You will know everything about chocolate thanks to Christophe Berthelot

Chocolate, the emblem of Easter, is a classic of Easter celebrations. Eggs, rabbits, cocottes... or other chocolate creations, it comes in all shapes and sizes. To find out more, Confiture Parisienne visited his neighbour, Master Chocolatier Christophe Berthelot, founder ofAtelier C at 123 avenue Daumesnil.

 

Hello Christophe! How are you? To start this interview, introduce yourself! How did you become a Master Chocolatier?

Hello ! I am a pure chocolatier, I was born in chocolate and I have always made only chocolate. For the simple reason that I come from a family of chocolate makers, the trade has been passed down for three generations. In high school, I was already helping my father to make chocolate. It was therefore natural that I turned to this profession. I did a classic two-year apprenticeship, and I was awarded the first prize for the best apprentice chocolatier in France, which was the first distinction. After that I had an artistic period, where I participated in several artistic competitions with chocolate, I sculpt and paint chocolate. I did three and won them all, the most prestigious being the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris. Then I worked for several Parisian artisanal houses, then in industry. It was a great revelation. 

Why?

I was a taster, I tasted and tested before launching a chocolate production. We were looking for regularity. I would test a chocolate, 70% from the equator for example, and then each time we made it, we had to find the organoleptic characteristics of this chocolate. And I realised that we were making chocolate that always tasted the same.

How is this possible?

In fact, we mix different harvests, to have always the same taste. And I thought it was a shame to start with a natural product like cocoa and try to have the same taste all the time. Cocoa is a fruit. By definition, it can never taste the same from one harvest to another, from one season to another. It is a mixture. So I promised myself that if I had the opportunity to make my own bars, I would do the exact opposite. That's what I'm doing now. I am also a cocoa bean selector for Robert's chocolate factory in Madagascar. That is to say, I select a crop, sometimes even a plot, and we transform this crop into chocolate. Like a wine. I have also been appointed ambassador for Tabasco chocolate.

And now I have created this little chocolate school, Atelier C.

Can you tell us more?

Atelier C stands for Chocolate, Cocoa and my name is Christophe, so it was a good coincidence. It's the first French company specializing in chocolate workshops. It was created in 2014. We are here in collaboration with the Robert de Madagascar chocolate factory , which we promote. We do workshops for individuals, for companies. We continue to do them despite the pandemic, by visio. Rare chocolates and recipes are our two big collections.

Are there any rare chocolates?

There are indeed rare chocolates, i.e. produced in very small quantities. This is the case of Brickaville chocolate, this year only 150 KG were produced, which makes it the rarest chocolate in the world. There are also "forbidden" varieties. Varieties such as Cuba chocolate can be banned from export, or even disappear like Fortunato chocolate (which has since been found and cultivated). There are so few that the producer chooses only one chocolate maker per country to market it. Atelier C is the only one to sell Fortunato in France, and the bars are numbered. For the recipes, we study the combinations: for example, for the caramelized milk chocolate, we have a real white chocolate and matcha tea from Japan...

Is white chocolate really chocolate?

White chocolate is not considered chocolate because it is mainly made of cocoa butter. Absolutely every chocolate maker on the planet deodorizes cocoa butter, for a number of reasons. So, in summary, white chocolate does not taste like cocoa, like chocolate. 

Robert's is also the only chocolate factory that makes real white chocolate with natural, non-deodorized cocoa butter.

What is couverture chocolate? 

Every chocolatier needs a supplier of couverture chocolate. Every single one. For us, it's the Robert chocolate factory, the only one that has its plantation and its factory in the same country. The couverture chocolate is the real chocolate of the chocolatier, the one he works with. It contains enough cocoa butter to be manageable and fluid. It is with this type of chocolate that I have made my artistic chocolate creations for competitions (paintings, sculptures...).

What does conching involve?

Conching is in fact one of the last steps in the manufacture of chocolate. This stage, created in Switzerland, consists in refining the chocolate paste, smoothing it by crushing the sugar grains. It can last between 20 hours for a short conching and 72 hours for the longest.

Is chocolate good for you?

My grandfather, himself a chocolatier, ate chocolate every day and passed away at the age of 104! It's a super food. And it is sold more and more. People are eating more and more of it, it's the most anti-stress food on the planet and as you probably know, stress is the disease of the century. It has many benefits, but this anti-stress side is the reason for this increase in consumption. It is also a very complex food, there are almost 600 aromatic notes.

Last question! What are the essential elements of a good chocolate?

A good chocolate is the result of many factors. In my opinion, it depends on the choice of the origins of the cocoa beans, the quantity of sugar, the quality of the products used and of course the work of the chocolatier. But as I so often say"the best chocolate is the one you like best".

Thank you Christophe for taking the time to answer our questions.

Visit our neighbour at 123 Avenue Daumesnil to discover the C workshop.