We continue on our world-wide journey to find the world's greatest, most delicious, delectable Chocolate. Here is the story of a Chocolate maker in France, he makes delightful, high Fashion chocolate - great ideas to try yourself...
Chocolate is not only delicate truffles of cocoa pleasure in a box, but an art form; it may be swirled and twirled into tarts, or tempered and folded into dozens of textures and piled high into cakes, chipped into cookies and turned into ganache (chocolate and heavy cream) to frost the most luscious of tortes.
Perhaps there is only one man who can do all this and more - his name is Pierre Herme. Described by French Vogue as the 'Picasso of Pastry', Herme is a fourth generation baker and pastry chef. He learned his trade from the incomparable Gaston Lenotre at the tender age of 14, and at just 24 went on to the once acclaimed Fauchon and then helped open Laduree - the home of the macaroon.
After meeting Charles Znaty, a French advertising guru, together they raised the capital to open a pastry boutique in Tokyo, not Paris, because of a contractual agreement with Laduree. But finally, in 2001, his name went above the door in his own tiny patisserie in Paris.
Today it is easy to find his store; it is the one that always has a queue outside. He has elevated pastry making to haute cuisine or perhaps haute couture or couture pastry. He does not make croissants and other pastry staples; instead he creates tarts, millefeuilles, ice creams, petit fours, macaroons and chocolates.
And like all French couturiers, he releases two collections per year - inspired by nature and color. For him each irresistible cake or astonishing chocolate has its own story - no two are the same...
For Pierre Herme, chocolate comes in many, many forms. Of course, there are individual treats like truffles, boxed signature pure classic chocolate, macaroons as well as bonbons. But his chocolate snacks include little disks of premium light or dark with delectable bits of dried fruit, slivers of candied grapefruit, ginger or orange enrobed in delicious dark chocolate or fingers of light or dark chocolate enclosing salted caramel, raspberry and ginger.
The current collection runs the full gamut of flavors from Almera - dark chocolate with almond paste and candied orange to Balthazar - milk chocolate with caramelized cinnamon and the traditional Ispahan - chocolate raspberry ganache with candied lychee and rose jelly coated with the darkest chocolate.
And there is much, much more to this artist's repertoire- macaroons dusted with gold. The
part cake, part chocolate bar, Exuberante is not for the amateur. It combines pure origin Venezuelan chocolate with gianduja (sweet chocolate containing hazelnut paste) in a shortcrust base with corn, pieces of caramel made with salted butter, and almonds roasted with salt and pepper.
Herme believes good chocolate is like a magic potion and as such should be taken seriously, eaten at 21 degrees Celsius, in a quiet environment and when hunger has sharpened the senses.
Good chocolate should also have a lingering aftertaste - a sign of character - which prolongs the pleasure and, of course, encourages one to repeat the experience. And with chocolate as perfect as this you will always want to repeat
the experience.
About the author: TIm Bond is the publisher of ThisMagnificentLife, a luxury digital magazine read in over 148 countries. ThisMagnificentLife is about the places, people and things that make life magnificent. Visit here: thismagnificentlife.com.
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