Chance to study chocolate-tasting on courses in Louth led by enthusiast Kathryn

In much the same way as wine has specially trained tasters, now chocolate is going down the same route thanks largely to the increasing popularity in hand-crafted chocolate, typically made from ethically sourced cacao beans and with natural flavours.

New, in-person chocolate-tasting courses are to be held at the headquarters of Cocoa Encounters, a business based at The Mart on Eastgate in Louth.

Cocoa Encounters is the brainchild of enthusiast Kathryn Laverack after she was alerted to the UK’s craft chocolate revolution by her sister’s partner, who is a chocolatier in Yorkshire.

Kathryn said: “The familiar brands of chocolate give us that feelgood factor and trigger memories of childhood indulgence.

"But alongside them, we can now choose from hundreds of artisan chocolate-makers who source cocoa beans to make bars with flavours that rival the quality and variety of fine wine, tea and coffee.”

Kathryn is herself a qualified chocolate taster, international chocolate judge and chocolate educator. And she will be leading the courses, which are to be run by the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting (IICCT) between Thursday, October 17 and Sunday, October 20.

Marin Christy, course director of the IICCT, said: “This is an exciting development after a successful transition from online teaching.

"The demand for courses has increased as a result of the burgeoning craft chocolate scene in the UK.

"The courses are designed for enthusiasts at the start of their chocolate-tasting journey and also for professionals wanting to develop a full sensory understanding of fine chocolate and its flavour potential.

"Typically, our courses, which we have been running since 2014, are taken by chocolate-makers, chocolatiers, pastry chefs, retailers, journalists and educators.”

Kathryn added: “Lincolnshire really is the birthplace of small-scale craft chocolate-making in the UK.

"When Duffy Sheardown began to make chocolate in Cleethorpes in 2008, he gave us access to a whole new world of fine chocolate and cacao, as opposed to the mass-market industrial chocolate we had grown up with.

"I feel privileged to offer these tasting courses in the county where it all began. We will also get to visit Duffy’s factory to learn how he coaxes the natural flavours from the beans he works with.”