the sugar-crusted technique used for these chocolates was very well done.  As far as I know, this technique is more commonly used in Europe than it is in North America, and I have absolutely no experience with it (yet!).

In addition to the chocolate fare, Weiss also sold macarons (much to my delight!).  I tried the Raspberry Coulis macaron and it was fabulous!

Finally, I thought it was worth mentioning the attention to detail in the decor of the shop.  They managed to achieve a perfect balance of vintage and modern.  The base of some of their displays were filled with cocoa pods with a shiny resin on them.  This was a very cool detail!

In closing, I wanted to thank Tim (my fabulous husband) for taking so many great photos.  He is so accepting of my chocolate fanaticism … and I truly appreciate everything that you captured on our chocolate mission.

So what they say is true.  There is a Patissier, a Boulangerie and a Chocolatier on every street corner.  However, the fascinating thing remains how the french stay so slim despite the sinful delights on every corner.  This Canadian will be indulging with no regard to the implications to her waistline.  Technically, eating the sumptuous, sugar laden morsels is part of my job, and a good job I must do.

After a wonderful stint in Berlin (where I launched the Vintage 2012 Collection for Erin and Carsten’s Wedding guests), we arrived in Lyon.  The first stop, not surprisingly, was a beautiful- modern chocolate shop called Richart.  The clean/crisp design of the shop was stunning; Each chocolate was essentially a show piece.

From there, we visited a more traditional shop called ‘Voisin’.  They sold a local bonbon called ‘Le Coussin de Lyon’ which is a bonbon inspired by a silk pillow offering to the Virgin Marie to ward off epidemics (after one that devastated the city in 1643).  This is one of the local specialties.   I tried ‘the coussin’ which is a green pillow like shape covered in sugar, with a sugary ganache.  The Voisin chocolatier has several shops in Lyon, and is very traditional in style.

I also tried several truffles from the Voisin Chocolaterie.  The two that come to mind are the Raspberry Puree and Java (Milk Chocolate Ganache).  Both were good, but a little sweet for my liking with not a whole lot of depth to the chocolate.

We strolled along the stone paved narrow streets of Old Lyon and stumbled across a shop with more traditional wares.  The goal of the ‘Pechee Gourmand’ shop is to preserve and defend the culinary heritage of France, so as you can imagine, it had a nostalgic feel to it.  Wares include old school sweets such as jellies, marzipan, biscuits, nougats, toffees etc…

I wanted to purchase something different, so opted for the ‘Calisson’, which are candies that are thought to have first appeared in the mid-15th century and served to royalty.  The name comes from a member of royal court calling them ‘di cali souns’ which means ‘they are hugs’ – cute I thought.  These little oval shapes cookies are made with fine almond flour and melon paste (weird?!) topped with a thin layer of white icing.  The slightly chewy texture is similar to that of a macaron, but more dense.  The flavour was a little strange I thought; perhaps something that you gave to grow up with to appreciate.

The Callisson are of course a great segue to my fave of the french ‘cookies’ – macarons of course!  Tim was not overly surprised when the first purchase I made after leaving the hotel on our first morning in Lyon was a few macarons.  I tried several from different shops, and the best that I had were from Pignol and Weiss.  Here is me first thing in the morning enjoying one!

I could go on for a long time about the chocolate experience in Lyon, but in the interest of time (I am now in Paris so we need to go get some wine!) I will wrap up with my favorite chocolatier in Lyon- Weiss.  The feel of the shop was a perfect blend of vintage and modern.  There was a very inviting feel to the shop, with many fine wares for ‘degustation’.  We tried several pieces on which I will report on later.  Here are a couple of snaps of the shop and the chocolate.

So much more to write… but alas it is time for wine!  Next will be our adventures at Valrhona in Tain L’Hermitage then our Paris visit (and oh my, I don’t know how I will put into words the decadence of what we have eaten!).

