Best Chocolate in Nashville

I will admit it… I’m a chocolate snob.  I get in trouble all the time voicing my disgust at the taste of America’s Hershey’s Chocolate or the Hershey’s Chocolate bars packaged in Cadbury wrapping.  I guess if you haven’t tried Cadbury from New Zealand, England or Australia you probably wouldn’t realise the difference.  It’s just dang well better – apparently there is a difference in milk taste (grain fed cows versus grass fed cows) and also Cacao content.  Hershey’s gets away with putting very little Cacao into their secret recipes!

So where can you find good chocolate in Nashville?  Last night I was invited by Brock and Auny to attend a chocolate tasting evening at The Cocoa Tree.  The Chocolatier, Bethany has created mouth watering exceptional quality artisan truffles made from all natural ingredients – using chocolate from the finest chocolate makers in the world.

During the taste testing she taught us how to take our time and enjoy the taste of chocolate using all senses…
1. Hold the chocolate in the palm of your hand and admire it
2. Hold the chocolate piece up to your ear and break it, listen to the sound.  The darker the chocolate (more Cacao) the crisper the sound!
3. Smell the chocolate
4. Taste it… place on tongue first allow to melt.  Enjoy the first flavours.
5. Nibble it… by nibbling just slightly into the piece a second burst of flavours will come through (I just had to go grab a piece and relive the experience!)
6. Bite into the rest of the piece and experience a third round of flavours!  I never knew this was possible… I think I’ve always consumed it way to quickly!
7. Experience the chocolate just disappear quickly from your mouth.  High quality chocolate will do that yet will leave a lingering sensation still in your mouth.

So last night at the taste testing we tried this will white chocolate, milk chocolate and then different grades of dark chocolate.  Crazy the flavours you can taste in one bit of chocolate… a connoisseur like Brock Gill, can virtually pick where in the world the Cacao beans came from and what other plants where grown in the same region.  IE  At a tasting at their house you could taste a distinct tobacco flavouring in one of their dark chocolates because it was grown nearby.  Interesting hey!

Did you know that this is what a cacao tree looks like?  And that all chocolate is made from cacao grown on the equator?

Bethany then uses this fascinating flavoursome chocolate to make her own original truffles.  They are incredible.  Each truffle took years to master and were made after a friend who’d influence her life in some way – mostly people she knew.  The one above with the raspberry topping is called Amy’s Balsamic Raspberry – ‘The one that knows the bitter and the sweet.’  Made in honour of the famous Nashville singer, Amy Grant.   I’m not a fan of Balsamic vinegar nor would I have imagined putting it into a truffle!  But this one was delicious!

Highly recommend you visiting “The Cocoa Tree” in Germantown, TN.  Fella’s this would be a great place to win your dates heart and possibly go broke

What is your favourite place to get chocolate?  How often do you eat it?  Are you a fan of white, milk or dark?