Day 31 – Paris – Salon du Chocolat

Well folks, for those who have been following me or have had no choice but to listen to my plans and obsessions, this is what it has all been about.  Everything was to culminate in a single beautiful day - the annual Salon du Chocolat event in Paris. 

One day, not that long ago, a rash decision to attend on behalf of Cocoa Kiss Chocolate was made, and from there we worked backwards to create the rest of the five-week (chocolate spree) trip.

So what is Salon du Chocolat?  Only the largest chocolate exhibition in the world.  Only the most perfect way to possibly spend a day.  Or it could simply be described, rather correctly, as chocolate ecstasy!

The event is held at one of the many large exhibition halls at Porte de Versailles in Paris and we arrived flanked by the Cocoa Kiss ‘posse’; travel companion and fellow chocolate compatriot, Michael and French translator for the day and the event, the lovely Julien.

As usual, I like to be organised and dare I say a little controlling about plans, which sometimes works in my favour such as my insistence we be there for the opening at 10:00 because as we arrive there is a solid smattering of people entering the event but still small enough we get to stroll straight in without waiting.  However when leaving, or glancing out the window during the event, there are enormous hoards of chocolate frenzied persons.  It would appear the allure of chocolate is universal; just as it draws crowds in Melbourne so it does in Paris. 

Or perhaps more pertinently, is it the allure of free chocolate samples that is universal…

Whatever the draw card, a record 130,000 people passed through the hallowed doors over the five-day event.  To save you the calculation folks that is a staggering 26,000 people a day and a lot of chocolate samples!

But anyway, back to our arrival.  Initially buoyed and excited our naïve confidence as anglophiles attending a French event quickly suffers a brutal blow, all the more brutal when you remember the entire five-week trip has been planned around this event.  So imagine us, if you will, excitedly entering the event, glancing around, spying a few brands we (Michel Cluizel, Valrhona – Lindt!) but then having to grapple with several rather obvious realities; the venue is enormous, the event is largely in French and we have no idea where to start.  Let’s just say, a little daunting.   Enter Julien, Cocoa Kiss’ lovely French translator.  Stepping up he whisks himself off into the Press area to acquire all sorts of documentation on the event and then we begin.  Not knowing where to start, nor recognising many of the brands (and therefore not knowing if the quality is good, poor or somewhere in between) we play it safe and start at perennial bestseller of Cocoa Kiss, Michel Cluizel.

The stand looks great although I would go as far to say the suited, professional looking guys manning the stall are more comfortable seated at a desk or in a marketing meeting than behind a chocolate counter.  Friendly, knowledgably about the company but a little light on product information.  But we did get to have a chat, talking about new lines and old favorites.  Coming away there are lots to think about for us, having seen so much more of the Michel Cluizel range, and lots to be excited about including new flavours:

• Ivory (white) which is far superior to the average white chocolate – thick, creamy, milky and not overly sweet.  Certainly a far cry from the likes of the ‘Milky Bar’ and other overly commercial white chocolate offerings.

• Eclats Caramel Beurre Sale (Salted Caramel) which Cocao Kiss is eagerly looking forward to getting our hands on, and we have customers asking for it already.  A fantastic product, Cluizel’s already magnificent 45% Grand Lait chocolate with little dollops of Guerande French sea salt and bourbon vanilla.  The ratio of cocao to the toffee notes of the caramel are wonderfully balanced and offer a rich, textured and beautiful experience.

From there we met a group of Ecuador representatives (Ecuadorian chocolate is gaining more of a presence in the market) through to producers of hot chocolate sticks in a myriad of (possibly too many) flavours through to makers of individual chocolates and strangely enough a stall of ‘political pots’ – yes you did read correctly, little pots of condiments with political slogans through to organic makers whose chocolate was rather nice but tasted of fermentation – soy sauce chocolate!  Oh, and then there was the chocolate and foie gras stall…

But to be honest as we traveled through the increasingly bustling event; chatting, researching, tasting we did begin to question our presence.  The Salon du Chocolat event was one of the core reasons for this chocolate trip and we were finding it disappointing.  This is France, the home of truly fine and beautiful chocolate and yet what we were discovering was a plethora of mediocrity and over industrialised chocolate.  We even sampled a piece of Lindt Dessert Chocolate thanks to a lack of good stuff.

Although amongst all this mediocrity I did learn something rather important in cross-cultural chocolate relations.  And that is not to ask a nice French man whether his chocolates have preservatives in them.  Because when I did an awkward silence befell our small group.  I couldn’t work out why, this is a fair question, being a purist I prefer my chocolate to not have preservatives and a shelf life of years.  After what felt like an eternity, a distant memory awakened in my brain about what preservative is in French – it is the word for condom, I had just asked if the chocolates had condoms in them!  Maybe it is time to learn French…

Moving on from my embarrassment, we come across some rather magnificent chocolate sculptures, which are impressive, and our collective minds boggle at how someone can possibly conceive and execute such amazing items in our favourite foodstuff, a pleasant distraction but it is hardly assisting in our research and possible business opportunities.

