Luko is an iconoclastic egg for Valrhona Chocolate.
@L’École Valrhona Luko Egg 2023
This year, L’École Valrhona has entrusted its Cheffe Pâtissière Virgilia Lebigre with the task of creating its latest Easter egg. This will be a first for the young chef, whose personal interpretation of the challenge is a strong ethically conscious statement.
While Chef Virgilia wanted her Easter Chocolate Egg to be intense and powerful, she also wanted it to reveal an unsuspected softness deep inside.
Made from Komuntu 80% – Valrhona’s iconic 100th anniversary couverture chocolate – Luko is an ode to nature whose name means “bloom” in Esperanto. This moniker perfectly encapsulates both its power and its fragility.
“With this creation, I want to pay tribute to biodiversity by honoring the cocoa bean, which is at the root of all Valrhona’s chocolate,” – Chef Virgilia Lebigre.
@Komuntu 80% by @Valrhona
Getting Back To Chocolate Roots
The Luko egg’s key aim is to showcase chocolate as a material in its raw state, and this is reflected in all the different chocolate-making techniques it uses. The egg is not smooth or shiny; in fact, it might have emerged straight out of the ground.
Its deliberately raw appearance is a nod to the plantation, the place where everything begins when a cacao seed bursts into life. Mixing sculpture and modeling techniques, this egg takes us back to cocoa’s very origins.
The woody aromatic power and roasted nib notes of Komuntu 80% bring out the sculpted shape’s intense feel, which contrasts with the sweetness of the egg’s creamy caramel core.
Last year, Valrhona opened its new chocolate school in the heart of Paris
After Tain l’Hermitage, New York and Tokyo, a L’École Valrhona school was inaugurated in the heart of Paris, in the Marais district, on May 2, 2022. This unique space providing experiences for all gastronomy professionals is a place where people can learn, meet others and pass on their skills. It hosts Executive Chef Thierry Bridron and his team of three pastry chef instructors, Baptiste Moreau, Jérémy Aspa and Samuel Ducrotoy.
Spread over 340 m² and two floors, the facility includes a large 78 m² laboratory kitchen that showcases French and international sweet cuisine. Offering creative and advanced sessions, technical training and friendly events devoted to discussion and sharing, this new school is designed for all talented chefs who are eager to learn and enjoy new experiences.
Valrhona has worked to share its skills with the gastronomy profession for nearly a century. Thanks to L’École Valrhona (which was formed in 1989), the house was able to bolster its training program year after year, making its expertise available to all gastronomy professionals. As well as being a showcase for L’École Valrhona’s know-how, this new venue is a powerful training tool promoting creativity conducive to meeting new people, learning and passing on new gastronomy techniques and trends. It is intended for all professionals wishing to deepen their knowledge and perfect their work.
Nearly 30 customized and advanced courses are be available throughout the year, around 1 course per week, on all topics related to sweet cuisine, including chocolate-making (naturally) as well as catering in the broader sense, with content related to pastry making, ice cream and viennoiseries. These courses will be led by exceptional speakers, chief instructors from L’École Valrhona and/or exceptional pastry chefs and artisans. With its program of events, L’École Valrhona provides a real response to new consumer trends.
@L’École Valrhona
