Are you in need of good chocolate for Valentine's Day?

Here are some options for some really good, gourmet chocolates. Yes, she will know the difference when she tastes it so go out and do something to impress her.

Xoconochco
Historic Downtown Franklin
434 Main Street
Franklin, TN 37064
(615) 599-0236

Cocoa Tree
121 3rd Ave N
Franklin, TN 37064
(615) 599-1989

Pralines by Leon
138 2nd Ave N # 102
Nashville, TN 37201
(615) 254-5030

Chocolate Tasting with Dorie Greenspan

After baking authority and author Dorie Greenspan did a Valrhona chocolate tasting with the company's sensory expert, she stopped by the show to share what she learned. As she and Lynne sampled Valrhona's Manjari Grande Cru, Dorie explained the seven steps involved in tasting chocolate:

Look: note the color and sheen (shininess is a sign of good tempering)
Smell: breathe in the odor (what you smell when breathing directly through your nose)
Break: assess the "snap." A crisp snap indicated good tempering.
Put in mouth: note the texture.
Melt in mouth by pressing the chocolate against the roof of your mouth with your tongue.
Distinguish aromas: fruity, floral, warm, heavier (toasted nuts, woods)
Taste: you taste acidity first and bitterness last



This comes from the Splendid Table.

Chocolate Special at Xoconochco this weekend

Bing CHERRIES and CHOCOLATE
Available this weekend only!
July 14-15, 2007

They've Arrived! They've Arrived! We've been waiting for picked-at-peak BING CHERRIES like a kid waiting for Santa Claus. We were so excited to open the shipment yesterday.

Cherries. Big, bold, firm, dark, mahogany red cherries. Straight from the orchard.This summer, we are participating in a limited program with Batch's Best Family Farms, a farm with acclaimed cherries located in the high plateau of eastern Washington. There, fruit is allowed to ripen on the tree rather than en route to the store. Tom Batch's family hand-picks each piece of fruit, and then the cherries are checked for size, color, firmness, and even to be sure they have a stem, five times, before they are boxed and shipped. This means every cherry is, well, cherry-picked from all the rest! Perhaps this is why they have been sited in publications such as Bon Appetit', Saveur, and the New York Times.

BING CHERRIES are the most popular variety of sweet cherry and the first cherries of the season. Washington produces some of the finest cherries, apples and pears in the world, but most of that fruit is picked too early, because it needs to travel by truck or train across the country to reach our supermarkets. At Batch's Best Family Farms, they are available for just one day a year - the day they are picked and immediately shipped to us - perfectly ripe- straight from the orchard. We waste no time in dipping them in white, milk, or dark chocolate and topping them off with ground almonds, walnuts, or pistachios. Our goal is for YOU to enjoy them as if you just brought them in from your OWN beautiful orchard and dipped them straight into luxurious chocolate. We have limited quantities available and when we are sold out, there will be no more until next year. So, come by early or call us to reserve your selection of FRESHLY PICKED, FRESHLY DIPPED CHOCOLATE CHERRIES!

Visit us at the shop or call us at 1-877-LUV-XOCO.

Options include: dark chocolate (64%), dark chocolate with almonds, milk chocolate (40%), milk chocolate with walnuts, white chocolate, white chocolate with pistachios.

Price:$ 1.45 each

Chocolate Sommelier :: Amber Restaurant, Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

C’mon, you knew it was going to happen. Some trends, copy-cats and sequels should just never happen, but sometimes they are the perfect evolution. (Case in point, “Live Free or Die Hard” was even better than the original.)



A fine dining establishment provides expert sommeliers to help educate, entice and guide us through often unknown territories. First there were wine sommeliers, next cheese sommeliers (often referred to as Affineurs) and a few times I’ve even had a lavish silver cart wheeled up to me with me with my “water sommelier” offering his pairing suggestions for my meal.

So, hiring a Chocolate Sommelier is a natural! When you’ve risen above arguing the merits of milk chocolate vs. bittersweet, and let no less than 85% cocoa pass your lips although you really prefer 95%, or words like “single origin, varietal, & estate grown,” creep into not only your wine but chocolate vocabulary, than you’ll want the services of a trained C.S.

Read the complete story at Vagablond

Where to Find Chocolate in Nashville

Take the time to stop in and visit these wonderful places for delicious chocolates and other sweets. Support your local businesses so we can all enjoy their creations for years to come.
~C.S. Webbspun

Xoconochco (locally owned)

The Cocoa Tree (locally owned)

Pralines by Leon (locally owned)

Godiva Chocolatiers