Digital Thermometers: A MUST-HAVE when learning to work with chocolate

Are you working with chocolate? If you are learning to make professional-looking chocolate treats, or if you simply like to bake with chocolate, you need to invest in a thermometer for chocolate. And the best type to get you started is a digital thermometer. I have about 4 or 5 digital thermometers that I use nearly every day, which enable me to temper chocolate properly and make smooth truffle centres and fudgy chocolate treats.

*See below for tips about using digital thermometers for chocolate, different brands and types to try, and more advanced thermometers for chocolate use.*

So why do I use a digital thermometer? Well, for starters, I have found that the non-digital thermometers (liquid/mercury-in-glass) are slow to get to the measured temperature and often inaccurate. What's more, it is difficult to get a precise temperature reading, which is essential for tempering chocolate. The thermometer at this link on Amazon, is an example of the liquid type that I have given up on using. Although it is better than most (such as this one) because it shows the temperature in single-degree increments, so you can get a more accurate reading. However, it only reads in Fahrenheit, with no Celsius measurement. Digital thermometers, on the other hand, will often convert.

So why is it important that I can easily convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius? For starters, it is much easier when following recipes published in different countries. With this online world that we live in, I might be inspired on any given day to make a recipe from Canada, the U.S., the U.K. or possibly New Zealand. If the thermometer allows me to toggle between both temperature measurements, then I do not have to take the extra step of looking up measurements online.

In addition, I live in Canada where we always seem to work under two systems. Naturally, we own some thermometers that read in Fahrenheit because many of our kitchen tools and cook books, as well as our much of our television cooking shows, come from our American neighbours. Yet we are supposed to be using Celsius for everything. So we tend to follow both Canadian and American recipes and it can get confusing sometimes. 

For instance, I prefer to temper my chocolate in Fahrenheit, but when I am making meltaways or any kind of chocolate mixed with an oil (i.e. coconut oil), I need to cool the mixture over ice until it reaches room temperature. The room thermometer in my kitchen reads in Celsius only, so if my chocolate thermometer reads in Fahrenheit, I have to take the extra step of converting the room temperature to Fahrenheit. But if I use a thermometer that allows me to toggle between the measurement types, I can simply press a button and see what the chocolate temperature is in Celsius, so I know when to stop stirring. Click here and here for examples of recipes that would rely on room temperature.

So when you buy a digital thermometer, the least expensive kind will only read in Fahrenheit or Celsius, but it is best to dish out the extra $5 or $10 and buy one that can convert from one measurement to the other.

So how much does a digital thermometer cost?

President's Choice (a Canadian brand found at Loblaws, Superstore, Valu-Mart, Independent Grocer, etc.) sells them now for only $14.99! Or you can shop at your local hardware store, Walmart or kitchen supply store, where another brand may cost about $20.  I keep about 4 or 5 on hand at all times (when I need to melt several types of chocolate in one day, or in case a battery dies at an inconvenient moment!), but that is because I run a chocolate business. You will likely only need one or two to get started.

I recently discovered a great digital thermometer with a spatula available on the Chocolat-Chocolat website (click here to view). It looks amazing and you won't have to hold both a spatula and a thermometer!


Tips for Using a Digital Thermometer with Chocolate:

• Do not touch the bottom of the bowl! When using a digital thermometer in chocolate, it is best to hover the bottom tip in the middle of the bowl.  Do not let it touch the bottom or the sides, especially when using it over a double boiler, or you will have an inaccurate reading.
• Never get your thermometer wet when working with chocolate! This is difficult when working over a double boiler to temper chocolate. Plan ahead and keep a dry piece of waxed paper beside your workstation.  When you want to put the thermometer down, you will have somewhere to put it.  It is best to keep it out of the way of water from the double boiler (remember, even one drop of water in a bowl of melted chocolate will ruin your entire batch!)
• Cleaning your thermometer: If the top of the thermometer gets covered in chocolate, wipe it immediately with a dry paper towel.  But if you forget, let the chocolate harden and scrape or chip it off with a hard plastic scraper, then rub the rest off gently with a paper towel. Wash only the metal section with water to protect the screen.

The Next Step: Non-Contact Thermometer

For me, it is time to invest in a more advanced digital thermometer - a non-contact thermometer, which I could not find online in Canada when I started working with chocolate. If you want to jump to the next stage now, check out the video at this link for Chocoley's recommendations. This infrared thermometer (click here to see it) is more costly at $49.95 U.S., but the price is worth it if you never have to clean a thermometer again!  And it gives you an instant read, making your work a lot quicker and easier.

