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.

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

Because we could all use some guidance from the queen of baking.

Since 1988 and the publishing of her seminal cookbook "The Cake Bible", Rose Levy Beranbaum has been helping the world become better bakers and dessert makers. Now, in an effort to contribute to the current surge in comfort-baking that has taken hold of the country, she's teamed up with Miro Uskokovic, pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, to talk and bake and teach all things baking.Their first conversation was entitled "The Power of Flour" and has continued on to cover eggs, and butter. 

Chef Uskokovic is also hosting conversations with other notables in the industry, such as Sherry Yard, Daniel Skurnick, and Karen Demasco.

We certainly hope this continues long after social distancing becomes a thing of the past. But right now it's a great way to pass some time, and become a better baker in the process. 

A new offering from our friends at The French Pastry School

The Butter Book is a new online pastry, baking and cake decorating educational experience inspired by The French Pastry School. For over 25 years, Chef Sébastien Canonne M.O.F., and Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, have been teaching the art of pastry to thousands of students. In the spirit of innovation and excellence, they designed The Butter Book to share their love of pastry to an even larger audience.

Regardless of where you are in your pastry-making journey, their extensive library and e-learning methods will help you take your craft to the next level.

You can check it out here.

A few things that the PG team is reading (and watching, and listening to) to stay occupied

Heritage Radio Network - The ultimate destination for savvy, entertaining, conversations about what’s going on in the culinary world.

Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People, by Linda Civitello - An illuminating account of how history shapes our diets--now in a new revised and updated Third Edition.

Frank Prisinzano's Instagram page "Making Sauce With Instagram’s Mildly Furious, Exceedingly Horny Italian Uncle" - Grub Street

From the Oven to the Table, by Diana Henry - Let the oven do the work with this easy-going collection of full-flavored dishes from Diana Henry.

Ugly Delicious - All the flavor. None of the BS. Star chef David Chang leads friends on a mouthwatering, cross-cultural hunt for the world's most satisfying grub.

Spring is right around the corner, which means a menu change can’t be far behind.

It’s a great time to embrace “local and seasonal”, and we found the perfect website (they also have an app) to help you do just that. It's called The Seasonal Food Guide. Use their handy drop down menus to choose your location and the time of year, and it will tell you what’s being grown near you. There’s even a button to see “what’s coming soon.” Try it now...you might find new inspiration to help you jump-start your spring menu.

Seasonal Food Guide

Paris Gourmet is proud to continue our free education courses for professionals.  Corporate Pastry Chef Sylvain Leroy will teach the first class, Fall Desserts, on Wednesday September 3rd 2014, sponsored by Cacao Noel couverture de chocolat.  Jean-Francois Devineau of Kerry Ravifruit follows on Wednesday September 10th.  Plated Desserts by chef technician Mario Bacherini will be held on Tuesday September 16th.  

Please join us for great training, professional networking, new ideas and techniques, all in a positive, modern, and fun atmosphere.