christopher elbow |

VALENTINE’S DAY WITHOUT CHOCOLATES? DO N’T EVEN THINK OF IT.

Rouge Passion by Richart's Chocolates

Just as we cannot see celebrating Valentine’s Day without chocolates, it would be a sin not to seek out the best possible selection for your Valentine. We have reported previously about the products of top chocolatiers in the US ( (please see previous posts); and just by thinking about the tastes of these wonderful creations, I start to feel warm all over and cannot wait to open my box of surprise (or maybe not a surprise at all, since my Valentine knows my flair for the best). This is the holiday when you should not settle for anything less than the best. However, if you recall, I also said that selecting chocolates is a highly personal decision; what maybe the best for me it may not be your choice. So, please go ahead and read about all the top 10 chocolatiers we reviewed previously, because we conducted a very thorough tasting process and these artists were selected by consensus.

In the interim, however, I had a wonderful opportunity to taste the newest inventions of Richart, so I am going to add here a brief report about my feelings about these gems.

Richart's Chocolates

If you want to lift your mood, if you want to indulge in life’s luxuries, if you wish to be in the mood – what you do? You grab a box of chocolate, the best you can find and do not stop until the box is empty. Chocolate is the embodiment of love, passion, and sexual desire. It is the absolute perfect gift for those we care about deeply; so I hope you will threat one another with one of these delights and create a weekend to remember for years to come.

Richart created a special box for Valentine’s Day, named perfectly as “Rouge Passion”. It composed of two chocolate bonbons with variations of a ganache based on passion fruit’s aromatic bouquet, the delightful refreshing taste of berries and the seductive power of salted butter caramel coulis. Michel Richart likes to develop new products designed with the pleasure in mind; it shows. Michel doesn’t only put a lot of passion into his work, but he transfers that excitement you feel when you are in love into his creations. When you place one of these bonbons into your mouth its an instant exhilaration combined with the pleasurable sensation of sexual arousal. Get this box for your Valentine, but enjoy it together.

The other two newer products that we tried called CHOCOMAC and WINTER JUBILEE. CHOCOMAC has 8 pieces developed with the idea to help you to get the most pleasure from tasting chocolates. It has the light crunchy feel of french macaroons, the smooth, silky feel of a perfect ganache and a wafer thin solid chocolate to exert a desirable strength for the connection of the multitude of experience. Richart even thought about to provide you a “pleasure guide” (he calls it the “Wheel of Pleasure) with these elegant creations, which certainly adds to the tasting experience. This “Wheel of Pleasure” is color coded to assist you in identifying and differentiating the aromas the chocolate exudes, the texture that corresponds to the feel in your mouth and the taste that actually drives your feeling of pleasure. Some of the chocolates contain multiple ingredients in high concentrations that are known aphrodisiacs (i.e. spices, coffee, etc.) so double your pleasure and indulge.

The Winter Jubilee contains seven dark chocolates with unique chocolate ganache fillings. The dark chocolates are from Venezuela and the ganache contains chocolates from Santo Domingo and Tahitian vanilla, of course. These beauties are not only an art work to look at, but contain a variety of ingredients with significant aphrodisiacal powers, like pineapple, cinnamon, peppermint, vanilla, almonds, hazelnuts, coriander, and star anise. I left the last ingredients to be reported separately, because Richart correctly calls this chocolate a “FLAME”; it contains quinoa from Peru and sea salt from Guerande and of course the chocolate from Venezuela – one of these will not only ignite old intense loving feelings but create new ones with a flame that will never die.

