Gourmet chocolates: a guide for “choco-addicts”

El chocolate It is one of the most sought-after, delicious and attractive foods in the gourmet world. For some, it is almost a religion that requires high doses of dedication and knowledge.

Today Summum we talk to you about ten tips, addresses and news that you cannot miss if what you feel for chocolate is pure passion.

Gli Affinati: “refined” chocolates with the most exclusive ingredients

In Modica the raw chocolate It is not a novelty, but a tradition, because in this Sicilian town chocolate is worked at low temperatures since ever. This is due to its characteristic texture, more granular, because the sugar does not melt completely.

Modica is the origin of several projects of Simone Sabaini, creator of the gourmet chocolate brand Saturday. His latest invention is a chocolate refining cellar which claims to be the first in the world. From there comes its elegant range of tablets The Refined that subjects the chocolate to a process of natural absorption of the aromas, facilitated by the fat component of the cocoa itself.

El chocolateIn other words, spend some time in barrels surrounded by the most exclusive varieties of teas, tobaccos, flowers, herbs, spices, resins, fruits or the woods infused with precious wines. Tablets, of Limited EditionThey come in metal boxes that preserve their aroma. Lapsang Souchong tea, lavender, nutmeg, brandy, hibiscus flowers, orange blossom, chamomile … The tablets cost 7 euros and can be purchased online. Or they can become a good excuse to go to Modica and try one of the the best chocolates in the world.

Valrhona: “sweet” dark chocolate arrives

Valrhona is a TOP brand in the world of chocolate. Their chocolate is very special, because the conching, the final phase of the elaboration lasts 36 hours versus eight o’clock for the vast majority of chocolates. This multiply the microns, microparticles, present in the same piece, something that influences its texture and aroma.

The news that Valrhona launched on the market are capable of creating small and pleasant surprises in the lives of “Choco-addicts”. This is the case of Caranoa 55% the first “sweet” dark chocolate made with cocoa, medium-salt butter, fresh cream from Normandy and fleur de sel caramel from Guerande. It is also the case of Tulakalum, a slightly sweet chocolate, with a high percentage of cocoa (75%) exclusively from Belize. A pure origin of luxury.

La Virgen: chocolate in beer version

Chocolate and beer? Why not? From the hand of The Virgin, a beer brand whose proposals are as daring as they are successful, arrives a “postre” of the most original.

Chocobollo It is called and it is the first and only dessert made at La Fábrica. It is a Double Imperial black beer made with various types of malt, WILLAMETTE hops and cold-infused Valrhona cocoa nibs. It is una tirada limitada barrel and bottle and it’s perfect, they claim, with honey peanuts. Or with a good bar of dark chocolate. Updating the sweet planet from a beer perspective.

Moulin Chocolat: chocolate paradise

A leading pastry shop that declares its unconditional love for chocolate even in its name. On Chocolate Mill, project led by the pastry chef Ricardo Velez, chocolate sweetens practically everything.

macarons (one of their star products) made of chocolate, croissants, palm trees, éclairs, creams in a jar, cookies and fruit (such as Orangettes, with orange and chocolate).

Tarts and tartlets occupy a separate chapter. As the Puy, a perfect chocolate cube with strawberries inside. Wave Tour Chocolate, a cake that combines three layers of light chocolate mousse such as the air of the Jívara variety (with milk and 40% cocoa), Guanaja (black 70% cocoa) and Ivoire (white). Absolutely perfect. An essential address for demanding chocolatiers.

The five textures of chocolate in one of the most sought-after restaurants

Corral de la Morería Gastronomico It is the only flamenco tablao in the world with estrella Michelin. It is also one of the smallest restaurants in Europe: every day and only at dinner time, only eight people they can enjoy the brilliant dishes of the Bilbao chef David Garcia.

In this establishment the pairing is made with some of the great wines of Jerez (the winery has around eight hundred references) and with the notes of the best flamenco shows on the current scene. A space with a lot of soul and a special location, a few steps from Madrid’s Plaza de Oriente.

Here chocolate is versioned in five ways different. Or rather, five different textures: crumble, sponge cake, tile, creamy and chocolate soup. The ideal dessert for those who love chocolate.

Sub zero chocolate

And why not dare with the iced chocolate, even though we are in the middle of winter? We are not talking about an ice cream, this would be too obvious, but about a pole.

Specifically, the banana and chocolate pole of Lolo Polos, an establishment focused on the production of artisanal polo shirts that has two points of sale in Madrid.

Polo, a classic of the house, has pure cocoa defatted and pasteurized farm fresh milk from Madrid to make chocolate and 15-20% banana. What does that sound delicious? The “lolos” can be purchased in physical stores and online.

Chocotherapy for cold

A tea, a coffee or an infusion? There is no need to choose. The Barcelona company Happy-Lab, whose role is provide happiness to his clients combining flowers and herbs, he makes an infusion with chocolate called Chocotherapy.

It has rooibos, the African red tea, without theine, coconut, pineapple, papaya, apple, calendula, sunflower, cinnamon and cocoa. It is antioxidant and stimulant. The perfect mix to pamper yourself and to cheer yourself up during the coldest days of the year.

The fourteen pyramid pot (a format that allows a superior quality of the infusion compared to traditional sachets) is around 8 euros and can also be purchased online.

Casa Cacao: the new chocolate mecca

A workshop with a visible space at street level that show how chocolate is made according to the precepts of bean to bar (from bean to tablet), the fashion trend in the chocolate world.

A chocolate shop where you can taste chocolate in all its forms, solid, liquid, cold and hot. A gourmet shop where you can buy dozens of “chocolatessens”, some of them wrapped in recycled cocoa fiber paper. And finally, a boutique hotel of only fifteen rooms where you can breathe the best aroma in the world.

So shall Cocoa House, the new project by Jordi Roca and Anna Payet, another member of the family of El Celler de Can Roca, which should see the light this summer. A journey around chocolate in Deluxe version.

Chocolate + turmeric

Chocolate white, black, black sweet and milk with an intense flavor, aroma (And color!) to turmeric. Those that elaborates Cuckoo Chocolate, one of the business lines of the Madrid company Jolu Foods, are probably the most original and delicious chocolate bars on the current scene. And they also have a most beautiful packaging.

They can be purchased for about 6 euros each on its website, through Amazon. An exclusive chocolate that mixes and sublimates two superfoods: cocoa and turmeric. Watch out, they hook!

How to enjoy the “fourth chocolate”

Officially introduced just over a year ago, the chocolate Ruby It is a type of natural chocolate extracted from the Ruby variety cocoa bean, hence its name. The most attractive feature of this cocoa from Ecuador, Ivory Coast and Brazil is its color, capable of giving a pinkish tone to the chocolate. its red fruit flavor, neither bitter, nor sweet, is another of its peculiarities.

The invention is due to the company Barry Callebaut which boasts Ruby as the greatest innovation in the chocolate world since white chocolate, introduced by Nestlé no less than 80 years ago. It is the fourth chocolate, which adds to the classic black, milk and white.

Do you want to miss it? In Spain, in the stores of Sampaka cocoa Since last spring they have been selling two bars of Ruby chocolate, plain and with raspberries. They can be purchased online and the price is around 6 euros.