From the cacao pod to muffins, mousses and molés! This is such a lovely book with large photographs by Francesca Yorke (if they were any bigger they would be posters). Caroline Jeremy has compiled delicious recipes and Claire Fry has designed a most attractive and appealing book. It’s colourful, sumptuous and tasteful.
You would all be familiar with Green and Black’s chocolate and it’s some of the best around. It’s organic and Fairtrade so you can have a guilt-free munch. Their cocoa is bought from small producers in Belize so you’ll also be helping a third world economy.
Josephine Fairley, founder of Green and Black’s, has written a foreword on the company’s history, and then it’s on to Caroline’s general advice on cooking with chocolate. The chapter headings are amusing, with such titles as Licking the Bowl, Wicked, Old Timers, and Magic.
I think all the recipes are magic: I don’t think I could say no to any of them. One of the easiest is a recipe from the chef at Konditor and Cook, Gerhard Jenne. It’s a chocolate biscuit cake with cherries, sultanas and walnuts. There are recipes here for all levels of skill.
Not all the recipes are for cakes and cookies. There is Spicy Organic Pork and Herb Chilean Chocolate Sausages. There are only 90g of dark chocolate in this dish but it’s enough to give a richness that is unique. Zena Leech-Calton entered Green and Black’s National Trust competition with this recipe, which evidently impressed the judges.
I have always had a fear of cooking with real chocolate, but these recipes are straightforward and there is all the information you need to produce lovely, chocolaty creations. Caroline Jeremy has given lots of advice on cooking temperatures, so you should feel confident that your attempts to produce a chocolate sorbet will not result in a cold runny truffle.
Having read this book from cover to cover I am now on the horns of a dilemma. Which of these will be dessert for tonight? Will it even be dessert, or might it be the Swedish Chocolate Coffee Lamb? Some Chocolate-dipped Fruit would be light and romantic. I’ll just say that it’s difficult to choose, but I’ll be using this book often to the great delight of family and friends.
Green and Black’s Chocolate Recipes
Author: Caroline Jeremy and others
Published by: Kyle Cathie
Price: £ 14.99
ISBN 978-1-85626-700-7
Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker © 2018