Salon du Chocolat Expo

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending Salon Du Chocolat at the Javits Center, the world’s largest event dedicated to chocolate and cocoa. The expo started in 1994 and this was the first ever one held in New York City. The internationally renowned event connects cocoa producers, chocolatiers, pastry chefs and thousands of individuals who love chocolate.

At the expo there was live recipe demonstrations and workshops, chocolate from around the world available to purchase, a Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival, chocolate sculptures, and even a chocolate fashion show.

The Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival

There was a limited amount of tickets (150) for the special Valrhona Hot Chocolate Festival, with a portion of the proceeds donated to Food Recovery Network, a national non-profit that unites students at colleges and universities to fight food waste and hunger by recovering perishable food that would otherwise go to waste from their campus dining halls and donating it to those in need.

The festival featured samples of unique hot chocolate recipes created specially by the New York City’s most celebrated pastry chefs. Some of the chefs included Ikuma Motoki (21 Club), Jayce Baudry (Epicerie Boulud), Paola Marocchi (Tao Restaurant), & Elise Harris (La Maison du Chocolat) to name a few.

It was definitely a chocolate overload for me, and although I wanted to try each and every one of the hot chocolates, my body wouldn’t allow me. So I chose the ones that seemed the most interesting to me, including a Spanish Churro Hot Chocolate from Thea Habjanic of Little Spain Mercado. It was a thick and rich blend of 62% Satilia chocolate, milk, heavy cream, vanilla and cinnamon, served with a sugar-dusted churro.

Another favorite of mine was the Dark Hot Chocolate with Maple and Black Cardamom Marshmallow from Miro Uskokovic of Gramercy Tavern. It was dark and rich, fruit-forward and aromatic, topped with maple marshmallows and spiced up with earthy black cardamom.

Another stand-out was the Salted Burnt Honey Hot Chocolate from Jana Kern-Mireles of The Lambs Club. The burnt honey adds smokey butterscotch notes that pair well with the combination of white, milk and dark chocolates, while the salt helps round out the sweetness.

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Epicerie Boulud had a stand set up complete with the Eiffel Tower and a collection of mini chocolates. By this point I couldn’t eat another mouthful of chocolate but I had to take one to enjoy later. So I chose the tiny hot chocolate mug with earl grey chocolate. So intricate and the flavor of earl grey was subtle but definitely came through.

Jayce Baudry’s hot chocolate was a French Breakfast Hot Chocolate, with a hint of maple and orange and brioche-infused.

It was really great to discover chocolate brands I wasn’t familiar with. Almost every stand had tastings, so you could be sure you’d like what you were buying.

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One of the brands that I discovered and loved was Mademoiselle Miel. They use only rooftop honey and local maple sugar as sweeteners. The artisan chocolate is made in small batches in Minnesota, with single origin organic cacao. I bought the Tahini Star Bar, a micro-batch creamy chocolate featuring tahini instead of dairy or nuts, and a sprinkling of sea salt. Absolute perfection!

Hawaiian Crown Chocolate, where the cacao is 100% grown and manufactured in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Premium cacao and apple banana are produced on the 120 acre farm, to create over 25 different chocolate products.

There was also a chocolate demonstration stage, and a ‘pastry by the pros’ stage with baking tips from renowned chefs from the International Culinary Center.

Paul Joachim, AKA ‘The Chocolate Genius’, sculpted an elephant out of chocolate, and chocolatier Håkan Mårtensson sculpted a dragon (see main photo also).

A big thank you to Salon Du Chocolat for having me! I truly enjoyed my experience, and although I said I needed a break from eating chocolate for a while, I am now back eating it two days later. Go figure! I can’t wait for next year’s expo.