Chocolate!!! Louise Thomas.

In a departure from the blog's theme of fashion for women over 40, this post is about chocolate and more specifically about Louise Thomas, a chocolate consultant whom I very much enjoyed meeting and interviewing recently at coffee heaven, Kaffeine where the fashionable "flat white" is frothed to perfection. I can safely say that I don't know many women over 40 who do not like chocolate. I know a few but I hope that the majority of this blog's readers will enjoy the opportunity of learning more about one of life's great pleasures and the consultant who ambitions to bring chocolate appreciation to a higher level.

British born Louise Thomas is far from 40 but we forgive her!  Despite her youth, she exudes determination and expertise. Her background is varied and intriguing. She started with photography at the tender age of 16 in New York where her family lived, freelancing for Tatoo magazines and charity OCD Action . Back in the UK, a part-time job as a commis chef to support her photography studies, became a full time commitment to good food with photography taking a back seat. Faced with the daunting immensity of the field of cooking, she got "scared of tomatoes" and she decided to narrow down the discipline to baking - fewer ingredients! One ingredient in particular captured her imagination,  Valrhona chocolate, widely used in good restaurants, and a whole new world opened. Working for the likes of  Pied a Terre, The Wolseley, or Tom Aikens ,  she honed her skill as a pastry chef.  Piqued and energised by the challenge offered by a chef who did not like her arguing with him on what chocolate to use to cover lollipops, she launched her own business after a stint at Artisan du Chocolat and Melt.

Why become a chocolate consultant?
I became frustrated because there are places where you could go and learn about chocolate but only if you already know about chocolate and it wasn't easy to understand. I wanted somewhere where people could come and learn about chocolate.

What does a chocolate consultant do?
Primarily I do tastings and talks, how to taste chocolate and I can do more advanced tastings too. Then I do pairings, chocolate with tea, coffee, cocktails, etc. for corporate clients - corporate evenings, networking events and I offer it to places like Soho house, Southbank Centre for instance. And then I do consultancy for retail and hospitality. With retail, it is finding the chocolate product that they can sell in their shops. I worked with with Tsuru , the Japanese restaurant and they wanted a Japanese inspired chocolate. So I pointed them to William Curley who has a Japanese wife and understands Japanese ingredients such as wasabi. Then I work in the hospitality industry with chefs to develop chocolate recipes, to find the right chocolate for the right recipe and to complement the flavours of the dish. It is probably my favourite thing! And also, I do consultancy within the chocolate industry. People who are working on their chocolate bars will send them to me at different stages of the development so I can critique and give them my feedback on how I think they should improve it. It's really exciting to see the product evolve.


How to choose chocolate - in particular, how to choose "ethical" chocolate?
One rule about chocolate, it has to have no vegetable fat, only cocoa butter and real vanilla, no vanillin or other chemicals.
There are a lot of issues with Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance and organic - it is a step in the right direction but it's not enough. There is so much corruption within the chocolate industry, even within the sugar industry. The only people that I believe in are  people who I can see are sourcing really close to their suppliers.Once the beans travel to the cooperative, it is very hard to trace them back to the farm. So, because of that, it is very hard to trace who is working on the farm. They can only trust when the farmer says: "I am not employing children". So it is just learning about the brands - just send them an email and most companies will be proud of how they are sourcing their beans and they'll talk about it a lot on their website. Louise mentions The Grenada Chocolate Company ,  Askinosie  who have a picture of the farmer on the bar,

or Amano who regularly travels to the plantations (I tasted the Madagascar single origin bar and LOVED it).

Other chocolatiers that Louise rates highly are the Italian Amadei and The Grenada chocolate company The Grenada chocolate company/

I would like to plug a new British chocolatier, recommended by Louise, who has just launched his product at The Real Food show in London last weekend: Red Star chocolate by Duffy Sheardown producing single origin bars. As one of the few "bean to bar" producer, with impeccable ethical credentials, I think that they deserve our support.

Is chocolate good for you?
Chocolate was imported mostly by the monks who used it for medicinal properties and health benefits. Earlier this morning, I was looking at a study that says that consuming cocoa butter may protect the brain from damage during strokes. Then I suppose in terms of anti-aging properties, it is full of antioxydants, cacao has the highest content of flavonoids

Next steps:
Louise's plans for the future include redeveloping her website to make it the best chocolate encyclopedia available as well as an online shop to source her favourite artisan chocolate. Further down the line, she would like to buy a cocoa plantation, develop it in a "fair" way and make her own chocolate - pretty impressive plans for a woman under 30!
In the meantime, get in touch with Louise who can organise corporate or private tastings - events are bespoke so ask her for prices.

To learn more about Louise Thomas, check-out her website for contact details (the website is in development and will launch in the Autumn): The chocolate consultant/