Chocolatier > Chocolatier Features

Interesting, topical, chocolatey articles about top chocolatiers and trends across the high-end chocolate industry.

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The Mighty Bûches

November 28 2014

Valrhona, the French chocolate company, is highly regarded within the world of pastry chefs both for their high-quality chocolate and, importantly,  for the practical support and training the company offers to patissiers working with their chocolate.  This Christmas, Valrhona has teamed up with twelve leading UK pastry chefs at establishments including hotels, restaurants and patisseries in a project showcasing both their considerable pastry skills and the scope offered by chocolate. […]

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Valrhona: Chocolate Creativity

October 28 2014

Among the world of chocolatiers and pastry chefs, French chocolate company Valrhona is both widely used and well-respected.  “Valrhona is one of those high-quality brands which you can trust to deliver consistent quality,” says Benoit Blin, Head Pastry chef at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. “You know as a pastry chef that you will have an interesting ingredient to work with and an easy ingredient to work with.” Chocolatier and pastry […]

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A Chocolate Education

October 14 2014

Martin Christy  is a man with a mission. In fact, several missions. All to do with chocolate and enhancing our knowledge of chocolate. An influential and well-respected figure in the world of chocolate, Martin Christy’s personal fascination with chocolate saw him setting up an early chocolate website – the widely-read seventypercent – and co-founding the International Chocolate Awards. Among his several chocolate-related projects, is the recent setting up of the […]

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The Chocolate Show

Preview: Chocolate Week 2014

October 9 2014

The Chocolate Show at Olympia Yes, it’s that time of year again, when chocolate is celebrated across the UK in enjoyable style with Chocolate Week (13-19 October). On the menu are demonstrations of chocolate making and using by talented chocolatiers and pastry chefs, talks and, of course, numerous tastings! Among the highlights of the week is the Academy of Chocolate’s Conference, a ticketed all-day event which takes place on Thursday […]

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Meet the Divine Cocoa Farmers

March 6 2014

Behind the widely-recognised Fairtrade logo, is the human reality of what Fairtrade is doing. People buy Fairtrade food products because they feel that by doing so they are helping farmers in developing countries, but usually this remains an abstract concept. Divine is the only Fairtrade chocolate company 45% owned by cocoa farmers, in the form of Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, a co-operative of Ghanaian cocoa farmers. Cocoa goes on a […]

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Green & Black’s: Fairtrade and Flourishing

March 3 2014

Founded in 1991 by Craig Sams and Jo Fairley, organic chocolate company Green & Black’s has long played a pivotal part in the story of Fairtrade chocolate. While holidaying in Belize, Craig and Jo learnt that a group of local cocoa farmers had planted cocoa trees to grow cocoa for a large chocolate company, but the company had withdrawn from Belize, leaving the farmers with cocoa beans but no buyer. […]

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