Chocolate Party Wrap-up

Now that all the reviews have finally been published, I can share the ratings summary with you. The bars are ranked by my friends’ ratings, not mine. 1. Dagoba Hazelnut, 3.96, OM 2. Hebert’s Rocky Road, 3.86, OM 3. Hebert’s Dark Turtle, 3.79, OM 4. 3400 Phinney Vanilla Milk Chocolate, 3.71, OMG 5. Dagoba Dark…

Chocolate party updates!

Remember that chocolate party I was so excited about? I’m finally ready to start posting about it! I have 13 bars to get through, plus one round-up comparison. I thought about going back to daily posts for the next 3 weeks, but then I decided against it because I figured y’all would get bored of…

How to throw a chocolate tasting party

Here are some resources that I found to be helpful for hosting a chocolate tasting: All Chocolates Tasting Basics Selecting Chocolates Flavor Notes The Chocolate Review – if you register, they have a great PDF listing flavor notes The Nibble Real Simple’s Tasting Grid (PDF) I started my guests off with a mini-talk about the…

Exclusive Chocolate Tasting Parties

Via my friend Neil, who saw it on MetaFilter, Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini has a write-up of what it’s like to be a member of the ultra exclusive Club des Croquers de Chocolat. They’re a bunch of French chocolate lovers that get together every other month for some serious chocolate tasting. There are only…

DIY Chocolate and PB Pumpkins

Halloween is coming up soon, though if you’ve been gauging the seasons by store displays, it’s been coming up for 2 months now. In honor of the holiday, Miss Make has posted a surprisingly easy recipe for homemade chocolate and peanut butter pumpkins, ala Reese’s style. I wouldn’t recommend handing them out to trick-or-treaters (my…

Chocolate tasting with the NCA

Candy Dish Blog, the blog of the NCA (National Confectioners Association had a couple of posts up about chocolate tasting and how chocolate is made with Jacques Torres (aka Mr. Chocolate). Turns out those videos were made by the NCA’s Chocolate Council as part of a promotional effort to encourage chocolate tasting. I got a…

TCHO Chocolates – Re-review

After I noted TCHO’s off packaging, they sent me fresh samples with their new packaging. In the months since my roommate bought the pack that I first tasted, TCHO had switched from an inner paper liner (which probably contributed the nasty paper flavor) to an inner foil liner. It seems like they’ve also reformulated the…

Halloween Party Ideas From Serious Eats

Via Serious Eats, an adorably photo-graphed recipe for homemade candy corn. If you start now, you’ll just make it in time for Halloween! Also via Serious Eats, a method for making chocolate balloon bowls. Great for putting out candy – like homemade candy corn – at a Halloween party.

Free Shipping on Hedonist Chocolates

Back in April, I wrote a rave review about Hedonist Artisan Chocolates in Rochester. If I did my job right, it made you want to try them out. Well, here’s something that may help – until the end of the month, the coupon code FRSAU09 will getcha free shipping on online orders over $30. Their…