Drink Like An Aztec: My Article on Choco-Story in Paris

Chocolate Atlas, a great website for all-things chocolate has just published my story "Drink Like An Aztec" on the new Choco-Story Gourmet Chocolate Museum in Paris. The Aztec piece is a recipe for the hot chocolate drink that was drunk by the Aztec Warriors, Kings and other elites. Chocolate was believed to increase courage, stamina, and bravery. I believe that too!

Rue du Chocolat, Bayonne, France

http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/pays-basques-rue-du-chocolat/

Enjoy this story I wrote for Bonjour Paris on the fabulous chocolat to drink, eat, and savor in Bayonne, France. Bayonne is the home of chocolate in France... and it is a great chocoholics destination today!

Two Superb Newish Spots for Tea and Fine Chocolate

I'm planning my precious few free October days in Paris prior to my Pays Basque Culinary Tour and my Paris Off the Beaten Path tours to follow (some openings still available for each)and I'll be visiting two relatively new sources for fabulous teas and chocolates.

Jacques Genin is a master chocolatier who for years worked in an off-the-radar atelier out in qa quiet corner of the 15th. Known to foodies as an inventive fine chocolatier who produced superb chocolates and supplied many top gastronomic restaurants and hotels, Genin preferred to not operate a public shop. Now to all of our great good fortune, Monsieur Genin has opened an elegant, two-level "Chocolaterie" in the Marais, 133 rue de Turenne. Metro: Filles du Calvaire. The second floor tea salon offers the chance to sample his chocolates (how about Szechuan pepper ganache or mango-passionfruit caramels). There are also decadent chocolate patisserie choices, (eclair fans take note!). Customers can visit an area of the shop where they can watch Genin's on site team making the delectables. And of course, on the ground floor there is the chocolate boutique of your dreams. Open 7 days a week, 11-9 p.m.

I'll be posting some photos after my visit.

Also in the Marais, the venerable tea importing company, Dammamm Freres has opened a beautiful shop (no salon) to sell their top quality teas in the arcades surrounding the Place des Vosges. Can't wait to check this one out too!

Oh la la! Chocolate STAMPS!

Now you have yet another option for enjoying French Chocolate when in Paris, or anywhere in France for that matter.  Well, actually, inhaling chocolate.... not consuming it.  The French Post Office, La Poste, has issued a series of postage stamps that commemorate chocolate and the fascinating history of chocolate in France.   The image above is from the La Poste website which also notes that chocolate has been the currency of wealth, the food of the Gods, the favorite of royal courts and kings, and, in contemporary society, favored treats for children, adults and foodies all.  These stamps commemorate the 400th anniversary of chocolate in France and they actually have a scent of fine chocolate imbued in the stamp.

The stamps were released in May at a philatelic enthusiasts gathering in Paris at the Grand Palais where La Poste actually built a temporary post office to celebrate the launch.  Next, the stamps were released in Bayonne, arguably the home and source of the great French Chocolate tradition.  Now they are available all over France.  10 stamps are 5.60 Euros.  However, these are also designed to be collectibles.

Ten different designs depict noteworthy scenes in the history of chocolate, including portraits of the cocoa bean  and of Cortes.  Cortes is credited with being the first to bring the beans to Europe after tasting chocolate in Mexico.  The stamps also feature a design that pays tribute to chocolate's arrival in Bayonne, in 1609.  Thereby hangs a bittersweet tale.  The chocolatiers that arrived in Bayonne were Jewish artisans fleeing persecution in Spain and Portugal. Bayonne proved a far more hospitable place and a grand French gastronomic tradition was born. Originally the food of royals and the very wealthy, chocolate became a beloved pleasure of quotidian folk in the 19th century.  I and I'm sure you, are ever grateful!

