Mint is one of my favourite flavour addition to chocolate – I love that clean, fresh taste that bites through strong, dark chocolate. And I especially enjoy mint chocolate after a curry, it’s the perfect dessert to clean the palate of those intense eastern spices.

Mint is a native Mediterranean herb & is probably one of the original flavours which Europeans attempted to combine with cocoa, when it started to flow from Central America during the 16th century. Some Europeans hated the taste of the bitter cocoa, whilst others looked for cheaper substitutes to the expensive traditional cocoa mixers which came from Mesoamerica, such as Vanilla.

The herb is now found much further afield & used in a whole range of delicious recipes. The Vietnamese use lots of mint to garnish their national dish, Pho (pronounced fur), which is a delicious, fragrant meaty soup. Mint is also the main ingredient of Touareg tea, which is popular across North African & Arab countries. The two most common mints consumed are Peppermint & Spearmint. Peppermint has always been the most popular to combine with chocolate, however I also love the less-intense flavour of Spearmint, especially the Nanah variety from Northern Morocco.

Here’s a simple but beautiful Mint chocolate recipe, developed by the extremely talented Ferran Adria from El Bulli…

Buy yourself a bunch of fragrant mint & pick off around 100 nice leaves & place them on a chopping board or tray. Then melt 50g of quality couverture in a bain-marie until the chocolate is smooth, silky & around 88 degrees fahrenheit. Use a spatula to cover each mint leaf & allow to cool & set for about four hours. The results are amazing – the thin coat of chocolate melts in your mouth & leaves you with a layer of crunchy mint leaf. I also love the two-tone colour combination of the leaves – shiny dark brown on top & lush green underneath. I’d recommend eating these soon after cooking as the mint leaves will lose their flavour & texture. And if you’re wondering what to do with the rest of your mint, I’d highly recommend a pot of hot, refreshing mint tea!