Gone Chocco

 

Dr Lucy Burns is a blonde combination of Gretel Killeen and Pamela Stephenson and was sporting a black eye when we met,* having truly suffered for her art. And for a good cause…..

As the proud owner of ‘Better than Flowers’-  a business that specialises in creating unique bouquets of edible chocolates cunningly disguised as flowers, Lucy was reaching into the industrial-sized cooler used to store  the chocolates and had the door clunk into her eye.

We met up at the Lindt Cafe on Collins Street to talk about the upcoming FSHD Lindt Chocolate Ball to be held on Friday 6^th August at the Hilton Hotel in East Melbourne.

As we entered, I couldn’t help but notice Lindt’s Macaron tree, surely inspired by Adriano Zumbo’s scary Masterchef challenge?

FSHD isn’t a chemical compound found in chocolate but is a common form of muscular dystrophy that causes progressive and irreversible weakness and wasting of muscles in the body.  The not-for-profit FSHD Global Research Foundation is working towards finding a treatment and cure for this debilitating disease, offering hope to thousands of sufferers and their families. In the few short years the foundation has been running, it has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to research projects around the globe.  Lucy also donates all of the profits from Better Than Flowers to FSHD.

Lucy was diagnosed with FSHD (pronounced: Fay-she-oh-skap-you-lo-hum-er-al) in her teens but that didn’t stop her pursuing studies and a career in medicine and raising two daughters with her husband, Ty. Based in the Mornington Peninsula, they are also ‘parents’ to three alpacas, four chickens, two ducks, two Jack Russells, two goats, a couple of rabbits and the unfortunately-named sheep ‘Lamb Chop.’

When not fashioning chocolates into bouquets and organising the Lindt Chocolate ball, Lucy works as a doctor three days a week for the navy. Lucy became disillusioned with the profits-first, 6-minute-medicine style of general practice, which she was unable and unwilling to deliver. Her job at Navy involves looking after hospital patients and allows her to spend more time with them, which is ultimately far more rewarding. “I enjoy my work but have realised that life is about so much more than money – Better Than Flowers gives me a creative outlet and a specific area to direct my energies. Why not combine the challenge of establishing a business with making a difference to FSHD awareness and research?”

I wondered if BTF bouquets would be a hit with blokes who would normally baulk at receiving something living, pretty and covered in petals. “Absolutely,” she nods, “Our footy team-themed chocolate bouquets are very popular.”

Perhaps that’s why Kevin Sheedy, quirky Essendon legend, is a featured guest at the FSHD Lindt Chocolate Ball, along with award-winning chef Luke Mangan and Australian Idol talent Roshani Priddis. “We are bringing together the public’s current fascination with food, Lindt chocolate and celebrity chefs for a great cause and it promises to be the most decadent – and fun – event you’re invited to attend this year,” Lucy says, smiling through her black eye.

Those interested in purchasing tickets – or just making a donation – are encouraged to do so quickly at www.fshdglobal.org.

…..and yes, of course we had hot chocolates at the cafe….. and some desserts ……

…..and yes, I bought some macarons to take home – and share – with Sapphire and Love Chunks – the heavenly salted caramel, the70% chocolate and the rose. All of them were divine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* hence I’m using the photo on her ‘Better Than Flowers’ website rather than the one I took of Lucy yesterday that could be mistakenly used for a WorkSafe or domestic violence campaign!

 

I love this job and I love living in Melbourne.

Yes, I loved living in Adelaide too – it is, after all, the home of Haigh’s – but Melbourne means that I’m technically and geographically closer to a few more chocolate companies and was lucky enough to be invited by Belinda Buckingham, Product Design Co-ordinator of Chocolatier to join her and Director, John Grisold, for a personalised tour.

The three Grisold brothers all had a background in food – David and Mark worked in their father’s business ‘The Baron’s Table’ (chicken) and John ran the fresh produce division in Safeway and by 1985 they were looking for a challenge to start together. Why not chocolate?

Their new business grew from supplying small gourmet shops to the intricately-marbled and famous Easter Eggs we all know today (nearly one million are made every year) and the boxed chocolates we also see in supermarkets.

In 1991, John visited Europe and purchased a Semi-automatic 3-stage molding plant for $120,000. “I lost sleep about it,” he said, shaking his head at the memory. “At that time, I’d spent more than you would on a house and was worried that our staff would think we were trying to cut their jobs.” Put very simply, a 3-stage moulding plant is a more advanced method of making filled chocolates. The base and sides, filling and top layer are done separately to ensure that there is an even coating of chocolate on all sides. “You can tell if it’s just a cheaper, single molded chocolate by the thick base at the bottom,” John said, “and thankfully the staff loved the machine and how much more we could do with it.”

This bad boy (the semi-automatic, not John) was being operated by John’s son Matthew on the day we visited and there are other family members who also work at Chocolatier. “We’ve all put the hard yards into getting in there and making the chocolate and using the machinery,” John said. “It’s vital to work in every aspect of the business before our kids can decide if it’s a career to follow.” 

These days, John is even more enthused about a much bigger, more sophisticated machine that my camera could not do justice to and roughly costs around three or four houses. It has an amazing ability to melt, freeze and fill chocolates in sealed chambers. It was mesmerising to look at; seeing perfectly formed Limon delices being made so gracefully in front of my adoring eyes.

