Winky Lewis Photo Darcy was first introduced to all via this blog entry over four years ago. She has been a huge part of what Chocolats Passion has become today: first starting from our tiny corner at the Fork Food Lab, to helping decide on our move to 189 Brackett Street for our shop/production space. For four years, she juggled being a loving mom (and as we know, much of that during COVID) while giving us her creative energy, positivity and serene presence. She nudged me, ever so gently, away from our corny menus and inelegant graphics to new ways...
Winky Lewis Photo The time span between Valentine's Day and Easter this year was huge, and exactly what we needed to produce more bunnies and eggs than ever. This year, our French bunnies sport salted caramel and marshmallows in their stout little bodies. Amélie is our girl bunny, her name direct from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, a sweet movie that was a love letter to both Montmartre and Paris. Jacques is our boy, a Breton to the core with its salted caramel. As with Valentine's Day, we decided to share 10% of our online and shop sales of Easter...
The Perfect Puree has been a constant as long as Chocolats Passion has been in business. Our top selling chocolate, Passion Vanilla, uses their fabulous passion fruit as the base. There is none better anywhere, along with a number of others which are used for ganaches and pâtes de fruits. Catherine was recently approached about being featured in their "Inspiration" page, where various chefs talk about their work. Here is a reprint of this lovely piece. You could say artisan confectioner Catherine Wiersema has chocolate in her blood from her childhood in France, where she made her first (admittedly awful)...
Our team is thrilled to announce that Sarah Levine has been promoted to Lead Chocolatier! Ever since Sarah joined us almost two years ago, she has blazed a trail of masterful competence in all aspects of our profession. She has excelled in every way: from creating a prize-winning chocolate six months in (Silver medal for her Pecan Pralines Mendiant). She conquered all the complex chocolate-making aspects of our work, gradually taking over organizing our production so our team could collaborate in an ever efficient, seamless flow. Then, training our apprentice Ruby from day one in all the steps of chocolate production,...
Photo Credit Jonathan Nutt Our team is exhausted from our intense holiday season, but we feel very lucky. Our customers gifted us with a really good year, in spite of a devastating COVID season. But our luckiest break is that we.somehow managed to keep ourselves safe, at least so far. This is by no means a given considering how the latest variant has upended the lives of many around us, in spite of their best precautions. And as we know, it is infinitely easier to keep a chocolate shop safe than a restaurant. So as we...
Photo credit Winky Lewis Every fall, we introduce a new menu. Our team has extensive discussions as to what chocolates to cycle out of the lineup, and what new tastes to introduce. Since I started the business seven years ago, only three chocolates are still with us: Salted Caramel, Passion Vanilla and Pistachio Raspberry, none of which can ever go away lest we have a customer mutiny! We have limited space in our case, so use a rotation system with monthly introductions. Everyone on the team is responsible for new confections. It has allowed a rich tapestry of fresh tastes...
