who is your favorite chocolatier?

[jwwai]

Sounds like I'll have to check out Kee's.

1- Patrice Chapon...for their ganache pieces but not their "pure-origin" chocolates.

2- Francois Pralus for their single-origin dark chocolates.

3- Green & Black's for their Mayan Gold.

:: Chapon: Two stores in Paris, one in Chelles.

The basil ganache and pistachio ganache aren't bad.

I've made my pilgrimage to both stores in Paris last year, but the one I remember had the walls covered in vintage chocolate molds. In NYC, Zabar's did sell boxes of Chapon chocolates once -- during the winter holidays; we'll see about this year. There was also a Chapon booth at the city's annual chocolate show maybe two or three years back. They were noticeably absent from the 2005 event, but maybe they'll be back for the one coming up in November. Counting down the days.

:: Francois Pralus: Sold by various online vendors; based in Roanne.

Attention all you eG readers who don't want another ganache place! We first encountered Pralus at the 2005 chocolate show, but we're hoping they'll give us another reason to attend this year's chocolate show. Their "Pyramide" collection of ten single-origin bars (75% cocoa content) -- "single origin" is sometimes misleading, but it's what they claim on their advertising -- with each bar representing varieties from Jamaica, Indonesia, Sao Tome, Trinidad, Venezuela, Vanuatu, Ghana, Madagascar, Colombia, and Equador. In our chocolate blind-taste-test-game (we don't have a TV, can you tell?), we sample these chocolates and then try to articulate the taste and texture of each sample to match the corresponding description on the package. Really, this is more fun than watching TV!

:: Green & Black's: Maybe you can get their chocolates anywhere now.

I first got the Maya Gold chocolate bars as a Christmas present in England. I bought a few more soon after at an Oxfam shop, but my supply didn't last long enough across the Atlantic. Fortunately, Green & Black's is sold at Fairway, Zabar's and even the nearby Italian supermarket, and of course they made a couple of appearances at the NY chocolate show. What's curious to me is that some people swear the Maya Gold chocolate bought in England tastes spicier than the ones bought in New York. Anyone want to confirm/refute?

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

You might consider Jubilee or Eclat.

[patsikes]

Bought a box of Jubilee or John & Kira's for my wife for Valentine's Day this year. Thier raspberry was great, but the rest was just lacking that special punch...

[cnspriggs]

Out of curiousity-I tend to prefer chocolate from Italy or Germany. Where do you all think their chocolate lies on the sweetness scale(I'm typically buying in the 70%range)?? My instinct says lower than US French or Belgian.

As a rule I find there is a corrolation between country and sweetness for artisan chocolates. American chocolates are the sweetest and most intensely flavoured, French chocolates (eg LMduC) have very little or no added sugars and subtle flavours, with Belgian chocolates (eg Marcolini) somewhere in between.

I have tried Marrie Belle's chocolates (actually, Torres I believe). These are beautifully decorated and formulated for a longer shelf-life. Perhaps it is unfair to compartable these to fresh artisan chocolates, however in these I again noted a much sweeter formulation than to the European taste.

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