What you might not know is that a lot of the single, freshly-made chocolates sold in many gourmet or specialty chocolate shops are actually Chocolatier products. These hazelnut flower pots are particularly popular; so much so that even my daughter will say, “Oh look, this shop has the Chocolatier flower pots.” It’s therefore not surprising to find that it’s one of their biggest sellers, along with the short black, cappuccino, mud cake and the milk, dark and white caramel-filled chocolate mice. Not to mention their entire truffle range and the pink ribbon boxes.

Visiting the Chocolatier factory just before Easter meant that it was fairly quiet.  Everything was white, pristine and very airy and modern with a warehouse area that IKEA would envy. All of the Easter eggs had been made and shipped out, so the staff were working on white chocolate truffles, milk chocolate Scaredy Cats and the lovely Red Opal with a tingly strawberry crunch centre…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

…. and what I think was a mudcake chocolate that had a finely swirly chocolate coating that would make a rather groovy lace tablecloth that you could eat afterwards instead of shoving into the washing machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near the cool steel shelves containing large batches of their individual chocolates (”Here, try this one and this one”, John said pulling out tray after tray of the most beautiful-looking – and tasting – chocolates) were their new trial batches of dark chocolate coated lime jellies.  “Go on, have one,” John urged, his mantra for the morning as I’d already had a white truffle, red opal, short black, butterscotch cup, violet diamond, grand marnier truffle…… 

They were delicious.  Lime – even in a jelly form – has a zingy tang that counteracts the sweet creaminess of chocolate and, as I discovered when helping judge the Australian Chocolate Championships at the Rush festival last year, is ‘the’ funky flavour right now.

“We haven’t released these yet and this is the first time I’ve tried it too,” John said, and was pleased to see from Belinda’s and my reaction that we both think they’d be a winner if the Grisold brothers decide to share them with the rest of us.

David passed by and I asked him what his favourite chocolates were.  “The nut whirl and any or all of the boozy truffles – Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Champagne, Kahlua.”

 

 

John goes through phases. “Macadamia clouds for their quality and simplicity, and nut whirls, truffles and the strawberry delice.”

Belinda was more definite: “Definitely the Red Opal and the Limon.”

I wasn’t sure which were my favourite, but I was very, very interested in their overhead plumbing system and could certainly entertain the idea of installing something similar in my home……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…..especially considering their ‘water’ source:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolatier’s factory shop is on Waterdale Road, Ivanhoe, but they’re recently opened a second shop in Hampton that also specialises in organic and free trade coffee.  Having said that, John observes that their chocolates are just as popular when available at Coles or David Jones, but I’m playing on visiting the shop on another day to take home my own Cocoa the platypus as he’s clearly thriving in the fertile ‘waters’ of Chocolatier!

 

After yesterday’s article which included my rant on Ernest Hillier’s packaging and it’s eerie similarity to that of a certain other very large chocolate company and my suggestion that they streamline their design to make it a more recognisable brand, I was contacted by SB, the Brand Manager at Hillier’s.

I’ve met SB before – and had several email and phone chats with him and know him to be a reputable bloke who is committed to his work.  I also hope that GoneChocco will not only provoke debate and opinion but also allow further explanation and other sides of the story to be heard.   This is what he said:

“I can give some excellent insight into this, as prior to Hilliers, I worked for ____ from 2005-2008.

Packaging (borrowing of concepts) – this happens a lot in confectioinery, and depending on your point of view, it’s the case of chicken and the egg, confec borrows a lot from other categories like fashion and cosmetics, and time to time, one chocolate manufacturer will copy another e.g. the most spectacular flop of which was Cadbury’s failed Eden Gift Box’s (circa 2006), which was abysmal in trying to emulate the Lindt Lindor Gift Boxes. You might ask Cadbury Eden what? My point exactly.

Hillier’s Cocoa Dusted Flower Boxes have been available since 2007 and have been sold exclusively to David Jones in 2008.   Lindt Lindor Cube (similar flower pattern) developed roughly the same time, this same flower pattern is now used by Cadbury Roses sold in Big W 2009 (see below).

 

                                 

 

 

 

Hillier’s Assorted Bon Bons have been available since 2002, with Lindt Bon Bons available since 2008/9.

Hillier’s Highly Awarded Packaging Innovators – as a small family owned business we thrive as a company, partly because the buyers of the larger national retailers rely on Hillier’s to innovate in packaging design. This is something we are re-known for in the industry. See some of our achievements.

• Gold ‘Beauty through Design’ in the Australasian Packaging Awards 2007 (Packaging Council of Australia)
• Gold in Wadepack Premium Folding carton awards 2004 (Packaging Council of Australia)
• Bronze Medal in the Australian National Print Awards 1999

Who’s borrowing from who?  Depends who you are asking. For reasons, including not being widely available to the public nationally through major retailers like Coles, Woolworths, and DJs Myer, has affected our brand recognition or recall with consumers. So when it appears that Hillier’s have copied Lindt, is actually quite false. It may appear that way, since everyone recognises Lindt or the others in the big 4 (Cads, Ferrero, Guylian), simply because they are widely available – however  being first to market, unfortunately means being borrowed from sometimes – and flattery, and being mentioned in the same sentence is…

We are soon to launch our revamped Website and have plans in offering an Online Shop, which should make our portfolio of chocolates products more accessible and recognisable to the public.

If only consumers really knew.”

Well SB, you can rest assured that the highly-read, intelligent, discerning, gorgeous, joys-to-be-with and incredibly talented readers of GoneChocco now do!

 

Did you know that Ernest Hillier’s is Australia’s oldest chocolatier?  The company is celebrating its 95^th birthday this year and remains proudly family-owned and run, producing around 40 million Easter eggs, 64 million individual chocolates and 250 million scorched nuts; give or take a few.

