Every year, the Salon du Chocolat is proud to host prestigious culinary competitions.
In 2022, some major professional competitions held their finale at the chocolate fair: the World Chocolate Masters, the “Mondial des Arts Sucrés”, the National French Pastry Awards, the “Défi des Glaciers”, the first “Concours des cacaos paysans bio et équitables” and the Pain au Chocolat Masters.
For five days, you had a unique unique experience of seeing these chefs working live!
World Chocolate Masters
The 8th edition of this international chocolate creations competition took place at the 2022 Salon du Chocolat.
This is the world cup for artisan chocolatiers – an initiative by Cacao Barry to showcase creative chocolate craft and put new talent on the map. Eighteen countries have sent their best candidates, from the United States to China, to compete for the prestigious title of World Chocolate Master.
The theme in 2022 was #TMRW_TASTES_LOOKS_FEELS_LIKE, challenging the world’s finest chocolate chefs to present the chocolate of the future to an expert jury.
With 18 individual finalists representing 18 countries, facing a jury of 18 experts, the conclusion of this competition was intense!
The competition took place over three days, allowing the participants to demonstrate their technical and artistic expertise over seven different assignments.
“Mondial des Arts Sucrés”
The 7th edition of the “Mondial des Arts Sucrés”, the patisserie competition that has promoted diversity since its inception, with male/female pairings, saw teams of pastry chefs competing against each other. Over four days, the contenders for the blue-red-black-yellow-green collar (the Olympic colours symbolising five continents) presented creations on the general theme of “The origin of the senses” and more specifically on protection of biodiversity.
The 32 candidates dedicated themselves to creating three artistic pieces to be produced in 20 hours. You were invited to watch them work and attend the jury taste-testing.
Florence Lesage and her partner Alexis Beaufils represented France, under the watchful eye of the MOF Nicolas Boussin and Angelo Musa.
National French Pastry Awards
The National French Pastry Awards were organised by the Confédération Nationale des Artisans Pâtissiers. In 2022, the competition was only open to amateur candidates. It took place during the Show, and 15 amateur pastry chefs defended their creations to the public and a jury of experts.
The prestigious jury included holders of the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” title as well as World Pastry Champions, and was chaired by Laurent Le Daniel (MOF and President of the National Confederation of Artisanal Pastry Chefs, Chocolatiers, Confectioners, and Caterers).
This year, the theme was “Chocolate Tarts and Truffles”. Candidates will first created two identical chocolate tarts, which were judged on taste and appearance. For the second part of the competition, they had to create between 20 and 25 truffles, judged on taste, chocolate intensity and originality. During the competition, all participants were coached by the same renowned pastry chef.
“Défi des Glaciers”
In partnership with the CNGF (Confédération Nationale des Glaciers de France), the Défi des Glaciers is a competition that took place over two days, on October 28 and 29. A jury of renowned professionals chose “the best ice cream or sorbet of 2022”.
Some of the ice creams or sorbets was given to the jury and the rest was sold to the public in disposable pots at the price of €3. All profits were donated to the well-being of sick children at the Necker Hospital in Paris, under the sponsorship of Benoit Couvrand, associate chef of Cyril Lignac.
The first “Concours des cacaos paysans bio et équitables”
Launched in 2006, the Symbole des Producteurs Paysans (Small Farmers Label, SPP) is the first fair trade and organic label created and managed by producers. Today, the SPP brings together more than 120 coffee, cocoa, tea, fruit and sugar cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
The fair trade label Symbole des Producteurs Paysans organized an international competition during which you weree invited to a blind tasting of chocolate bars at the SPP stand. The know-how of small organic and fair trade producers, offering high quality chocolates, was showcased during this competition.
The competition also featured lectures on key topics for the cocoa industry, round-table discussions and discussions between producers from different regions, as well as the sale of SPP-certified chocolate made by French chocolatiers.
“Pain au chocolat Masters”
On 29 October, 2022, the Pain au Chocolat Masters was organized by the Confédération Nationale de la Boulangerie et Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Française presented an award to the best chocolate viennoiserie, judged by a jury of ten professional bakers and pastry chefs and two consumers. In 2022, the spotlight was on homemade pastries!
Candidates was judged on quality criteria such as baking, shine, visual appearance, taste, melt-in-the-mouth quality and puff pastry.
