Read More
01 Jan
chocolate

2017 – a very chocolatey year

We’ve had an amazing first year at The Chocolate Tour. This time last year I was spending my summer holiday working flat out to pull everything together for launch and boring everyone I know with talk of chocolate. So not much has changed…

Our first subscriptions were sent out at the start of April, and since then we have spread plenty of chocolatey love around New Zealand, drawing attention to the delicious creativity of New Zealand’s incredible chocolate makers and chocolatiers along the way.

I want to say a big thank you to you all – to the subscribers and customers, chocolate makers and chocolatiers, and friends and family – you’re all amazing, and I’m so grateful for your support. Here’s to a bigger and chocolatey-er 2018!

A bit about 2017:

Our themes for the year have been:

  • The Inner Child – inspired by childhood treats, but with the sophisticated twist
  • Back to Basics – with a focus on cacao, this collection featured deep flavours and gave a closer look at the origins of chocolate
  • Herbs & Spices – heaps of different herb and spice flavoured bars and bites
  • Time for Dessert – dessert-inspired, plus a couple of ideas for incorporating the chocolate into dessert
  • Nuts & Seeds – chocolate featuring lots of different nuts and seeds used in innovative ways
  • High Tea – replete with dainty morsels and delicate flavours
  • Textures – chewy, crunchy, gooey, brittle – texture is so important in food and this box had heaps of it
  • Storytime – inspired by famous children’s books, this collection was full of whimsical treats
  • Fruits of Summer – summer fruit is magnificent, and even better when combined with chocolate

We’ve featured chocolate from 18 amazing chocolate makers and chocolatiers, and delivered to customers as far north as Whangarei, and as far south as Owaka (which is a smidge below Invercargill – we delivered there too!).

The top five chocolates of the year (as rated by our subscribers) were:

We’ve got plenty of new and exciting things planned for 2018, starting with our brand new mini subscription. Our January box is Gold – full of award-winning treats and other golden delights. And we know that many of the marvellous chocolate makers and chocolatiers we work with have great things planned for the year – which means great things for our subscribers as well.

I hope you’re having a lovely summer, with plenty of fun, sun and chocolate, in whichever order you please. Happy New Year!

Rosa xx

Read More
26 Dec
Previous boxes

Fruits of Summer (December 2017)

Fruits of Summer, for me, conjures up memories of raspberries from our childhood garden, strawberries with icing sugar, stone fruit juice dribbling down my chin, crunchy pavlova and real fruit ice creams. I was looking forward to receiving a chocolate box bursting with the taste of summer, and this did not disappoint!

I started out with the Schoc Passionfruit Chocolates, and what a way to start! They smelled divine (quite floral) and had a lovely marbled pattern. The filling reminded me of the passionfruit coulis you might have on a summer pav: the taste was fruity and sweet, with a delicate texture.

Next was Solomon’s Gold Dark Berry Bar. The texture of this bar was not as smooth as some of the other chocolate. However, it had a lovely deep cacao flavour with a subtler berry taste behind it and I still couldn’t stop eating it!

The Ocho Beekeeper chocolate was lovely and smooth with a hint of honey, which strengthened the more bites I took. I liked the look of the bar with its OCHO imprint as well.

The pack of four Bohemein chocolates was a clever collection of four quite different chocolates. The coconut cream truffle was my favourite, with the unusual Rosemary and Apricot a close second. An enjoyable ensemble of contrasting tastes.

The freeze dried strawberries from House of Chocolate were sweet and crumbly on the inside and smooth on the outside. They crunched going in and melted on my tongue like sherbet.

Finally, the piece de resistance was the House of Chocolate Fig, Cherry and Pistachio tablet. This bar looks like summer! It is colourful, textured and tastes simply delicious. Even better, it’s vegan and dairy free so almost anyone can eat it. The chewy, sweet fruit sits in a base of lovely creamy dark chocolate. This was without a doubt the star of the show!

All in all, The Chocolate Tour’s Fruits of Summer box was a lovely combination of complimentary fruit flavours, all based in well-made, delicious chocolate. I can’t wait for January’s box of deliciousness!

Subscribe now to get your hands on our next collection of chocolatey goodness. 

chocolate
Read More
27 Jul
chocolate, chocolate makers, Chocolatiers

Chocolatier vs Chocolate Maker

We talk a lot about chocolate makers and chocolatiers at The Chocolate Tour, but aren’t they the same thing? Well, no.

The craft chocolate industry is very young, so the need for distinction between the two is relatively new. Until recently if you were an artisan who worked with chocolate you’d almost certainly be a chocolatier. So what’s the difference between a chocolate maker and a chocolatier?