The actual bloke Ernest Hillier was born in England but married an Aussie girl, the intriguingly-named Magdalen May, and they both set off for America to learn about confectionery and soda.  If it wasn’t for the infamous San Francisco earthquake flattening all the restaurants they’d built, then the Hilliers might not have returned back home to Australia to start from scratch again in 1911.

Ernest opened Australia’s first soda fountain in Sydney’s Imperial skating rink before establishing his own locally-made chocolate and soda shop in 1914.  Before that time, chocolates were shipped here from overseas and considering the climate, length of travel and storage difficulties, they weren’t too appetising by the time they arrived on our shores.

Hillier became successful because he imported the cocoa liquor but made the chocolate and fillings fresh daily.  This struck a chord with Sydneysiders, who flocked to the shop that could seat 600 people at any given time alongside the 13 m (42 foot) soda fountain.  He also pioneered the use of newspaper advertising and mail orders: ‘Made in Australia. Made by Australians. Mailed to any address in the Australia on the day they are made’ with French nougat, pineapple liqueur, molasses chews, Brazilian wafers and after dinner mints being the most popular chocolates sold. 

During the Great Depression, unemployment in Sydney hit 29% and chocolate sales slumped.  Ernest figured that Melbourne would be a better place to set up his chocolate company and he opened his shop next to the Regent Theatre in Collins Street.  During World War 2 Hillier’s developed their famous ‘Yard of Chocolates’ which contain 24 chocolates to cover everyone sitting in one row at the movies, with the idea of taking one chocolate out of the box and passing it on. 

These days, Ernest Hillier’s chocolates still make their after dinner mints – now either with cream or crisps – and still have respect the original company vision, which states “We will make quality chocolate, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but we will make quality chocolate.”  This is mercifully free of any corporate buzzwords like ‘innovative’, ’strategic’, ‘customer-focussed’, ‘continuous improvement’ or ‘relationship building’, so it’s no wonder it has endured.

As part of their celebrations, I was one of a select group of people invited to tour their factory, chat to the chocolate makers, workers, marketers and owner of the company (Sam Piedimonte), try their freshly-made chocolates, learn about how they’re made and participate in some wine matching. 

Apart from the chocolates, what impressed me the most was how enthusiastic and open everyone is at Ernest Hillier’s.  Unlike Haigh’s factory tour which takes about ten minutes and involves walking up a glass-lined passageway looking in for about ten minutes before being handed two chocolate buds and shoved back out again, this was a Charlie Bucket, Golden Ticket, ‘Nothing is off-limits’ kind of tour. 

Hygiene is hugely important so all jewellery was removed and hair nets and white coats put on over our clothes.  As we entered the factory, there was a distinct smell of  coconut with a hint of spice in the air – what were they making today?  Walking past the enormous pallets of Aussie almonds, Product Integrity Manager Jim Apostolou pulled back the door and the warm, sweet smell of liquid chocolate wrapped around me.   My spiritual home was calling…..

We were allowed to stand on a small set of steps and see their chocolate being conched which takes the chocolate mass and keeps it in a warm, liquid state by rolling and grinding for hours on end (this is around 4-6 hours for low grade product or 24+ hours for top quality chocolate and yes, Ernest Hillier’s do theirs for at least 24 hours) to make it delectably smooth. 

If they’d supplied me with a heat-resistant wet suit and a scuba mask I’d have been swimming in there quicker than you could say, “Oh darn, that’s the day’s batch ruined, somebody get Security in here now.”

It was nougat day today – hence the huge volume of almonds – but on first look it could have been mistaken for my kitchen benchtop……

 

 

 

 

….before it was cut into the traditionally chewy European-style nougat that at first is hard, then warms up and dissolves oh-so-subtlely in the mouth.  “We don’t stint on the proper ingredients,” Sam said, beaming like a proud parent.  “It costs more to make and we employ people to do things the old way, but it’s worth it.”

The nougat was delicious on its own but after being enrobed (what a gorgeous word!) in either 34% milk chocolate or 53% dark chocolate it was even better.

 

 

 

  

 

In another corner of the factory Easter Eggs were being set …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

and some rejected……

 

 

 

 

 

 …..but we were encouraged by Sam to reach in and try some: “See how they snap? It’s good chocolate.”  He’s right, it is – creamy, smooth, sweet and light.  I could have dived into that box and set up home in there.

Fragrantly spicy pudding ganache was being mixed ……

 

 

 

 

 

…… and beautiful chocolates were being packed into boxes….

 

 

 

 

 

…… and we were asked to help the packers make sure that only the best looking chocolates made it into the boxes.  Wearing my special gloves for the task, I think I was about as helpful as Augustus Gloop on acid, but it reinforced that Ernest Hillier’s employ a lot of people (up to 120 in busy times, which seems to be most of the time) and continue to make the chocolates in pretty much the same way they did in the archival footage of the factory from the 1920s that we’d viewed earlier. 

General Manager Wayne Horrobin agreed with this observation. “In many commercial factories this is all completely robotic now but we want to have the involvement of our people.”   Some of the machinery used is over 40 years old and Sam says, “Yes and we have four mechanics on staff to maintain it – it all relates to using the older methods to make our chocolate. We don’t want to cut corners.”

Later on I reluctantly took off my hair net, gloves and coat and left the factory floor.  This was only so that I could learn how to match some classy Peter Lehmann red wines with Ernest Hillier chocolates.  Can you see how happy I was to be invited?

