Chocolate

I got a Hotel Chocolat Easter Rabbit puzzle from DH ..It's ears and part of its body are already gone

Several British chocolatiers/manufacturers and owners of British cocoa plantations mentioned here, in this article about the growth in popularity of healthier dark chocolate (no milk, little sugar). British tastes are changing to influence the demand for good quality chocolate.

www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Ingredients/The-dark-star-rises

Interesting article Whenim. It's years since I've seen anyone eat sweet milky chocolate, but it's certainly true that there are a numberof independent chocolate makers appearing. One is Charlotte's Chocolates in Buxton which is superb, and the Hotel Chocolate shops have a wonderful range. My friend Sophie is MD of Divine Chocolate - a fairly traded company - and she reports that sales of their dark chocolate are growing rapidly.

Hotel Chocolate for me, nothing else compares! Plus they give a free taster as you browse their selections

dinnerispoured.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/dark-sugars-brick-lanes--chocolate-shop/

If you are lucky enough to be near this shop..go in, taste, buy and enjoy! It's exquisite! better than most chocolate you have tasted..more subtle and less sickly than most!

https://twitter.com/darksugars try this link

I still have 2 boxes of chocolates in the fridge left over from Christmas! I usually eat 3 or 4 at the weekend (chocolates not boxes!) and then I forget about them until the following weekend. Crisps on the other hand disappear at a rate of knots!!!!

If you join Hotel Chocolat/chocs,co.uk, you get a 10% discount card for the shops. The one in the Trafford Centre is too close to home!

I was invited to a chocolate tasting given by a local chocolatier. (Yes, we have such things, even oop North).
I would never have believed there could have been such subtle differences of flavour between the various estates.
I never eat milk chocolate now, it's got to be at least 85% cocoa solids. <goes off in search of the Green & Blacks>

My FIL was a schoolboy in Neuchatel in the 10's/20's and he and the other little boys would hang out of the train windows on their way to school in the mornings and smell the wonderful aroma of the chocolate! Nearly 50 years on and I am a student at Neuchatel university - and doing the same! (no calories that way!)

There are chocolatiers popping up all over the place. We stopped off in a little choc shop in the middle of Scotland (might have been Comrie) where the chocolates were delicious and I must put in a word for one of my favourites - the Tobermory Chocolate shop on the Isle of Mull. Worth making the ferry trip!

May I just express my admiration and gratitude to all those devoting themselves to this important research. A tough job but someone has to do i!

My nephew's pal is a chocolatier in Stockport, anno. He had to close his Wilmslow shop down because the rent and rates were leaving him earning under £100 a week for all his hard work. His other shop is very busy, though, and now he's going to sell online. His artisan chocolates are like the ones from the Dark Sugars shop on Brick Lane. Divine!

Oooh. Post the link please.

Wow Soutra- if you are at Neuchatel Uni now, we must meet for coffee or lunch soon- I am just up the road in t'mountains- you'd be most welcome here too.

Yep- when I was a kid, the little town of Serrières was full os smells- the Suchard chocolate factory, and lower down the Brunette Tobacco factory (now the huge Malboro factory). Do pm and tell me where you are... Sadly though, the chocolate smells are gone as the Suchard factory was closed a few years back.

What are you studying? I teach French if I can be of any help at any time.

No I meant fast forward 50 years- to the late 60's alas many years ago studying French lang and lit, but the smell from the Suchard factory was unforgettable!

I treated myself to a box of Dark Sugars last month when we were in Brick Lane then got a call from friends to go to theirs for a supper so took the chocs..and had to share please post the link to the online shop for your nephew when

I think I know where that is, when. I've driven past it often enough, but haven't been in for a taste. That's if you mean the shop in Hazel Grove?

Oh I see Soutra, what a shame. I was a student in Neuchatel in the 60s- so maybe we did party together at some time What a shame the Suchard factory closed. If you ever visit the area again, do get in touch- would love to show you around.

when I did my best (with all my friends) to keep that Chocolate shop going! We always had coffee there after our exercise classes, and Oliver's naked chocolate parties got us very excited!
Oliver is the most gorgeous young man you could ever wish to eat meet!

Hopefully this will encourage all to eat as much as they like. In my DHs recent addition of FOCUS mag. there is a wonderful article on how good chocolate is for you.

Among them: Good for skin, boosts brain power, boosts 'good cholesterol'
renovates blood vessels, prevents liver damage, lowers blood
pressure, makes you feel good.

Sounds good to me.

Lona that was kind and soooo selfless of you and your pals - he loved all his customers and wept buckets when they had to go. Maybe he'll be back to that part of the world if things keep going as well as they are now.

When we had the guest house in York, it was near the Rowntrees factory, which was taken over by Nestle.
Two of the chocolatiers used to stay with us during the week. One of them used to bring us the new products to try. I never bought any, but we used to taste them and let him know what we thought. We always used organic sugar and chocolate and teas, so I was always asking him why they did not use organic. Now they use some organic, but not much.
I could never understand why a Swiss chocolate company would buy a British one, not that Nestle had anything to boast about.

I love Lindt chocolate and I used to have a big crush on Terry's chocolate orange. They were fun to eat. You bash them first to open up the orange and then eat the slices! Yummy yummy.