Chocolate maker

While big players (Callebaut, Valrhona, Whittaker’s) have been making chocolate for a long time, the assumption until recently was that you had to have industrial-scale machinery to make chocolate that was worth eating. So chocolate making didn’t happen at an artisan level until quite recently.

Luckily for us, over the last 15 years or so, the perception that you have to have a big company and big machines to make good chocolate has been repeatedly disproved. Craft chocolate makers often start out in a shed or garage, working with repurposed equipment and small batches of beans to create chocolate with distinctive characteristics.

Most craft chocolate makers use single-origin beans, and many strive to achieve an ethical supply chain – something which has historically been lacking in the trade of cacao. This can be via direct trade (where the chocolate maker buys from the farmer), via farmer co-operatives, or via other Fair Trade or equivalent channels. As well as helping ensure a fair outcome for the grower (obviously very important!), this focus on the origin illuminates the different characteristics of beans from different areas.

The chocolate making process also allows a lot of room for variability, and therefore control of the flavour of the chocolate itself. For example, the chocolate maker can control the roasting process, the length of conching, and of course the ingredients and proportions. All of this means that chocolate made from the same beans by two different makers can taste markedly different – which is a big part of the fun.

Chocolate makers you might see in our boxes include Hogarth (here’s a video clip that shows some of their setup), Ocho and Wellington Chocolate Factory.

Chocolatier

Chocolatiers work with couverture chocolate to make new and delicious treats – they don’t make the chocolate themselves (well, some do – but then they are both chocolatier and chocolate maker).

Chocolate is a tricky medium to work with, and so being a chocolatier is not a lesser art – just a different one. Chocolatiers can create all kinds of treats, from classic filled or dipped chocolates to beautiful enrobed bars and nuts, and every artisan has their own focus.

Melting chocolate is pretty easy, but tempering – the process that ensures the proper crystalline structure forms as chocolate cools – is not. And of course that’s before we even think about the invention and refinement of all the flavours, fillings and concepts that are required to create an excellent chocolate confection.

In New Zealand, most chocolatiers use couverture from international suppliers like Callebaut, Valrhona and Cacao Barry. Some craft chocolate makers can also provide chocolate for molding, but as yet I’m not aware of any local chocolatiers featuring New Zealand craft chocolate in their products (tell me if you hear of any!). Each particular couverture chocolate has slightly different characteristics and craft chocolate is likely to be trickier to work with, and will probably have more prominent flavours in the chocolate itself.

Chocolatiers that we work with include Honest Chocolat, Little Blues Chocolates, chocolatier mirams, and Baron Hasselhoff’s, among many others.

 

So that’s the difference between chocolate makers and chocolatiers. And here’s a little confession from me – I only recently learnt the importance of this distinction myself. I knew both terms but had missed some of the nuance – so now that I know the difference I thought I’d share with you.

Did you know the difference? Have you tried your hand at either process?

Read More
15 May
Chocolatiers

Meet the chocolatier: Honest Chocolat

Nico Bonnaud is the chocolatier behind the innovative Honest Chocolat, based in Snells Beach. Honest Chocolat’s bonbons feature a water ganache filling, which allows the chocolate to shine through. And the chocolate used here is incredible single-origin chocolate from Original Beans, with plenty of flavour to share with the world – so worth tasting properly. Nico kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us. 

What inspired you to delve into the world of chocolate?

Passion for chocolate is rooted in my youth. Growing up in France, we often had artisan chocolate at home and it was a special moment to savour. Growing up I decided to become a pastry chef and after many years the love of chocolate was calling and I decided to start Honest Chocolat.

Who is your chocolate idol?

I don’t have an idol as such but I admire artisan chocolatiers from around the world that have a passion for quality ingredients and a true craftsmanship.

What types of chocolate do you work with?

We use single origin, organic and sustainably sourced chocolate from a company called Original Beans. We loved to be able to trace back to the origin of the chocolate and the fact that it doesn’t contain soy lecithin and palm oil. We have chocolate from Bolivia, Ecuador and The Congo for example.

Are there any other ingredients you hold especially dear?

We love citrus and for example during the winter months we use oranges from our local winery Brick Bay in Snells Beach, to make treats for their café/restaurant. It is a great way to work closely with the locals and to be more sustainable.

What’s your best chocolate tasting tip?

To savour chocolate, let a square begin to melt on your tongue. This lets the cacao butter coat the palate and work with the bitterness of the cacao solids. With any good chocolate the aromas should linger for some time after you have eaten it.

