Chocolate and Flowers ... the perfect match?

We have had an absolutely crazy week - we started off on Monday with a lovely Chocolate and Wine pairing event with the lovely Sam from Chester Beer and Wine. We love collaborating with Sam and are planning a few more pairings ... watch this space!


On Thursday, we went to the launch party of the Good Taste Magazine - what a lovely evening and what a brilliant Magazine - perfect for any foodie. We wish Jade and her team all the very best with the Magazine.
On Saturday we were so very happy to be part of the Ness Gardens Garden Party - celebrating 70 years of Gardeners Question Time. As you may be able to tell from our logo, flowers and gardening are a big hobby of ours. So, imagine being asked to be part of this fabulous event!!


For our demo we chose to combine chocolate and flowers. The flowers were from Mrs B's edible flowers in St Helens. We first spotted Lisa's flowers on the Low Down Liverpool and got rather excited about trying to match chocolate and flowers together. Lisa is so very passionate about her flowers and the care and attention she gives to these flowers is visible all around her flower farm. We had a lovely time discussing flavours and ideas and came up with a selection of truffles.
Thank you to all who came to watch our demo and as promised - here is the recipe:

Ingredients
- 40g rosehips - topped, tailed and chopped
- 120ml of double cream
- 150g milk chocolate
- rose petals to decorate

We chose to use Mrs B's Rosehips, however if this is not feasible for you and you are planning to gather your own, please be careful. Ensure that they have not been sprayed with any nasty chemicals and also ensure that they are not picked from a busy roadside where there is a lot of traffic.
Look for plump, firm rosehips - make sure they haven't dried up.
Method:

• Heat the rosehips and the cream together until scalding hot

• Leave the mixture for at least 6 hours in a fridge (ideally overnight)
  
• Warm up the rosehip infusion and then strain off all of the rosehips - so that you are left with orange looking cream
  
• Leave to cool
  
• Melt the chocolate
  
• Add to the infused cream mixture and slowly tease the cream into the mixture
  
• Pour the ganache into a tray and leave to cool overnight
  
• Chop into bitsize squares and decorate with rose petals - using a little bit of molten chocolate to stick the rose petals on.
  
• Enjoy!!