REGISTER for chocolate-tasting classes in Vancouver
WHEN:
Friday, January 27, 2012 | 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Monday, February 3, 2012 | 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Friday, February 10, 2012 | 7:30-8:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Elysian Coffee | 590 West Broadway (at Ash), Vancouver
COST:
$20 + HST and service charges
Posted in Events
Tagged blind tasting, chocolate, chocolate tasting, class, elysian coffee
For the first time in about 15 years, I’m somewhat prepared for the holidays. Christmas shopping: done. Edible treats: done. Cards: sent. I’m not saying this to gloat, because no one likes that, but to celebrate the fact that I might just be on my way to being a grown up. Whatever that means.
If you’re less prepared and are still scrambling for a gift, I’d like to take this moment for some shameless self-promotion and suggest that a chocolate-tasting class would make a lovely gift for the chocolate lover in your life.
And don’t just take my word for it. My chocolate tastings are listed in not one, but two seasonal gift lists! (Cue happy dancing.)
Says Edible Vancouver in their Winter 2011 issue: “For the curious chocolate aficionado…Eagranie Yuh’s chocolate-tasting classes will appeal to beginners and connoisseurs alike.” And The Globe and Mail’s Alexandra Gill included my chocolate tastings in her list of “lip-smacking treats for seasonal giving.”
So here’s to chocolate, and to you for your support. It’s been a great year, and I couldn’t have done it without you. Here’s wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday. See you in 2012.
Posted in Events
Tagged blind tasting, chocolate, chocolate tasting, edible vancouver, elysian coffee, globe and mail, press
Cacao pods and cacao beans
REGISTER for chocolate-tasting classes in Vancouver
**Update, December 12, 2012: Due to popular demand, I’ve added an additional class on Friday, February 10, 2012. Huzzah!
Chocolate and coffee make a great pairing, as any good cafe mocha will demonstrate. But there’s more to it than that—coffee and chocolate begin as tropical fruit, a far cry from the morning beverage or afternoon treat that we think of. They’re both fermented to initiate flavour development, both roasted to develop that flavour, and both have the potential to offer incredible flavour profiles.
What’s more, coffee and chocolate can be as fine as you want, or as crappy and mass-market as you want. Which is why my next round of chocolate-tasting classes will be at Elysian Coffee.
If you’ve taken my classes before, you’re in for a new kind of experience. Here’s the twist: we’ll be doing a blind tasting. It’s an opportunity to find out what you really like, rather than what you think you should like. After the tasting, there will be plenty of time for discussion, questions and stories (and of course, you’ll find out what you tasted).
And for those who haven’t taken a chocolate-tasting class before, this is an excellent way to dive in. If you have taste buds, you’ll do just fine.
WHEN:
Friday, January 27, 2012 | 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Monday, February 3, 2012 | 7:30-8:30 p.m.
Friday, February 10, 2012 | 7:30-8:30 p.m. **NEW**
WHERE:
Elysian Coffee | 590 West Broadway (at Ash), Vancouver
COST:
$20 + HST and service charges
REGISTER for chocolate-tasting classes in Vancouver. Classes are limited to 12 people, so don’t dawdle.
Posted in Events
Tagged blind tasting, chocolate, chocolate tasting, class, elysian coffee
Once again, I’m teaming up with the lovely folks at Xoxolat to teach some chocolate-tasting classes. We’ll go into more detail than you’d get in an introductory class, but don’t let that scare you; beginners are more than welcome, and I promise that the classes will be fun, not snooty. Nobody likes a critic—but everyone likes chocolate.
Each class features plenty of samples—and in true Xoxolat style, there will be a few surprises at the end of the night.
Participants receive an $8 store credit (must be used that evening) plus 10% of all purchases the night of the class.
WHERE: Xoxolat (2391 Burrard Street, at 8th Avenue)
WHEN: All classes run from 6:30–7:45 p.m.
COST: $20 per class, or register for all four classes for $75. (Note: due to the higher cost of samples, Chuao! costs $25.) Prices do not include HST.
REGISTER: You must register in advance. Indicate which class you’d like and someone from Xoxolat will confirm your registration. Register now.
