by D. Prinz on January 21, 2012
Menachem's Peruvian Chocolate
Chips of 96% chocolate ground with salt and coffee beans adorned the amazing homemade chocolate ice cream we tasted the other day. It is the wonderful pairing of the ice cream making mania of foodie David Leichman and the passion for food grinding of Hilaf Menachem at Melo Hatene, an organic farm and food center just south of Tel Aviv.
Tall, muscular Menachem makes his high cacao percentage chocolates from beans sourced from Peru. The agricultural center boasts grinding machines for the chocolate as well as for techina (ground sesame seeds), almond butter and olive oil.
Grinder for Cacao Beans
He claims to run the only locale in Israel that grinds cacao beans and supplies Holy Cacao centered in Hebron. Menachem’s family farm, in operation since 1895, raises 54 types of fruit and 45 types of vegetables. We hope to try his vegetarian restaurant on our next trip with the hope that we might follow it with ice cream and chocolate at the home of Rabbi Miri Gold and David Leichman (ARZA Mifgash), who kindly escorted us to Melo Hatene.
When our genial host David asked us whether we wanted to taste the coffee ice cream mixed with the chocolate chip ice cream (adorned with the locally ground Peruvian chocolate) or taste them separately, we were not sure what to say. He suggested that we enjoy them one at a time, great advice since each flavor excelled on its own, deep and strong. While he and Miri have plenty of homemade ice cream packed in the freezer and many baked goods (she was once known as the cookie rabbi for her terrific baked goods), we also saw that they have quite an large stash of specialty and quality chocolate, even more impressive than ours.
Miri and David's Chocolate Collection
by D. Prinz on November 13, 2011
It all started in front of the TV on Susan Melowsky’s sick day. Chocolate featured on the Cooking Channel inspired Melowsky to dream up the first Cincinnati Chocolate Festival of 2010, which turned into a project of the Isaac M. Wise Temple Sisterhood. Others say the Chocolate Festival really started as a competition with the very popular Isaac M. Wise Temple’s Brotherhood chicken soup cook off. Whatever the true impetus the Festival has been vastly successful with over 2500 in attendance in 2010 and double that this past October.
Even though the scale differed, the New York Chocolate Show had already fortified me for the inevitable lines and the crowds at Xavier University’s Cintas Center. I loved meeting pastry chef Summer Genetti at her cooking demo. Not only is she a longtime friend of our Cincinnati family, she also knows how to make that fantastic The Egg dessert of Le Bernardin. In a very expert, concise presentation she clipped the top of the egg, cleaned the shells, and prepped the savory version for that day. When Mark and I first saw The Egg delivered to tables at our lunch celebration at Le Bernardin a year ago, I thought the gentleman at the neighboring table must have had an upset stomach and needed a poached egg to sooth it. Surprise. The Egg arrived at our table as well as a pre-dessert with multiple rich flavors of chocolate, caramel, maple and sea salt, a prelude to the mousses, ice creams and mini-cookies. Summer made it look so simple.
The Chocolate Festival’s first year engaged over 200 volunteers, including a few “good men,” and grossed over $50,000 from corporate sponsors, a silent auction, advertisements, venders and admissions. The financial gains benefited a number of local charities including: YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, South Avondale School, Interfaith Hospitality Network, The Bedtime Bundles Program and others.
I look forward to seeing how next year’s Festival grows!