Best places to buy the Chocolate Stamps without having to stand in line are the all-night Paris post office located on rue du Louvre (corner of Etienne Marcel) and on line at http://timbres.laposte.fr/ 

Easter Fools & Easter Fish in Paris

Pâques (Easter) simply has to be one of the most enjoyable holiday celebrations for French children and for chocolate aficionados of all ages. Every single one of those eternally beautiful Parisian Chocolate shops kicks up their fanciful-factor to ultra high levels as Easter approaches. The Easter-chocolate season begins weeks before the actual date. Giving chocolates to friends, family, and especially children is essential to a properly delectable celebration of the holiday. Shop windows are chock-full of a festive menagerie including white and dark chocolate rabbits, chickens, ducks, bunnies, bells and fish. Yes, bells and fish!

And of course, France being France, while there are abundant and adorable chocolate animals to give and to devour, there are also more refined delights like impossibly delicate real egg shells filled with rich chocolate, tiny candy eggs resplendent in spun-praline ‘nests’, or chocolate eggs filled with luscious hazelnut or pistachio creams.

While seasonal chocolates are central to the many nationalities that celebrate Easter it seems that bells and fish are uniquely part of French Easter traditions.

Those delicious candy fish are called Poisson d'Avril. Come Easter-tide, swarms of chocolate fish fill candy shop windows all over the City of Light. They come in varied sizes, some packed in shiny tin boxes holding small schools of fish all wrapped up in silver-blue foil. They are also sold unwrapped, by weight, in all their pure chocolaty glory.

The smallest fish, often called ‘friture’, are made with 70% dark, milk, or orange flavored chocolate. Sometimes the tiny friture are nested inside a large chocolate egg. Madame Dominique Leterrier, the charming owner of Natier, a worth-the journey little chocolate shop at 1 rue Henri Monnier in the 9th arrondissement tells me that the larger sizes of chocolate fish are often molded to resemble either a pike or a carp by the artisanal chocolate-makers that supply her delectable confections. Natier offers chocolate-fish large and small, all wrapped and be-ribboned beautifully at the time of sale.

Of course there is a story behind those fish and bells. Interestingly enough, the story behind Poisson d’Avril is both about Easter and about an April-Fools trick. Poisson d'Avril appear just before April 1st when mischievous French children stick paper fish on to the backs of as many unsuspecting adults as possible, then run away yelling "Poisson d'Avril!" The tagged adults, always graciously un-offended, respond by giving kids gifts of chocolate fish. Leave it to the French to turn April Fools into April Fish! And so chocolate fish enter the Easter candy menagerie.


Thus, April Fool’s jokes and gastronomic tradition blend in serendipitously lovely ways when it comes to Easter in France.

Paris Invites Romance (and Enjoying Chocolates)

How great it this! My first post on my new Paris blog and it's about Chocolate in Paris.

Valentines day and chocolates are an iressistable pairing. Paris is replete with chocolate shops ranging from elegant emporia resembling jewelry shops to warm and wonderful neighborhood shops that sell an extraordinary range of delectables both beautiful and delicious. Check out Chocolat on rue Monsieur le Prince just off the Luxembourg Gardens for excellent chocolates. They just may still have some edible chocolate 'body paint'. I'll leave that one to you. Lars and Lene Boehme are the hip owners and they speak excellent English. There is also a sweet little salon on the second floor to relax and enjoy handmade hot chocolates. Nearest metro is Luxembourg.



Off the beaten path, head over to the 9th arrondissement to 1, rue Henri Monnier and visit the adorable little fine chocolate shop called Natier. Madame Leterrier, the proprietaire speaks excellent English and is a charming and hospitable person. She also sells fruit pates, chocolate covered raisins soaked in Sauternes (or Bordeau) and other delicious candies. Plus a nice selection of Le Palais de Thes teas in attractive tins. Nearest metro is: St. Georges.

For the master chocolatiers, you can't go wrong at Jean Paul Hevin, Michael Chaudun, Christian Constant, Maison du Chocolat, Debauve et Gallais, Patrick Roger and others. More on these fabulous chocolate artisans in coming posts.