Chocolatier Richard Tango-Lowy has been working with chocolate since 1996. He graduated with honors from Ecole Chocolat in Vancouver, and earned his Master Chocolatier designation at Ecole Du Grand Chocolat Valrhona in Tain L'Hermitage, France and a second at Ecole Chocolat's Master Chocolatier course in Tuscany.Mr. Tango-Lowy opened Dancing Lion Chocolate in Manchester, New Hampshire in 2007, where he sources small plantation and artisan chocolate for his bonbons and confections, each of which is made only one time. When he's not searching for new chocolate, you'll find Mr. Tango-Lowy experimenting in the kitchen behind Dancing Lion's shop and cafe.Rich says, "I've been actively tasting chocolate for at least 12 years. 'Actively tasting' means that I sit and mindfully, consciously explore a piece of chocolate with my eyes, ears, hands, nose, and mouth. No distractions, no thoughts, notebook before me, pen in hand. After years of tasting, my sense of "taste" has expanded and become much more sensitive; I've learned to 'taste'."The lectures Ecole Chocolat has assembled here will not only guide you [the student] through the art of tasting, but will give you a solid base to understand what you're tasting and why. Different chocolates taste different for many reasons: genetics, environment, processing, and even your own mood. By the time you finish this course, you will really understand why chocolate is as amazing as it is!"

I first encountered the True Soul of chocolate in 1995. For fifteen years I have sought her subtle nuances, studied her moods, struggled to understand her complex temper. She is a most difficult mistress; coquettish and proud, quick to anger, open only to the most patient of overtures.I’ve learned to prepare her in the ancient ways of the Maya and in the gleaming kitchens of the finest Parisian chocolatiers. I have studied her at ecole Chocolat in Vancouver and at the prestigious Ecole du Grand Chocolat Valrhona in the Rhone Valley of France. I am proud to count among my friends some of the finest chocolatiers from Montreal to Melbourne to Guatemala.Chocolate is my passion. I will never master her–who can master one so willful and tempestuous? But I will continue to woo her and to craft a small bit of her soul into each truffle and bonbon I create.For chocolate is art. And as art she is magnificent.