Lindsay set up her business as a chocolatier in her home kitchen in 2012 with help from The Prince’s Trust. Since then, her business has gone from strength to strength and just recently, she has moved into The Chocolate Studio alongside Duffy’s Chocolates in Humberston. Here she has more space to work and, not only sell her delicious products, but also run classes and workshops for lovers of chocolate.
A chocolatier buys chocolate as an ingredient whereas a chocolate maker such as Duffy, makes chocolate from scratch. All chocolate is made from cocoa beans which are handpicked and carefully roasted to bring out their flavour; they are then broken into small pieces (nibs) and added to a granite grinder. Over the next couple of days, additional ingredients are added to the grinder until the liquid chocolate is ready to be poured into moulds.
As a chocolatier, Lindsay receives her chocolate as buttons which are easy to melt in air heated tanks for about 12 hours. It is then tempered or reformed to the right consistency until the structure becomes shiny, will snap easily and pour smoothly. Using freeze-dried fruit, she can create up to eight different flavours which are then piped into chocolate moulds and left to cool; the result, is filled chocolates with a flavoured centre. Lindsay has recently added to her repertoire and designed moulds in the shape of an alpaca and a polar bear which are also proving to be very popular.
Not only was this talk most interesting to listen to but, it was also a feast for the eyes and the taste buds as Lindsay passed round samples for us to look at and savour. In addition, she adorned her display table with a selection of her lovely wares which could be purchased.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.