What spells comfort and luxury in the same breath? What’s the first thing most of us reach for when we’re stressed or just looking for a quick sugar fix? Chocolate, of course.
It’s the perfect pick-me-up and comes with a range of health benefits. But, ever tried making some at home? Here’s your chance to try your hand at crafting truffles using pure chocolate.
Nitin Chordia, India’s first certified chocolate taster, is conducting a chocolate truffle making workshop this weekend.
The workshop, which will be conducted by his wife Poonam Chordia, a chocolate maker, will walk participants through the art of making chocolate truffles using pure ingredients.
“The idea at Cocoashala, the chocolate institute where the workshop is being conducted, is to promote chocolate making using pure ingredients. Most people make truffles using compound chocolate; this constitutes 99 per cent of the sales in the country. But, we want people to be able to differentiate between compound and pure chocolate. The former has oil in it, which is more stable, while pure chocolate has cocoa butter, which is a lot more delicate,” says Nitin.
The difference in fat also alters the nature and taste of the chocolate.
For instance, using pure chocolate to make truffles requires more skill, explains Nitin.
“The way the fat behaves is very different. One cannot go too wrong with compound chocolate, but a lot can go wrong with pure chocolate. We’re also going to teach participants to use natural flavouring for flavoured truffles, without impacting the taste or nature of the chocolate.”
The three-hour workshop will be a hands-on one, with Nitin first making a presentation on how chocolate is made.
This will be followed by a demonstration of how to make chocolate truffles by Poonam, before the participants take over and make some truffles.
Participants will be provided with the ingredients and basic utensils to make the truffles; they will be taught to make classic truffle, flavour infusion in truffles, truffles rolled with nuts and chocolate-dipped truffles.
Also, the batch is limited to five people, to ensure one-on-one interaction.
