Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Talking Chocolate at Harringay Market
Ross and Rachel from Life and Chocolate
Browsing through this week's Harringay Market stallholders list this morning, I noticed the Life and Chocolate stall who I somehow seem to have missed before. I clicked through to their website and was intrigued by what I read. Perhaps I'm behind the times, but I hadn't previously given much thought to different chocolate beans, 'single estate' chocolates etc.
When I got to the market, I made for the Life and Chocolate stall where I met South African couple, Ross and Rachel. The friendly couple certainly know their beans and I was soon engrossed, learning about different cocoa beans and how they affect the taste and texture of chocolate.
I bought some "Original Beans - Beni Wild Harvest" which is described by Ross and Rachel as tasting of "sun-dried cranberries, melon and subtle tropical fruit notes, hints of jasmine tea delicate yet distinct, wonderfully round flavour and long finish". The Life and Chocolate website explains how these wild beans are harvested:
During the wet season, the expert collectors from several indigenous tribes go out, for weeks at a time, in canoes to collect the wild beans in spots only they know about. The wild beans are so small that they require specially modified roasting.Tasting Notes: Sun-dried cranberries, melon and subtle tropical fruit notes, hints of jasmine tea delicate yet distinct, wonderfully round flavour and long finish.
It would be easy to write all this off as marketing humbug, but I'm intrigued. If we can accept wines, coffees and other foods being so discerningly described and developing their own culture, why not with the complex taste of chocolate?
I'd welcome being guided through an appreciation of a new taste language and asked the couple if they'd consider running a Harringay Chocolate Tasting evening. I asked what they think is good to drink with chocolate and I learned that some are great with red wine, some with certain beers and others with cheese. There is also apparently a particular way to get the most out of tasting a chocolate. I'm liking the idea of a chocolate tasting evening more and more. It could be fascinating. Market boss Jessica was witness to the conversation - so who knows - watch this space!
In the meantime, once I've finished writing this, I'm going to try my wild cocoa beans chocolate.
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay market
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I love this stall and can't walk away without buying some of their outstanding chocolate. Don't forget to have one of their divine and dairy-free hot chocolates next time you're chatting to them
Count me in for a choc tasting evening
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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A quick search on Google just turned up this advice on how to taste chocolate:
- Begin by snapping the chocolate in half. Inhale and ponder the aromas you can sense: cocoa, vanilla, smoke, malt, etc.
- Let the first bite be small to “warm up” the tongue, which can taste only sweet, sour, salty, bitter. Some chocolates can hit all four tastes.
- The second bite is the one that counts. Suck on the chocolate and feel how it melts, sense the texture (grainy or smooth?). Is it sweet or dry?
- Don’t rush on to the next bit. Enjoy the aftertaste—good chocolate will offer new and subtle flavors after a few seconds.
- Whether eating truffles or bars, always start with softer flavors and move slowly up to stronger varieties.
- Don’t ever eat more than four or five different kinds of chocolate at a time. You will overwhelm your sense of taste and ruin the experience.
- For very rich chocolates or truffles, don’t taste more than two in one sitting.
- Cleanse your palate with water before and in between each new variety that you taste (not in between bites).
Link: Digital Nomad
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Permalink Reply by Mark Pack on
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Each year there's a London Chocolate Week in the autumn, which usually includes some great (and cheap) events to hear more about just such things. Oh and try plenty of samples too
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Permalink Reply by 3fxo49mn9ssn2 on
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Obviously a must taste
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Hi,
This sounds great. I hope that the chocolate is Fairtrade, and not using 8 year olds sold into slave labour to pick the cocoa beans, as many of the big companies do.
Susan
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Thanks for confirming that. I'll be along to try some of the chocolate. Susan
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Jaysus! Praise to all the chocolate-munching gods of the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Incas for keeping me alive long enough to read such a load of pretentious codswallop.
I feel I am no longer worthy to partake of HOL's single estate. I'm off for a Yorkie!
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