 

 

 

 

 

I learned so much and have been given so many wonderful things to try that this week is going to be designated by the  Choc Goddess as Ernest Hillier’s Week.  Stay tuned for more information, photos and reviews.

 

Ross and his wife Marianna have run the Chokolait Hub in Melbourne for over two years and it looks like their little secret (i.e. they’re not too far away from Koko Black and Haigh’s in the Royal Arcade) isn’t going to stay that way for long.

“We use the very best genuine Belgian chocolate – not the cheaper stuff – and let people enjoy it in a relaxed and unhurried environment.”  The marketer in him hasn’t yet been dampened by the chocolate though; as he lists the two main reasons that people come into their shop:

1) To make themselves happy: i.e. by having a coffee or hot chocolate; taking a break, enjoying a dessert or some truffles;

2) To find something for someone else to make them happy.

Initially, he and Marianna were worried about being ‘hidden’ in the CBD but have found that they have a very high loyalty rate amongst customers, who keep returning.  “I think they like the ‘secret’ and the pleasure in finding us and the fact that we work and run the business ourselves and aren’t part of a chain.”

This has translated into wider recognition, catapulting them into The Age ‘top five’ for their hot chocolate, their Easter eggs and chocolate fondue.  Ross attributes this to using the best quality ingredients and keeping the fillings as natural and fresh as possible.  Does he recognise The Age reviewers when they’re in the shop? “No, I wouldn’t have a clue, which means that they’re getting the same product and service as everyone else.”

In the first year of opening, The Chokolait Hub specialised only in chocolate and hot drinks made with Belgian Callebaut milk or dark chocolate.  “Then people wanted desserts to have with their drinks and I decided to include my cheesecake.”  Ross had been an amateur chef, well-known for his delightful dinner party desserts, but he was worried.  “Lemon cheesecake didn’t fit in with our chocolate-theme; that is until we drizzled some melted dark chocolate on the top.  The slight sweetness of the dark chocolate drizzle works beautifully with the sharp tang of the lemon.”

The cheesecake became an instant classic (I know; I’ve had it) and he soon introduced his double chocolate Belgian mousse that my daughter discovered on a shopping trip into town with Love Chunks and kept on raving about.  Then came the mud cake……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

….served drizzled with melted chocolate and a generous dollop of top-notch Gippsland double cream…. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 …and their now most popular dessert, the chocolate pavlova.***  This took Ross and his pastry chef a month to perfect and has Belgian dark chocolate inside the marshmallow filling but in three different forms – powdered chocolate, fine granules and chunks – which results in three different flavour textures .  When you then add the soft meringue, the crispy snap and crunchy mouth-feel of the outer shell and the double cream and fresh strawberries and I can see that I’ll be back to try it!

The coffee is good – Quist’s – which turns out to be a respectful nod to the shop’s original owners, Quist’s Coffee, who operated there for forty years and were the very first to start roasting coffee in Melbourne in 1938.  “We still get older customers who wander in and ask, ‘Is this where I can buy Quist’s coffee?’ and it’s nice to able to say ‘yes’.”  It must also feel rather gratifying to discover that when punters are at nearby Haigh’s and ask if they can have a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, they’re told ‘no’, but are then directed to The Chokolait Hub.

All of their chocolates are big sellers but chocolate frogs are the perennial favourites.  “When they were on the bottom shelf we sold heaps on the weekends as more kids were in, but when we put them on the top of the counter and added a range of flavours (dark, milk, white, strawberry, orange, milk orange, caramel, chilli) they sell all week long to people of all ages.”   (Marianna had already confessed to me that she enjoys having a dark chocolate frog each day as well as a hot dark chocolate).

The GFC certainly made an impact when it first hit in October 2008.  “Our business halved and it took six weeks afterwards in all the uncertainty before they started coming back again.”

I comment that good chocolate is actually an affordable luxury in bad times compared to say, worse addictions such as gambling away life savings and he nods.  “I could halve my ingredient costs by using inferior quality ingredients but I don’t want to do that – people can tell what is quality, and I always think, ‘What would I want to spend my money on’?  What pleasure can you get for $5 or $10?” 

Sitting next to us are two women from Seeing Eye Dogs Australia with their charges – a black and a blonde Labrador, taking a morning tea break.

As an unashamed dog lover, I have to go over there and gush, telling them that if anyone deserves a break, it is them.  “Oooh we love it here,” they chorused.

But the last word is best left to Ross:  “Customers who come in to our chocolate shop are generally happy and our job is to make sure they leave happier.”

 

 *** The day I visited Ross, I was still suffering from a virus that had made me spend the previous three days bed-ridden, aching, sweating, and shivering and with a sick-bucket close by.  It seems pitiful to write this, but sampling the pavlova was just too big a challenge for me that day, let alone ANY of his wonderful chocolates!

 

I first met Andy in August, when we formed part of the trio of judges (the third being Helen, a secret chocolate ‘profiler’ who can’t reveal her full name here) involved in a seven-hour marathon session judging chocolate entries for the Chocolate Rush Australian chocolate championships.

Amongst my groaning, he remained cheerful, impressed with the quality of entries and when pressed, told me that he’d been in Australia for the past couple of years to help Heritage Chocolates develop their gourmet range of chocolate.

We met up a couple of weeks later (when our digestive systems and brains had recovered) so that I could find out more about Andy, the beer loving Belgian bloke. 

