Nairobi isn’t yet on the world foodie scene, but with world class chefs and restauranteurs rapidly making a name for themselves in this buzzing metropolis, I’m convinced it isn’t long before Nairobi rightfully takes its place on the world gastronomy map. Having had the thrill of experiencing a restaurant kitchen with Chef Silvio from Villa Rosa Kempinski, I am now always on the look out for local talent. But I must admit, a chocolatier wasn’t on my radar. In preparation for chocolate week here on Taste Safari, I came across Meetal Shah. A true student and master of her art, Meetal is really making her mark here in Nairobi by pioneering chocolate connoisseurship. Meetal kindly agreed to take some time away from transforming truffles and designing drops to talk to Taste Safari.
When and where did your love of Artisan Chocolate creativity start ?
Artisan Chocolate… it took me a journey of obsessive questing to discover what makes good chocolate great – why the subtle tastes change, and what the essential cacao bean lends to its final creation. Like we know of every food – the best quality ingredients will always give you the best final result – as long as you let the ingredients shine out. The more you add to them, the more you process them and the more you overpower them, the more your end result will be unbalanced. I’ve studied cacao fields in Ghana, Japan, Italy, France and Brazil, and spoken to many single estate producers. I strove to understand the basic bean – and I can confidently say that working with the best cacao will always give you better chocolate. Its been 10 years now since I started experimenting with making truffles – my favourite chocolate creation!
You have some very unique cacao that originate from places as far off as Japan and as close as Ghana…can you describe why these are so unique?
Every estate that produces cacao beans is as unique as a fingerprint. Just like wineries and grape growing regions; the climate, water composition, surrounding forestry and aviary life all contribute to the harvest and taste of cacao beans. You must have heard the term ‘chocolate made from single estate cacao beans’? That means only beans from a single plantation area have been processed to make that chocolate, this will give that particular chocolate a unique flavour with background notes from that cacao harvest. The one we source from Japan is a very floral and heady chocolate as the estates are surrounded by cherry blossoms and wisteria trees. My other favourite is an Italian estate, which is a dark and deep and spicy chocolate with notes of berries and pepper.
On the other hand, commercial chocolate producers will combine cacao beans from many places in the world, some of inferior quality, and mix them up to make their product. A common misunderstanding is the term ‘Belgian chocolate’. Most people will blindly purchase Belgian chocolate thinking this to be the best quality, without understanding where the cacao beans have been sourced from. These are mass produced chocolate bars with many additives, and are rarely a reflection of good chocolate. You have to explore the small chocolate houses in Belgium that hand-make their chocolate from selected cacao beans to really get the good stuff!
Once your palate begins to identify these different notes in the chocolate, you can then pair the flavours which best highlight it. Like with the floral Japanese chocolate, I would use additional notes of vanilla, jasmine, rose, strawberries and other uplifting aromas to highlight the chocolate when making truffles.
I love that you really push the boat out on flavour combinations. What would you describe as a perfect pairing for a chocolate dessert?
Indulgent chocolate dessert would make any meal perfect! I’ve turned non-chocolate lovers into real chocolate appreciators. Working with good chocolate is half the battle won, pairing it with complementing flavours is the other half! And finishing that with a deep red wine is the icing on the cake. The tannins in a good red wine really work with chocolate oils that coat your tasting notes on the tongue. You will begin to appreciate the undertones of a good chocolate that way.
At the moment I’m loving working with 64% cacao chocolate from Italy, which is a very smooth chocolate with low acid. Pairing it with hazelnuts, a little single malt whisky and roasted pecans – we call it the ‘nut roast’ and its a wonderful truffle! The whisky only elevates the roast of the pecan and brings out the aroma, you cannot taste the alcohol within the chocolate.
Another favourite is what we call a ‘chocolate dilemma’. I want the person experiencing this to close their eyes and feel their senses explode with all different textures of chocolate in one mouthful. We’re combining a dark chocolate cake, with a light and airy truffle mousse, a chocolate chip cream with sharp and dark crunch chocolate, topped with a luxury chocolate ganache thats silky and smooth, and finally a highlight of a red berry – it’s truly explosive!
I’m always creating recipes with chocolate, what is your advice on using everyday, easily available chocolates?
When using recipes with chocolate, pick your chocolate according to the additional sugars and dairy you are using. For creamier recipes with high sugars – pick a dark and crisp chocolate. For fruiter recipes with little dairy, use a mellow chocolate with a range between a 34 – 56 % cacao content.
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