Thank you to everyone that purchased my winter 2011 collection called Ruby & Gold!!  We have officially sold out of the collection!!  I am working hard to develop a fabulous new collection (inspired by my memere’s antique tea cups!) which will be launching in a month, just in time for Valentine’s Day!!

A huge thanks to Cora and Lacey for working so hard to meet our goal of 35,000 pieces for the Christmas season!!  Here is a pic of our post production celebration yesterday at Corso 32!

Merry Christmas all!

Check it out here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSGz6sW1Usc&feature=related

Thanks to everyone who has sent me a note about buying chocolates online.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any stock available for online sales anymore… but limited stock is available at:

CAFE HAVEN
www.cafehaven.ca
9 Sioux Road
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 4C7
(780) 417-5523

CREDO
10134 – 104 Street
Edmonton, AB T5J 1A7
(780) 761-3744
info@credocoffee.ca

EVERYTHING CHEESE
www.everythingcheese.ca
14912 45th Avenue
Edmonton, AB T6H 5T5
(780) 757-8532

Sipping Chocolate & Bar Collections available at:
THE ARTWORKS
www.theartworks.ca
101B Edmonton City Centre
Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 2Y8
780 420 6311

I will also be at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market on Dec 10th and 17th (with limited stock on a first come first serve basis!) so you can pick some up there as well!

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Canada/Edmonton/1305516385/ID=2170633892

So proud of Oliver making his big TV debut!

I am really excited to have launched two fabulous new bars for the Christmas season (and don’t worry- they will stick around as this is part of the ’staple collection’… like the basic black cardigan that every woman needs in her wardrobe).

The bars are inspired by fashion icons; Audrey Hepburn and Frank Sinatra.

The Audrey bar is a 64% dark bar with toasted pistachio and tart cherries, so it is a twist on the classic fruit and nut bar.  The really cool thing about this bar is that the chocolate is made exclusively using cocoa beans from Madagascar, so there is a natural red fruit note to the chocolate.  This flavour nuance is quite prominent, so even the ‘not so well trained’ palate will likely be able to distinguish it.  I thought it paired beautifully with the pistachio/tart cherry combo… so give it a try and let me know what you think!  This bar really is the little black dress for your chocolate cravings.

The second bar that I launched is the ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ bar.  This is a velvety milk chocolate with cocoa nib brittle crushed through the center.  For those that don’t know, cocoa nib brittle is the raw cocoa bean (crunchy and bitterly delicious!) roasted and put into a brittle (made by us of course!) dressed in a beautiful milk chocolate with cocoa beans from Ecuador.  The crunchiness of the brittle creates a sensational contrast to the creamy milk chocolate, and the cocoa nib is a great alternative to nuts (not to mention its great health properties!).  This bar was inspired by Frank Sinatra as it is a twist on a classic style of chocolate bar… The tag line for the bar is ‘Make dressing your taste buds in elegance the norm, not an extravagance’; so clad those taste buds in the best quality chocolate!

One last thing… I was asked several times at the Old Strathcona Farmers Market last Saturday what the large numbers on the bars mean.  The numbers on the bars (and most high quality bars) reflects the percentage of cocoa mass in the chocolate.  Cocoa mass is made up of the two components; cocoa butter and cocoa liqueur.  So generally speaking, the higher the number, the darker the chocolate.  However, bars with the same number do vary, as the cocoa mass used in a bar could vary on the cocoa butter/cocoa liqueur ratio.  For example, one 70% bar could have 40% cocoa butter and 30% cocoa liqueur, and another could be made up of 60% cocoa butter and 10% cocoa liqueur.  The second bar is a pretty unrealistic combination (not the tastiest I would imagine), but it goes to prove my point.  The remaining percentage in the chocolate is sugar; so a 70% bar would contain 70% cocoa mass and 30% sugar.

Check it out!!

http://www.albertaprimetime.com/Headlines.aspx?pd=3011