Born and raised in Belgium by a father who worked at NESTLE (yoghurts people, not chocolate) and a mother who ran a pub (!!), he was always interested in the baking she did on the weekends.  At age 12 he started at the Ter Groene Poortre school in Bruges, famous for bakery, confectionery and patisserie studies.  With such a focus on careers, it was common for the students to work 45 hour weeks and end up completing 6 month internships in their final year of study.  Andy did his internship at Callebaut chocolate, working in the application laboratory where they tested and tried out new products for coating biscuits and cakes.  “I liked the chocolate part of it and wanted to be someone who could get out there, meet chefs and manufacturers and demonstrate how chocolate could be used better.”

Andy did an extra year’s study specialising in ‘Bakery technology’ processes which gave him a lot of technical and practical experience.  “I was always driven by it.”   Not only did he make breads, buns and cakes, but also learned how to create many fancy pastries, sugar-blowing (like glass) for show piece desserts, toffees and caramels. 

When his studies finished, he worked for two industrial bakery companies that specialised in frozen bakery products like croissants and baguettes for shops and cafes.  He became a demonstrator and trained people how to use their products.  Trade shows were part of the job, but “they were very early hours – up at 2am to bake so that they’d be ready in time for a three hour drive at a fair across the other side of the country.”  He then moved into the Research and Development side at a second company, creating new products and investigating what competitors were releasing onto the market. “We looked at everything starting from the box design to the range of tastes inside.”

A posting at Barry Callebaut in their application laboratory (where young Andy had so enjoyed his work experience placement) came up.  He did shelf life tests for chocolate, marketing, demonstrating their range of products to big clients and even providing training to suppliers on how they could use their own machinery better to get the most out of Callebaut chocolate products.

He then found himself in Singapore at their application laboratory, involved in training staff, upskilling local people, reviewing their testing techniques and benchmarking them to European chocolate standards.  “I loved it, it was a completely different culture and I was made to feel instantly welcome.”   He also took the opportunity to educate himself in more detail on making chocolate direct from the cocoa liquor: “I knew that this was what I really wanted to do.”

The hugely expanding Asian chocolate market saw Andy feeling very overworked: “I was traveling 70% of the time and was exhausted.”  A colleague of his joined Heritage fine chocolates in Australia and asked Andy to come over and start the Research and Development side of the business.  “They were keen to move on from just their Easter range.  These sell very cheaply and pay the bills, but Heritage is what we want to do. It’s our passion and aiming for a different market.”

Andy and his partner Adele arrived in Melbourne in 2008, literally one week before the  Chocolate Rush festival.  “I was trying to prepare my session on wine and chocolate matching before getting to Melbourne, but literally hit the ground running talking about chocolate, doing demonstrations, getting over jetlag and trying to find a place to live,” he smiles.

At Chocolate Rush 2009, Andy ran a beer and chocolate matching session.  Noting my incredulous look, he insists, “Beer and chocolate can match but you approach it the opposite way that you do with wine.  With wine you choose a strong one to match a strong chocolate.  With beer, take a light lager with a strong chocolate, or a heavy porter-style beer with milk chocolate.”

From day one at Heritage, he’s been working directly with Michael Simons, owner of Heritage Fine Chocolates, in the creation of new products, production (particularly the hand-made lines), optimisation (looking at the machines, process flows, settings).  He’s proud that Heritage have gone beyond the Australian minimum standards to BRC, an internationally-recognised quality management system that looks at more than just documents but also practical methods, traceability of ingredients, weight checks and hygiene.  “I love that this job has given me the freedom to try new things.”

Such as?  “Embracing some of the more traditional Belgian styles in hazelnut truffles.  Using buttercream instead of ganache which is everywhere here; the tartness of cranberries with the sweet milky white chocolate; mixing in freeze dried fruit for maximum flavour….”

He’s been thinking about salt, herbs such as lavender and bergamot and uses Epinema coffee ground coarsely for flavouring the dark chocolate.  He’s proud of Heritage’s Corporate Social Responsibility too.  “We have some fair trade bars available and it’s in our interest to keep this initiative running because cocoa is difficult to grow and farmers need to see the benefits in growing it rather than shifting to other cheaper and easier crops.  We’d love to get some of the larger retailers interested in buying our fair trade products.”

In his hands is a bag that is heavier than most airline suitcases.  “We focus on big blocks and bars that are generous in size, but are also venturing into hand made, artisan-style chocolates.  We’d like to get into specialty stores and can make chocolates to order as we have the staff, skills and machinery to do it.”  At the moment, Heritage is available from their Rowville factory outlets and shop at the Prahran market. 

What do you eat when you’re at home, on the lounge?
Firstly, he shakes his head, “No, no I don’t eat chocolate at home, I get enough at work,” but with a bit of prompting says he loves Heritage’s Ecuador dark – “It’s got 73% cocoa solids but tastes fruity and light, with low acidity.  I also like Tanzanian chocolate which is much more acidic and not yet available from Heritage.”

So, for a twenty eight year old with a face the makers of Oil of Olay would love, what’s been a success so far?

This: winning Australia’s Best Truffle, 2009, People’s choice.  Andy beams, “People who came to Chocolate Rush voted for it – what better judgment is there than that?”

The victorious raspberry truffle is “more Australian in style” according to Andy because it has a ganache centre, but it is not filled with a puree because it is too sweet.  Instead, Andy uses freeze-dried raspberries that are powdered and retain the full berry flavour.  The truffle is topped with the same raspberry pieces: “I put on my chocolate what I put in it,” he says.