And lastly, do you have a favourite childhood chocolate memory?

I have many fond memories but the strips of candied oranges covered in dark chocolate or “orangette” as we call them in French are possibly my favourite.

A trio of Honest Chocolat bonbons featured in our May Back to Basics collection, and future collections are bound to feature lots more from this amazing chocolatier. 

Read More
09 May
chocolate

The Chocolate Dictionary

With this month’s focus on the cacao bean, there’s some chocolate jargon popping up around the place. I thought it might be good to have a bit of a glossary here; I’ll add words in from time to time as they come up, but we’ll start with the basics.

Bean-to-bar: Made in small batches, from raw ingredient to finished product by the same artisan. Often these producers source beans directly from farmers, enabling them to ensure an ethical supply chain (see Direct Trade).

Cacao bean: The all-important pod from which chocolate is made. The three most commonly referenced varieties are Criollo (rare but fine), Forastero (common and robust), and Trinitario (a hybrid of Criollo and Forastero).

Chocolate: The finished product, made from cocoa solids, (usually) sugar and (sometimes) extra cocoa butter, milk and other flavourings.

Chocolate maker: Someone who processes cacao into chocolate, e.g large chocolate makers include Valrhona and Callebaut, or closer to home, Whittaker’s; smaller local chocolate makers include Hogarth, Ocho and Wellington Chocolate Factory.

Chocolatier: Someone who uses chocolate to create filled, dipped or otherwise flavoured chocolates. A chocolatier does not make cacao into chocolate (although some chocolatiers are also chocolate makers).

Cocoa butter: The naturally occurring fats from the cacao bean, which give chocolate its magical meltiness, because it liquifies just below human body temperature. Extra cocoa butter is sometimes added to give a smoother finish to chocolate.

Cocoa mass/liquor: Pure liquid cacao – the main ingredient in chocolate. Includes both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in their natural proportions. This is what is referred to when percentages are used to describe chocolate.

Couverture: Fine chocolate, made to be remelted into new products. This is usually what is used for filled and dipped chocolates. Common options include Valrhona and Callebaut; some bean-to-bar producers also make couverture for other chocolatiers to work with.

Direct trade: Means the chocolate-maker sources directly from the farmer, rather than through intermediaries. This means more work for the chocolate-maker but usually results in higher prices for the farmer than Fair Trade agreements offer.

Single-origin: Made from beans from a single geographical location (sometimes a single farm). Most bean-to-bar products are single-origin, and many couverture chocolates are too.

Tempering: The process required to set couverture chocolate properly when making chocolates. This involves heating to a specific temperature to melt, cooling to a lower temperature to allow the correct crystallisation, and then raising the temperature sufficiently that the chocolate is workable but doesn’t lose the crystals that have formed. There are different methods of tempering. Properly tempered chocolate should be glossy, set firmly, and should snap when broken.

There are a few for starters – what chocojargon have I missed?

 

chocolatier mirams meet the chocolatier
Read More
21 Mar
chocolate, Chocolatiers

Meet the chocolatier: Chocolatier Mirams

Chocolatier Mirams is the trading name of Chris Mirams, a Hawkes Bay-based chocolatier who produces exceptional chocolates using top-notch ingredients and stunning finishes. 

He left school at 16 to start as an apprentice at the luxurious Huka Lodge in Taupo. After four years he moved to Melbourne to work as a pastry chef at Gordon Ramsay’s maze restaurant, working alongside Josh Emmett, then in 2012 he moved back to the Hawkes Bay and is now busy working in local eateries there, as well as experimenting and creating with chocolate. Here he tells us a little about what makes him tick. 

What inspired you to delve into the world of chocolate?

I’ve always loved chocolate, but never worked closely with it. So I decided to learn all I could about it. What you can do with it amazes me everyday.

Who is your chocolate idol?

My chocolate hero would have to be Kirsten Tibballs. I was lucky to spend a week at her Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in Melbourne.

What types of chocolate do you work with?

I use Cacao Barry and Valrhona chocolate for my products. Single origin where possible, if you can get your hands on some double fermented chocolate, I recommend trying it. My favourite chocolate is Valrhona Illanka 63% from Peru.

Are there any other ingredients you hold especially dear?

Pailleté Feuilletine – caramelised crepe flakes. Used in confectionery to add a crunchy texture.

What’s your best chocolate tasting tip?

My tasting tips would be to get ahold of Hogarth’s bean to bar chocolate in Nelson. It’s extremely good!

