Amatika 46% by Chef Eddie Sheperd - United Kingdom
1-In general, why did you decided to try and use VEGAN products?
I cook a plant-base tasting menu and I get a number of vegan guests. It’s really important to me that they get a great experience and that the quality and uniqueness of their dishes matches up to the quality of the rest of the menu. I don’t want them to go without an element of a dish or have a pale imitation, I always want to present them with something unique and delicious in its own right.
2-Since when and how you did the transition from standard chocolate to VEGAN chocolate?
I use a lot of Valrhona chocolate on my menu already – mainly Manjari and Itakuja, ansd I will still use these on my menu but it is great to add in an extra vegan option that is so versatile and gives me another flavour profile to utilise.
3-What do you think of the taste of AMATIKA?
Its great, by far and away the best vegan milk chocolate I have ever tasted and once you start to use it in recipes it really shines. To me it has a nice soft caramel & almond flavour, so I chose to accentuate that by using Osmanthus with it, a Chinese flower with a soft peach aroma.
4-What does this chocolate inspire you?
Its been great to be able to work on something ‘softer’ flavour wise rather than the more intensely chocolate flavours of dark chocolate. Its nice to have another option that opens up more flavour options.
5-Is it easy to work with?
Very easy to work with, I have tempered it, used it in ganache and a mousse. It works just like a normal chcolat ena d I was incredibly pleased with the ganache texture, its beautiful.
6-What uses do you recommend?
I think the ganache is great because it is really versatile and really shows off the chocolate and its hard to get a good vegan version of a milk chocolate ganache. But I have also used it just shaved over the top of a dish to finish it and add some texture. It’s extremely versatile.
