Established in 1983, Paris Gourmet is the New York tristate area’s leading specialty food service importer and distributor. We source the finest products from around the world and make them available across the country through a network of independent distributors. 

Our staff of chef technicians conduct extensive research and development of products in pursuit of quality and innovation. They also provide multiple opportunities for continuing education, training, and support within the industry.

Paris Gourmet is located in New Jersey’s Meadowlands, 8 miles from New York’s Times Square.

Paris Gourmet is proud to announce our Noel Bonbons.  Its comes in two different assortments called Broadway and Hollywood.

Broadway's flavors are Almond Praline Oval, Morogoro Square,  Salted Butter Caramel Dome, and Vanilla Ganache Square

Hollywood's flavors are Lime Dome, Passion Mango Pod, Raspberry Pod, and Banana Caramel Dome.  

We also carry each flavor separately.

Last month Paris Gourmet did a live virtual discussion of ingredients for CBD edibles.  

Paris Gourmet's Colin Deschamps, John Duffy, and chef instructor Calogero Romano educated us on ingredients like glucose syrup, purees, and many more ingredients to help diversify your edible creations.

For more information, check out our video and feel free to leave a comment below.

Someone once said "Flowers mean I'm sorry and chocolates mean I love you".  With that being said and Valentine's Day coming up, what better way to show "I love you" with some chocolate!

But lets be honest, picking up a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day and any occasion is a very typical fashion.  Its time to get creative and by creative, we mean chocolate bark!  

Best known for consuming during the winter as peppermint bark.  The varieties of making chocolate bark are endless and very eye catching!

For more tips, tricks, and inspiration check out the video below featuring our very own chef technician Calogero Romano.

Trending on Tik Tok to Instagram, these so called "Chocolate Bombs" and/or "Cocoa Bombs" have gained a huge following and trend for 2020.

Chocolate Bomb/ Cocoa Bomb is basically a hollow chocolate shell filled with hot chocolate mix which usually consists of cocoa powder, some sugar (optional), and marshmallows.

The reason why it is gaining so much attention is because the experience is both delicious for the mouth and entertaining for the eyes to see.

Each "bomb" is slightly different depending on where you purchase it or make it yourself. The chocolate bomb can be experienced by either pouring hot milk over the chocolate bomb and watch it melt from the top view or place the "bomb" into a a cup already filled with hot milk and watch it disperse from below.

The item has gotten so popular that even Costco is selling a 16 pack of chocolate bombs with different flavors and the product is flying off its shelves. Some people are even taking advantage of the popularity and using the profits towards donations such as a local baker from North Idaho who sells it to raise money for Autism Speaks.

This tasty trend is going viral and hope it is a trend that will stay mainstream just a little bit longer and return every year. So cheers to those who are drinking the chocolate bombs!

My question is... who will be making the "Irish" Chocolate Bomb version?!? 😁

Photo Credit: newmediarockstars.com

With Halloween just weeks away and more holidays around the corner, chocolate has been a huge staple to celebrate the holidays. To the majority, chocolate is apart of our daily lives so why not learn some fun facts of chocolate!

Photo Credit: foodnavigator.com

🍫 Chocolate was first consumed by drinking not eating. 90% of chocolate consumption history was drinking "hot chocolate".

🍫 September 13th is International Chocolate Day and Milton Hershey, founder of Hershey's chocolates birthday.

🍫 The chocolate industry is worth $110 billion per year.

🍫German chocolate cake is not from Germany. The cake is named after an American named Sam German who developed a sweet baking chocolate in 1952.

🍫100 pounds of chocolate are eaten each second in the United States.

🍫 The average person from Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, and Great Britain consumes 24 pounds of chocolate each year and China 99 grams of chocolate each year.

🍫Ghirardelli brand is the U.S. portion of swiss confectioner Lindt.

Photo Credit: americanhistory.si.edu

🍫The United Kingdom sells 200 million Cadbury Creme Eggs each year and produces 1.5 million a day.

🍫A week before Easter🐰 , Americans purchase 71 million pounds of chocolate candy, 48 million pounds for Valentine's Day💟 , and 90 million pounds for Halloween 🎃.

🍫Harry Barnett Reese, the founder of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups was a former Hershey employee and created the famous candy in the 1920's.

🍫The scientific name for the cacao tree is "Theobroma Cacao" which literally translates to "Cacao, food of the Gods".

🍫It takes the whole years crop from one cacao tree to produce a half kilo of cocoa.

🍫Milton Hershey, founder of Hershey's Chocolate company expanded so rapidly that Milton built an entire town for his employees to live in.

🍫Napoleon always had chocolate with him. He ate it as whenever he needed an energy boost.

🍫 Chocolate producers worldwide use an estimated 20% of the world's peanut crops and 40% of their almond crops.

Photo Credit: lindt-home-of-chocolate.com

🍫 In 2020, Lindt Chocolate introduced the world's largest chocolate fountain that pours from 30 feet high with 1,500 liters of real chocolate pouring into a giant Lindor truffle at their latest Lindt shop, museum and factory.

🍫 Rodolphe Lindt, founder of Lindt Chocolate invented the conche press

🍫It takes about 400 beans to produce a single pound of chocolate.

🍫Each cacao tree produces approximately 2,500 beans

🍫Nutella was invented during World War Two, when an Italian pastry chef mixed hazelnuts into chocolate to extend his cocoa supply.

🍫The French celebrate April Fool's Day with a chocolate shaped fish also known as "Poisson d'Avril"

Saving the best fun fact for last!

🍫CaCao Noel is named after the founders of Paris Gourmet, Xavier and Dominique Noel!

