Valrhona Demonstration – L’Ecole du Grand Chocolat

I am way, way late to post this, but I really wanted to share the pictures and how attending this demonstration changed my perspective and how I learned a few things. 

I attended an event back in October – the day before my birthday, as it happens – hosted by Valrhona.  Alex Espiritu, a pastry chef from Valrhona USA, demonstrated a series of desserts. 

We were able to taste each one in succession.  Unfortunately, my memory says the above had apple in it, and my recipe booklet doesn’t have a recipe that contains apple, so I’m pretty confused.  In any case, the above surprised me because I’m not big on fruit desserts, plus this one had chocolate mixed in.  It seems very often that desserts at restaurants are separated into fruit or chocolate, and yet both components here worked together without overwhelming the other. 

The next dessert, the coeur intense, looks a bit like tiramisu, no? 

It’s hard to see, but inside the cake/mousse were crunchy balls of chocolate that really elevated the whole dessert texturally to a new level. 

This last dessert, the Tati, also surprised me.  Passion fruit dominated, and I’m not a passion fruit person… but everything worked together well and the chocolate spoke subtly to your senses. 

I didn’t go much into each dessert because that wasn’t the point of the event: these are not desserts I can point you to a local place to purchase.  Actually, Valrhona holds these demonstrations not for press, but for pastry chefs from various restaurants, in order to not only encourage them to use their product, but to show them some ways they could use it, how it would turn out, and to really develop a relationship with the pastry chefs, so they know what they’re working with.  Chef Alex mentioned that if desired, one could contact him directly for help developing recipes using Valrhona. 

A number of new products were demonstrated.

Included was a product that somehow maintains a high chocolate content with lower cocoa butter – I’m not sure how that’s possible, but above is a model of the makeup. 

One of the signs

I really liked these popsicles…

Creamy, cold, without that fatty feel ice cream sometimes coats your mouth with. 

Like a push-pop! 

Macaron on a stick! 

Cute presentation. 

Overall – a very informative session that left me with a newfound appreciation for the lengths to which Valrhona goes to preserve the integrity of their product.  With demonstrations dedicated to showing chefs how to best use their chocolate, a dedication towards developing lasting personal relationships with the chefs, and a desire to continue to always strive towards excellence in their product, I must say that I was very impressed with the event.  Valrhona desserts, when on a menu, have always been in consideration (when I’m deciding between/among dessert choices).  Basically – it’s good stuff.

On a personal note, however, I don’t know that I’ll start stocking Valrhona for home use, though I will certainly continue to order desserts made using their products from restaurants (and now understand the premium in price a bit better!).  There are a number of reasons for this which may or may not apply to you, so don’t take this as advice one way or the other.  The large reason would be price coupled with chocolate, in general, not being something in which I indulge constantly nor do I even consider it a favorite.  I don’t bake that often or that much, so there doesn’t seem a need for me to really stock my home with chocolate, nor chocolate with prices much higher – albeit justifiably so – than other chocolates I find perfectly suitable for my purposes.  If I were more in love with chocolate, or had a more refined palate tuned to the intricacies of chocolate, I’m sure Valrhona would be in my home in constant supply.  If I baked, I would also be sure to constantly have a big bag of the coins in my pantry.  But with my own personal preferences and life being what it is, Valrhona is currently not optimal. 

Ask me again in a few years, though, when I’m making a lot more money and perhaps actually baking… then we’ll talk 😉

A big thank you goes to Melissa for the invitation and for educating me on high quality chocolate!!!  Without you, the world would not be as sweet a place 🙂

I attended this event courtesy of Valrhona, but was under no obligation to post my opinion, either positive or negative.  I was not compensated for this post monetarily or in any other fashion.  This is my opinion and I share it freely.