French Broad Chocolate: bean-to-bar chocolate that left me wanting more!

 

I have been fascinated by French Broad Chocolate since I learned of them a few years ago. They have a unique story that begins with purchasing a cacao farm in Costa Rica in 2004, long before they started making excellent chocolate in North Carolina. But being oh-so-far-away in Canada's great North, I have not been able to taste their chocolate. Until now.

Since Montreal's La Tablette de Miss Choco began selling bean-to-bar chocolate online last Fall, I have been able to get my hands on all sorts of American craft chocolate (without having to e-mail the chocolate maker and beg for an out-of-the-ordinary chocolate shipment to Canada). So when I saw French Broad Chocolate's products on Miss Choco's website, I immediately placed an order.

I ordered only two chocolate bars: a single origin Peru 70% dark chocolate, and a single origin Costa Rica 80% dark chocolate. The 70% Peruvian bar was very fruity, full of mixed berry flavour, and bright with a nice cocoa aftertaste. It had a very pleasant texture and was thoroughly enjoyable.

The 80% Costa Rican bar surprised me because regional flavours did not seem to be overwhelming. It was pleasantly bitter with a slight espresso and heavy cocoa flavour, but also it had a nice balanced acidity.

Overall, I was impressed with French Broad Chocolate's delicate chocolate pieces, excellent tempering and fine texture. The chocolate certainly left me wanting more, and it left me regretting that I did not buy a few other bars made by this chocolate maker.

FBC's Story:

Like most artisan chocolate makers, owners Dan and Jael Rattigan, began their chocolate business in a home kitchen and at farmer's markets, but quickly turned it into something more. The French Broad Chocolate Lounge was opened in 2008 and as demand grew, so did the lounge. In 2012, they officially became bean-to-bar chocolate makers when they opened a chocolate factory and tasting room. And soon they will be making chocolate farm-to-bar, as they begin to harvest cacao from a farm that they purchased in Costa Rica.

Another amazing thing about French Broad Chocolate is that they appreciate and sell chocolate made by other American craft chocolate makers (that's right, their competitors). Find French Broad Chocolate alongside chocolate from over 15 producers here: https://frenchbroadchocolates.com/product-category/artisan-chocolate-bars/fb-chocolate-bars/.

Package details:

Here are the package details from the chocolate that I reviewed today:

Tumbes, Peru, 70% cacao, 60g
French Broad Chocolates (Asheville, NC)
www.frenchbroadchocolates.com
Ingredients: organic cacao (from the Tumpis Cooperative), organic cane sugar. Made in a facility that handles tree nuts, gluten, milk, corn & peanuts, but not soy.
Batch #: 140723

San Andres, Costa Rica, 80% cacao, 60g
French Broad Chocolates (Asheville, NC)
www.frenchbroadchocolates.com
Ingredients: cacao (direct from our partners at Cacao South), organic cane sugar. Made in a facility that handles tree nuts, gluten, milk, corn & peanuts, but not soy.
Batch #: 140325

Can't We Just Eat the Drinking Chocolate?

I love drinking hot chocolate. I make my own, sometimes by mixing organic cocoa powder, milk, real vanilla and organic sweetener, and sometimes I make it directly from a quality chocolate bar.  On occasion, I grind cacao nibs and make a very 'nibby' hot chocolate. And no matter how I make it, there is nothing as nice as a warm, chocolaty beverage on a cold Canadian winter day.

But truthfully, I prefer to eat my chocolate, rather than drink it.  So when I happily purchased Toronto-based ChocoSol's 'Oaxacan Cinnamon Drinking Chocolate' in a shop close to home, I immediately opened the packaged and ate some, before bothering to make a hot beverage out of it.

I actually had to buy a second package in order to test out the hot drinking chocolate recipe on the back, because the crunchy chocolate was just so delicious. Sure it is crunchy and unrefined, not anything like the smooth chocolate that we are used to. But the crumbly texture melts away in your mouth with a nice sweet taste with a lovely heavy cinnamon flavour. It really is quite bright, not overly acidic and delicious.

And this wasn't just the crazy opinion of a cocoa-bean fanatic like myself...my family members also ate the drinking chocolate and liked it. A lot. Which is why I had to buy a new package. So it was only after the second purchase that I tested out the recipe for drinking chocolate.


