Amedei Chuao

[escry]

Without a doubt Amedei's Chuao is the best chocolate I have ever tasted. Eight of us blind tasted thirteen exceptional chocolates. All of us chose Chuao not just as our favourite, but as a clear favourite.

Okay, it doesn't have the texture of Valrhona, nor Valrhona's consistency batch to batch, but its flavour ... Mmmm ... Its flavour demonstrates the distinctiveness of single estates (such as those from Domori and Michel Cluizel) with the complexity of a country blend (such as the grand cru chocolat from Valrhona).

Now the difficult part, to make the best better, ie to make an outstanding confection with Chuao as it main ingredient. Has anybody made any confections with Amedei's Chuao?

My first attempts with various ganache formulations have been disappointing - the ganache loses much of the chocolate's distinction. In fact it loses it all, but over a few days the ganache opens up and much of the flavour returns. But I have yet to make the best better!

[amclaud]

I don't know that chuao, or any of amedei's chocolates, are meant to be used for cooking/baking...

With all the effort that goes into making one tiny little square of chocolate, shouldn't you just leave it be and appreciate it as is?

If nothing else.... isn't the price a bit prohibitive?

[escry]

Amedei do a few of their chocolates in 5kg boxes (5 x 1kg bars). Chuao is one such. Certainly it is expensive. Purchased as a couverture, it is about twice the price of Valrhona, four times the price of Callebaut.

As an aside: Unlike Domori, I'm fairly sure that Amedei does not changes its formulation between chocolate bars (say 100g) and couverture (say 1kg).

[Ling]

filipe recently reported that Paul A. Young in London uses only Valrhona and Amedei in his truffles.

click for pictures

Also, I heard Genevieve Grandbois in Montreal only uses Amedei as well. Her fillings are delicious.

(On a sidenote, I like the Porcelana a little more than the Chuao.)

[Tweety69bird]

On Genevieve's website, she says

My chocolates are made with the best products on the market, be it the chocolate itself or the ingredients I use in combination with it.

For my ganaches, I use chocolate with 63 to 75% cacao content produced by some of the best chocolatiers in Europe, including Amedei, Domori, Valrhona and Cacao Barry.

The idea behind all my recipes is to enhance each flavour by combining it with the appropriate chocolate. Thus, Indian tea blends harmoniously with Amedei Toscano 63% and Valrhona Cherry Guanaja.

The vanilla, cinnamon, teas and candied fruit used in my recipes are all chosen for their superior quality.

The fact that my chocolates sometimes have an innovative or daring quality about them has nothing to do with the desire to be original. What’s important is the pleasure of discovering new combinations and harmonies.

I’ll always choose a well-crafted, traditional chocolate over an imaginative recipe that fails to achieve a perfect blend of ingredients.

I hope you get as much pleasure out of tasting my chocolates as I do preparing them.

Geneviève Grandbois

[Ling]

^She uses other chocolates besides Amedei. I stand corrected. (Her truffles are some of the best I've had, btw.)

[Tarek]

^She uses other chocolates besides Amedei. I stand corrected.  (Her truffles are some of the best I've had, btw.)

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sounds delicious, however she does not ship to the U.S, sigh

Tarek