Club New D158. January

Club News

The monthly newsletter from the Tasting Club

Issue 1301

Easter Peek

This year’s collection will have you in a spin – but in a good way!

See page 12

CAPTION ACTION! The ever-popular caption competition is back – make us laugh and you could win!

Winter Puddings, new for 2012, was one of our cosiest, most comforting special editions ever

The review

of 2012

2012 has been a year full of excitement but, just like a tasting box carelessly left out, it has vanished all too soon!

This has been the Tasting Club’s 14th year and here are some of the highlights.

1301NL

What better way to kick off our review than with a look back at the year in boxes. We began as we meant to carry on with Six of the Best – the second of its type, this time devoted to the chocolate icons of the Club. That’s to say those recipes that really sum up our Club and our approach to chocolate making.

Needless to say, that went down extremely well and, after Easter, it was followed by a special in its third edition, Summer Desserts. Every year this box scores more highly than the last and yet again we have raised the dessert bar!... continued on page 8...

Enter the competition on page 15

Ghana Appeal Target:

£45,000 If you would like to contribute to the Appeal to fund the Osuben Medical Clinic (CHPS) please send a cheque for whatever amount you can give made payable to the Cocoa Farmers’ Fund and send to CTC Ghana Appeal, FREEPOST ANG10659, Royston, SG8 5YD

Current Amount:

£4,270

Letter from the

Editor

W

hat a busy year it has been. I hadn’t noticed just how busy until I sat down and looked through the last 12 issues of Club News to research the cover article this month. It has been a vintage year for special editions with some real crackers, including the utterly off the wall Planets, which was probably my favourite. We’ve seen great advances in our Engaged Ethics programmes in Saint Lucia and in Ghana, we’ve tasted hundreds of chocolates and above all, we’ve had fun doing it!

One of the main highlights was Club Director, Terry’s, trip to Ghana. It was the first time I haven’t been able to make the trip, but he seemed to do very well indeed without my help! We’ve already reported on our Health Centre project, but this month there’s news of yet another programme inspired by the trip. This time it’s to help young farmers make a start in cocoa – see page 6 for more on that.

“

We’ve seen great advances in Engaged Ethics programmes in Saint Lucia and in Ghana, we’ve tasted hundreds of chocolates and above all, we’ve had fun doing it!

”

Elsewhere in this month, there’s exciting news about our revolutionary new white chocolate recipe and our chocolate manufactory in Saint Lucia (both on page 13).

And finally, if the picture on page 15 doesn’t inspire a witty caption from you, then I don’t what will!

Don’t miss tasting the chocolates Angus takes home – order your Founder’s Choice on page 4

Until next month, happy tasting.

Simon Thirlwell Club News Editor Send your letters to The Chocolate Tasting Club, Mint House, Royston SG8 5HL, or simply email me on simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk or via our website: www.chocs.co.uk We are waiting to hear from you!

Club News Editor: Simon Thirlwell; Contributors: Simon Thirlwell, Terry Waters.

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© The Chocolate Tasting Club plc 2013

What exactly is

caramel

I

f you have ever made caramel at home, then you will know that it is made with very simple ingredients, but with the help of some amazing alchemy, the results taste absolutely heavenly! It is simply made with sugar that is heated until the sugar crystals rearrange themselves into a thick amber liquid. Whisk in some cream and / or butter and you’ve then created a gorgeous

liquid caramel. Cook it a bit longer and you’ll create ever more solid caramel, ranging from chewy to brittle.

And because it’s the ‘burning’ of the sugar that gives caramel its flavours, the longer the cooking time, the deeper the flavours. The Club’s soft caramel recipe, however, achieves a very fluid texture with its deep caramel flavours accentuated by a traditional pinch of salt.

Winners

This month’s Prize Draw

Classic Selection Prize draw winner Dr Helen Jones from Bristol who wins a Winter Warmers Selection.

Next month’s prize is an Everything Selection.

LAST call for…

Dark Selection Prize draw winner is Mrs Miek de Kort from Marlborough who wins a Midnight Mints Selection.

Next month’s prize is a Dark Chocolate Canapé Selection.

Elements

Selection

Prize draw winner is Mrs Susan Marshall from Chorley who wins a Mississippi Mud Pie Giant Slab.

Next month’s prize is a White & Caramel Cookies Giant Slab.

Purist

Selection

Prize draw winner is Mrs S Broadley from Richmond who wins a Purist Pralines & Caramel Selection.

Next month’s prize is a Purist Collection.