The instructions tell us to blend two wedges of the chocolate with 200 ml of water (less than 1 cup). This makes a small cup of hot drinking chocolate with a rich colour and frothy top. But with a water base, the resulting beverage has a slightly watery taste, and all the cinnamon spice and acidity from the cacao bean come forward. This is not bad, and it is considered traditional for drinking chocolate, but in my opinion, a better way to enjoy it is to mix it with the same amount of whole milk (3%) for a creamy and delicious hot chocolate experience. The spice was still apparent, but milder, offering a more enjoyable mild heat to the drink.

If you cannot have dairy milk, try coconut milk for a creamy hot chocolate. I tried it with canned coconut milk, and it was quite good (you might just need to blend the contents of the can before using it).

Keep in mind that making this kind of drinking chocolate is easier with a blender, a Magic Bullet, a smoothie maker, immersion blender, or the Ninja smoothie attachment like I have. You can try to melt the chocolate in a cup of hot milk or water and whisk it, but you will not have as much froth and it will take longer.

ChocoSol's 'Eating' Chocolate:

If you prefer to eat chocolate that is a little more refined, and if you really love the flavour of real vanilla bean, rather than cinnamon, the 'Sinfully Raw Vanilla' chocolate bar by ChocoSol is quite tasty. There is a slight grit in the 'stone-ground chocolate' way - ChocoSol only grinds it for 6 hours to preserve the nutrients - but certainly less grit than the drinking chocolate. Besides, the grit is what makes it interesting because it is a change from the norm.

The packaging does not specify, but ChocSol told me that the Sinfully Raw bar has 82% cacao solids. However, it does not have a bitter taste, and the vanilla also gives it a nice, sweet taste, seeming more like a 70-something-percent dark chocolate.

Here are the package details from the chocolate that I tasted and told you about today:

OAXACAN CINNAMON Drinking Chocolate
2 discs of about 100 grams each
ChocoSol Traders (Toronto, Canada)
www.chocosoltraders.com
Ingredients: Whole roasted cacao, raw cane sugar, amaranth flour, cinnamon bark.

SINFULLY RAW VANILLA
ChocoSol Traders (Toronto, Canada)
www.chocosoltraders.com
Ingredients: Cacao, raw sugar, cacao butter, vanilla pods, raw cacao nibs.

Chaleur B Chocolat; Delicate and Buttery Chocolate From Bean to Bar

Smooth. Delicate. Buttery. These are the three words that come to mind when I think of Chaleur B Chocolat's chocolate bars. Dany Marquis, the owner of this family business that makes chocolate from bean-to-bar in Quebec, says that they do not want to rush on the volume because "quality is our priority." And a focus on quality is certainly apparent upon first taste of Chaleur chocolate.

Dany Marquis started out in Quebec as a coffee roaster in 2005, called Brûlerie du Quai. In 2007 he took a technical chocolate training course at Weiss chocolate factory in Paris, and just recently decided to start making chocolate as a complement to his coffee business. This coffee-roaster background is similar to another Canadian bean-to-bar chocolate maker Dave Cook, who started making chocolate in London, Ontario under the Habitual Chocolate brand, after having successfully built up Fire Roasted Coffee.

I purchased three chocolate bars from Chaleur B Chocolate: a 70% Ouganda (Uganda) origin dark chocolate bar, a deep 50% milk chocolate bar also made from Uganda beans, and a 'Chocolat Blanc' (white chocolate) bar made with Madagascar vanilla beans. They arrived earlier this week and I have already made my way through most of each bar. All three were delicious.

The reasons for their deliciousness are as I described above. The chocolate bar itself is thin, making each piece delicate so it breaks and melts in the mouth nicely. The pieces are very smooth, so clearly a good conche was done. Also, all three bars had a nice buttery texture and taste, which immediately indicated that added cocoa butter was significant in creating this overall taste experience.

Mr. Marquis told me that the Uganda cocoa beans were of the Forastero variety, a bean type not normally known for fine flavour, however these beans are very flavourful. The Ouganda 70% bar has a nice rustic, and perhaps smoky and slightly sweet chocolate flavour. The 50% milk chocolate bar is also flavourful, but has a nice, smooth profile with low acidity.

Chaleur B Chocolat's white chocolate bar is smooth and delicious with a strong vanilla bean and cocoa butter flavour. It is sweet, but not sickeningly so in the way that commercially sold white chocolate can taste. Of all the white chocolate bars that I have tasted, this is now one of my favourites.

