Treat yourself to sweets while learning the art of truffle making!
We begin with a guided tasting where we serve a bit of sparkling wine as a palate cleanser and welcome drink. Highlights of this portion:
- discussing and showing how chocolate is made (photos and props used)
- guided tasting of cacao bean, nibs and chocolate made with the same beans
- tasting a dark chocolate bon-bon made with our own direct trade chocolate from Belize
- exploring a few other cacao growing regions and tasting samples of chocolates from these countries
- discussion of direct trade and single origin chocolate vs. commercial chocolate and commodity cacao
- telling the stories of the farmers we work with in Belize and the local folks learning the craft of chocolate making
- fielding questions from guests who want to delve into a particular aspect of chocolate more deeply
- talking about the health benefits of eating dark chocolate and cacao
Next we head to the kitchen for the two hands-on portions. First guests make a box of a dozen chocolate truffles, hand-rolling and finishing them in a variety of toppings. The students are so proud of what they've created and the boxed truffles are a lovely take home! Finally everyone makes a batch of fresh chocolate ganache to master that basic technique which they also take home to play with another day (or just eat out of the container with a spoon!!)