Editor note: Hogarth’s incredible bean-to-bar chocolate will feature in our May collection, so if you’re keen to heed Chris’s advice sign up for The Chocolate Tour before the 23rd of April. If you’re subscribed already you’ll get to try one of Chocolatier Mirams’ decadent chocolates in our April delivery. For orders email chocolatiermirams@hotmail.com, and for drool-worthy teasers be sure to follow @chocolatiermirams on Instagram.

Read More
17 Mar
Chocolatiers

Meet the chocolatier: Little Blues Chocolates

Little Blues Chocolates is an Auckland-based business putting a luxury artisanal spin on American flavours. Ryan is the chocolatier behind the brand, and I spied some of her incredible treats while scrolling through Instagram one day.  She kindly sent me some to try and I was instantly sold. One of her amazing products will feature in our April delivery – a perfect fit for “The Inner Child” theme.

Ryan trained in pastry arts at the Culinary Institute of America and spent 8 years working as a pastry chef before moving into the chocolate specialty. She then spent three and a half years working alongside French-trained chocolatiers in both Napa Valley and Auckland, before launching Little Blues. She agreed to answer a few questions to tell us a bit more about her background and passions. 

What inspired you to delve into the world of chocolate?

I’ve always had a sweet spot for chocolate. While I only opened Little Blues Chocolates last year, I’ve been dreaming about this business since I was a little girl in my mother’s kitchen. After baking my way through childhood, I graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and then trained on opposite sides of the globe with several reputable chocolatiers. And now, Little Blues Chocolates is introducing New Zealand to classic American flavours wrapped up in artisanal chocolates.

Who is your chocolate idol?

It’s hard to choose one person to call my chocolate idol when there are so many people in this world that contribute to the industry. A lot of people might idolise the chocolatier that makes complex showpieces and beautiful creative bonbons. And these people absolutely deserve accolades for their show-stopping work, but I find that people often overlook all the other amazing folks that make up the chocolate industry. I idolize the growers and pickers working in the hot sun, the scientists creating flavour profiles of delicious craft chocolate, the chocolate makers producing bean-to-bar, the chocolatiers finding the most innovative and delicious uses for chocolate, the pastry chefs in restaurants who make glamorous desserts using chocolate as a medium, the small business owners creating equally beautiful chocolates and bean-to-bars that most people will never hear about because they prefer to only sell locally. And let’s not forget the teachers and mentors out there passing on their expertise to the next generation. Every person’s position in the industry is just as important as the others. Without all of us, chocolate wouldn’t be the sought after speciality item that it is.

What types of chocolate do you work with?

I work primarily with Valrhona Chocolate, which is a high-quality chocolate from France. I love the acidity of their range and find it compliments my style and custom flavours. Valrhona is constantly adding new chocolates and products to their line, which then provides me with more to work with and choose from. I feel there is a place for all percentages and origins. If I’m making a solid chocolate item, I prefer to use a darker chocolate, but I prefer milk chocolate for many fillings. Recently, Hogarth’s Madagascar chocolate has become my favourite craft chocolate and I would love to incorporate this in a new product (although it does not need to be made into a confection or bonbon as it’s amazing on its own!).

Are there any other ingredients you hold especially dear?

I also love to feature local products in my artisanal chocolates. I recently worked with Forty Thieves of the Hibiscus Coast to make my Salted Macadamia and Brown Butter chocolates, which are one of my best sellers. I believe that sourcing local and organically grown ingredients elevates the flavour and integrity of my chocolates. It’s been fun using New Zealand’s finest to create flavours and combinations with American roots.

What’s your best chocolate tasting tip?

Don’t let others’ opinions influence your chocolate tasting experience. Everyone has a different palate and what might seem delicious to you could be too strong or too sweet for someone else. And also, we shouldn’t ever settle for just one favourite kind of chocolate. I love high quality dark acidic chocolates, but that doesn’t mean you won’t find a bag of M&M’s in my freezer at all times too!

And lastly, do you have a favourite childhood chocolate memory?

As a child, I loved chocolate covered pretzels. I remember crumbling pretzels into chocolate ice cream for that sweet and salty combination. At age eight, my friend and I decided to make our own chocolate covered pretzels. We poured out Hershey’s chocolate syrup into a bowl, dipped pretzels in it, and let them set in the freezer. In retrospect, it was an absolute mess, but to a couple of eight year olds, it was pretty perfect.

Sign up now for The Chocolate Tour and you’ll get to try one of Little Blues Chocolates’ top treats in our April delivery. Little Blues Chocolates will also be available soon directly from www.littleblueschocolates.com.

12