We had an exciting press day at Cookery School this week with French chocolate company Valrhona and its chocoaltier Andrew Gravette. Andrew will be running the first of Valhrona’s exclusive chocolate classes on March 15th right here at Cookery School, and it was a thrill to have him here for a preview of what the classes would be like.

The press event was just wonderful. Andrew is a mine of information and a most wonderful teacher, full of facts and lots of good tips. I’m so looking forward to March.

Here’s a little more information about the class:

It’s a very hands-on day where you will make a full range of recipes from the new Cooking with Chocolate recipe book, such as:

• Salt caramel and chocolate tart
• Earl grey truffles
• Hot chocolate with honey marshmallows
• Making and decorating Easter eggs

Techniques taught on the day include:

• Making ganaches
• Tempering chocolate
• Piping and decorative work

This eight hour day is from 9-5 and places are £230 each, and include a welcome breakfast, lunch and a copy of Cooking with Chocolate: essential recipes and techniques, Edited by Frédéric Bau, École du Grand Chocolat Valrhona.

Call us 020 7631 4590 or email info@cookeryschool.co.uk for more information. You can also book through our website.

Just in time for Christmas, we’ve just added Original Beans “The Story of Cacao in Four Bars” chocolate set to our shop window at Rosalind’s Kitchen. Yes, loads of people are pushing chocolate this time of year, but we thing these bars are truly special and that if you’re going to buy chocolate this season, Original Beans is a company well worth giving your money to.

The reason we love Original Beans so much is that they’ve got a fascinating history with impeccable eco-sustainable credentials, something that has been so important to us in the development of Cookery School (read our stance on sustainability). 

Original Beans’ founder is Philipp Kauffmann, a conservationist/economist who previously worked for the United Nations and WWF. He set up Original Beans with replenishment of the rainforest his top priority. Hence the mantra: “the planet: replant it” on every bar. For each Original Beans’ bar sold, the company ensures one tree is replanted in the rainforest region of origin and this can be tracked on their website.

Of course, the important thing is, the chocolate is absolutely delicious - distinctive, intense, fruit-packed flavours with mesmerising mouth-feel. Here’s a little more on the specific chocolates that come in the set, for sale at Rosalind’s Kitchen at £3.99 per bar or £16.00 for all four:

• Cru Virunga 70% is the first ever cacao harvest from war-torn E Congo. Original Beans, the first “bean to bar” producer there work with 13,000+ farmers there, whose incomes have already doubled, and deforestation halved with more than 3 million trees planted. Cru Virunga is vibrant, earthy with notes of red fruit and tobacco.
• Esmeraldas Milk chocolate with a hint of fleur de sel from Ecuador 42% is a sophisticated milk chocolate resonant with salted caramel, honey with hints of summer red fruits and spice
• Beni Wild Harvest from the Bolivian Amazon 68% from wild cocoa trees on cocao islands which can only be harvested by boat when the Amazon basin floods. Beni Wild has distinctive raisin, cognac and honeyed tea notes
• Piura Criollo Porcelana Peruvian Andes 75% re-discovered by Original Beans, this is an ultra-rare “white” bean cacao. Elegant with well- balanced acidity: lime, apricot & toasted pecan notes

A chocolatey start to the day today: made 300 more Drambuie truffles for Great British Chefs – the recipe comes from Bruno Loubet using Valrhona chocolate – and they are melt-in-the-mouth scrumptious.  Yesterday we made 600 of these, with the final lot being completed this morning.  They will be on sale at A Taste of Christmas to raise funds for Action Against Hunger. 

For any of you who want to make the Drambui truffles at home, the recipe is available through Great British Chefs’ Feastive iPhone App along with other yummy treats for the holidays. But what you should really do is head over to A Taste of Christmas and buy a truffle or two from their stall - the truffles are delicious and their cause is so important. We are so lucky to work with food, but some people don’t know where their next meal will come from.