The Art and Craft of Chocolate by Nathan Hodge

This summer on my trip back home to India, I bought and brought the smallest wet grinder on the market. In most traditional ( and even some non-traditional) homes especially in South India, this is an ever-present feature. We use it for making a lot of different recipes and I thought I would check out what other unknown things I could do with it before I lugged it all the way.

I was surprised to find out that the same concept with a slightly different motor is used for making chocolates! Then this book appeared on NetGalley and it was the first book where my ‘wish’ was granted. It seemed very serendipitous.

I write this review as I sip on hot chocolate. It was not something I planned (I promise!) but I think it very appropriate. This book has given me a whole new appreciation for the magic that is chocolate. It is little more than one half educational and the rest are recipes. These recipes are all out of my league(most of them not really being vegetarian friendly) and I won’t even imagine saying that I will get around to trying them ( as I say for other cookbooks). Despite that, I cannot imagine giving this book anything less than five stars.

The book contains information about the past and present hurdles chocolate takes to get to a store near us. It has everything about Cocoa that I didn’t know that I needed (or wanted) to know. It was fascinating to say the least. It is a personal account since the author has invested in the process and has made several trips to the locations where they get their beans from. There is not much more that I can say in the form of a review, but if you like chocolate, or just like reading about where our ‘ingredients’ come from and what form of life the people producing it have, do check this book out!

P.S: The photos add to the flavour!

P.P.S: I am very glad NetGalley and Quarry books granted my wish to read it and it did not influence my review in any way