According to a number of surveys, Ireland is one of the world's largest consumers of chocolate per capita, falling joint third with the UK and just behind Germany and Switzerland. Who can blame us? It's fairly hard to resist the advertising: the seductive charm of an oddly sexy rabbit wielding a bar dripping with caramel or the ethereal allure of a crumbly flake resting on the lips of a 1990s model sitting on the edge of a fountain. Chocolate marketers have long seen the link between the products this magic bean can create and a sense of sex, glamour and seduction.
Far from expensive advertising campaigns is the cocoa bean, the primary ingredient of the chocolate we all know and love. More than two-thirds of the world's cocoa is grown in west Africa on the Ivory Coast. The fruit's pod reveals an alien-like white flesh far from its end product. The seeds are slightly bitter and nutty while the flesh is subtly sweet and tangy. After a lengthy process of fermentation, drying and roasting, the bean is ready to be used by big manufacturers to produce chocolate.
Last year, I got a chance to visit one of Sweden's best chocolatiers, Martin Eriksson in his shop and bakery, Chokladfabriken, in Stockholm. Eriksson's award-winning chocolates feature inventive flavour combinations like liquorice and sea salt, fig jam and marzipan and apple and cinnamon. After a dreamy afternoon of melting chocolate and drizzling it into tiny moulds, we made some of the best chocolates I have ever tried.
While I don’t have the time or equipment to temper chocolate and create dainty treats, I do need my chocolate fix at home. These three recipes are some of my favourites using the best-quality dark chocolate you can find. A dense and moist chocolate cake slathered in luscious chocolate glaze, sweet chocolate twist buns and a chocolate twist on a classic pecan pie – all irresistible and not a bunny rabbit in sight.