All Milk

Selection

Prize draw winner is Mrs Joan Ramsden from Northwich who wins a Peepster Milk Adventure.

Six of the Best – Founder’s Choice Our elite Six of the Best Collection is back for a third exciting year and this time it’s personal!

All six chocolates have been personally chosen by Club Founder, Angus Thirlwell – his handpicked recipes of the moment, the chocolates he most wants you to try. They come from across the chocolate genres and, as you’ll discover, he loves each one for different reasons – including classic Soft Salted caramels and Champagne Truffles, new gianduja bûche recipes, warming Whisky Truffle and more.

Don’t miss your last chance to taste Angus’s favourites!

Reserve your Founder’s Choice Collection now for just £17 (plus £3.95 P&P) at www.chocs.co.uk/SIXBEST or call 08444 933 933

Next month’s prize is a Milk Oblivion Selection.

Don’t forget – score by post or online at www.chocs.co.uk 4

and you’ll be automatically entered into this prize draw.

Brace yourself

The new fortified selection is coming

Make sure yours is reserved via Manage My Membership at www.chocs.co.uk/ FORTIFIED or call 08444 933 933

Photography by Stephen bond

Don’t miss the next delicious instalment of our quarterly Club – featuring Bourbon whisky, the Ruby Port Taste Challenge, Sipsmith Gin, Espresso Martini, Peach & Amaretto, Podlasie Vodka, Poire William and much more.

Three of the farmers at Virgin City Radio – not what you would expect to be “pop music fans”!

(Left) What successful applicants to the scheme will receive to get them started.

The

young farmers

SCHEME

We’ve previously reported in Club News on our trip earlier this year to the Virgin City Radio Station in Konongo. It was there, along with our partners from Green Tropics Group (GTG), that we met five local cocoa farmers and discussed their views on the radio programme for cocoa farmers, set by GTG and that we have helped fund.

A

ll five were positive about the programme but suggested it might include some contemporary pop music! Given that the four men and one woman farmer were all in their “mature years” this came as something of a surprise. But their reasoning was that young people in their villages had a reluctance to take up cocoa farming and this might get them interested in listening to the programme and then becoming interested in farming.

We discovered that a big problem for potential young farmers was the initial financial investment typically required – approximately 400 seedlings, wheelbarrow, water carriers, watering can, spraying equipment, boots, cutlasses and fertiliser.

All in all it adds up to about US$200, which is more than most cocoa farmers earn a year.

Then there was the added investment in effort of clearing an area of 2-3 acres (the land is usually made freely available by family members), preparing it, planting the seedlings and shade trees. Then, of course, they must wait three years before the first crop appears, during which time more seedlings would be 6

required to replace those that never make it to maturity along with general maintenance.

After the meeting we talked with Robert, Stephen and Isaac of GTG and proposed investing $5,000 to set up a pilot Young Farmers’ Scheme whereby approved applicants would receive a ‘start-up pack’ of seedlings and equipment they needed, after they had cleared the land, completely free. They would receive ongoing help and would not have to repay the costs, but they would have to help in clearing and preparing the land for other new young farmers that come onto the scheme, thereby helping to perpetuate the process.

Clearly it is too early to hail the scheme a success, applications have only just started to come in, but the response so far is very encouraging. What seems significant to us is that only by meeting with these farmers and exploring the rationale behind their, on the face of it, rather obscure request for pop music, would we have ever thought about setting up such a scheme. It really does demonstrate the value of our engaging Engaged Ethics policy!

“

The study followed 37,000 Swedish men, which is a huge amount for research of this kind…

”

As if we

needed telling In the past few years, more and more research has pointed to the health benefits of cocoa… Dark chocolate, especially, is increasingly being accepted as a good addition to a healthy balanced diet and that is something that has been backed up by two more pieces of research. The first, carried out on behalf of the Stroke Association, suggests that chocolate may protect against stroke.

T

he study followed 37,000 Swedish men, which is a huge amount for research of this kind that is usually carried out on relatively small samples. They were asked about their diets and their health was carefully monitored for a decade. Then they were split into four groups, with the bottom group consuming almost no chocolate whatsoever and the top group consuming 63g a week – the equivalent of slightly more than the average bar of chocolate. The results showed that, when comparing the top and bottom groups, those who ate the most chocolate in were the least likely to have a stroke, 17% less likely in fact. Researchers pointed to the fact that chocolate contains flavanols, which appear to be protective against cardiovascular disease through antioxidant, anti-clotting and anti-inflammatory properties.

