Food journeys: Part two Chocolate

There's chocolate... and there's chocolate.

I'm not sure if my two younger daughters remember, as they would have been under five, but on the occasions when Mary came to pick me up from work, the girls would sit in the pastry kitchen next to the chocolate shelf. I'm sorry I haven't a picture to share, but just imagine the scene: a stainless steel bench with shelves next to it holding freshly made chocolates at children's eye level... and all made with French Valrhona chocolate.

From those days onward, I have only used Valhrona chocolate in my cooking. It's dark, rich and intense. I'm sure there are other producers out there, but for me it's always been Valrhona. Over 100 years ago, Albéric Guironnet, a pastry maker and confectioner based in Ardèche, founded the Chocolaterie du Vivarais in a former woodshop in Tain l’Hermitage. He was very attentive to quality, so roasted the cocoa beans himself, and he became a supplier for other makers and pastry chefs. When Albéric Guironnet died in 1939, the business went to Albert Gonnet, an entrepreneur from Chambéry. He renamed the company La Chocolaterie Gonnet and expanded the workshop so he could diversify the range of chocolate he sold. To help the business grow, in 1947 he created the brand “Valrhôna”, which was short for “Vallée du Rhône” (or Rhone Valley). You can read more about the Valrhona journey on their website.

We use the 70% cacao Guanaja. I love the intense bitter flavour and fruity notes. It goes in our chocolate marquise, ice cream, chocolate and almond cake and more. And we always dust our tiramisu with Valrhona cocoa powder: one of the reasons so many of you say it's the best tiramisu you've ever tasted!

The Valrhona range in terms of named cacao varieties and different cacao % is amazing, although as with all good things, it is not cheap. The picture below shows their pistols, which are unsweetened and not tempered, so they can be used for a huge range of applications. It's a shame you don't often see their retail chocolate for sale in the UK, so there's nothing quite like sneaking a few of these out of the bag when you need a really good chocolate hit...

To experience Valrhona chocolate for yourself, look at our Feast menus...

Click here

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