at Tue, 11 Jan 2005 08:10:44 GMT in <21017-41E38A04-488@storefull-
3177.bay.webtv.net>, (Patrick Porter) wrote :

>If I wanted to try different kinds of chocolate to educate my
>palate---which company has good sampler-type packages with different
>types? Which would you recommend?
>
I wouldn't recommend that you try most samplers because the amount of
chocolate per sample is generally not enough to get a good assessment of
the chocolate. I recommend 50g/sample if you want to appreciate all of the
chocolate's characteristics.

That being said, there is one company out there with a sampler that *does*
have 50g samples - Pralus. The Pyramide des Tropiques has 10 50g bars in
it, and the chocolate is very good indeed. Highly recommended.

However, as with any chocolatier, Pralus has a distinct style, and so it's
good to try chocolates from other manufacturers.

Domori, Michel Cluizel, and Amedei all have excellent chocolate and do
offer samplers. You can assemble enough samples by buying multiple boxes to
make up the critical 50g amount. The sampler to get from Cluizel (which has
many) is the 1ers Crus de Plantation. However, it's probably best just to
get a 100 g bar of each.

The best chocolates from Amedei (Chuao) and Domori (Porcelana) aren't in
the samplers. I recommend getting those chocolates anyway.

Valrhona has a Grand Cru sampler with 75g/type, although again you must
annoyingly assemble the 50g from multiple individual squares. They have a
sort-of-sampler in the Chocolats Noirs de Domaine box, but with 3 types,
it's a bit anemic. I also don't think they'll be getting the Chuao any
more. Just as well. Save your money and buy the far better Amedei version
(which should soon be the only version)

--
Alex Rast

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