Hi!
True confessions, Yes, being a very big chocolate lover 🙂 I thought, “Sora, how could you not go to The New York City, Big Chocolate Show and so I found myself there which was truly an educational experience in more ways than oneLOLLOLLOL.
The Big Chocolate Show was held at Terminal Stores which is located at 269 Eleventh Avenue between 27th and 28th Street and the show did not disappoint!!!
I got to taste many incredible chocolates and got to meet Chocolate Makers from all around the world.
So here are some of the choocolate brands that I wanted to share with you along with some other very interesting “chocolate related” products that I think that you’ll also find very interesting as well.
So the first two chocolate companies that I wanted to let you know about come from Ecquador.
The first chocolate company is called Pacari and can be found atwww.samichakra.com/organic-chocolate.
Galo Pazmino, President of the company explained why Pacari chocolate was so special. He shared that the company only uses one type of cocoa bean which is called arriba and which is considered one of the finest cocoa beans in the world. He then told me that the company works with small farmers and these farmers produce small batches in order to preserve the aroma of the chocolate at its highest level. Also that all ingredients on each of the farms are both organic and biodynamic.
Then I spoke to Ana Martinez of Minka Chocolate www.minka.ec another brand of chocolate which is made in Ecquador.
Ana explained that Minka is located in Ecuador and that they grow their cocoa beans on a single farm and that the cocoa bean is infused by the aroma of the diversity of this single farm. That’s because the single farm has 5 haciendas (where they house their cocoa beans) and that each hacienda provides a different aroma which is given off by the plant that shares its space with the cocoa bean. So that one hacienda has a banana tree, another a prune tree, another a citrus tree and another a generic Ecuadorian tree. Again, all of these varied smells, individually housed in each hacienda are what gives their cocoa beans the most interesting smell and flavors which is really interesting to me. So how cool is that!
So now let’s talk about another chocolate company that I found which I thought was amazing. The company’s name is Christopher Elbow’s Chocolates www.elbowchocolates.com and Christopher told me that they can be found at Dean and Delucas for anyone living in the city! Yeah
After tasting the yellow chocolate ones in the middle which tasted like a key lime pie unto itself and then the ones on the right being the most Amazing house made caramels with grey French sea salt—I was hooked!!!
What can I say but simply divine!
Now for some fun chocolate related items that I found:
First I found a chocolate maker, so if you can’t find the chocolate that you like then you can actually make your own.
That can be found at www.melangers.com. Check it out!
Then I found, can you believe-both Mint Chocolate and Orange Chocolate Hand Lotion from www.indichocolate.com ,
OK. So I had to buy the Mint Chocolate Body Lotion. Are you serious…LOL, smelling chocolate without the calories-how cool is that!!! And just to let you knowLol they also have a travel size so check them out as well!
But then OK, I must admit it, I had the most fun when I met Moran Etstein, Isaeli-born, chocolate artist whose company Drizzle, Inc can be found at www.DrizzleNYC.com.
Moran, an amazing chocolate artist, both created and developed her own line of chocolate mannequins with handmade chocolate outfits and accessories that she so apply calls “Chocolate Fashionistas.”
In addition, to hand crafting her “Chocolate Fashionistas” Moran also offers fun and educational chocolate workshops for kids and adults for a multitude of events where the attendees get to create their own chocolate works of art. Again-How fun is that!!!
So here are some of Moran’s “Chocolate Fashionstas”…