This brings us neatly onto survey number two, which is in fact an analysis of 20 past surveys looking into chocolate’s effect on

blood pressure. The theory is that the flavanols contained in chocolate help to relax the body’s blood vessels, making it easier for blood to pass through them and thereby lowering blood pressure. However, over the past few years, the results of these surveys have varied quite markedly, and so the Cochrane Group has compared the results to see if there really is an effect.

Although there was a huge range in the amount of chocolate eaten in each piece of research – from 3g to 105g a day – they concluded that the overall picture was a small reduction in blood pressure.

Good news, but for those of us who love chocolate this is merely the icing on the cake, so to speak. We already know about the benefits of eating chocolate (in moderation of course) – the sheer pleasure we derive from tasting exciting new recipes and the feel-good boost it gives us to name but two.

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cover story – continued

A review of

“

2012

Next year is already shaping up to be another cracker, with more brand new chocolates to taste

...In the autumn we boldly went where no chocolatier has been before with The Planets Collection – a celebration of the planets, music, astrology and astronomy. No one else could possibly have the creative freedom and the wherewithal to produce such an out-of-thisworld concept! We rounded the year off with another newcomer, Winter Puddings, which well and truly answered the question posed by a member who had just enjoyed Summer Desserts, “Lovely, but what about something for winter?”

But that wasn’t the only new face in our line up in 2012, because The All Milk Selection joined us early in the New Year, extending our choice to seven regular selections.

Elsewhere in the Club, we launched 2012 with The Great Rabot Estate Cocoa Race, the results of which will be revealed in the Club News after next. And staying in Saint Lucia, Boucan Hotel opened its doors fully in February, with the addition of eight new Luxe Lodges – bringing its room count up the full complement of 14. This is just as well as it turns out, because we also offered members the chance to ‘take over’ the hotel with a special offer Tasting Club week (to be taken early this year). That first week was snapped

”

up within days and so was the second week that we managed to secure. We can’t wait to hear all about it!

Meanwhile, our Chocolate Bonds celebrated their second anniversary with the winning of the Adam Smith Award from Treasury Today Magazine – an award for great innovation in the finance industry.

But perhaps the biggest news of the year came from Ghana. Club Director, Terry Waters made the trip to the Osuben cocoa growing region in the summer and returned with finalised arrangements for the building of a health centre. This is something we have dreamed of doing since we first began our Engaged Ethics programme in Ghana. Indeed, on our first visit to Ghana in 2003 we were told by cocoa farmers that one of the best ways to help them would be the provision of a medical facility – it has only now become possible.

We very much expect it to be up and running during 2013.

This year is already shaping up to be another cracker, with more brand new chocolates to taste, plans for exciting special editions and more progress in our programmes in Ghana.

We look forward to sharing them all with you in the coming 12 months!

The year in Club News front page images, from top row left to right – The Great Rabot Estate Cocoa Race begins; Chocolate Bonds’ second anniversary; the opening of Roast+Conch; the new All Milk Selection joined our range; more Saint Lucian cocoa is on the way; Boucan Hotel fully opens; Hotel Chocolat Tasting Adventures go nationwide; we announce our plans for a Medical Centre in Ghana; Terry reports on his trip to Ghana; and his time in Osuben village; we preview the exciting developments for our chocolate manufactory.

