Pralus Mini-Pyramide des 10 Tropiques

Ten 5-gram bars - France

The Pyramide has attracted national attention in Fine Cooking Magazine.

François Pralus also offers these fun "mini" versions of his now famous Pyramide des Tropiques. It's the same individually wrapped bars in miniature - 1/10 the size of the original, a perfect tasting party for 1...or...2. The Pyramide has attracted national attention in Fine Cooking Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Health Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, and the Chicago Sun Times -- and ChefShop.com is named as the trusted source.

The gorgeous Pyramide des Tropiques is the pièce de résistance of the François Pralus chocolate bar collection. Each bar is created with cocoa beans that originate in different plantations across the worldwide cocoa zone, and each has a cocoa content of 75%.

This year's offerings represent a phenomenal range of flavor profiles, from the heady and full-bodied to the exotic and delicate. The collection consists of: Papouasie, Indonésie, São Tomé, Trinidad, Venezuela, Tanzanie, Ghana, Madagascar, Colombie and Equateur. A perfect gift for the chocoholic and epicure alike . . . but for dark-chocolate lovers only!

About the Producer: François Pralus
François Pralus is one of France's three remaining bean-to-bar chocolate makers, and he is a true chocolate aficionado. He is expert at discerning the finest beans and the best characteristics of each type of bean. As one does with wine, he can discuss chocolate's particular origin characteristics - such as the powerful and heady nose, aromas of burnt butter and liquor of the Venezuela Trinitario bean chocolate; or the fresh nose and slightly minty and fruity flavor of the Madagascar Criollo bean chocolate. The hard work, ingenuity, and palate of François Pralus have been rewarded with the most prestigious National and International awards; he won the Grand Prix d'Excellence International du Chocolat in both 1996 and 1997.

Since his father opened a pastry shop there in 1948, the town of Roanne, France has linked the name Pralus with top-quality confections. François took over the shop from his father in the 1980s, adding chocolate to the Pralus realm in 1992. Since then, Pralus's perfectly crafter, top-quality bean to bar, single-origin, artisan chocolate has enjoyed international success.

About Pralus Cocoa Beans
Cocoa beans only grow in the tropics within 20 degrees latitude north and south of the Equator, and François has circumnavigated the tropics for his beans, finding the best available Forastero, Trinitario, and of course Criollo. No less than 18 kinds of beans are imported from Central America, South America, Madagascar, São Tomé and Principé, Vanuatu, Africa, and Indonesia for his chocolate bars. Some of his blends reach a cocoa content of 80%. In 2004, Pralus invested in his own plantation on Madagascar's island of Nosy Be, a most unusual step for a chocolate-maker! We look forward to the first harvest around 2010…

No More Beans...
Oh yes, one more note . . . When François uses up all of the cocoa beans that he's bought for the year, he stops making chocolate, unlike other producers who might compromise quality by going in search of what is left on the market. Not Pralus!

Keywords: Pralus, Pyramide, Tropiques, mini, bean to bar, chocolate