Sugar Savvy

This past Sunday was the 2nd annual Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon. The Chocolate Salon is a chocolate show in the Los Angeles area that takes place at the Pasadena Center, where chocolate lovers can taste artisan and gourmet chocolate, as well as hear chefs and authors talk about their products.

I was fortunate enough to have won a ticket to the event, thanks to Rachel’s giveaway over at Chocolate Snob. The event turnout was excellent, the room was packed, bustling with hungry chocolate fanatics. There were about 20 or so chocolatiers and confectioners in attendance, including small artisan producers, as well as bigger and more well-known names such as Amano Artisan Chocolate, Chuao Chocolatier, Guittard Chocolate Company, and Valerie Confections.

The samples offered included standard chocolate bars, molded chocolates, truffles, chocolate covered toffee, chocolate liquor, chocolate chip cookies, and even chocolate marshmallows. The dominant trends were exotic flavors and spices, with an emphasis on dark chocolate. Some of the spices featured included: cinnamon, cardamom, and saffron, while the exotic flavors ranged from the recently popular chipotle chili chocolate, and delicate tea infused chocolate to the downright strange durian fruit chocolate.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of my favorites:

Amano Artisan Chocolate - Salon attendees were treated to a taste of Amano’s newest 70% dark chocolate bar: “Jembrana,” which originates from the southwest coast of Bali. This smooth and mild, yet full flavored chocolate was a real treat.

Chocolatique - This chocolate-maker located in Santa Monica, California boasts over 150 varieties of handmade chocolates. They offered very generous, full-size samples of chocolates such as “Grand Marnier Truffle Hearts,” “Chocolate, Chocolate Brownie,” and a special “Champagne Truffle.”  A very delicious new discovery.

Chuao Chocolatier - One of the busiest booths at the show; founder and chocolatier Michael Antonorsi was in attendance promoting his unique chocolates.  Lots of lovely spice infused chocolates were offered, including their newest “Firecracker” chocolate, an unusual dark chocolate, chipotle, salt and popping candy truffle.

Mignon Chocolate - Based in Glendale, California, Mignon chocolates offered samples of beautiful, molded chocolates in delightful flavors such as “Orange, Saffron, Marzipan” and “Dark Chocolate Ginger.”

San Francisco Toffee Company - This company was the best toffee confectioner at the show, offering excellent crunchy, buttery almond toffee covered in white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and espresso dark chocolate.

I enjoyed myself very much, although it was a bit crowded at times. It would be great to see this event expand to a larger space with more vendors in attendance next year, as it is a unique experience for chocolate lovers.