As I mentioned in my previous post about the LA Chocolate Salon, I was quick to purchase chocolates that I thought were particularly good for further tasting. In the heat of the moment, with all of the excitement things sometimes taste better. Things I look for in chocolate awesomeness are appearance, taste and texture. I enjoy bright colored designs with sleek surfaces. The outer shell should have a crisp snap encasing a smoother ganache center. We don’t want any crumbly, grainy chocolates. The taste is of course most important! I don’t like the flavor to knock me out and over power the taste of the chocolate itself. My two favorite Chocolatiers from last year remained my favorites once again. These two are categorized to me, best truffles, from the show. They also happen to win first and second place awards at the show, not just according to me.
Passion Fruit Caramel
First up Christoper Michael, his artful creations will definitely catch your eye! About half of his collection is molded with great airbrush expertise, the other half hand dipped topped with transfer sheet designs. Some of his unique flavors include Cardamom, Tiramisu, and the Passion Fruit Caramel (as pictured). Although many of his pieces are in fact infused caramels, rather than truffles filled with ganache, they are still delicious!
The chef even gave me advice on chocolate making!
Second place goes to Marti Chocolatt. Kudos to these guys for their excellent booth at the salon! Full of friendly and enthusiastic staff encouraging me to try bite size samples of each of their six displayed pieces. These ambitions folks were making custom boxes right there on site, but I still went for an assortment of each flavor so i could try them all, all over again. These truffles are mostly hand dipped with transfers, and a few molded. Each pieces ganache center was truly unique in flavor with superb soft texture, one even included goat cheese! But I will have to say after eating the box that the outside shell was a little thick for my taste and took away from the yummy centers.
I look forward to tasting new creations from these and other Chocolatiers at next year’s salon. I’m always trying new chocolates where ever I can find them, expanding my knowledge and taste buds. With all of the great brands out there I can’t just eat mine all of the time. This helps me strive to make my confections the best they can possibly be, according to me. And what better way to do this than through eating chocolate!
I wish I could have made it to the salon. The chocolates look amazing – well… not as incredible as yours : -) It’s great to see so many other chocolatiers pushing their craft as you do. While it’s a bargain for the consumer, it’s hard to measure how successful this venue is for the businesses. The cost of the booth on top of the thousands of dollars worth of samples – make it quite an investment by the many chocolatiers that come every year. I guess the fact that more and more come each year proves that the businesses generate enough sales from the salon for it to be worth the cost. If you have a table there next year, I’m sure you’ll generate a lot of buzz with your truffles!