Copenhagen Chocolate Festival 2011

The 2011 Copenhagen Chocolate Festival took place this weekend at TAP1 in the old Carlsberg compound.

The old Carlsberg gates


This was my first time at the Chocolate festival and I made sure to be there at 11 a.m., when the doors opened. But so did many others. Quite a crowd had turned out from the moment the festival opened to sample the many different chocolates, learn more about how to use chocolate in recipies, hear lectures about the process of making cocoa beans into chocolate and see chocolate experts in action in the open kitchens. The program included:

- Demonstrations by A XOCO's Jesper Rahbek and Strangas Conditori & Cakeaway's Nikolaos Strangas
-Lectures on the process of making chocolate
- Free samples from the country's best chocolate makers

The winners of the day were:

- Rikke Gryberg took home the award for Best Nordic Fusion and Umami
- Strangas got the award for Best Newcomer
- Xocolatl received the Best Bar award for their Version 3.0 chocolate bar

Unfortunately, I never made it to any of the lectures, but I did try out some of the samples at the open kitchens.

Lobsterbisque with chocolate infusion and guacamole with chocolate


Chocolate Champions

Of course, some booths were more popular than others. The Summerbird venue was continually crowded and so were the Strangas place and Meyers Bageri. That, however, should not come as a surprise. Summerbird is securely established as one of the chocolate champions in Denmark and Meyers Bageri is a Copenhagen stable at any Copenhagen food event. Their brownies and chocolate mousse went like hotcakes. Strangas had brought gorgeous mini-versions of his delicate cakes and macaroons. I personally had to make two trips to get all my samples.

Samples 1 and 2: tea from Teselskabet (the Tea Company) with chocolates from Madagasgar and Papouasie and Strangas mini chocolate mousse with sea-buckthorn. Yummy!


Chocolate with a Conscience

One venue that was especially interesting was ScandChoco. Here you could find information on American chocolate producer Askinosie Chocolate, founded by a criminal defense lawyer in the late 1990's. Another stand that you simply couldn't miss was Simply Chocolate's, whose chocolates are available at Illum. I love their design, which modern, simple and tight, focussing instead on the massive flavours. And how can you not love their attitude and word play?



Samples 3 and 4: Valrhona Celya hot chocolate with Anthong Berg pistachio and lime easter egg and variety of Callebaut chocolate sprinkles, and Strangas panna cotta, Meyers brownie and Anthon Berg strawberry chocolate.


The Loot

I came away the following treats:

- Simply Chocolates Dusty Hazel, Powder Pecan and Undercover Almonds. I only just discovered this company yesterday and am already thinkin this might be a favorite among preferred chocolate brands. The Dusty Hazel tube contains small balls made of chocolate, hazelnuts and blueberries. The combination of the flavours is fresh and you're able to taste each individual ingredient. The sweet blueberry goes very well with the cruchy hazelnut and full flavour of the dark chocolate.
- Strangas Rasberry Marshmellows. These marshmellows is simply irresistable. Plain and simple. And loaded with flavour.
- Blend tea from Friis Holm. This is the first tea I've tried from Italian Blend tea. I got the Vento D'autunno, a black tea, which has a sweet, but strong scent. The flavour is mild and soft. It certainly goes well with chocolate, but I would also use fo breakfast on a Sunday morning or at night, when curdled up with a book.
- Askinosie Chocolate Nibble Bar. Being an Americanist, I just had to try out some American chocolate. I've yet to try it, but am definately looking forward to it.

The loot