Dessert Professional’s Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America 2016

Dessert Professional magazine proudly presents the Top 10 Chocolatiers in North America for 2016.

Dessert Professional magazine is proud to announce the recipients of our annual Top Ten Chocolatiers in North America awards. The fine chocolate industry continues to evolve, and the chocolatiers in North America are among the finest in the world. Our selection of the Top Ten Chocolatiers honors North American-based chocolatiers whose craft is distinctive and has elevated the chocolate industry. The honorees were feted at a ceremony at the Institute for Culinary Education in New York in October.

This year’s list includes chocolate artists with diverse backgrounds. Some are former pastry chefs, while others began as chocolatiers. Some are self-taught career changers, while others have been classically trained. Following is a short profile of each of our 2016 Top Ten Chocolatiers.

Top 10 Chocolatiers 2016 — **From left to right:** Christophe Paume, Hichem Lahreche, Jeremy Karp, Jean-Paul Hepp, Melissa Coppel, Ramon Perez, Richard Tango-Lowy, Daniel Herskovic, Stephen Padilla and Justine Pringle.

Christophe Paume

Chocolate philosophy: The first thing you must taste is chocolate. There needs to be a balance between the ingredients and the flavor of the chocolate, as you don’t want any flavor to overpower the chocolate. You must respect the chocolate.

Inspiration: I was born into it. My father and his father were boulangers in France, but also made pastries and chocolate, so I am third generation. I enjoyed watching them work.

Business profile: We have two boutiques in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. Both are very different. One reflects more of a modern twist with bright white and orange, and the other plays on more of a French café feel, with warm browns and touches of the orange from our logo. Both shops display our hand-painted and truffle chocolate collections, as well as our bars and other packaged items. We also make French Viennoiserie, desserts, and French macarons.

Chocolate varieties: We offer 31 different chocolates daily, as well as 35 different chocolate bars, chocolate structures, and various other chocolate confections such as mendicants, chocolate-covered orange peel, lemon peel and rochers. We do offer seasonal chocolate pieces throughout the year, both in our hand-painted line and in sculpture form.

Chocolate brands: A majority of the chocolate that we use is Cacao Noel, but we also use some Valrhona and some Cacao Barry.

Signature chocolate: Our hand-painted line is our signature product, but specifically the caramel sea salt and the praline. During the holidays, our praline serves as a base for many different flavor combinations.

Most unique piece: This would be the bleu cheese chocolate. It is made with a Rochefort bleu cheese in a dark chocolate ganache.

Personal favorite: The praline piece. It reminds me of being a child in France, as this is the piece I would eat in my father’s shop when I was little.