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scores

Classic Selection – D154 No. Chocolate Name

Chocolatier

10/10

Average

1

Café Con Leche

V Elliot

31%

8.7

2

I ♥ Advocaat

G Pereira

29%

8.2

3

Just William

V Elliot

28%

8.1

4

Lemon Tart

R Macfadyen

27%

8.2

5

Mango Sorbet

G Pereira

22%

8.2

Chocolatier

10/10

Average 8.3

Café Con Leche

DARK Selection – K87 No. Chocolate Name 1

I ♥ Advocaat

G Pereira

31%

2

Dark Tasting Batons

The Tasting Club

29%

8.5

3

Lemon Tart

R Macfadyen

25%

8.4

4

Tipsy Mandarin

K Kalenko

25%

8.3

5

Café Con Leche

V Elliot

24%

8.4

I ♥ Advocaat

Elements Selection – S65 No. Chocolate Name

10/10

Average

1

Pumpkin Munchkin

Chocolatier E Desmet

35%

8.2

2

Salted Peanut Cream

V Elliot

33%

8.1

3

40% Milk, Ivory Coast

The Tasting Club

29%

8.2

4

Lemon Tart

R Macfadyen

28%

8.4

5

Apple & Blackcurrant Cobbler

R Macfadyen

27%

8.0

10/10

Average

Pumpkin Munchkin

purist Selection – p19 No. Chocolate Name

Chocolatier

1

52% Buena Vista Milk

The Tasting Club

67%

9.1

2

68% Gran Couva Dark

The Tasting Club

29%

8.9

3

80% Madagascan Blend Dark

The Tasting Club

23%

8.4

4

85% Forastero Truffle

K Kalenko

20%

8.3

5

Marcona Almond & Ginger Bûche

K Kalenko

19%

8.2 52% Buena Vista Milk

ALL MILK Selection – M09 No. Chocolate Name

10

Chocolatier

10/10

Average

1

Billionaire’s Shortbread

O Nicod

54%

9.1

2

The Bees Nuts

K Kalenko

41%

8.7

3

Lemon Tart

R Macfadyen

38%

8.6

4

I ♥ Advocaat

G Pereira

38%

8.2

5

Apple & Blackcurrant

R Macfadyen

32%

8.4

Billionaire’s Shortbread

feedback

Your Tasting Comments!

Bouquet Pumpkin Munchkin – Classic OK so it’s not the most refined praline on the block but oh, THE DESIGN! Innovative, seasonal & exactly why I am a Club member!

Amanda McKenzie, Aberdeenshire

Chipotle Caramel – Classic What can I say? Beautiful rich caramel then a punchy chilli hit!

Did not expect it to be so good!

Christine Kenworthy, Pinner

Bouquet

Just William – Classic Only managed the second one for the sake of the chocolate!

Laura Pritchard, Gosport

Brickbat

Coffee Crumble – Elements Soooooooo thick it almost hurt my teeth to bite into it. It was worth it.

Jo Fisher, Caputh

Bouquet

I ♥ Advocaat – Dark

Bouquet

It is unfortunate that your max score stops at 10 for this item 11 or 12 would be more accurate.

Michael Rignall, Horley I ♥ Advocaat – Dark I do *not* like advocaat – in any form.

Dave Dobbin, Rochford

Brickbat

What’s in a name…?

We’ve always wondered if a chocolate with an eye-catching name means a higher score from members and so we carried out a secret experiment, the results of which can be seen in this month’s Classic scores as below: No. Chocolate Name

Chocolatier

10/10 Average

6

Honey & Almond

K Kalenko

22%

8.2

7

The Bees Nuts

K Kalenko

21%

8.1

We chose one chocolate in D154 and gave it two different names – it was called Honey & Almond in one half of the Classic boxes and The Bee’s Nuts in the other half.

As you can see from the above, the answer to the question ‘what’s in a name?’ turns out to be ‘not much at all!’

Honey & Almond scored 0.8% more 10/10s than The Bee’s Nuts and 0.1 more when we measured average score. If anything, it was the more descriptive name that scored ever so slightly higher – but there really is nothing in it at all. So from now on we can trust in the fact that it is the chocolate and not the name that counts.

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This easter you’ll be in A...

Delicious Spin

Milk – our all milk selection with no alcohol

Dark – for egg hunters who seek deeper hidden flavours

Classic – the mix and always our most popular

T

his Easter we’ve created our most deliciously different Easter Collection yet – with a stunning zoetrope-inspired keepsake box and an adventure of chocolate to discover inside.Taking inspiration from the traditional Easter egg hunt and a vintage zoetrope, just give the lid a spin and you’ll see the egg-hunting characters taken from our antique chocolate mould leap to life.

NEW Fortified – first ever featuring all alcohol mini eggs

The excitement continues inside with two extra thick shells and a gorgeous array of 12 Easter chocolates, plus a FREE Easter tablet too. Just choose your favourite – this year including ALL MILK (alcohol-free so it’s suitable for those of you who take Elements and any children on your gift list) AND FORTIFIED for the first time!

Available for just £24 (plus £4.95 P&P) at www.chocs.co.uk / EASTEr

White chocolate will never be the same again We’ve been working on this unique new recipe for some time now and it will revolutionise the way you look at white chocolate.

S

ome ‘chocolate purists’ don’t consider white chocolate to be chocolate at all, because it doesn’t contain any cocoa solids.

White chocolate’s case has been undermined by mass-market manufacturers who replace cocoa butter with cheap vegetable fats and excessive sugar.

We have always believed that white chocolate occupies a useful place, especially in fillings

and shells, but we also wanted to bring the recipe into line with our Less Sugar More Cocoa mantra. That’s exactly what we have achieved – we’re the first to ever create a white chocolate that contains more cocoa butter than sugar. It’s markedly less sweet than usual with a heavenly melt. Look out for your first taste of it in your tasting box (except Dark & Purist) and do tell us what you think!

