the Chocolate Lover's Diary

A diary concerning all kinds of chocolate. Here I'll comment on chocolate websites and post test protocolls as well as write about other subjects tied to my favourite pastime. I'll test chocolate of all varieties, from the cheap bars at the shop around the corner to the criollo pralines from Fortnum & Mason.

Name:
Location: Uppsala, Uppland, Sweden

Indoor gardener and christian chocolate lover with too many interests at hand. In my non digital life I spend most of my time playing in the SCA.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Chocolate summer, chocolate Uppsala

Oh joy! I can eat chocolate again! Last week the medical authorities gave me green flag on this, and I've celebrated with a cup of cocoa each day ever since. I have to admit that I've not been able to stay entirely out of the habit before that, especially not since we spent the summer vacation in Paris.

As to Paris you can say that the belgians and the swiss people may make the best chocolate of the world, but the french are eating it. What I encountered in France was a chocolate culture I really liked. A french woman or man can start the day with special breakfast cookies flavoured with chocolate and/or filled with chocolate chips. Or she or he can exchange them for a pain du chocolate, which is baked on the same dough and with the same methods as a croissent, but is filled with (surprise) chocolate.

In Sweden, drinking hot chocolate is reserved for kids. The hard core hallmark on being adult is to drink coffee, with tea as an alternative. (It's possible to ask for chocolate, and in most cases you'll get a cup of hot water and instant cocoa powder.) In France hot chocolate shared the same status as the various sorts of tea and coffees you could order after your meal. My favourite is "chocolat viennois" ie. hot cocoa with whiped cream on top.

If you're going to France I can say that you'll have to work hard to find any bad chocolate, even the everyday brands are keeping a high level of quality. (We're talking about a country where you can find chocolatiers on the subway stations.) A more unusual souvernir would be the breakfast chocolate cookies. You don't have to eat them for breakfast, but they are tasty and really worth it.

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I've had a comment on my blog again. Hal Works has been to Sweden to buy a Volvo (good choice*) and found Anneli K with help from my blog. I'm really happy to be of service and Anneli and her staff really enjoyed the visit - I talked to them some days ago.

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The chocolate culture of Uppsala is improving. On the small note Anneli K has finally added the 88% chocolate bar of the Dolphin brand to her selection. This is my favourite for making hot cocoa and one of the few dark chocolate bars that have kind of a soft side flavour instead of the usual bitter.

On the big note a new cafe has opened; Chokladkaféet (the Chocolate Cafe). As in the case with Anneli K the owner is well educated and you can get anything with chocolate there. The downside is that you can't order anything more meallike - like a sandwich or a lunch. A small blessing for my wallet since I would have lived there if they did. Instead I had lunch on another place and went to Chokladkaféet for desert. You could probably order a Death By Chocolate there and have the best one ever, but be aware that almost everything in the range is death by chocolate anyhow. A chocolate lovers paradise.

My recommendations for chocolate lovers visiting Uppsala is to buy pralines and bars at Anneli K and to have an evening cocoa at Chokladkafeet. Don't miss any of them.

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(* Ever since Volvo and SAAB started manufacturing cars in Sweden a neverending debate over which brand is best has been going on here. I'm on the Volvo side.)

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