Top Pick Of The Week

November 25, 2008

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White Cocoa - Anthony Grace

We sprinkled some lavender buds atop this cup of lavender white hot chocolate, but it’s perfect in its ungarnished form. The brownie is from Mari’s New York Brownies, another Top Pick Of The Week. Photography by Daniela Cuevas | THE NIBBLE.

WHAT IT IS: White hot chocolate, in in five luscious flavors.
WHY IT’S DIFFERENT: Shaved Callebaut chocolate is flavored in five sophisticated yet totally approachable ways—any child will adore it as much as any food writer.
WHY WE LOVE IT: It’s incredible—at the same time, the most sophisticated food and the best comfort food.
WHERE TO BUY IT: AnthonyGraceCollection.com. Click on the shopping cart on the left side of the page. Or, telephone 1.866.544.1655.
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Anthony Grace Collection Chocolat Blanc: Loco For White Cocoa

Page 2: Flavors Of White Hot Chocolate

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INDEX OF REVIEW

MORE TO DISCOVER

 

Flavors Of White Hot Chocolate

A happy day is one in which we get to sit down and taste through a superb product line like this. Even happier is knowing that we have enough product left to do it a few more times.

Anthony Grace has discovered spices that are perfect marriage partners for white chocolate, and they use them well. Harkening back to the Olmecs, Mayas and Aztecs, who spiced their chocolate beverages without the use of sugar, there is minimum sugar used here. The drinks are as sweet as they need to be, but the sugar is never obvious. Instead, you taste fine chocolate and wonderful spices. Let this be a lesson to anyone who wants to make chocolate products: This is how things should taste, always.

There is no “best” flavor here, because they are all simply wonderful. Just as one doesn’t choose the “best” among ice cream flavors or types of wine, there’s no need to choose here. Hopefully, one is lucky enough to be able to enjoy them all. If the ancient Mesoamericans thought that cacao was a gift from the gods, this line of flavored white hot chocolate is certainly a gift from Anthony Grace.

 

White Hot Chocolate

Indian Kari, curry-flavored white hot chocolate, is “mother’s milk”—a heavenly comfort food.
Cookies from One Girl Cookies, another Top Pick Of The Week.

Bitter White Hot Chocolate
This flavor needs to petition the judge for a name change, because it is not bitter in the least. The name stands for bittersweet chocolate, which is blended with the white chocolate. The most tame—but delightful—of the group, the hot chocolate is deftly accented with star anise, cinnamon and clove.

Indian Kari (Curry) White Hot Chocolate
CurryIf you already enjoy curry, you’ll flip for this. If you’ve enjoyed curry in a savory food, imagine what happens when it is added to rich, creamy chocolate, with cardamom and nutmeg. The sharpness is cut, but the excitement remains. When serving this flavor to our NIBBLE colleagues, we introduced it as “mother’s milk—assuming you had an Indian mother.” The response after tasting it: Everyone wanted an Indian mother.

Photo of curry courtesy of McCormick Spices.

 

Star Anise White Hot Chocolate
Star AniseStar anise is not botanically related to licorice (it is a member of the Magnolia family), but it could pass for a sweet, delicate cousin. Here, its lovely aromatic notes sing beautiful harmonies with cinnamon and cloves. The three are components of the the traditional Chinese five spice powder (along with fennel and Szechuan peppercorns).

Photo of star anise by Brian Arthur | Wikipedia Commons.

 

Taiga White Hot Chocolate
LavenderWe admit that we’re lavender junkies: We buy culinary lavender by the pound and brew it in our morning tea. We make lavender ice cream, pound cake, shortbread and ganache. Our computer wrist rest is stuffed with lavender, as is our neck pillow. That would make us either the easiest mark for, or the harshest potential critic of, a lavender white hot chocolate. It won’t surprise anyone who has read this review so far that we loved this flavor. The fragrant and delicious lavender flower is accented with juniper berry (the fruit from which gin is distilled), and a hint of nutmeg.

Photo of lavender by Meghan Anderson-Colangelo | SXC.

Zingiber White Hot Chocolate
Ginger RootZingiber is ginger flavored; Zingiber is the genus of plants that includes the ginger root. But that’s not all: This wonderful flavor also contains wasabi (Japanese horseradish) and lemongrass. It’s a killer combination. If you buy only two of the five, make them Zingiber and Indian Kari.

Photo of ginger root courtesy of McCormick Spices.

Few people have been known to turn down a cup of hot chocolate. If it gets known in the right circles that you have a supply of Anthony Grace Collection Chocolat Blanc, you may meet new friends who will find the way to your door.

— Karen Hochman

ANTHONY GRACE COLLECTION CHOCOLAT BLANC

White Hot Chocolate in Bitter White (white and bittersweet chocolate), Indian Kari (curry), Star Anise, Taiga (lavender) and Zingiber (ginger/wasabi/lemongrass)

  • 10-Ounce Package
    $17.00

Purchase online* at AnthonyGraceCollection.com

Or telephone 1.866.544.1655

*Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional. These items are offered by a third party and THE NIBBLE has no relationship with them. Purchase information is provided as a reader convenience.

Go To Page 1: Cocoa Versus Hot Chocolate

Go To The Article Index Above

 

Indian Kari White Hot Chocolate
Indian Kari, one of five delicious flavors of white hot chocolate.

 

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