Love and A Little Chocolate – The Big Chocolate Show NYC

Charles M. Schulz once said, “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” On September 29th, I ventured into New York City to attend the Big Chocolate Show. This show is New York’s biggest chocolate expo and features tastings, demos, and classes from world-renowned chocolatiers. Being a pastry chef, I was very excited to attend this sweet event.

The show is actually a family-friendly event, which is great! There are even family packs of tickets available for purchase. I decided to make it an adult-only afternoon and asked my closest girlfriend to join me. When we first arrived at the New Yorker Hotel, we were directed upstairs to the check in. I felt pretty official being considered “press.” Before even walking into the expo, we were offered chocolate covered pretzels, yes please! At the entrance, we found the Cookies for Kid’s Cancer booth. The event benefits this amazing charity that aims to discover less invasive treatments for pediatric cancers.

As we made our way into the show, we discovered over 100 booths filled with everything from chocolate-inspired perfume to tea-infused truffles and cookies to die for. Each booth featured a taste of their products and had items available for purchase. Most companies were offering show-only deals as well. We were even educated on some of the products and how they make their way from cacao bean to bar, which was really interesting. Delicious and educational, I’ll take it!

We loved tasting the milk chocolate quinoa crunch bar by Fruition chocolate. This company donates 100% of the sales from this chocolate bar to educational and arts enrichment programs for struggling youth in Peru. Charities that help children are so near and dear to my heart. After eating our weights in chocolate, we decided to head upstairs to attend the wine and chocolate pairing class. Hey, it was past 12 p.m., don’t judge…

This class was packed, I mean chocolate? Wine? Who doesn’t want to be there? We were given four small glasses of different wines, sparkling, white, red, and a sherry dessert wine (that is apparently $600 a bottle). The volunteers then handed out four samples of chocolate ranging in percentages from 55%-72%. We learned the “four s’” of wine tasting…Swirl, Sniff, Sip, and Swallow. Yes! I can now look super official when I drink my $10 bottle of wine after chasing my kids around all day! It was fun to learn which chocolates go best with each wine, but I do wish there were a little more instruction. Maybe that is just the food-obsessed student in me.

After our “afternoon libations“ we planned to attend the Dessertist’s demo on the main stage. Samantha Benjamin, aka the Dessertist, owns a shop in Croton on Hudson (oh yeah, Westchester mamas representing!), and creates edible art for clients all over the country. Her demo featured edible brownie batter, which was delicious and so easy! The icing on the cake, rather, brownie, was that her adorable 8-year-old daughter was her sidekick. The cute pair seemed to have so much fun sharing their passion, that I couldn’t help but picture my little girl and I up there one day, sharing one of our favorite recipes.

We ended our afternoon with one more truffle each and then went out for a big salad, because, well it’s all about balance. It was a sweet day filled with lots of yummy chocolate and I have to say, I loved the excuse for some much-needed girl time.

The Big Chocolate Show comes back next September, so keep an eye out for tickets!