More Fun Facts About Chocolate:

Mental Floss - Food History of Chocolate

EatThis.com - Chocolate Facts

Mental Floss- 30 Facts About Chocolate

Insider.com -Worlds Largest Chocolate Fountain Opens At Lindt Chocolate

Mental Floss - 38 Sweet Facts About Candy

CandyUSA.com - Story of Chocolate

@renatapdx

As time passes our passion for cooking at home continues, but shopping for certain ingredients lacks hope due to inconsistency of sourcing products. So what does one do when they want to cook a delicious meal for their loved ones while in quarantine? The answer is... think locally!

Thanks to companies like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron who paved the way and became pioneers for home cooks to produce quality meals with the convenience of not only having it delivered to your front door, but have all the ingredients measured and ready to throw in the pan. Now, local restaurants are taking a page from that book and starting to supply their neighborhoods with meal kits in both savory meals and sweet treats ready to cook and consume.

@bratobk

Listed below is Paris Gourmet's recommendations of where to get your local "mis en place". So start clicking and planning your meals for this week... bon appetit!

***Did we miss a neighborhood favorite spot of yours? Feel free to comment below where to go and what you suggest to order.***

APPS & MAIN COURSE MEAL KITS

Brooklyn Benchmark Brooklyn, NY

COTE NYC, NY

Sous Vide Kitchen NYC, NY

BREADS & DESSERT MEAL KITS

Plum and Honey Brooklyn, NY

L' imprimerie Brooklyn, NY

ARTICLES THAT FEATURE MORE MEAL KITS

Eater.com NYC Restaurant Family Style Meal Kit

Theinfatuation.com 54 Restaurants Selling Groceries and Meal Kits

Newsday.com Long Island Restaurants Meal Kits

Purewow.com NYC Meal Kits

Because right now you can't have too many stories about cookies.

^{Photo courtesy of Doubletree}                                    

Anyone who's ever stayed in a Doubletree Hotel looks forward to "the cookie." Maybe you've just pulled off the road after 13 hours, or your flights have been delayed and delayed and delayed again. But when you walk into the lobby and smell those cookies fresh from the oven, you stress melts and all is right with the world (as least, that's what Doubletree is going for.) 

For over 30 years, the Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookie has been shrouded in mystery. The recipe was kept secret, known only to a handful of bakeries around the world who produced the cookie for the chain.

But on April 9th, that all changed.

In a statement published on their website, Doubletree offered the official recipe for their cookies. Copycat recipes have been circulating for years, but this is the first time it's come from the source. Says Shawn McAteer, senior vice president and global head, DoubleTree by Hilton, "We know this is an anxious time for everyone. A warm chocolate chip cookie can’t solve everything, but it can bring a moment of comfort and happiness."

So without further ado...

DoubleTree Signature Cookie Recipe

Makes 26 cookies

½ pound butter, softened (2 sticks)

¾ cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 ¼ cups flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch cinnamon

2 2/3 cups Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 3/4 cups chopped walnuts 

Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes. 

Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice, blending with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl. 

With mixer on low speed, add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, blending for about 45 seconds. Don’t overmix. 

Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Portion dough with a scoop (about 3 tablespoons) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart. 

Preheat oven to 300°F. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and center is still soft. 

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for about 1 hour.

Cook’s note: You can freeze the unbaked cookies, and there’s no need to thaw. Preheat oven to 300°F and place frozen cookies on parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden brown and center is still soft.

For a brief history of the Doubletree cookie, click here.

And for an excellent post about America's other favorite cookies (hint: they're from the Girl Scouts) click here.

The more that things change, the more they stay the same

Tonight is the first night of Passover and Sunday is Easter, and this year the holidays will be celebrated far differently from years past. One thing that never changes is CHOCOLATE.

Chocolate and Easter

Of course, the chocolate has been a mainstay of secular Easter celebrations for over 150 years. Becasue the technology for pouring and moulding chocolate wasn't very advanced, the first chocolate eggs made in the early 1800's were solid dark chocolate and likely very grainy. But around 1828, Dutch chocolatier and chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten patented a process for separating cocoa powder from cocoa mass:

"The modern era of chocolate making began in 1828 when Van Houten patented his method for removing most of the cocoa butter from processed cacao, leaving a powdered chocolate. Untreated cocoa mass, or “liquor,” the end result of grinding cacao beans, contains about 53% cocoa butter. Van Houten invented a hydraulic press which reduced the amount to about 27%, leaving a cake that could be pulverized into a fine powder, which we know as cocoa. To improve this powder’s ability to mix with liquid, Van Houten treated it with alkaline salts, which came to be known as “Dutching.”

With the cocoa butter separated from the mass, chocolate makers now had a new and intriguing substance. Adding it to chocolate creates a creamier and more malleable product, making it supple enough to be molded into bars and more elaborate filled confections."  - Cornell University Library

It was British chocolatier J.S. Fry & Sons that produced the first chocolate Easter Egg. Two years later, Cadbury created the modern chocolate Easter egg after developing a pure cocoa butter that could be moulded into smooth shapes. By 1893 the company held patents on 19 different egg patterns  and the rest, as they say, is history. 

Chocolate and Passover

A limited and thoroughly unscientific poll (ie - asking my friends on FB) says that chocolate plays far less of a roll in secular celebrations of Passover. It seems that it mostly shows up in the form of chocolate covered matzo. Here's a great recipe for Matzo Toffee with Almonds from our friends at Serious Eats

There's also something that apparently brings back a flood of memories - something called Lollycones which are nothing more than melted chocolate on a stick. Several people said they "pretty much defined my childhood."

Whichever holiday you're celebrating, be safe, be healthy, and be thankful. And eat chocolate.