Richart's Chocolates

TOP TEN CHOCOLATIERS IN THE US

Richart’s Chocolates
1-800-RICHART (1-800-742-4278); http://www.richart.com

La Maison du Chocolat
744-7117; http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.us/us/en/

Norman Love Confections
866-515-2121; http://www.normanloveconfections.com

Michel Cluizel

http://www.cluizel.com

Knipschildt Chocolatier
838-3131; http://www.knipschildt.com

Recchiuti Confections
800-500-3396; http://www.recchiuti.com

Kee’s Chocolates

http://www.keeschocolates.com

Christopher Elbow

http://www.elbowchocolates.com

Chuao Chocolates

http://www.chuaochocolatier.com

L.A. Burdick
800-229-2419; http://www.burdickchocolate.com

Please remember that you may not agree with our selections; therefore, we would like to hear from you. Actually, if enough of you would respond we could create a readers’ selection. Wouldn’t that be fun?

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CHOCOLATES YOU MUST KNOW – TOP 10 CHOCOLATIERS

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CELEBRATE THE SEASON WITH CHOCOLATES

THE EIGHT CHOCOLATIER: CHRISTOPHER ELBOW CHOCOLATES

The Artisan:

Christopher Elbow began perfecting his chocolate-making skills while working as a Pastry Chef in Kansas City and that is where he started his own chocolate company. His passion for working with chocolate allowed him to be highly creative. His hand-painted sparkling jewels are not only one of the best work of art (excluding Norman Love’s work, of course), but most carry well-balanced flavors, ingredients in perfect harmony and aroma that can fill a dance hall. He worked with such famous TV chefs, as Emeril Lagasse and he is featured in many print publications, including Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, InStyle and Oprah.

The Chocolates:

Chef Elbow’s use of Vietnamese cinnamon, rosemary with a hint of caramel, or sparkling bubbly flecked with shimmering gold are just phenomenal. We could not stop eating them until we realized that the box is empty.

I must add, however, that not every piece is “perfect”; we did find some misses, but from such a large selection of uniquely flavored bonbons, he is allowed to have a few that may not be to our liking. For instance, in the Rum Raisin chocolate, the rum overpowered the entire product and we did not think that Mango was the right fruit to be used with caramel; he high acidity of this fruit altered the taste of the caramel, and not in a good way. On the other hand the crunchy caramelized hazelnut filling with the smooth, creamy milk chocolate shell was just delightful and the Raspberry, with a layer of the pate and the dark ganache are divine. The Venezuelan Spice where dark chocolate center spiced with chile and enrobed in a thick dark chocolate shell and the Orange Pekoe Tea with aromas that infiltrated our entire surroundings are both complemented the overall presentation. At first, the Venezuelan spice tastes like the regular dark chocolate ganache; rich and velvety, however as it slowly melts away on the front of your tongue, you can feel the spice catching up to you as it leaves a fiery kick on your palate. You must try the Champagne bonbon if you want celebrate the season by washing down the combination of milk and dark chocolates with the bubbly. The Cappuccino tastes as if you are sipping a nice cup of coffee accompanied with a piece of smooth milk chocolate.

We believe, however, that seven caramel-based creations of the total of 25, creates an imbalance in their otherwise unique and tasty inventory. I love a well-made caramel but if it is nearly one-third of the choices it reduces the selection options. I addition, some of the caramels are either too sweet or the caramel a bit overdone which accentuates the bitterness of the bittersweet. I don’t want to give the impression that Chef’s Elbow creations are anything other than top of the line but requires a careful selection.

Since I taste (and create) many chocolates, my critical palate has a couple of cons but please keep in mind that everyone has their own preferences and tastes and to enjoy these chocolates requires a fairly sophisticated palate. I also like to make my doctors unhappy, because I believe in all those reports about the beneficial effects of dark chocolates, they don’t.

Chocolatiers at Chef Elbow’s level work with top ingredients (for those who keep track, he uses El Rey couverture). We just don’t know what technique creates this kind of palate magic.

How to order:

It is a good idea to visit their website: http://www.elbowchocolates.com/shop_online and review your options (even if you live nearby). Every chocolate piece is a work of art and they presenting them in their gift box. They also sell chocolate bars, (actually 17 different variations), drinking chocolate in a tin and chocolate coffee.

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