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Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

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Cocoa Mass

April 26, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Remember how excited I was a few months ago when Joanna sent me some Willie’s Cacao?  The 180g blocks were enormous fun to play with, but at £6 each, plus £4 freight (A$16.50 in total), they really were too expensive for day to day use.

I was pretty chuffed when my foodie friend Sharyn (known affectionately at Chefs’ Warehouse as “Shazza”) put me on to the Callebaut equivalent.  This pure, unsweetened 100% cacao from Belgium costs $22/kg, comes in versatile callets, and provides a far more affordable option for experimenting with!

Apart from all the US recipes that call for “unsweetened chocolate”, there’s also an emerging food trend to add cacao to savoury dishes.  Last weekend, I tried it in a mushroom risotto with surprisingly delicious results – watch out for more posts on this in the future.

Fellow Sydneysiders, Chef’s Warehouse can order this product in for you on request – it’s known as Callebaut Cocoa Mass, and is available in 2.5kg bags.

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Posted in Food & Friends | Tagged 100% unsweetened chocolate, Callebaut cocoa mass, cocoa mass, pure cacao | 10 Comments

10 Responses

  1. on April 26, 2010 at 1:10 am Anna

    Funny you should write this – I did my first baking with Willie’s 100% cocoa yesterday and was thoroughly annoyed at the mess I made trying to cut up the solid block! I made the Cloud cake from the recipe on the back of the wrapper but do have to say it was truly delicious.

    I also bought a small block of Willie’s 70% chocolate. I was very impressed – very smooth flavour but still intense chocolate. Think he has lower sugar than other 70% chocolate?

    Savoury wise I’ve had chocolate added to boeuf bourguignon and with hare but the most amazing was a duck salad with small chunks of chocolate. The dressing had a honey base – but not overly sweet at all.

    Anna


    • on April 26, 2010 at 6:12 am Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

      Anna, I tried it in our brownie recipe last weekend (made gluten free for our friend Pete) and it was sublime. I only used it in the melted chocolate part, the pieces scattered over the top were still 54%, but it was enough to impart a deep, rich flavour to the brownies while tempering the sweetness of the finished bar just a little.

      Duck salad with chocolate! That would have been a fascinating combination!


  2. on April 26, 2010 at 1:42 pm cityhippyfarmgirl

    I really need to get to Chef’s Warehouse, my list of things to get is getting bigger and bigger. I am also playing around with savoury and chocolate dishes- my husband came home with an amazing chocolate book that every recipe just begs to be made. Bit of a problem that….
    Duck salad with chocolate sounds every interesting!


    • on April 26, 2010 at 3:24 pm Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

      Hahaha…I know exactly how you feel! I’m always like that when I go too – loooong list of things at every visit…


  3. on April 27, 2010 at 4:50 am Choclette

    Now that sounds really useful – I wonder if I can find anything similar at an affordable price over here. I’m still on my first bar of Willie’s – it cost so much I can’t bring myself to use it for more than grating over things. I have just bought myself his book though, so I might just have to use it!

    One of the things I was going to do for my blog was experiment with cocoa in savoury food, but I don’t seem to have got very far with it other than using it in refried beans and grating it on to the odd dish – must try harder!


  4. on April 28, 2010 at 4:37 am C

    That looks like a really good product Celia – I haven’t bought any of Willie’s Cacao yet, it just seems so expensive for what it is!

    I think the only time I’ve really had chocolate in savoury food is in a venison casserole – works well (just a couple of squares of 70%).


  5. on April 28, 2010 at 5:25 am Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

    Choclette, I was exactly the same, and some of the recipes in his book call for a whole block! There’s nothing so lovely as having enough to play with abandon.. :)

    C, it’s very nice, I’ve now used it in a risotto and in two batches of brownies – fascinating what a difference it makes. Venison sounds like it would be a great match. I’m thinking of a spaghetti bolognese next – there’s a recipe in Willie’s book!


  6. on April 28, 2010 at 12:55 pm Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    What a great find Celia! I always find that when I get precious and expensive things from overseas I really tightly ration them hehe :P


    • on April 28, 2010 at 5:55 pm Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

      Lorraine, that makes me very happy! I get so much info from your blog, it’s nice to be able to reciprocate in a tiny way! :)


  7. on June 18, 2010 at 9:18 pm Oldfarm Sausages and Chocolate Gravy « some say cocoa, some say cacao

    […] mass (also called unsweetened chocolate or 100% chocolate) comes all the way from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial where Celia uses it just as one could use Willie’s cacao. Since there is nothing like […]



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