Mr. Marquis also makes chocolate with single origin beans from Madagascar (Ambanja origin), Venezuela (Ocumare), and Ecuador Camino Verde. For now, you can purchase the Uganda bars, the white chocolate bar and a Mokaccino bar on the website at www.chaleurb.com. Chaleur's chocolate will also be available in the coming weeks at La Tablette de Miss Choco in Montreal (http://latablette.ca/).

Here are the package details from the three bars that I tasted this week by Chaleur B Chocolat:

Chaleur B CHOCOLAT
Carleton-sur-Mer, Quebec, CANADA
www.chaleurb.com

Chocolat au Lait OUGANDA, 50% Cacao, 40g
Ingredients: Cane sugar, cacao beans, cacao butter, whole milk powder, vanilla.
May contain traces of flour, dairy and nuts.

Chocolat Blanc Vanille de Madagascar, 40g
Ingredients: Cacao butter, cane sugar, whole milk powder, vanilla.
May contain traces of flour, dairy and nuts.

Chocolate Noir OUGANDA, 70% Cacao, 40g
Ingredients: Cacao beans, cane sugar, cacao butter.
May contain traces of flour, dairy and nuts.

The Ultimate Dark Chocolate Coconut Fudge Recipe

Fudge is one of those treats most often seen at touristy shops, candy stores and ice cream shops during the summer season. It can also be found at the grocery store for those times when you get a sudden craving for the smooth, sweet stuff.

I always preferred the slightly crisp fudge made by my mother's friend, which turned up on our doorstep each year on my mother's birthday (which I usually ate most of). Someday I will get the recipe for that fudge. However, today I am sharing a new personal favourite fudge recipe: Dark Chocolate Coconut Fudge.

I often make an attempt at buying the store-bought fudge. But nearly every time, I find myself putting the fudge back on the shelf before I leave the store. Why?  Ingredients.

In addition to the insane amount of icing sugar added to most store-bought fudge recipes and artificial vanilla flavouring, there is one ingredient that I will not tolerate in my food: hydrogenated vegetable oil. Whether it is partially hydrogenated or fully hydrogenated, or cottonseed, soybean, palm or kernel, I don't want it. The process that the oil has gone through results in a thicker oil that makes it harder for our hearts to pump blood through our systems (ref). It increases our LDL (bad cholesterol) and decreases our HDL (good cholesterol) (ref). So until food (and fudge) manufacturers get the picture and take it out, I will make my own fudge from scratch.

This recipe has all the deliciousness of a dark chocolate fudge with a nice fun crunch, but is much more natural than the store-bought stuff from touristy ice cream shops. Sure, there is some fat in it, but just try to remember that portion control is important.  This fudge freezes well, so you can cut it into pieces, seal in plastic wrap and freeze them individually. Thaw and enjoy a piece every day!

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Coconut Fudge with a Crunch

Make 12 large pieces (43g/1.5oz each), or 24 small pieces (22g/.75oz each).

You need:

• For the fudge:
• 3.5 oz (100g) coconut oil
• 12 oz (340g)  of 70% dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup (50g or 118 ml in a measuring cup) coconut sugar (you can use regular sugar, if you like)
• 1 cup (30g or 237 ml in a measuring cup) of crisped rice cereal (I used the brown rice kind), or chopped, roasted almonds if you prefer
• The scraping of 1 vanilla bean or 1/4 tsp of ground vanilla bean (not the liquid extract) - optional

For the topping:

• 1/4 cup (25g) of unsweetened medium coconut flakes (again, use sweetened if you like)
• 2 oz (57g) of dark or semi-sweet chocolate shaved, or finely chopped

Instructions:

1. Line a loaf pan (about 9" x 5") with plastic wrap (see below for tips on other pans that you can use) and set the pan aside.

2. Place 10 ounces of your chopped chocolate in a medium stainless steel bowl (for a double boiler) or a glass or plastic mixing bowl (for the microwave). Reserve 2 ounces and set aside.

3. Melt the chocolate in one of two ways:

a) Over a double boiler (place your chocolate bowl over 1" of nearly simmering water in a small pot of water). Stir the chocolate with a dry wooden spoon.  Ensure that no water gets in the chocolate, not even a drop and that your tools are dry before you start. Stir until melted to a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

or

b) Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes on half power (in glass, ceramic or plastic bowl only). Remove, stir with a wooden spoon and then microwave for 5 to 10 second intervals until entirely melted to a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. While the chocolate is melting, place your coconut oil into a microwave-safe dish and microwave for 40 seconds, just until melted.  Remove and add the sugar to the coconut oil and stir until mixed. Tip: for a smoother fudge you can whirl the melted coconut oil and coconut sugar in a single-serving blender (I used the Ninja smoothie attachment, but the Magic Bullet would work, or a an immersion blender). Set aside.

