Chocolate Unwrapped

I am lucky enough to be a member of The Guild of Food Writers, and even luckier to be invited to regular tastings and workshops run by experts in their field from the guild.  This week was a great treat - a chocolate tasting run by Sarah Jane Evans, who has recently published 'Chocolate Unwrapped', a book that covers the history of chocolate, how to taste it, how ethical your bar of chocolate is, and so much more, including a listing of some of the tastiest chocolates of the world.
I am a great lover of good, dark chocolate (although that did happen quite late in life, a bit like my passion for olives!), so to have the opportunity to try a number of different chocolates from producers all over the world and, more importantly, to be able to detect the subtle differences, was fascinating.
Sarah explained how the 19 processes that go into making the chocolate, could all vary the flavour and texture of the end result.  One of the processes is called conching, a bit like putting your chocolate into a large cement mixer with rollers inside - the idea is to refine and develop the flavour and texture and remove unwanted acidity.  Tasting bars that had been conched for different lengths of time was really interesting - the longer the time the smoother and more refined the chocolate (and presumably the more expensive).  I actually found myself liking the less conched - a bit of roughness and grittiness is clearly what I like (no comments from close friends please!).  Some chocolate bars now state conching time on the wrapper, so do always take a good look at what you buy.
It was also confirmed and agreed by all that using good chocolate for cooking is certainly not a waste - the results are so much better, as they would be with any good quality ingredient against not so good.
So throw away that cheap baking chocolate you have in the cupboard, and treat yourself to something special.

Raspberry and Chocolate Fridge Cake


Serves 10-12


400g dark chocolate
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
310g unsalted butter
75g caster sugar
250g digestive biscuits
300g raspberries


Line a 2 lb loaf tin with cling film.
Place the chocolate, Golden Syrup, butter and sugar in a pan and gently melt over a low heat, stirring from time to time.
Roughly break the digestive biscuits by placing in a plastic bag and bashing with a rolling pin.  Don't break them down too much, leave some large chunks.
When the chocolate mixture is totally melted, take off the heat and gently stir in the broken biscuits and raspberries.
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top level.
Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours before turning out and slicing to serve.