We farewelled each other – he back off to the factory and me back home to pick up my daughter from school and lugging an insanely loaded brown paper bag full of Andy’s inventions.  How could I not try the award-winning raspberry truffles the second I got home?

I can see why it won.  The centre is a delicously soft ganache with a complexity that makes it taste almost like a fruity mud cake.  This is then dipped in white chocolate for a contrasting creamy sweetness against the tang of the raspberries and then finished off with the outer layer of dark chocolate.

My husband, Love Chunks, arrived just as I was reaching for the last one.  He grabbed it and ran out of the room.  A few seconds later I heard, “Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm….. who made this?” and knew that Andy had created a winner.

 

Each week GoneChocco will be profiling a real person; someone who loves chocolate, eats chocolate and is worth getting to know.

It’s time for you all to meet my mother, Pauline, because she’s the one responsible for my love of chocolate.  If Cadbury, Hoadley, Smalls or Nestle was on sale when I was growing up, she’d buy at least ten blocks and that wasn’t counting whatever else she hid under her sewing machine, in her bedside drawers or in her Tardis-like handbag.  Despite this addiction, she remained slim, beautiful and a real lady who can look the part but still appreciate a good fart joke.

Here’s a shot of her pantry taken just last week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Pauline

Age: 69

Occupation: Retired administrator

My favourite chocolate as a child was: Oooh, that’s going back – Violet Crumble.  I always got the Hoadley’s bag at the Royal Adelaide Show because it had licorice and a comic book in it as well.

My favourite chocolate to be seen out in public eating is: Cadbury’s Rum and Raisin but I don’t like the cardboard packaging or that the squares are flatter.  Bring back the foil and paper.

But if I’m hiding away at home it’s: Cadbury’s plain Dairy Milk. Boxes of fancy chocolates aren’t really my thing.

For my last meal on death row, I’d order: A nice steak, lots of salad and a pavlova topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

If I could invent anything it would be: A button you could press that would instantly clean the entire house.

Apart from eating chocolate, in my free time I enjoy doing: Gardening, especially mucking about with pot plants.  Petunias are my favourite.  I also love writing and performing comedy skits for the community groups I’m involved in.

The chocolate I haven’t liked is: Marzipan in or on anything and 70% or above is too strong for me.

Volunteers deserve a pat on the back because they do a lot of unseen, good things for other people. They may not make the Queen’s birthday honours list but they do things unselfishly.  I can’t name one because there are so many.

Most celebrities deserve a kick in the pants because they actually think they’re important and that we’re interested.

The one thing I’ve learned is that appearances aren’t important.  The outside of a chocolate box doesn’t make the chocolate, like Ferrero Rocher for instance.  Same with people.

My favourite spot in Australia is anywhere I can see the sea but Kent Reserve at Victor Harbor is the very best.  The sea, Granite Island, the Bluff, native trees and birds; it’s all there.

 

 

When you leave the big smoke for a weekend and head off into Bed-and-breakfast country, it’s a fair bet you’re going to be situated in a lovely village filled with cafes, sweet shops, farmers markets, antiques and chocolates.

Daylesford was no exception and Sweet Decadence at Locantro had been recommended by my GP.  This was ironic, because my next visit with him was to discuss my high cholesterol level and how I needed to cut down on naughty foods!

We ordered some cappuccinos for the two grown ups and hot chocolates and pecan friands for the two ten year olds.  Then I sauntered up to the sumptious counter and said “I’d like to try three chocolates with my coffee please.”

Therefore, I selected four (there’s always that extra one that looks interesting, isn’t there) to try and was immediately struck with how friendly and enthusiastic the girl behind the counter was, before ascertaining she was Pia, daughter of Richard, the owner of the business.  “I’ll go and get Dad for you; he’d love to show you where we make all our chocolates in two tiny rooms upstairs.”

She wasn’t exaggerating.  Richard bounded up the stairs, almost apologising for the fact that it was Saturday and none of his skilled staff were there making the chocolate.  What is his favourite?  “Oh, I don’t eat it, I’m a diabetic.”  What a cruel world we live in!  What would he reach for if health allowed it? “Whisky truffles, or the mocha,” he shot back with instantly.

In this photo, Richard is holding a solid old saucepan that was once part of a pressure cooker.  “This is where it all starts.  Every single one of our chocolates starts in this pot.  One pot makes one tray of ganache.”  It’s a hard working little pot, because Sweet Decadence produce around 26,000 to 40,000 chocolates a month from two rooms not much larger than children’s bedrooms.  In room one, the ganaches are made, spread in trays and left on protected racks for a couple of days to ensure they’re completely dry before being coated in chocolate.

In room two, skilled workers slice up the ganache (“this explains why they’re so generous in size, at least 20 grams each”, says Richard proudly) and hand dip and decorate the chocolates via drizzles from spoons.  This is incredible considering how neat and accurate they are in their designs: 

 

 

 

 

Richard has a background in food, having sold his quality food processing plant in Melbourne that specialised in ‘boil in the bag’ foods that are now sweeping the nation from top chefs to busy restaurants.  He sold the concern to Nestle and planned on enjoying an early retirement.  In theory at least. “I found that retirement didn’t suit me and I wanted to do something that involved my family.”

He bought Sweet Decadence in 2005 but it has been around since 1983, and was the first home-grown chocolate store in Victoria in and made the first chilli chocolate back then too, with a second store in Ballarat.  Enough history; Richard beckoned me into the first room.  “Come here and try this wild chocolate; even Pia doesn’t know where I hide it.”

