Famous italian chocolate chef pays tribute to peruvian cocoa

Renowned chocolate chef Ernst Knam, known in Italy as 'The King of Chocolate', recently launched his new book My Story with Chocolate. Sweet pleasure in seventy recipes, in which he mentions Peru and Peruvian cocoa in particular.

Knam, who is also a television personality on the Discovery Channel, discovered the taste and quality of our cocoa during his visit to Peru early last year. During this visit, promoted by PROMPERÚ and Peru’s Foreign Trade Office (OCEX) in Milan, the pastry chef had the opportunity to learn about cocoa crops, as well as chocolate factories in the regions of San Martín and Cusco.

Learning about the ancient and refined varieties of Peruvian cocoa, and their transformation into high-end chocolate, deeply marked Ernst Knam, who talks about this experience in this book. For Italy's most famous master chocolatier, “this is a different kind of journey: not of the body but rather of the soul and taste, which lasts a lifetime.”

In the introduction to the book, which is a journey through the chef's career, from his training to his most recent ideas, is written: “Perhaps there is no better place than Peru, where the original cocoa is still cultivated as it was fifty years ago, to return to the roots of this magical and precious food.”

This publication offers readers the ideal map with which to travel through the world of chocolate, made with a delicate taste, balanced flavor, aromas, colors, as well as the tools necessary to proceed safely and without making mistakes, as well as suggesting ideas to free up creativity.

It should be noted that, as a result of the business mission that made Knam's trip to Peru last year possible, the chef is currently coordinating the acquisition of three tons of 'Señorita' cocoa from the next harvest, thus reaffirming his interest in working hand in hand with Peruvian cocoa producers.

About Ernst Knam

After beginning his career as a pastry chef, he worked in many Michelin-starred restaurants around Europe; he was in different cities in the UK and Switzerland, before finally settling in Italy. He also spent seasons in Asia, in places such as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Since 1992, his patisserie has been one of the most famous in Milan, a store on Via Anfossi. With the passage of time – and chef Knam's increasing renown – he changed the name from “L’Antica Arte del Dolce” to “Pasticceria Ernst Knam”. The patisserie has won many international cooking and pastry awards.

Knam has been a star on the Discovery Channel since 2012, thanks to the docu-reality show “Il Re del cioccolato” (The King of Chocolate); since 2013, he has been a judge on “Bake Off Italia” and “Junior Bake Off”.