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A real-life chocolate factory
Having recently taken over The Chocolatier of Glasgow, formerly Finishing Touches, Karen Cruikshank is continuing to grow a business that's been supplying hand-made chocolates to the catering and hospitality trade for over 15 years. Here she gives her account of a typical day in chocolate heaven…
We start work at around 8am each day when we come in to open everything up. I'll generally look over the day's orders and make sure a production line has been set up to accommodate them, while Ross switches on all the machines and brings them to operating levels.
In order to work with chocolate you have sustain a certain temperature, which varies for the type of chocolate you are preparing. At our shop we have around 30 different varieties, including Belgian chocolates with various fondant centres, and more than 600 moulds.
We make fresh batches daily and as a result we are constantly on the go. It's especially busy around this time of year – we're doing Santas, Christmas trees, figurines and lots of other shapes and moulds – anything that suits the season, whether it's Halloween, Easter or Mothers' &' Fathers' Days. We're moving premises soon to the basement of [Ian Fleming's] The Buttery restaurant, so we're juggling daily business tasks with relocation. At the moment no product lies here for more than a day, and with Christmas around the corner it's going absolutely wild.
Our main line of business is supplying small, personalised boxes of petit fours to hotels around Scotland, but we also do wedding fairs and corporate gifts for hotel guests, and in the future we are hoping to start doing kids' parties and cookery demonstrations at our new premises.
It's early afternoon by the time the machines are at optimum temperature and we start moulding the chocolates. Because of the hand-made centres it can be a very intricate process and demands a lot of concentration, particularly the piping. Everything is made by hand, using plain, milk and white chocolate supplied by Barry Callebaut Ltd.
They have a very large range and their chocolate always has a real shine to it, which is important for our customers. Callebaut are also keen to introduce new ideas, and each year they organise an event where you can see their chefs using new recipes, and you can pick up tips on how to keep improving your chocolate-making techniques.
After packing each order and tidying up we have a look through the next day's orders and prepare to ship out boxes we have just made. By the end of the day we are usually pretty tired but it's worth it. It's a busy and challenging life being a chocolatier but we all do it for the same reason: a deep and unrivalled love of chocolate.
Barry Callebaut - the chocolate experts
With over 150 years' experience in producing cocoa and chocolate for chefs, food-manufacturers, artisans and retailers around the country, Callebaut is the the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa, chocolate and confectionery products.
Sharing their knowledge and experience through seminars, demonstrations, practical workshops and their Chocolate Academy, Callebaut are the one-stop shop for chocolate needs. The UK Academy, headed by former college lecturer Beverley Dunkley, is in a state-of-the-art, purpose-built training environment in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and is ideal for one-to-one training. A whole host of courses are available, including Introduction to Chocolate, Chocolate Sculpture Course and a specialised Cacao Barry Patisserie Course.
And, if you want to go that one step further, the Barry Callebaut Academy also offers a How to Teach Chocolate Course.
For more information, visit www.callebaut.com
This article has been edited from its original version. For the complete feature please see Catering in Scotland magazine November/December 2006.
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