But then it all changed, it all started to meet expectations, when we stumbled across a rather pertinent sign – Artisan and Regional Chocolates.  Did I mention this was manna from heaven?  Oh my, what a wonder of wonderfulness!  I don’t even know where to start but lets throw some names and thoughts out there:

John Paul Levin – of previous macaroon post fame they also do some fantastic chocolate, although I am a little hesitant about being too enthusiastic about their bars as I have some confusion over what they represent and I haven’t been able to get a great answer from the staff.  It is often a question to ponder with smaller producers, understandably they don’t often have the resources to be sourcing and producing their own beans so it may be that they buy their chocolate and simply reformat this into a bar, maybe at best blending to create their own flavours.  John Paul Levin has a 72% Araguani bar which is almost certainly the 72% Valrhona Araguani chocolate.  But I have no desire just to buy another brands chocolate repackaged (as much as I do love the Araguani).  But to be fair to John Paul Levin the chocolates I have tasted have been very good, including a surprisingly creamy 75% and a luscious chocolate, on trend with the industry, salted caramel milk chocolate.  Oh, and there are the macaroons which are amazing!

Henri Le Roux – a genius of the humble caramel, not something we would normally rave about but Brittany skill (and produce) has gone into these making these rather exceptional, particularly the original and the best - the salted butter caramel.  Add to this a great range of good truffles and bars of chocolate you have a winner.

Pierre Marcoloni – apparently a Belgian who makes chocolate like a French man and who is famous for rather amazing chocolate covered marshmallows but he also makes wonderfully beautiful looking individual chocolates (of which a box is currently traveling in our hand luggage).  We were fortunate enough to commandeer the time of an their chocolate buyer as she discussed the different characteristics of their chocolates, in particular their limited edition range and interestingly how they work with local growing communities from whom they source and process their own beans.

Pralus – a brand I have always struggled with, rated by many chocolate aficionados as good but not something we have enjoyed in the past however that didn’t stop us leaving with a bar of their Melissa chocolate, a particularly dark milk chocolate at 45 per cent and a cheekily repeated tasting of brioche with praline samples, a rather scary looking buttery bread product with very very pink rose pralines inside, terrible looking (think Barbie gone mad) but oh my it is yummy!

Il Ciebo – a new kid on the block and made in collaboration with one of my ‘chocolate crushes’ (i.e. a person with whom I am rather enamored due to their chocolate passion, knowledge and taste).  My chocolate crush is Chloe Doutre-Roussel who doesn’t disappoint me with her chocolate, her knowledge or her openness or her charm.

A great product which we are going to watch keenly to see how it progresses, along with the store (a collaboration of Il Ciebo and Chloe) that will open in the next month or two.  My only complaint here is they didn’t have a lot of stock so I didn’t get to purchase as much of the Heritage as I would have liked, but then my already bulging excess luggage (and yes talking about my luggage, although am sure my waist line is also bulging by now) is thankful.

Bonnat – a brand I have flirted with on the few occasions I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to (normally from kind hearted friends bringing it back from America).  Gorgeously packaged it discreetly announces its French pedigree and quality and warns you of the fact it is priced higher than many of its contemporaries.  But inside is beautifully subtle chocolate crafted not to harass you with its strength, but rather to charm you with its subtleties.  And charm this company is, headed up by the warmly enthusiastic, energetic and skilled Stephane Bonnat the family company (in the same family since inception in 1884) also includes his mother and son.

By 2pm we were desperate for a break, but amongst the mass of people, cocao, smiles and signs there was certainly no where to sit and most definitely no where to relax.  Time to grab a quick baguette eaten up against a wall.  Harnessing our tiny space of somewhat isolation Michael had to admit defeat.  Chocolate had got the better of him and neither his taste buds, his nerves nor his waistline was going to allow him to stay any longer.  So I bid him adieu as I persevered, in the name of Cocoa Kiss, research and my art!  To be honest, I didn’t want to eat any more chocolate – not today, not for some time – but I did need to keep sampling.  The whole point of being at Salon du Chocolat was to research and there’s only so much chocolate research you can do without tasting.  So my sense of duty being stronger than my common sense I continued.  Somewhat hesitantly and somewhat frustratingly I realise I peaked too early, I had crammed too much of the rubbish stuff in at the start, not leaving the stamina and appreciation of the good stuff (at least I know for next year, and yes folks there will be a next year.)

By around 4pm it all got the better of me – the crowds, the chocolate, the noise – and I stumbled out of the event into the sunshine, blinking in a semi-comatose sugar induced state, struggling to find the metro station I alighted from only six hours earlier.  But sitting on the metro, balancing my purchases on my lap and my sleepy head against the window I felt a deep sense of satisfaction.  One of discovery, like minded souls, wonder and appreciation. 

All in all a great day out!