Disclosure: I was invited to a complimentary tasting. All opinions are my own.
With summer upon us, everyone is looking for some sweet ways to cool off from the heat. Wild Sweets, Canada’s only science-based cocoa bean-to-bear chocolate makers, just released a new collection of novel composed ice cream and desserts called “Prêt-á-Manger.”
The creative duo behind Wild Sweets are Dominique and Cindy Duby – world-acclaimed chefs, chocolate-makers and designer chocolatiers. Their list of international accolades includes ‘Best Chocolatiers in America’ for four years in a row (2013-2016). Furthermore, they continue to work regularly with food scientists to research, develop, and implement techniques for their chocolate-making process.
“The Atelier” Chocolate Gallery is the retail store for Wild Sweets where their products are available. The interior is minimalist with a 12′ high ceiling, crisp white walls, and white floating shelves. The store operates mostly under an order-and-pickup concept to guarantee maximal freshness of their products.
This summer, Dominique and Cindy launched the Prêt-á-Manger desserts and ice cream. These desserts provide an interesting experience for the palate due to their architecturally unique compositions. Each dessert layer provides a different texture. Some of the layers used in this composed desserts are sweet butter sablé cookie crust, hazelnut butter sabayon parfait, puffed cereal chocolate pearls, dark chocolate Crème Brûlée cream and more.
The Prêt-á-Manger collection comes in three types (mousse, tart, and ice cream) and are served in single serving containers for eating on-the-go. Each container retails for $4.99 or get you can buy 5 and get 1 free.
The Prêt-á-Manger are sold frozen and can be kept in that state for up to 6-weeks (-18°C / 0°F). For best results, they should be thawed in the fridge for a few hours, overnight is best. To achieve the best serving temperature for the desserts, they should be removed from the fridge half hour before serving.
At the tasting, I tried the following:
Desserts:
- Mousse Chocolat Milk
- Mousse Chocolat White
- Tarte Citron
- Tarte Chocolat
- Tarte Banane
Ice cream:
- Hazelnut Passion
- Peanut Banana
- Pistachio Strawberry
I was very impressed with how these desserts were crafted because they really provide an interesting journey for the palate. The varying layers of textures make each bite delightful and exciting; there just didn’t seem to be a dull moment. I enjoyed the puffed cereal chocolate pearls layers the most in the mousse desserts because they were just cute and crispy – very fun to eat! Although these desserts were pre-frozen, the thawed out versions were just perfect for consumption. They weren’t too icy or cold at all. I also loved how the desserts were not overly sweet.
My favourite of the Prêt-á-Manger collection would have to be the ice cream ones. In fact, Wild Sweets’ ice creams and sorbets are not made using the conventional ice cream machine, but instead the custard bases for ice creams or fruit purees for sorbets are ‘creamed’ from a frozen state using a totally different technology and machinery. Wild Sweets’ ice creams and sorbets have an incredibly creamy texture with little icy crystals!
I also loved the pistachio strawberry which includes a creamy nut parfait, unctuous ice cream, high fruit tangy sorbet, low sugar sauce and crunchy cookie. Absolutely delicious!
Thanks to Wild Sweets, I am giving 4 followers each a set of 4 Prêt-á-Manger desserts. To enter, visit my Instagram giveaway post. Giveaway closes Monday, July 4 at 22:00 PST. Open only to Metro Vancouver residents. Must be able to pick up the prize at the Wild Sweets location in Richmond.
For more information on Prêt-á-Manger, visit Wild Sweets online.