Paul A. Young - The Joy of Chocolate: Recipes and Stories from the Wonderful World of the Cacao Bean

I would like to dedicate this book to my mum Val and stepfather Kevin, for all their love and support, and to my loving and supportive partner Luke, and to Kate and Adam, who always bring light and joy into my life.

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Every time you or I buy or choose chocolate, its a deeply emotional decision. Its not a quick or flimsy purchase, but a considered and complex choice that starts way before you make the journey to the shop. What is it about chocolate that makes it so important to us? Its not just the indescribably addictive taste and texture. Its also down to a chemical produced in our brains called dopamine: essentially, we are all hard-wired to get hooked.

Before you even taste the chocolate, dopamine floods you with love, passion and desire, as you anticipate how delicious its going to be and how its going to make you feel. When you actually taste the chocolate, it has the same impact as any class-A drug hitting your brain. Its the aroma, the unique and unmistakable scent that overpowers you from your nose to your toes. Its sweet, sexual, rich and evocative and we can never be satisfied with just one taste.

Chocolate is addictive and deeply sensory, but its also part of our culture. Its ingrained in so many different societies; towns and communities have been built on it; it has fed soldiers at war and allowed us to enjoy some of the most innovative sweet products we will experience in our lifetimes. Its also at the root of a fierce competition between rival multinational chocolate companies as they battle it out to invent new and exciting ways to give us our daily hit of dopamine and, of course, that sugar rush too.

My professional journey with chocolate began in 2004. However, looking back, chocolate was a huge part of my childhood, as it is for many of us. Most of my family festivities involved chocolate in one way or another: Easter, Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries and even casual get-togethers always included chocolate biscuits, cakes or bars. This was the start of my love affair with chocolate. My passion for anything sweet was with me from birth, thanks to all the women around me who could bake. Baking was a part of all our lives, particularly on Sundays. Every Sunday, arriving promptly at midday, my family would all meet for lunch at my grandmas house but it was after lunch when the kitchen really came to life. Tea time was at 5pm, with more extended family arriving to sit around the dining table, which would be heaving with cakes, scones, corned beef pie, apple pie, jelly, chocolate crispy cakes, fairy buns and lots more. There was always a lot to prepare, and we didnt have long to get everything ready: very much like my days as a pastry chef, when everything had to be ready for the start of service. As soon as I was able, I was there alongside my mum and grandma making cakes and learning how to juggle everything so it was all ready at 5pm on the dot. Most Sundays, the spread included a chocolate cake with an entire big bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk melted and smothered over the top.

During the week, we rarely had sweets and chocolate, but on Sundays, if we had been on our best behaviour, my brother and I were allowed to pick two yes, twochocolate bars from the sweet tub in the pantry. There was always a variety to choose from, and my grandma made sure to always have two of each type so my brother and I wouldnt fight over the same bar. Im talking mainstream confectionery bars, like Aero , Drifter, Twix, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Texan. We definitely got our sugar hit every week.

A school trip to Paris in 1987 changed so much for me: drinking hot chocolate and eating a croissant in the Moulin Rouge Caf for breakfast was mesmerising to me. The hot chocolate was intensely chocolatey, and it came in a bowl, not a mug, that seemed to be the size of a mixing bowl, while the freshly baked croissant had paper-light layers of pastry and a buttery aftertaste. This was the moment I experienced a new style of baking, and I mentally noted all the patisseries we passed on that trip: I thought they looked incredible compared to the bakeries back home. There is beauty in both, of course, but I was captivated by the refined look of French pastries.

I decided to train as a chef and continued to pursue my love of patisserie.