Kutná Hora chocolatiers travel to London to collect ‘chocolate Oscars’ medals
Artisan chocolate-makers Lada and Pavel Bartoš from the Lidka chocolate factory in Kutná Hora have won two silver and one bronze medal at the prestigious Academy of Chocolate Awards, often described as the “chocolate Oscars.” They will travel to London later this week to collect the prizes. Ahead of the ceremony, I spoke with Lada Bartošová about the chocolates that impressed the international jury.
Which of your chocolates actually won the medals at the Academy of Chocolate Awards? Can you briefly describe them for us?
"It’s three of our chocolate bars, which are made in a special way by macerating cocoa nibs in different kinds of alcohol. These three award-winning chocolate bars feature tones of griot liqueur, raspberry spirit and Jamaica rum."
The jurors praised the aroma and taste of fruit spirits in your chocolate. How do you manage to capture those flavours without actually adding alcohol?
"It’s a bit of a secret. We do it in a slightly different way. We don’t simply add alcohol to the chocolate mass. Instead, we macerate the raw cocoa nibs in a premium spirit, mostly from traditional Czech family distilleries, before the roasting process begins.
"This allows the beans to absorb the deep, complex character of the alcohol from the inside out. But because the nibs are roasted after the maceration, no alcohol remains in the final product. So you can enjoy the chocolate and still drive a car afterwards."
You received this recognition in the same year your chocolate factory is celebrating an anniversary. What does this mean to you and your team?
"I think all of us are happy and proud. At the same time, it feels quite special because we renewed the chocolate factory 60 years after it was closed by the communists.
"So now we are really very happy that we can once again process one of the world’s best bean-to-bar chocolates and return to the international chocolate scene with the traditional brand of the Kutná Hora Chocolate Factory."
Will you and your husband both be in London to collect the awards?
"Yes. It’s not only a trip to receive the awards. After ten years of making chocolate, it will actually be our first real holiday together as a husband-and-wife team. So we are really looking forward to enjoying a few days in London together."
After this success, what are your plans for the future? Are you working on any new flavours at the moment?
"Yes, we really enjoy creating new recipes every day. Right now we are preparing a new chocolate bar especially for a Jesuit exhibition in Kutná Hora, and we are also developing a white chocolate with Moroccan tea.
"And almost every day we try to think of new kinds of chocolate bars, because for us the most fun part of making bean-to-bar chocolate is experimenting with new ideas."
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