Blister Sisters, Teed St Larder and Conching

A few years ago, 5 of us formed the original 'Blister Sisters' to walk the Auckland half marathon. We walked, we trained, we schemed, and we completed the marathon and had a great time.  It always, without fail, involved long brunches with great conversations about almost anything.

There is still a quorum of us who get together when the mood strikes for a proper walk (we have to do something to balance the good life afterall!).  Coach Cath maps out our route and it always either ends at a cafe or as is the case this week, a cafe 1/2 way along the route. 

This time it's 'Teed St Larder' at 7 Teed St in Newmarket, Auckland, after we traverse the duck pond and lovers lane in the Auckland Domain. 

'Teed St Larder' is a cool urban food store which is a recent addition to Auckland. It has a great vibe with lots of inviting cabinet food including some pretty good looking Ruebens (and I know a Rueben from a Rueben), lots of fresh pastry, and a decent brunch menu. Then, from the corner of my eye I spotted the 'Hot Chocolate' Valrohna 75%.  Holy cow (or soy bean in my case) - this had my name written all over it.  I love Valrohna chocolate and recently I read an article that described what makes it so much better (and why we pay so much more for some chocolates than others). 

Apparently, the following is required for good chocolate:

1. A quality blend of cocoa beans
2. The liberal addition of extra cocoa butter.
3. A long conching process.

Conching?

I had only recently heard of 'conching' and I found it quite interesting.  Apparently Conching is to chocolate what aging is to wine.  (that got my attention!)

The technique of conching was developed by Rodolphe Lindt in Switzerland in the late 19th century. Conching entails rolling and smearing molten chocolate while subjecting it to a stream of warm air. This blends the ingredients, releases unwanted volatile components and reduced the moisture content. Before the invention of conching, chocolate was grainy and bitter and largely just used in drinks.

The length of the conching process determines the final smoothness and quality of the chocolate, and how fine the cocoa and sugar particles are. High-quality chocolate is conched for about 72 hours, lesser grades about four to six hours.

You guessed it, Valrhona is at the top end of the scale. 

Well, that was only one of topics we discussed on the day.  It's amazing how much you can cover in a couple of hours and as per usual there was lots of interesting news to catch up on and philosophical questions to debate. 

Conversational food for the soul, well conched chocolate and a good brunch - surely that's what it's all about.

Until next time,

E