Chocolat

Paris is the capital of dark chocolate. I am so thankful. And it's good for you too, you know.

Anyway, today I went on a chocolate tour of Paris with my friend from my mission. Our tour started out with where chocolate comes from. (I already knew. I've seen one of those shows on the discovery channel). Anyway, our tour started at the Louvre.

Chocolate was introduced to France by 1643 when Princess Maria Theresa was engaged to Louis XIV and she gave him a gift of chocolate. The Louvre was the palace for Louis XIV. Chocolate was very popular with Louis XIV and the members of his Court at Versailles. But at this point is was just for nobles.The Pyramid at the Louvre. It is a pyramid because the pyramid shape is the oldest know thing to have been built. So they took ancient shape and modern materials joined together to make this. Knowing the symbolism helps a little, but I still think it's so out of place. And by the way...no, there are NOT 666 squares of glass. More like 687 (or something like that)Here is the inverted pyramid inside the Louvre. Our first stop at La Maison du Chocolat (The house of chocolate), and it's located next to the inverted pyramid. Infact, there are a whole lot of shopping places under the Louvre. Who knew?! And you thought it was just art.
Here at La maison du chocolat we got to try hot cocoa and an almond chocolate. Apparently there is a time of season for different kinds of chocolate. So we got to try something from the summer collection. We got to have a truffle rolled in cocoa powder. They are called truffles because they look like the black truffle mushrooms found at the base of trees in the south of France. Our tour guide wanted us to try a black olive chocolate, but they didn't have any more. The hot cocoa was excellent. (although it tasted almost like when you take left over ganache and melt it down and add extra milk.) I bought a new chocolate cookbook to add to my collection. When I told Doug, he said, "Why am I not surprised?" Hee hee.

Our next stop was Michel Cluizel. This place smelled like heaven (or how I would wish heaven would smell). It helped that it had a chocolate fountain on the wall.

Cocoa beans.

This is a chocolate smorgasboard. Yum. We had little chocolate disks with sugared nuts on top. I could tell that it was good quality chocolate because it didn't melt in my fingers despite how hot it was.

I got to try a truffle that had gold flakes on the outside. So I'm worth more now. This truffle's inside was 99% pure chocolate ganache with a 60% chocolate outside. The ganache on the inside was so smooth it was like chocolate silk on my tongue. The outside was tempered just right and had the perfect crack once you bit into it.
This place also had patisseries (pastries) with chocolate. These look so perfect, like they're made out of plastic or something. It's amazing how shiny they get their ganache on the outside. I was very tempted to get one. Maybe next time.
We stopped by Jean-Paul Hévan. There were all sorts of chocolate sculptures behind the window. Here is a chocolate Eiffel Tower. There was also a chocolate stiletto heel shoe. This place is also a tea room, where you can go upstairs and have lunch. Go to the website. The menu looks yummy.
Our last stop was Pierre Marcolini. He is actually a Belgian chocolate maker, but has made his mark on Paris. (also I think this is the favorite place of our tour guide). Here I tried a chocolate with a nutty crackle inside. I'm trying to remember exactly what it was but the way I remember it was as if there was ground up almond brittle inside and then chocolate on the outside. I also tried a 4 spice chocolate. It was really good. I still really like dark chocolate with cayenne pepper. My friend tried a raspberry heart. She absolutely loved it so much, that she bought more. This place is located close to the Opéra, so I know where to go to get some more.
So, if you ever come to Paris, I highly recommend taking a tout. We went with a group called Paris Walks. And, no, it's not free. This chocolate tasting tour was 25 Euros. But worth every centime!