Chocolate Tasting With Paul A. Young
After having such a blast at the press launch for The Power of Summer I had to go back to this summertime haven! Outdoor games, food, films and workshops - what more could you ask for?! I signed up to The Indytute's chocolate workshop, even though it was another amazingly sunny day and an ice-cream workshop might have been more approps. On arrival I caught up with some other bloggers, including Abbie from The Perks of Being a Londoner, who was rocking the giant Jenga! Joining her in this battled of nerves and stealth were her lovely friend Georgia and Honey from The Girl Next Shore, whilst Iris of Whatever Gets You Through The Day took photos.
We moved into a marquee for the class where Phil (and his lovely assistant) from master chocolatier Paul A. Young's team was waiting to give us a fun lesson on the history of chocolate and an explanation of how it's made.
Paul A. Young is definitely one of the capital's most popular chocolatiers at the moment, famed for his salted caramel chocolates. He owns eight shops in London, and you can order online if you live outside the city. We were given raw cocoa beans to try, and had the chance to taste what they're like ground up.
Phil explained the whole process from bean to handmade chocolate, and we got to try two chocolates from their collection - the renowned salted caramel, and their clotted cream scone flavour - which even had jam in it!
We were told that good quality chocolate is glossy to the eye, and cracks well when you bite into it. Phil told us how cocoa beans from different parts of the world lend very different flavours to chocolate. He said that if you don't like dark chocolate - you just haven't tasted the right one, before getting us to try some of their bitterest blend.
Even though it was gloriously hot and sunny, the chocolates were well received and we learnt a lot. Chocolate can be enjoyed in all weathers, this is now a proven FACT. Phil told us that he still eats Cadbury's, but after his top choice of Paul A. Young (natch) he goes for Montezuma, which I LOVE too! Typically of bloggers we all needed to get good choc shots, and Abbie was going for the extreme close up. Check out the results in her write-up.
Meanwhile, Honey, Iris, Alex from Alexianatouillia, and mega-Instagrammer Jess Macdonald were all furiously snapping, tweeting and Instagramming. That's how we roll.
I'm loving The Indytute's workshops, you just meet such fun people and learn something you wouldn't normally. I'll miss them not being in this summerific location once Power Of Summer has ended, but they still run amaze classes throughout the year elsewhere. We all got given a discount voucher for Paul A. Young shops, so if I know you and your birthday is coming up soon, you could be the lucky recipient of some salted caramel goodness. Check out Paul's book - if you like mouthwatering chocolate recipes that is. Hmm....