Hot Off the Press: Award-winners from the Seattle Chocolate Salon

July 15, 12:42 PMSeattle Food ExaminerTraca Savadogo

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Amano won best in bar....

Hey there fellow chocolate lovers! I'm back with results from the Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon.  Let's just say, chocolate overload was an understatement....

Earlier in the day they had a fire alarm issue that shut down the cooling system. A sunny Sunday in Seattle is something to celebrate...and yet the crowds came out in droves for this event. Sans air conditioning...it was crowded and HOT. But hey, there was chocolate, so I'm not complaining!

Interesting was how savory flavors seem to be crossing over to the sweet side. The Beer Potato Chip truffle from GrendelSweets was just as you'd imagine...(not at the top of my list.)

But there were plenty of intriguing savory flavors....:

-  The Smoky Blue Cheese truffle (cheese mixed into the chocolate) from Kekau was actually quite good.
-  We saw a lot of truffle mushroom-inspired chocolates too. (Cocoa Chai's truffle oil, Kekau's truffle honey, etc.)
-  Posh's garam masala truffle was just delicious, as was Cocoa Chai's Thai basil
-  One of my favorites...was the Mojito from Posh...lime and white rum infused gnache covered in dark chocolate and topped with a sugar (rim).
-  And Fiori's Kalamata Olive truffle was created just for the show.  The salty play of kalamata added a noteworthy depth of flavor.

And now, without further ado...the official Taste TV Chocolate Salon winners are:

Best Dark Chocolate: Amano Artisan Chocolate
Best Milk Chocolate: Theo Chocolate
Best Truffle: Posh Chocolat / Cadeaux Chocolates
Most Artistic Designs Cosmic Chocolate
Best Organic or Fair Trade Products: Theo Chocolate
Most Gifted Chocolatier: Fiori Chocolatiers / Cosmic Chocolate
New Product Award Kekau Chocolatier / GrendelSweets Handcrafted Chocolates

The full list of awards can be viewed here.
Event photos can be seen on Flickr

If you missed out on the event this year...good news...Taste TV is coming again next year--with plans to expand on wine and cheese.  Ooh la la!  I hope this will be a 2-day event!