Guest Post - Why Make Your Own Chocolate? by Rosen Trevithick

As part of the release of her new book 'Chocolate Making Adventures' Rosen Trevithick has written a guest post explaining why you should try making your own chocolate:

Michael’s kindly invites me to write a guest post to coincide with the launch of my new cookbook, Chocolate Making Adventures. It’s 100 pages packed with all the information you need in order to make your own chocolate. But, with chocolate available at virtually every retail outlet ever, why would you want to make it?

Satisfaction

Imagine biting into a perfect piece of chocolate. The flavours explode in your mouth. Now imagine you could take credit for that. You could make the substance that the world obsesses about, as and when you feel like it. Now that’s something worth writing home about (or perhaps just taking a series of photos and uploading them to Instagram in a mildly boastful manner).

Personalisation

But chocolate making is not just about the satisfaction of being able to create something tasty. When you make your own chocolate, you can customise it to match your personal taste. Prefer bitter chocolate? Use less sugar. Allergic to milk? Make your chocolate with coconut and cashew butters instead. Once you’ve made your own chocolate, you can add flavourings and fillings, meaning you’ll be able to create the perfect chocolate for any chocolate-lover’s personal taste.

More flavour

As a general rule of thumb, the less processed a food, the stronger the flavours.  My book deals with ingredients such as cocoa beans and cocoa butter, which you can buy raw. They are combined on a relatively low heat then mixed together and allowed to set. In fact, when recipe tester, Joo, took some homemade chocolate into work, the flavour had such a kick that colleagues asked her which alcoholic liqueur she’d used.

Show somebody you care

Chocolate is such a popular gift that it’s ceased to feel  original. However, making your own adds a novel spin and will make the recipient feel special.

Try before you buy

If you’re not sure whether or not chocolate making is for you, there’s no need to shell out £2.99 for the Kindle book or £10 for the paperback, as the introductory recipes are available on my blog, for free. Give one a go. You never know, being shrouded in a chocolate aroma while you blend honey and cocoa might just suit you.

Click on image to buy from Amazon

From cocoa bean to mouth-watering treats...

Make your own chocolate at home.
Most recipes for homemade chocolate involve buying it from the shop then melting it. But what if it’s actual chocolate itself that you want to make?

Thanks to the recent widespread availability of cocoa beans and cocoa butter, chocolate-making has never been easier. You can create it on an ordinary kitchen stove.

Learn to make different kinds of chocolate, then mould it into bars, sweets and even build with chocolate bricks, as you follow Rosen’s quest to become a home chocolatier.

100 pages packed with recipes and tips by chocolate enthusiast Rosen Trevithick and featuring beautiful photographs by Claire Wilson of Live, Life, Explore.


Click here to buy Chocolate Making Adventures from Amazon