5. Once your chocolate is 120 degrees F, you need to temper it. The simplest method is to remove it from the heat and immediately toss in the 2 ounces of chopped chocolate that you had reserved. Stir until smooth. Continue to reduce the temperature further by either placing over a bowl of ice water (or stirring the bowl of chocolate while it rests on the shelf inside your fridge - but this takes longer). Cool to about 82 to 86 degrees.

6. Add your coconut oil and coconut sugar to the chocolate. With a spatula, stir the chocolate mixture over the ice bath again until you reduce the temperature further, to a few degrees above room temperature or just as you notice it thicken. Work quickly and add the crisped rice cereal, and then immediately pour into your pan and spread out quickly.

7. Sprinkle the coconut topping over the fudge and gently press into the fudge so it sticks.


8. Place the fudge in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour to set. Remove from the fridge and gently remove from the pan by holding the sides of the plastic wrap to lift up and out onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 large square pieces or 24 small pieces.

Pan Tips: If you do not want to use a loaf pan, or simply want to get more creative with your fudge shape, you can line a box lid if you do not have one, or use a round cake pan.  I made this recipe once in the Simply Baked disposable paper baking pans and gave it as a gift to someone. If you pour the fudge a few minutes earlier (i.e. before it thickens) you can also pour it directly into cupcake papers.

Don't want to temper chocolate or don't have a digital thermometer?  Try the Coconut Fudge recipe that I reviewed yesterday! It is silky smooth, but just be sure to check my tips and tricks for making it easier to handle. Find the review and link to the recipe here: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2015/02/coconut-fudge-recipe-good-recipe.html.

Coconut Fudge Recipe; Good Recipe, Personal Disaster

A few weeks ago, I saw a Whole Foods recipe online that inspired me: 'Coconut Fudge'. It looked delicious, all natural, and rich in the way that I like dessert to be. So I decided to try it. As you'll see below, I struggled with this recipe a little bit, mostly because of brain-freeze on my part, and partially because of the recipe itself. But it was no loss! Here is my review along with tips and recommendations to make this the best 'fudge' possible.

Recipe being reviewed: Coconut Fudge Recipe on the Whole Foods Website

Link to recipe: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipe/coconut-fudge

Quick  Review Notes:

• The result is a very silky-smooth dessert with a truffle-like texture.
• Delicious if you like the taste of coconut milk or cannot have dairy, but if you prefer a cream truffle, this might not be your thing.
• It is extremely difficult to slice because it is so soft, and you really need a spoon or fork to eat it, not like regular fudge.
• A little on the sweet side because of the chocolate chips. To suit a Paleo or low-sugar diet, change the sugar in the recipe to to 'coconut blossom sugar' or change your chocolate to a 70% or 80% dark chocolate.

Recommendations:

Since it is so difficult to slice, I recommend the two following changes:

1. Press a coconut-&-flaked chocolate mixture into the sides to make it easier to pick up. Because it is so soft, pour your fudge mix into a pan lined with plastic wrap, or a waxed paper or parchment-lined pan, so that you can extract the entire dessert easily. Once it sets in the fridge, place a plate or piece of waxed paper over top of the coconut topping then flip the entire thing upside down. Sprinkle more coconut topping (I mixed finely chopped dark chocolate with medium unsweetened coconut flakes, which made a really delicious topping) on the back side of the dessert and press it in.  Then, carefully cut 1" square slices and dip all sides of each piece into more of the coconut/chocolate topping. This makes each piece easy to handle. It also adds a nice delicious texture to the outside. Serve in mini or small cupcake papers.

2. Turn it into a coconut-chocolate pie! You can also pour the 'fudge' mix into a tart shell, such as a baked coconut crust, to make it easier to slice and serve. For a crust recipe, try the coconut pie crust that I provided in one of my PIECAKEN recipes here: http://piecaken.blogspot.ca/2014/07/cherry-pie-in-chocolate-truffle-cake.html.

3. Reduce the coconut milk in the recipe to half of the recommended amount.


My Recipe Experience:

It is so cold outside that I think I have been experiencing brain-freeze lately. I am usually very good at following recipes, but something about this recipe caused me to take three tries and a lot of wasted chocolate in order to get it right.   