Chocolate 201 is a series of chocolate workshops that share the stories behind the chocolate wrapper. They’re intended for people who have some knowledge of chocolate and are familiar with how it’s transformed from bean to bar, but keen beginners are more than welcome. Expect engaging stories, interactive dialogue and the opportunity ask lots of questions.
Thursday, September 29, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Cost: $20 + HST
Chocolate makers work diligently to coax the very best from their fine flavour beans. Learn how two critical steps, roasting and conching, affect the final product. We’ll also explore how playing with cacao percentage and sugar content affects flavour. Hint: higher cacao content does not automatically mean more bitterness in the bar.
REGISTER for Chocolate 201: The Science of Chocolate. Be sure to mention the name of the class when you register.
Thursday, October 6, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Cost: $20 + HST
In Europe, making chocolate is a traditional that’s mostly passed through family generations. In North America, people abandon other, often lucrative, careers to make chocolate. In this old world/new world smackdown, you’ll hear stories of how people choose to make chocolate, and taste for yourself how each chocolate maker has created his own distinct style.
REGISTER for Chocolate 201: Smackdown! Old World vs New World. Be sure to mention the name of the class when you register.
Friday, October 21, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Cost: $20 + HST
Chocolate snobs may dismiss milk chocolate as cloying, sweet and childish, but it’s still the chocolate of choice for most people. While regular milk chocolate clocks in at about 45% cacao content, dark milk chocolate can contain nearly 65% cacao. In this class, you’ll learn about and taste dark milk chocolate. It’s an ideal class for someone who loves milk chocolate and wants baby steps toward the dark (chocolate) side, or for someone who simply wants to learn more.
REGISTER for Chocolate 201: In Defense of Milk Chocolate. Be sure to mention the name of the class when you register.
Friday, October 28, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Cost: $25 + HST
Mention the word Chuao in chocolate circles and people sit up straighter. This small region in Venezuela is known for the high quality of its beans. In 2005, Italian chocolate company Amedei won accolades from chocolate critics around the world for their single-origin Chuao bar. Learn how this small chocolate company took a snub from a well-known French chocolate maker and turned it into an award-winning chocolate bar. We’ll taste several bars made from Chuao beans, and you can see for yourself what all the fuss is about. (Due to the higher cost of Chuao samples, this class costs $25. Trust me, it’s worth it.)
REGISTER for Chocolate 201: Chuao!. Be sure to mention the name of the class when you register.
Posted in Events, Food science
Tagged chocolate, chocolate tasting class, chuao, milk chocolate, old world vs new world, science, xoxolat
You know what I love about summer? It’s not the endless days, the sun, the vegetables growing in my garden—though those are all wonderful things. No, what I love most about summer is the smell of it. It comes in my bedroom window in the morning, a round warmth that smells vaguely like hot concrete. It’s a city smell, but I’ll take it.
Summer heralds the beginning of berry season, and as if on cue, the first BC strawberries made their appearance this week. I picked up two flats of them at the Main Street farmers market, along with some scandalously red rhubarb, and ta-da! we have pie. And by we, I mean me. And all of my best friends who have suddenly crawled out of the woodwork, pleading for pieces of pie.
If I could somehow manage to stop eating strawberries (seriously now, my fingers and kitchen are stained irrevocably scarlet), I would make strawberry ice cream.
What’s that, you say? You’d like a recipe for strawberry ice cream?
Conveniently, you can find my recipe for egg-free strawberry ice cream in the Summer 2011 issue of Edible Vancouver. Furthermore, it runs alongside a recipe for kick-ass chocolate wafer cookies, and then, if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can put the two together and make ice cream sandwiches. And, because I’m pedantic that way, I’d like to point out that said ice cream sandwiches appear on the cover of said magazine. You can pick up a copy at various points in Vancouver, but if the magazine goblins have stolen them all away—or you’re not in Vancouver—here’s the electronic edition.
Photo and styling by Bambi Edlund
Tagged chocolate, cookie, edible vancouver, farmers market, ice cream, ice cream sandwich, pie, recipe, rhubarb, strawberry, wafer
