Q1 – With Valentine’s Day coming up, let’s start with the basics, what is the difference between dark, milk and white chocolate?
After cocoa beans are dried and roasted, they are then ground into a liquid consistency known as chocolate liquor. If this base is hardened, it becomes unsweetened baking chocolate. If you have ever tasted this, you will know it is very bitter.
To make it palatable, sugar and extra cocoa butter are added, and then it becomes what we know as semi-sweet chocolate. For milk chocolate, the world’s favorite flavor, milk is of course added along with sugar, extra cocoa butter and vanilla.
Q2 – We are lucky to have artisanal chocolate boutiques in Montreal, what makes them worth the extra few bucks?
Each piece is hand dipped with ultimate quality chocolate be it Valrhona, Callebaut or variety ones from around the world: Costa Rica, Madagascar, Tanzania, Domincan Republic, etc. Their treats go way beyond your caramel and chocolate turtle into complex gourmet tastes
Q3 – Okay, let’s go through a few of them and explain what they each specialize in:
At Chocolats Privilege you can be wowed by the original chocolate combinations. Their signature one is called “Privilege”, and is a crowd pleasing dark chocolate and coffee combo, but they sell lots of ganaches ($9.50 per 100 gram) combined with: green tea, basil and lime, LBV porto, rosemary and cream, coriander, or a raspberry/blueberry/strawberry combo.
Another idea is making chocolates with beans from around the world: Costa Rica, Madagascar, Tanzania, Domincan Republic, etc. There’s a caramel line, pralines and specialties: almond paste with walnuts, rum, half-coated orange slice and a couple of sugarless options.
First Location: 1001 Fleury est at St. Charles
Phone: 514-385-6335
Hours: Mon-Wed 8:30-6, Thurs & Fri 8:30-8, Sat 9-6, Sun 9-5:30
Other locations: Jean Talon Market, 7070 Henri-Julien (514-276-7070); Kirkland, 3602 boul. St-Charles (514-694-2261); Marche 440 (450-682-3666)
www.chocolatsprivilege.com
Divine Chocolatier takes Callebaut dark chocolate and wrap it around orange or ginger slices, blueberries, orange peel or praline and offers up divine confections (100 gr/$9.95). Sure there’s healthy 72% dark choclate with orange and ginger but look for the fun items: the chocolate shot glasses, body oil, caramel or chocolate hazelnut spread, and molded shapes like a computer, tennis racket or kama sutra poses. Seasonally you might get cinnamon or allspice in your chocolate or flavored hot chocolates.
Location: 2158 Crescent Sherbrooke
Phone: 514-282-0829
Hours: Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5 (closed Sun. in winter except holidays)
www.divinechocolatier.com
In Les Chocolats De Chloé it’s the ambiance here that keeps devoted clientele. The open kitchen makes you feel like you are part of the chocolate-making process, and the staff is so accommodating when asked questions. You will have some, because the originality of the flavors (lemon chocolate, Earl Grey tea, salted ganache, Illy coffee) will perplex you. Valrhona chocolate is all they use, and no extracts – rum is rum – and fruits are made in season and every candy is dipped by hand. Popular hot chocolate mixes come in vanilla bean and cinnamon, and there could be turtles and chocolate covered marshmallows.
Location: 546 Duluth est Berri
Phone: 514-849-5550
Hours: Tues & Wed 10-7, Thurs & Fri 10-9, Sat 11-5, Sun 11-7
www.leschocolatsdechloe.com
Q4: Let’s get back to the history of chocolate, how did we find out about it?
Columbus brought the beans back to King Ferdinand of Spain in 1492, they didn’t know how to process them. Explorer Hernando Cortez had spent some time among the Aztecs in 1519, and had been able to observe the processing technique, so he took this knowledge and some more beans back to Spain.
Q5 – I understand that it was kept as a secret potion?
Members of the Spanish court fell in love with it after they discovered that by adding sweetener it became a wonderful drink. It was so favored that it was kept a secret amongst the nobility for almost a century. With the marriage of Louis XIII of France to a Spanish princess in 1615, the scrumptious secret was let out and dispersed throughout Europe almost as fast as an Internet virus.
Q 6 – How is the cocoa bean turned edible and delicious?
To make chocolate, the football-shaped pod is opened and the cacao seeds found inside are fermented in the sweet pulp from the pod for days. When the pulp rots and falls away, the beans are dried and roasted, removing the shells. They are then ground into a liquid consistency known as chocolate liquor.
