Salon du Chocolat Zürich: Sweet!

Too many choices

A friend invited me to join her last weekend at Zürich's first-ever Salon du Chocolat. The exhibition promised the latest in chocolate couture, chocolate demos, chocolate bars, bunnies, and eggs. How could I say no? About 15,000 other visitors agreed, no doubt making Kerrin Rousset—Zürich's chocolate maven and one of the show's organizers—very happy.

We started with a chocolat chaud made from a lovely, dark chocolate at La Cuillère Suisse, "The Swiss Spoon." This Vevey chocolatier makes clever chocolate lollipops that melt in your milk or coffee as you stir. The Suisse Romande was well represented: I came home with some gorgeous pavés from Martel of Geneva and a matching dessert wine from the same region. But perhaps out of loyalty to my own side of the Röstigraben or perhaps just because I really like them, I saved most of my chocolate budget for Beschle. My favorite? A dark Criollo Maracaibo chocolate bar seasoned with  rosemary, thyme and lemon.

Don't try this at home

Pleasantly buzzed from chocolate overload, we settled in for Fabian Sänger's demo of a sophisticated pastry built from a thick layer of chocolate mousse, dressed with apricots and sitting on a biscuit, and a raspberry sorbet made by ladling liquid nitrogen into the mix until the sorbet reached the right consistency. Now that's showmanship.

More chocolate fun

If you missed the show, don't worry. There are lots of ways to explore the wonderful world of artisanal chocolate in Switzerland. Fabian Sänger offers patisserie classes at his atelier in Luzern for both amateur and professional cooks. Classes are in German, but a group of seven or more can request a class in English. For classes in English, check out Laughing Lemon, which offers a Chocolate and Wine class. Get a behind-the-scenes introduction to all things chocolate with Kerrin Rousset on her Sweet Zurich tour. (Kerrin also offers a Sweet Geneva tour.) While you're trying to decide which class to take, why not head to Péclard (formerly Café Schober) for one of the best hot chocolates in town?