Notes on chocolate: delights from the secret shelf | Food



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In the dark, a few useless days before I became a chocolate correspondent, we had a small box of high quality chocolate in the house. It contains milk, plain and white, largely for culinary purposes, as well as some good chocolate for snacking. Invariably, however, everyone would be eaten at all and I would go in search of chocolate to break it up or melt it into baked goods, and there would be none.

I therefore took revenge and bought industrial quantities of chocolate chips in 2.5 kg bags, which were brilliant for all kinds of solid or melted chocolate cooking needs. Nobody would touch them because they did not register as chocolate, but as a cooking ingredient.

The best are Callebaut 54% dark chocolate pistoles (£ 20.64 for 2.5kg). These have eliminated any need for debate on the "dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips", which lies perfectly between the two. And the pieces are of good size, without venturing into the territory of the chocolate buttons, which could turn them into a confectionery item that can be stolen.

If space or money is scarce, look Waitrose 1 49% milk chocolate (£ 1.60 for 80g). It is intensely creamy – cocoa butter is the first ingredient – but with a surprisingly strong cocoa base structure. It is an excellent chocolate to eat first and foremost, with limited competition in its price range. But if you also have to chop it for cooking, it yields wonderfully with the knife, melts well and increases everything to which it is added. Well worth a place on any secret shelf.

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