In most cases I’m not a big fan of white chocolate.
They tend to be too sweet and one dimensional for my tasting pleasure.
I recently tasted the white chocolate from Askinosie and I thought to myself, I need to work with this one.
The cocoa is grown in Davao, Philippines from single origin cocoa butter. I’m also aware of how the terroir of each bar brings its own uniqueness to the palate. I haven’t tasted many from the Philippines, and this was my first white chocolate from this region as well.
So why was it so different? First; the sweetness was balanced and much less than I’m used to. This was a pleasant surprise.
Second; they use goats milk instead of cows milk. This gave it a more pronounced tang and unique creaminess. I could see its relation to Cajeta (Mexican caramel made from goats milk) in this rectangle of lovely.
By this point I was really inspired and the flavors to pair with this white chocolate seemed to just pour out of me relatively quickly.
Rosemary, green apple, Oolong tea, and young coconut found its way as seductive accompaniments. Here is the final dessert: Askinoise White chocolate custard, green apple rice pudding made with Tamaki Haiga Mai Rice , Rare Iron Goddess Oolong sabayon, wild rosemary powder, young coconut in textures, green apple sorrel.
With this dessert, I wanted to explore textural and sensory applications with Stimuli created by Jinhyun Jeon. She’s definitely a cutting edge designer and I look forward to working more with her in 2021!
I actually was stuck between two final presentations, both simple in its form and function. In the end, I decided to keep them both!
I’m Fascinated with taking photos of the ingredients that contribute to each of these desserts. I will explore creative new ways to photograph them in upcoming Chocolate Chronicles Episodes.
I will also further explore the creative applications of photography and the dishes I create. I know there is much more to telling my story than just a beautiful photo of a plated dish. The inner soul of these stories must be capture in unorthodox manners. So the story continues…