P
L E N T Y
Perfectly formed domes
of deliciousness
Chococo's All-Gold
The Chococo team experiment with flavours all
the time, producing a chocolate of the month every
month except for January “when everyone is on a
detox.” They’ve won an impressive 54 awards for
their chocolates – here are three that have won gold.
Twisted Nose Gin and
Watercress
Watercress is one of the
botanicals in Twisted Nose
Gin. The peppery chocolate
won a gold in the Academy of
Chocolate Awards.
Lemon Zing
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a pan and put a little water in the pan, but
don’t let the water boil, and don’t have steam
coming up the sides, because you really only
want to melt chocolate at 45-50°C. The best
thing to do is melt 70% of the chocolate
and keep some back. When that 70% has
melted, take it off the heat straight away and
put chopped cold chocolate into the bowl
and it will melt into the hot chocolate, but it
will bring the temperature down.
When people want to make a ganache for
truffles, quite often if they’re blending cream
and chocolate it will split – that’s where the
fat comes to the surface and you’re left with
this oily mass rather than a lovely smooth
emulsion. Don’t panic! Leave the ganache,
warm up a little bit more cream and reblend
it very gently – don’t beat it – and it should
turn into a shiny emulsion. If you have to
add so much cream that it’s never going to
set enough to turn into a truffle, just keep
adding cream and make a chocolate sauce.
What about baking with chocolate?
The only thing I say is buy chocolate that
is made with pure cocoa butter. Never buy
chocolate which contains vegetable fats – it’s
not proper chocolate. If it’s got veg fats, the
chances are that they’ve compromised on
the amount of chocolate in there, it’ll be full
of sugar and very sweet – just don’t go there!
Where to buy
Chococo has shops in
Swanage and Winchester.
You can also order online
at www.chococo.co.uk
Tell us about the hot chocolate you
serve in your cafes…
Most cafes will be using a chocolate powder
drink that will probably have about 35%
Filled with fresh lemon curd
handmade locally for Chococo
by Rebecca’s Kitchen in Purbeck. The very zingy Lemon
Zing won gold at the 2015
Great Taste Awards.
Sakura Tea chocolates
These are made using sencha
sakura Japanese green tea,
which contains cherry and
rose petals, and is imported by
Winchester-based Char Teas.
They also won a gold in the
2015 Great Taste Awards.
cocoa solids and will be a lot sweeter. I can’t
have hot chocolates anywhere else now,
because they’re so sweet. We do a range of
origin hot chocolates in our cafes and our
house hot chocolate is made with 70%
Madagascan. There’s also a 75% from
Tanzania, an 80% from Uganda, or 100%
from Colombia. There’s no sugar in that at
all. It’s intense, but I wouldn’t say bitter.
www.menu-dorset.co.uk