The first attempt went amuck when I read the ingredients incorrectly and used only half of the chocolate.  I could have saved it by rolling it into balls and dipping them into melted chocolate to make chocolate truffles. BUT, I had already sprinkled coconut flakes on top and rolling balls would have ended with a mess and an unpleasant texture for a truffle.  I tried freezing it so I could slice it and dip entire squares into chocolate - but even after freezing, it was still too soft and these ended up being mis-shapen oddities with ends that stuck out all over the place and refused to dip. Most of it was wasted, or wasted caloric intake on my part.

On the second attempt, I fell into old habits. Without even thinking, I started to melt and temper the chocolate over a double boiler because that is how I start most creations these days. But this recipe was the simple version, where chocolate need not be tempered. So instead I ended up using the tempered chocolate to make a delicious chocolate fudge of my own creation, inspired by some of the elements of the recipe that I was following. You can find this recipe in the next post.


Finally the third try was perfect. I followed all the steps and created a lovely truffle.  However, it is still a little on the soft side to be called 'fudge', but once I carefully sliced each piece and then dipped them in a combination of coconut flakes and shaved chocolate, the pieces were much easier to handle and eat. I packaged these up in cupcake papers and they look delicious!

Take your chocolate creations to a darker place with Belcolade Uganda 80%

Couverture chocolate is used by all chocolatiers to make beautiful confections, chocolate bars and chocolaty treats.  It has a slightly higher cocoa butter content, which gives a nice shine and makes the chocolate easier to work with when enrobing fruit, nuts and other foods. Couverture is widely sold and fairly easy to find, once you go looking for it.

What is rare though, is to find a couverture chocolate with 80% cocoa solids in Canada, or in North America for that matter.  I have been searching lately for a bulk chocolate in the 80% range and have only come across one in Canada: Belcolade 'Noir Collection Uganda 80%'.  I found this 80% dark chocolate couverture through Chocolat Chocolat in Montreal, and I was able to order it online and have it shipped to me in Northern Ontario. There are a few others available on other continents (see below for a list).

When you first open the bag, there is an aroma of real (not artificial) vanilla.  The texture is very smooth, as Belcolade's always is. And for the flavour, it is a nice straight-up chocolaty flavour that is just a little earthy, but also, in my opinion, fairly neutral with no overpowering regional flavours (although Belcolade's website says it has a 'gorgeous taste of hummus and mushrooms').  It is definitely not too bitter, and lacks acidity compared to a lot of 80% or higher dark chocolates, which can be very acidic.

After working with this chocolate, I found that it tempered easily and was quite nice to work with.  I used it in my Salted Dark Chocolate Pecan Bark recipe (simply replace the 70% dark chocolate in the recipe with the 80%) and found that it tasted delicious, pairing surprisingly well with salt. Very dark chocolates (over 70%) can often taste too bitter when paired with salt, which is why you'll see Lindt and other large brands use a dark chocolate closer to 50% when making a salt-and-chocolate creation. However, I found this 80% so smooth with just the right amount of cocoa butter to be perfect for a sweet-and-savoury pairing.

So if you are in the chocolate business, and you intend to go darker this year to serve Paleo-friendly clients or diabetics who like a little dark chocolate, or if you just want to make healthier chocolate creations at home, Belcolade's Uganda 80% is worth a try. Also, there is no soy lecithin in this chocolate, so everyone really can enjoy it.

As for price, it was comparatively reasonable for couverture. I paid about $17 CAD for 1 kilogram of Belcolade's Uganda 80% dark chocolate. I pay about $18+ per kilo for other brands of organic dark chocolate couverture, so given that this is not organic, it is reasonable.

Here are the package details from the chocolate that I reviewed today:

Belcolade 'Noir Collection' Uganda 80, min. cocoa solids 80,0%, 1kg
Belcolade NW (Belgium)
www.belcolade.com
Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, flavouring: vanilla.


Other 80% dark chocolate couvertures available across the world:

• Amsterdam-based Original Beans makes an organic 80% dark chocolate couverture made from "the world's rarest cacao" (ref). Check them out online a here.
• Mesocacao also makes one. Click here to learn more.
• Austrian Zotter Chocolate  also offers an 80% couverture available on the UK-based Chocolatiers site. Zotter also has a facility in the U.K. and in Shanghai. www.zotter.co.uk

If you know of any 80% or higher chocolate covertures that are not listed above, please let us know in the "Comments" below!

I made some delicious almond clusters with this couverture.