It is 99% cocoa solids that he buys wholesale from overseas (he won’t tell me where, it’s his little secret) for $100 a kilogram.  It tastes pure, fresh and divine.  “This is what I use as my quality measure.  This is the standard I compare the volumes of cocoa butter in the chocolate we use for our products.”  He’s also discovered that Belgian white chocolate isn’t fine enough for chocolate designs: “It’s too thick and hard to use for writing.  We’ve been using Australian-made chocolate and found that it’s what we like, our customers like and is great to work with.”

Pia tells me that her favourite (“It changes every week”) is the pistacchio, “but if the girls have just made a fresh batch of the peppermint, it’s very hard to beat.” 

It’s time to taste the four that have arrived with my coffee.

Caramel:  This is a big, chewy square that rendered me speechless and busy for several minutes.  My husband definitely thought it was value for money (and the extra peace and quiet it gave him) and so did I (my reasons were for taste, not for making Love Chunks happy!).  Sweet, and engrossing and much larger and softer than a fantail.

Marzipan:  I love marzipan, especially if it’s been dipped in dark chocolate and this one has been.  Soft, sweet and melt-in-the-mouth chewy with a delicate almond flavour.

Orange: The fresh cream filling inside the ganache is evident the second it dissolves on the tongue.  This screams out, “I’m fresh and home made!”

Chilli:  Not scary-hot, but a nice tingle at the back of the throat after the rich dark ganache has been enjoyed.  A very nice finish to my impromptu morning tea.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for the review of their ‘Pack of ten’….

 

Like the old Oral B toothbrush advertisements of the 1990s, this woman is a professional taster – or ‘Chocolate Profiler’ as she prefers to call it – and can’t show you her face on television. Or websites.

Helen* is an attractive combination of a young Pamela Stephenson and Toni Collette with a self deprecating sense of humour. “I got into this job because I love to pig out on chocolate,” she says. “I even used to save my bus fare and walk to school so that I could buy a Mars Bar instead.”  Naturally, seeing Gene Wilder star as Willy Wonka in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ she vowed that someday, somehow, that would be her.

And so it came to pass that Helen found herself applying for a position as a Chocolate Profiler for the Expert Sensory Panel (ESP, geddit?).  She had to undergo a series of challenging taste tests in order to assure the panel that she could detect faint traces of sugar, salt, bitter and a range of other flavour profiles that is expected of a discerning palate.  She got the job and has been there – very happily – for three years. “I’ll stay until they fire me”, Helen vows.

What kind of training do you need for this job?

There are tricks of the trade that Helen was unable to share with me due to confidentiality and commercial reasons, but she did say that “there is an induction course that is quite lengthy and detailed. We learn how to detect flavours, odours and characteristics and how to properly describe them.  For instance, a lot of people don’t know that there is a difference between ‘crisp’ and ‘crunch’ textures.  We sometimes look at wafers, corn chips, potato crisps, biscuits, crackers and rice bubbles in order to get our ESP-group definitions consistent.”

The ESP meets for two hour sessions to conduct their taste tests.  “Any longer than that and, as with wine or perfume, your palate gets fatigued and it’s difficult to detect any flavours properly.”  Sometimes they do a ‘warm up’ test with glasses of water that they have to place in order of sweetness, or salt or vinegar or whatever the manager devises before doing the fun stuff.  “Today I was testing ice-cream, as the ESP is good at detecting sources of vanilla and cream.”

And your favourite ice-cream?

“Peters’ Light and Creamy by far and Drumsticks are better than Cornettos.  We regularly test them and I had to laugh the other day at seeing all of us holding chocolate ice-creams in both hands and seeing other dissected and discarded ones scattered around the place.”

On to the real stuff: Chocolate.

“When I started this job I was into the basic Cadbury Dairy Milk range, but since then I’m much more into dark chocolate.  The 70 to 80% cocoa solids range is OK but can be hard to eat and enjoy.  Instead I prefer the 48 to 55% so that I can enjoy the cocoa but not have to make it an endurance test.  Belgian and Swiss chocolate tends to be too buttery for me; I like the chocolate to have a nice creamy texture but not overly sugary.”

What chocolate has impressed you?

Nestlé’s revamped ‘Club’ range is smoother and richer.  All of the flavours are nice, but their plain is particularly good.  What I’d also like to see is some of the old favourites that we enjoyed as children get promoted more – the Chokito and the Pollywaffle, for instance.  Kids today aren’t aware of them.  The Kit Kat dark has been wonderful and even my kids love them because they too are beginning to appreciate darker chocolate now.”

How do you prepare for work?

You really can’t be a smoker for this job because it affects your taste buds.  On testing days I don’t wear perfume or strongly-scented deodorants, and have to avoid scented face and hand-creams because we handle the chocolate and need to smell it as part of the process.  Hair product such as mousse and sprays must be avoided too.  I used to have a glass of water with freshly squeezed lemon juice in it as a breakfast time routine, but found that it would taint my ability to detect bitter flavours, so had to stop.”

“We develop key flavour profiles such as taste, flavours, characteristics and textures and have plain water crackers and water to cleanse the palate between each taste.  Our testing is done ‘blind’ so that we’re not influenced by packaging or brand names and we are not to talk about our findings or results with the other panel members.  There is a huge emphasis on ensuring that everything is unbiased and it’s taken extremely seriously.”

Surely this job has some drawbacks.

“Yes, but I can put up with it!  When we do ‘shelf life’ tastings to help the developers of new and existing products work out what ‘best by’ date to put on chocolate batches it can sometimes be a bit interesting.  Blooming is OK but when the milk goes rancid or the texture changes it’s not much fun.”   She also knows of other tasters who are experts in the fields of salts, spices and sauces, “But who’d want to eat gravy for two hours?”  Quite.

