La Maison du Chocolat’s Duo de Ganaches: Andalouise & Yuzu
La Maison du Chocolat is my longtime favorite, luxury French chocolate brand. If you read this blog long enough, I even went far enough to fly to Paris and have a tour of their impeccable chocolate factory back in 2010.
Even though their Creative Director has left and Master Chef Nicolas Cloiseau took over last year, it’s interesting to see how Cloiseau would use his creative muscles and use the founder of La Maison du Chocolat, Robert Linxe, traditions.
Keeping with the tradition of their annual, limited edition of Duo de Ganache collection, Cloiseau used the flavor pairings of lemon zest and yuzu with their custom dark chocolate ganache. Their Andalouise are bonbons filled with dark chocolate ganache made of cream and infused with lemon zest. The Yuzu is a dark chocolate ganache base flavored with yuzu juice and decorated with a green stripe. These were intensely robust and delicious, just as La Maison du Chocolat’s traditions have been and I’m happy to see/taste that Asian touch. (26 pieces for $42)
I have the absolute honor to have a sneak preview of the L’île de Beauté or “Isle of Beauty” Summer Collection of La Maison du Chocolat. This collection will be released on May 3rd both on their online store and all their boutiques.
This collection reflects on the beautiful island of Corsica, where native flavors and fragrances of pine forest and vegetation drive the mysterious alchemy that inspired Nicolas Cloiseau, Master Chef of La Maison du Chocolat, to create this new limited edition coffret of five ganaches. (a coffret of 12 pieces for $26 or coffret of 31 chocolates for $64)
The five ganaches are Népita(a dark chocolate ganache infused with a peppery mint), Clementine (a refreshing and sweet Corsican clementine infused dark chocolate ganache layered with a delicate clementine gelée), Maquis d’été (a personal favorite of mine, a rare summer honey sourced from the high valleys in Corsica mixed richly studded with fig seeds), Citronnette (crunchy, candied rinds Corsican lemon perfectly balanced with milk chocolate), Ampamakia (a chocolate embodiment of Corsica; it’s a ganache that have the beautiful, zesty scents of a Corsican citrus grove).
It’s tropical and certainly would transport you to an island vacation, even though you’re still in the temperate spring, concrete jungle of New York City (at least for me).
Information
La Maison du Chocolat
Website (United States official website)
Location of New York boutiques (link)
Upper East Side: 1018 Madison Avenue (between E 78th & 79th St)
Midtown: 30 Rockefeller Center (on W 49th St)
Financial District: 63 Wall Street (between Hanover & Pearl St)
