Chef Oswald Jochheim Brings Deep Appreciation of Chocolate to Hilton Cancun

“Chocolate is a necessary flavor in the most pleasant moment
of our lives,” he says.

By Patricia D. Sherman

Like so many successful chefs, Oswald Jochheim discovered his love for cooking in his home at a very young age. Chef Jochheim recalls first taking an interest in food and food preparation as a hungry nine-year-old coming home from school in Germany. As soon as he entered the house, he went straight to the kitchen where looked over the shoulder of his family’s cook and sampled the recipes. Soon he began experimenting in the kitchen.

Today Chef Jochheim supervises 51 chefs and 31 stewards at the five-star Hilton Cancun Golf and Spa Resort. But, as he told the ChocolateAtlas.com recently,  chocolate has always had a special place in his food pantheon.

CA:  What is your chocolate philosophy?
CHEF JOCHHEIM: Chocolate is an exquisite flavor created by the gods. It’s a necessary flavor in the most pleasant moments of our lives.

CA: What is your favorite kind of chocolate?
CHEF JOCHHEIM My favorite brand is Patis France because of its delicate taste and its variety of cacao degrees. It can have varied uses.

CA: What is your signature chocolate dessert recipe?
CHEF JOCHHEIM: Chocolate truffle because it’s easy to make and I use it as a base recipe for several desserts such as fillings, mousses, ganache, and so on. It can be mixed with different liquors without losing its delicacy. (See Chef Jochheim’s signature Chocolate Truffle recipe.) 

CA: What are your first chocolate memories?
CHEF JOCHHEIM: As a boy, I liked to drink Mexican hot chocolate. I wondered how the foam formed. I also enjoyed melting chocolate and dipping things into it or pouring it on top of bread. 

CA: Besides desserts, what other ways do you use chocolate?
CHEF JOCHHEIM: To decorate buffets, make sculptures of all sizes, decorate amenities,  make containers of different sizes,  make a variety of figurines: flowers, pictures, abstract shapes, decorative motifs, transfers and filigree work.

More about Chef Jochheim 

After he studied culinary arts and received a degree in Germany, Chef Jochheim got hands-on experience in the kitchen of a big hotel in Germany, where everything was prepared in-house.  This included baking sugar and chocolate figures and creating pastries and even butchering.

Now, Chef Jochheim oversees production for five restaurants, three bars, one lounge and all banquets at the Hilton Cancun Golf and Spa Resort. A typical day for Chef Oswald begins at 7:30 a.m. when he checks all of the preparation for breakfast and goods baked the night before.

Chef Jochheim acknowledges that the ancient people of Mexico and Central and South America were the first to use chocolate, grinding the cacao seeds with seasoning to make chocolate beverages, and that chocolate  remains a very important ingredient for both sweet and savory dishes in Mexico’s cuisine. Nevertheless, he says he still prefers using chocolate to create extraordinary desserts.

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