St Lucia

T

manufactory

update

Having endured a period of frustration, we now have full planning permission for our exciting new chocolate manufactory on Saint Lucia.

his great news means that we can now pursue our aim of making premium chocolate on the island. This will allow us to create more jobs, as well as using local ingredients and adding value on the island.

This turns industry practice on its head because, usually, cocoa is exported from the growing region for processing in Europe or America.

As you can see from the architect’s drawing, the manufactory has been designed to fit in with its beautiful surroundings on Rabot Estate and will become a destination in itself for tourists to the island – who will learn all about the chocolate making process from the pods on the tree to the bar in their hand.

Club Founder, Angus Thirlwell, said, “I’m delighted we can now make the £1.2 million planned investment in the facility, which has been funded by Chocolate Bonds. I fully expect the manufactory to be up and running and producing chocolate before the end of 2013, which will be a dream come true!”

The architect’s first sketch of the manufactory

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scores

We’re cooler in the US

THE Excellence Scores

We’re going from strength to strength in the US as our American cousins discover what the Tasting Club is all about and many more are about to get the message!

This year’s crop of elite chocolates was one of the highest scoring ever and, as you can see, Griotte Deluxe still remains extremely popular!

Until now we have restricted our efforts in America to the northern states where temperatures usually remain cooler and therefore much kinder to our tasting boxes.

The southern states, by contrast, experience such heat that it makes operations impossible for us there. Until now that is!

We’ve been researching the best solutions for keeping things cool at a feasible price. And it seems that technology has finally caught up with our ambition, because we’ve found a cool pack that is not only thin and light enough to keep the postage rate down to a reasonable level, it is also relatively cheap too. But that’s not all, because it is also reusable, so members will be able to keep it in the freezer for use on picnics, days at the beach and more. Of course, thanks to our British weather, Americans will get far more use out of our cool packs than we ever could!

No. Chocolate Name

Chocolatier

10/10

Average

classic Excellence 1

Griotte Deluxe

E Desmet

49%

8.9

2

Café Latte

R Macfadyen

36%

8.5

3

Cognac Cuddle

K Kalenkot

36%

8.0

8.9

Dark Excellence 1

Double Shot

M Meier

54%

2

Griotte Deluxe

E Desmet

53%

9.1

3

Italian Job

E Desmet

44%

8.7

ALL MILK Excellence 1

Griotte Deluxe

E Desmet

54%

8.7

2

Cashew You

K Kalenko

48%

8.6

3

Raspberry Smoothie

R Macfadyen

45%

8.7

elements Excellence 1

Sticky Toffee Slab

R Macfadyen

59%

8.9

2

Lemon Cheesecake

R Macfadyen

53%

8.7

3

Macadamia Royale

M Meier

47%

8.5

Purist Excellence 1

75% Los Vasquez Dark Chocolate

The Tasting Club

57%

8.4

2

66% Sambirano Dark with Almonds The Tasting Club

56%

8.8

3

100% Cocoa with ginger

42%

8.6

R Macfadyen

Thanks to this step forward we have already started testing in Florida, Arizona and other southern states and will let you know the results.

14

Classic

DARK

MILK

elements

Purist

Griotte Deluxe

Double Shot

Griotte Deluxe

Sticky Toffee Slab

5% Los Vasquez

competition

n o i t p a C etition!

Comp

Club Director, Terry Waters and Hotel Chocolat’s Head of Chocolate Development, Adam Geilesky, came back from their trip to Ghana saying how well they had got along.

But then whilst sorting through the photos we came across this one…

They clearly have got some explaining to do… But first, we’d love to have your captions!

If you’re one of the three funniest, you could be tucking into a Sleekster Everything Selection.

So get your thinking caps on and send us your caption: By email to: simon@hotelchocolat.co.uk By post to: Tasting Club Caption Competition, Mint House, Royston SG8 5HL

“

“

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Chocolate Tasting Adventures Exclusive experiences taking your love of chocolate a step further Join us for an evening of discovery as you’re expertly guided through two delicious hours of tasting – comparing cocoa types, terroirs, recipes and more, gaining fascinating cocoa knowledge and chocolate tasting tips.

COST £45 per person VENUES Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Manchester, York & London – Borough Market & Covent Garden SCHEDULE & BOOKINGS hotelchocolat.co.uk/tastingadventures, email tastingevents@hotelchocolat.co.uk or call the Tasting Team 08444 93 23 23. Corporate and Private Tasting Adventures also available.