CHINA DAILY
Truffle Perle Noire (open) and Truffle Draps Original 1946, made by the Belgian chocolate maker Godiva.
CHINA DAILY
Godiva chocolatier Philippe Daue demonstrates his craft.
"You don't look like a chocolatier. Usually, a chocolatier is plump, with a big belly," a reporter says when she meets Philippe Daue, chef chocolatier for the Pacific Rim and China at Godiva, the Belgian luxury chocolate brand.
Slim, tall and speaking in a soft voice, the native Belgian is a fourth-generation chef, and his father is a famous bearer of two Michelin stars. Appearing at a recent exhibition about chocolate truffles in Beijing's APM Shopping Mall, the master confectioner comes to demonstrate the making of a box of chocolates.
"If you enjoy high-quality chocolates, you will not become fat. Actually, dark chocolates are good for your body and mind," he says. He's referring to chocolates with a high percentage of cocoa and a correspondingly low level of milk and sugar.
"When you see different truffle chocolates, you can see different trends and styles of chocolates over different years," Daue says.
The first Godiva chocolate truffle was created just after World War II. It was difficult then to find butter and cream to create quality chocolates, but Pierre Draps, founder of Godiva, managed to do it－that is why the chocolates named Truffle Draps Original 1946 were so famous.
By the 1950s and '60s, the candy styles were becoming more sophisticated. Chocolates began to include more ingredients, like praline, nuts and almonds. In 1990s, coffee enjoyed a surge of popularity, and chocolates with coffee flavors quickly followed.
However, after entering the new millennium, people began to prefer the strong chocolate tastes with a higher percentage of pure cocoa. In 2013, the trend went all the way back to the 1946 truffle, with chocolates that embraced exactly the same shape and flavor－more organic, and with more vanilla flavor in dark chocolates.
Daue created his first chocolate when he was about 14. He says Belgium is famous for its chocolates and its well-kept culinary traditions, and he is still using those skills that he learned from a chocolate master when he was a teenager.
"Same tradition, same good-quality ingredients, and same celebration and passion when I make it … I smell it and taste it, and I still don't get bored with it," Daue says.
For the coming Christmas season, Daue says he has created a series of chocolates for the occasion. He chooses ginger, strawberries, and some macadamia praline with mandarin and a hint of cardamom, and he shapes the flavored chocolate into bubbles and Christmas trees for holiday sweets.
Daue says his team has been doing a lot of research in the preferences of Chinese consumers. Having been in Beijing for 18 years, the Belgian knows a little bit about Chinese chocolate eaters: They prefer something not too sweet, and with a stronger chocolate favor.
"The good thing is that in China, people like less sweet, but in Europe, people are also beginning to like what we make specially for the Chinese market. It tastes less sweet, because the natural flavors of ingredients come out more with less sugar," Daue says.
When Godiva creates chocolate moon cakes, the chocolate makers use local ingredients of high quality that has certain appeal to Chinese consumers－for example, ginger and star anise. He is also trying some new flavorings, such as Sichuan pepper, which may reach the market next year.
The strangest flavor in chocolate Daue has tasted was something with fish. He had a special seafood dinner on the sea in Belgium about 20 years ago.
"Everything had to be seafood, including the dessert. What I ate for the dessert was some chocolate with sea salt, and a fishy chocolate … That was a little bit too far for me. I never tried it after that," he says with a grin.
The biggest challenge as a chocolatier, the Belgian says, is to control yourself.
"You have to let chocolate do the work she has to do. If you try too fast and rush it, for example, to put chocolate in the chiller to cool it down, the end product will suffer.
"You have to be very committed, and very patient. If you skip some steps, you will never get the same quality chocolates you want," Daue says.
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