at Sat, 22 Nov 2003 02:46:32 GMT in slrnbrtjgn.9rcn.20031121
@lawnboy.eng.sun.com, (Blake Jones) wrote :

In article , Alex Rast wrote:
....

The other 2 I believe are discontinued. I can't remember ever seeing
Tropilia but I remember seeing Maitre Chocolatier once.

Apparently it's in their "Extra Brut" line, along with Caraque and
Equatoriale. I was never quite sure what those chocolates were targeted
for; they apparently have less cocoa butter as the Grand Cru couvertures,
but more than Extra Noir/Extra Amer (which are clearly not couvertures).


Based on my experience with the Caraque and Equatoriale, probably for
manufacturers who are looking for a lower cost product than the Grand Cru,
but still want to stay at a decent level of quality. Neither of the above
are particularly exceptional, although they're not bad. But IMHO, once
you've decided to go with Valrhona, why not go for broke with the Grand Cru
varieties? They're all great and it's in those that you get the value of
the brand name and reputation that Valrhona has. Otherwise, you are just as
well to use a company like Callebaut.

I have tried Araguani. This is one of their best chocolates to date,
[...]

Great to hear. Have you tried using it in any pastries or chocolates,
by chance?

Yes I did. I used it for a flourless chocolate cake which turned out quite
good. Let it be understood that the best chocolate for the particular cake
I made would be Amedei Madagascar, but Araguani was excellent by any
standard. I think the application where it would really shine is in the
warm chocolate cake with the molten center, for which I think it would be
the best chocolate of all. I suspect I'll make that over the Christmas
season.

--
Alex Rast

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