NYC Chocolate Show!

Back when I had my Recession Recipes party, Yoga Jen proposed a bunch of us hit the NYC Chocolate Show. It seems so long ago now, but before we knew it, the weekend had come. I met Jen, her BF, and her friend Karen for a tour of more candy than you could ever hope to eat. This was not Jen's first time to the show, so she came prepared with gallon-size Ziploc bags which she handed out to all of us (yay!). This year, the show just happened to fall on Halloween, so I joked that it was like trick-or-treating for grownups.

The first thing we saw was a display of Halloween costumes that featured chocolate details. My favorite was the Marie Antoinette-style dress with chocolate roses on the bodice.

The French Culinary Institute set up their own haunted house, made, of course, entirely of chocolate. The aroma was quite tempting, so people weren't just leaning close to get a look at the tiny details, they were inhaling that delicious scent of chocolate!

One of the more interesting exhibits we visited was based out of Egypt. They sold camel-shaped chocolates (like the one Jen is holding in this photo) that were also made from camel MILK. Oh yeah. I tried one. It was very sweet and not that bad, but the whole time my brain was screaming "CAMEL MILK! CAMEL MILK!" I might not be ready for this full-time just yet.

There were quite a few places mixing the savory-sweet cards: chocolate-covered bacon popped up more than once! One maker had a good balance, the other one tasted too much like bacon and not enough like chocolate (not a TERRIBLE thing, mind you, but not the one I preferred). A trend I enjoy even more is the spicy chocolate--we found quite a few infused with serrano, jalapeno and other hot peppers. Que rico!

Another favorite stop was at the chocolate martini exhibit. Makers of a liqueur called "Love Potion #9" were making tiny doses of chocolate martinis with the citrusy liqueur. These were scrumptious. Not as good as the ones at Ayza, but definitely a close second.

It wasn't all chocolate, though. In the back of the hall, there was a huge table with an aromatic array of herbs and spices. I stood there a few times, just inhaling the wonderful scents. They had sweet, savory, exotic, run-of-the-mill, you name it. It smelled even better than it looked, and it seemed to be doing some brisk business.

We must have spent a good 3 hours or so wandering the aisles of the (packed) exhibit. Liqueurs, dessert wines from California, rums from Puerto Rico, chocolates from South America, and plenty of sweets from the good old USA kept us busy snacking and packing our goodie bags.

We saw chocolate making, chocolate carving, and did plenty of eating on our own. This was so much fun!