Lisbon's chocolate fair kicks off

Lisbon's chocolate fair kicked off Thursday at Campo Pequeno Square in Portuguese capital Lisbon, with dozens of local and international brands displaying tasty and unique cocoa products.

There was plenty to choose from for the hundreds of sweet-toothed visitors that arrived, including bonbons, macarons, truffles and "brigadeiro" cakes.

"The concept we have created consists of brigadeiros with Portuguese flavors," said Vanessa Santos, manager at Brigo Doce.

Brigo Doce also had unusual brigadeiro flavors including pink pepper, strawberry and mango with mint. Many of the products are suitable for Valentines Day, with romantically decorated cups and packaging.

French brand Valrhona had a wide variety of chocolates on display from a number of countries like Brasil and Ecudor across the world, including its very unique "blond" brand.

"It is not white, it is not black, it looks like caramel, but it isn't. It is very original. No one has this, it is our specialty," said Patrick Mignot, head of Valrhona in Portugal.

Valrhona also had thick, hot chocolate for sale, called Celaya and made with 17 percent quality chocolate.

Several chocolate master classes also took place throughout the day for the public to learn new chocolate recipes by renowned Portuguese pastry chefs, like sandwiches made using chocolate and biscuits, or chocolate "spheres" with crumble and spices.

On Friday the master classes will have a Lindt chocolate theme, and one of the chefs will be introducing his sushi with Lindt chocolate recipe.

The fair will close on Sunday and tickets are three euros per person. Enditem