The Chocolate Weekly 8 - 2015

News

This week will be for all chocolovers marked mostly with the World chocolate Masters UK & Ireland preselection that will happen in London on 18th February this year at Westminster Kingsway College, London.

It is not just a competition. It’s also about getting to know the chocolate, experiencing the richness of flavours of different origins, different extremes, the Purity from Nature, tasting desserts created by the great chefs, meeting the creators, getting to know Or Noir and much more.

The contestants Alistair Birt, Richie Heppell, Norma Kelly and Mary Reid have been presented in the last weeks. Tomorrow we will present you our special guest – one of the world’s best pastry chefs, Ramon Morató.

Valentine’s Day was sadly marked with death of the great Michele Ferrero, the creator of the famous Nutella, Ferrero Rocher and many other famous products.  Mr Ferrero’s father, a pastry maker named Pietro, developed the forerunner to Nutella in 1946, called Giandujot, combining a small amount of cocoa and lots of hazelnuts to make an affordable luxury at a time chocolate was expensive. Michele Ferrero’s son, Giovanni, told the BBC last year: “My grandfather lived to find this formula. He was completely obsessed by it … he woke up my grandmother at midnight – she was sleeping – and he made her taste it with spoons, asking, ‘How was it?’ and ‘What do you think?'” Michele Ferrero turned the paste into the Nutella now known the world over, produced in 11 factories and sold in 160 countries. The first pot was made in 1964. Read more here.

A suggestion for this week: what about a visit to the Ampersand hotel to enjoy a lovely dessert by Ji Sun Shin?

Ginseng milk chocolate mousse, white chocolate rice pudding, dark chocolate sorbet, almond, sake and lychee. Photo: Laura Lajh Prijatelj