What about your health?

She laughs heartily at this question. “I’ve always been a big lover of chocolate and I’m not going to hide from that.  Some of the other tasters will spit out chocolate when we’re tasting it in order to remain thin, but I don’t want to do that.  However, there’s a lot of stuff out there that I’ll now avoid because I’m more aware of ingredients and how artificial flavours and colours can affect things.”   

There’s sadness in your eyes, Helen.  Tell Auntie Kath all about it.

“Yes, there’s been a tragedy in my world.  My most favourite chocolate, Nestlé’s Club Mild and Creamy, has been taken off the market.  I reckon I drove all around Melbourne snapping up the remaining blocks on the shelves hoping that they’d notice an increase in sales, but no, it’s gone.  It’s a crying shame because it was a top quality product that would introduce the non-dark chocolate eaters over to the dark side without frightening them.”

Her eyes fill with tears and she waves away the chocolate biscuit I offer as a consolation.  “There are also times when we’re given new products to try that we love and score very highly, but find their way to marketing never to be heard of again.  Who knows why, but sometimes good products do find their way out there via new packaging or rebranding, so maybe there’s hope for Nestlé’s Club Mild and Creamy after all.”

We’ll cross our fingers for you, Helen.

On a weekend stay in Bed-and-Breakfast land – also known as Daylesford – amongst the cottages, gift shops, wood-fire burning cafes, lake-side walks and hobby farms are two chocolatiers. 

One is Sweet Decadence at Locantro, based in the main street of Daylesford (see review here —–) and the other, the Chocolate Mill (www.chocmill.com.au), is several kilometres away.

Yes, that’s me posing by their cheesy ‘Chocaholics this way’ sign, clad in two jackets and a scarf because it was freezing.  Even so, you can tell that this chocolate reviewing job has given me a few extra layers of cocoa butter/fat of my own, but that’s the price I pay…..

By the time we arrived, we’d missed out on their free talk about their products and it was all about being bustled in to buy something.  Trouble was, after the uncomplicated friendliness of Sweet Decadence, this establishment came across as a bit Nazi-ish:

“We don’t give out free samples because we get over 14,000 visitors a year.”

Yeah well I bet most of those visitors bought at least a $5 hot chocolate or one of your $2-a-piece ‘hand made’ chocolates poured in molds on a factory floor using pre-made chocolate but you can’t spare a half-gram sized bud in a dish by your cash register!

“Please buy bottled water. We are unable to give you water to drink because we are only on rainwater and health restrictions do not permit us.”

So, while we’re reading the wall displays about how you made our straw-bale house with your bare hands and lined it with mud and put in solar power panels for environmental sustainability, we have to purchase a plastic bottle of water from you for more than what the supermarket down the road has it priced?

 “RACV Top 101 Tourism Experiences in Victoria“ screamed their brochure.

I’m not sure what their postcards or stickers said because they were two bucks each, but I didn’t realise that this state had 101 tourist spots, let alone top ones.

‘Not just a shop in town.’

Ooooherr, are you referring to the other chocolate shop, Sweet Decadence, in town? The one with FREE samples, cheaper product, Australian-made chocolate and staff willing to chat outside of formal chatting hours, show you around and give you free water to drink? That’s a pretty snippy approach for the so-called laid back, get-away-from-it-all BnB land!But yes, I bought some chocolate. And ate it. 

 

But I’ll have youse all know – I didn’t sign the guestbook or buy a dumb drink but returned to their “Fifty-Plus Carpark!” (aged a mere forty years old) sticker-less and thirsty. That’ll teach em.

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to know what I tried:

Frangelico truffle – studded with hazelnuts and almonds with a nice caramel inside.  Unfortunately the Frangelico flavour was very hard to distinguish.

Macadamia truffle – Milk chocolate on the outside with a white chocolate and creamy toffee/nut paste inside.  It was a lovely buttery flavour to complement the macadamia nut sitting on the top.

Cranberry truffle – The white chocolate exterior held a surprise inside, with dark chocolate ganache and tart, minced cranberries inside.  A clever combination, with the white chocolate easing the stringency of the berries.

Plum and port truffle – Sweet, honeyed fruit flavours were a great pairing with dark chocolate.

Baileys truffle – A nice strong, creamy flavoured centre but with white chocolate on the outside, instead of the preferred milk chocolate.

Cardamon disc – Deeelicious! This spice tastes brilliant with dark chocolate!

My husband who in cyberland is known as ‘Love Chunks’ had the double dipped liquorice and said, “Ooooh I could eat that forever.”  It was nice, soft and fresh liquorice, with thick layers of milk chocolate that tasted as though the liquorice had blended with it instead of being a separate filling.  “Beautiful, this is as good as it gets,” Love Chunks went on. 

Maybe the quality of the chocolates and liquorice can overcome the nazi-ness of the establishment rules and we’ll go back again just to get him some more liquorice…..

On a different track entirely, I want to thank all youse special Aussie chocaholics who have visited, subscribed, commented and sent some suggestions.   If any of you are keen to ‘get lucky’ this weekend, click on the recipes link on top of the webpage for my ‘Sexual Chocolate’ recipe, add your answer to our current survey question, read up on the news and see our interview with Thomas Schnetzler, Lindt Master Chocolatier for Australia. 

And here’s the visual proof that he smells as sweet as his product: