Comments on The Conscious Kitchen: The Taste of Love Chocolate Contest

I am completely impressed with the article I have ...

2010-02-12T01:40:29.157-05:00

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Good Afternoon!!! www.consciouskitchen.net is one ...

2009-12-30T07:03:25.928-05:00

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Chocolate Stout or Porter--I would not need men.--...

2009-02-12T17:19:34.126-05:00

Chocolate Stout or Porter

--I would not need men.--

Call me crazy, but: pureed acorn squash + caramel ...

2009-02-12T17:00:40.897-05:00

Call me crazy, but:

pureed acorn squash + caramel + hazelnut + (optional)hazelnut liqueur

mojito truffle (lime, mint, sugar, rum)

key lime pie truffle

champagne + pear

I love this idea and can't wait to see what you make!

Beautiful chocolates! And the ideas people have p...

2009-02-12T10:58:44.845-05:00

Beautiful chocolates! And the ideas people have put forward are really creative. Seeing as this is a Valentine's chocolate I tried to think of aphrodisiacs, but oysters and chocolate are a difficult combination, not to mention un-vegan. Asparagus and chocolate also seems less than appealing.

So, here goes:

Rose, cardamom, ginger, cumin: floral and spicy at once. What's more traditional than roses at Valentine's? The spices provide some interest and complexity. The levels of the spices are the real trick here to avoid any of the components overpowering the others.

Marshmallow, strawberry: a tiny preserved frais de bois in the centre of a marshmallow creme ball in dark chocolate. A griotte would also be lovely. I've always thought it would be fun to play with the textures of the centres of truffles a bit more. Maybe they wouldn't be called truffles if the centre were seafoam candy? Or gelee?

Or what if the outside weren't chocolate? Apple, juniper, allspice gelee, enrobed in a medium soft caramel. This one might get sticky after a while, might have to be wrapped in cellophane.

Kumquat, cinnamon, white chocolate.

This is addictive! Who doesn't love to think about chocolate?

Marshmallow and cookie dough.

2009-02-11T23:20:29.350-05:00

Marshmallow and cookie dough.

Kissa tells me that she suggests catnip in her cho...

2009-02-11T22:09:30.646-05:00

Kissa tells me that she suggests catnip in her chocolate, but I'm wondering about some kind of combination of dried apricots and crystalized ginger? Your chocolates are wonderfully unique!!! The best in the world!!! :-)
Love,
Patti

Your chocolates look beautiful as always! Thanks ...

2009-02-11T17:57:38.101-05:00

Your chocolates look beautiful as always! Thanks for the recipe!

I like your idea of subtle and seductive for an id...

2009-02-11T17:01:20.546-05:00

I like your idea of subtle and seductive for an ideal Valentine's Day chocolate. Two things came to mind: the pear and the avocado. The pear with its curves having the shape of a womb and the aphrodisiac “fruit of fertility”, the avocado, are both characteristically alluring.

I would like to see a chocolate with its center being soft candied pear soaking in some kind of pear reduction. I also think having a pear/marzipan center would be delicious too.

As for the avocado, I considered this because avocado + sugar= a fabulous treat. A Brazilian family I know often blends avocado, milk, and sugar into a smoothie. So if you could make a chocolate with an avocado fondant or crème center that would be amazing!

Here's another idea based on the Vietnamese Tri-Co...

2009-02-10T20:30:17.835-05:00

Here's another idea based on the Vietnamese Tri-Color dessert I so love: chocolate with coconut milk, filled with sweetened red bean, yellow bean, and mung bean. Yum!

I have been thinking about making a chocolate base...

2009-02-10T20:06:07.345-05:00

I have been thinking about making a chocolate based on a Cambodian snack called Bul Mahteh (spelled phonetically). The snack involves grinding up sea salt, a serrano chili, and sugar in a mortar and pestle and then dipping not-quite-ripe mango slices in the resulting paste. Bul Mateh is refreshing, salty, sweet, and a little spicy (depending on the amount of chili used). I think a bitter dark chocolate with mango, sea salt, and a little chili would be magnificent!

YOU'RE the combination queen here & I fear some of...

2009-02-10T19:29:19.984-05:00

YOU'RE the combination queen here & I fear some of my ideas will have been mentioned above, but here's some brainstorming..

Anardana + Agave (or just plain Anardana, really!)
Blood Orange + Fennel
Apple Caramel + Cinnamon
Truffles rolled in Amchur
Banana + Amchur
Key Lime + Almond
Macadamia + Plantain

okay, that's all I have! haha.

Em,I would tend to recommend a sweeter sparkling w...

2009-02-10T18:04:08.488-05:00

Em,

I would tend to recommend a sweeter sparkling wine with the anise, though with Meyer lemons it'd be tempered somewhat anyway. My go-to is generally Freixnet, which is dry and crisp.

Re: Top Chef, WTF?!?! I'm so disappointed in this season. I can't believe that they're letting this ridiculous romance angle rule the show, when neither Leah nor Hosea have the skills of a couple of the chefs who've already been sent home. Seriously, Leah couldn't even figure out how to replicate her dish, let alone execute it! All this for some cheap thrills at the expense of their poor significant others. And I would like to punch the new judge in the nose, just for being smarmy. Can we have Eric Ripert on there full time instead?

I love your beautiful chocolates!! I made a really...

2009-02-10T17:45:38.634-05:00

I love your beautiful chocolates!! I made a really nice chocolate-yellow curry sauce to go atop come mini chocolate bundt cakes-yum. The warmness of the curry is so nice with the chocolate, I thought you might enjoy the combo. Keep up the awesome posts!! :)

So many amazing suggestions and creative combinati...

2009-02-10T16:29:01.704-05:00

So many amazing suggestions and creative combinations.

I love raspberries. I think the tartness is a perfect compliment.
Lavender has been a paired with chocolate, but what about rosemary?
I'm thinking

rosemary-walnut-smoked salt

raspberry-meyer lemon-champagne

orange blossom water-cardamom

I found your blog because I was looking for Creati...

2009-02-10T16:24:16.782-05:00

I found your blog because I was looking for Creative Commons licensed wedding cake photos, and you had the prettiest one that day. I'm excited about your food pictures.

My chocolate idea isn't that original--something with Russian Caravan tea and dried cherries.

I would love to see:A sort of mole poblano chocola...

2009-02-10T15:32:32.459-05:00

I would love to see:

A sort of mole poblano chocolate - with chili pepper, cinnamon, ground nuts and/or sesame seeds...

A nice espresso truffle with Sambuca, sweet, simple, and spiked :)

A rhubarb-reduced-in-port-with-vanilla truffle (a little out of season, but i can dream!)

I also love the idea of a cardamom chocolate, perhaps with almonds or pistachios...

Thank you for your amazing post! (and you're local! Hi from a fellow Cambervillian)

For me, the best combo would be one of all thats t...

2009-02-10T10:18:47.902-05:00

For me, the best combo would be one of all thats truly good in this world, so that starts with dark chocolate (what else, of course!) and combines with peanuts, peanut butter, salty pretzels, and caramel. The sweet and salty dark chocolate combo with nuts and caramel - how could you POSSIBLY go wrong... my hips just got a little bigger just thinking of these. and a little drool came out the corner of my mouth too.... sigh. i'm desperate for V day now:)

How perfect all of these look. They are almost to ...

2009-02-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

How perfect all of these look. They are almost to beautiful to eat. I'm overwhelmed.

Zoinks! Those are some amazing combinations that ...

2009-02-09T17:07:00.320-05:00

Zoinks! Those are some amazing combinations that people have come up with! My ideas....

green tea and ginger
amaretto and cherry
margarita truffles (tequila with lime/lemon and salt)
chocolate chip cookie dough truffle

Emilie,Getting Google to allow me to comment on th...

2009-02-09T15:29:47.155-05:00

Emilie,
Getting Google to allow me to comment on this blog has required more tries than I can count. The "Internets" must know I have no original chocolate ideas. It was necessary to try, try again to say the photos are gorgeous and these many flavor ideas boggle the mind. How will you all choose?
Mom

Is there a way to create a caramel with a wine inf...

2009-02-09T12:48:10.800-05:00

Is there a way to create a caramel with a wine infusion? I like the idea of caramel for V-day, since it's slinky and sexy. I also think wine needs to be involved, and a berry: strawberries are traditional, but I think raspberries are sexier. So my suggestion might be a red-wine caramel draped over a fresh raspberry and encased in dark chocolate.

How about Champagne and rosewater? The quintessent...

2009-02-09T11:29:42.768-05:00

How about Champagne and rosewater? The quintessential romance of bubbly and roses

I'm totally blown away and inspired beyond belief ...

2009-02-09T10:57:51.969-05:00

I'm totally blown away and inspired beyond belief by all your ideas!

It's going to be so hard to choose. There's going to be major strife on our Top Chef night as we try to decide...

Keep 'em coming!

Haha! I totally agree with you on the new Top Chef...

2009-02-09T01:36:04.895-05:00

Haha! I totally agree with you on the new Top Chef judge!

What I miss most since becoming vegan are those simple little Andes chocolates- you know, with the layer of mint?

I was thinking dark chocolate with a layer of white chocolate infused with fresh mint in between... oooh!