Couverture & Co Red Hill

Sea change, tree change or sweet(s) change?  How about chucking in your job and starting over as a chocolatier?  And how about starting it in hot, humid Brisbane- a bold step you might say.
Jessica from Couverture & Co in Red Hill was woman enough to do just that.  Throwing off the shackles of her regular job, she invested herself in a new life and opened up her chocolate shop in a cute little store in Red Hill.  I asked her how all this came about and here is what she said:

What was your previous working life before becoming a chocolatier?

Previous to working as a chocolatier I worked as a journalist in Oman. I wrote for a number of publications, but my main area of focus was the oil and gas industry – quite the opposite to the chocolate industry!

Was there a pivotal event that made you decide to change/become one?

There was no light bulb moment that made me decide to switch vocations. If you were to ask my friends and family, I think they would say that I’ve always had a bit of a preoccupation with cooking, so it came as no surprise to them when I made the change. From the get go I was in the kitchen, I loved to watch my parents cook and to be involved in the process.

How did you go about becoming one?

I approached my favourite chocolatier in Brisbane –Bittersweet. I used to visit their previous store called Hot Chocolate when they were located on Latrobe Terrace, Paddington. After gaining some work experience I was fortunate to be offered a job. For anyone interested in the industry Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in Melbourne offer some great courses. 

Is it as satisfying as you hoped?  (you don’t have to answer that oneJ) 

It definitely is, however I don’t think I was prepared for how all-consuming running a small business is.

Is it difficult in this brissie climate to make chocolates?  What with the humidity and heat...

It can be very trying at times to make chocolates in Brisbane’s humid and hot climate. There have been a number of days when I’ve had to throw in the towel because of it. When the temperature gets to a certain point and the humidity is high the tempered chocolate will not set hard and the chocolate coating on the exterior of the truffle can turn dull or whitish instead of glossy.

Have you travelled to suss out other chocolatiers?

Whenever I travel I always have a chocolate shop itinerary! However, I haven’t travelled for the soul purpose of visiting chocolatiers. I would love to do a chocolate and champagne trip!

Did you find any that were particularly brilliant/inspiring?

On my first trip to Paris, within hours of getting off the plane, I stumbled across a small old fashioned chocolatier. It was my first Parisian chocolate experience, and I think I fell in love a little. 

As for inspiration, there are so many talented chocolatiers and pastry chefs out there. If you ever get a chance to watch the World Chocolate Masters I highly recommend it. It’s a great insight into the processes involved in working with chocolate. The creations the competitors come up with are amazing.

Your signature chocolate/s?

I’m still working on that one! I hope to add more chocolates to the range throughout the year. I’ve already received quite a few requests from customers for particular flavours.

I’ll be in the kitchen over the next few days experimenting with one or two new flavours for Valentine’s Day, so keep a look out in the coming weeks.

cute entrance!

delish chocs

Jessica with some of her lovely chocs

yum

don't these look gorgeous- good enough to eat!

Couverture & Co can be found at 19A Enoggera Tce Red Hill 4059
Ph- 07 3367 3000

chocolate

chocolate lovers trying out the diverse flavours of regional chocolate

Okay readers, you know I like chocolate and I like it dark and not too sweet.  That's not to say I won't devour an Easter egg made of compound chocolate, or some other over the top gooey product if thrust in front of me.
I am fascinated by how a cacao bean becomes such a delectable treat after it has been processed.  Those Aztecs/Mayans- I am never sure who-surely were on to a good thing when they first picked up the big pod full of beans and decided to ferment, dry, roast, grind and press them into chocolate heaven.  Well, once they thought of adding a bit of sugar to the mixture anyway.  I suggest googling it to check out photos of the weird pods and beans.
So, Mr Pickings and I headed out on a most beautiful Queensland day last weekend to trendy Paddington,  to check out the incredible Antiques Centre, my fave St Vinnies full of bargains, and Monty's chocolate shop (about which I have blogged before).
Steve the owner was hosting a chocolate tasting with Peter from Cravve chocolates.  They had a range of different chocolates to try, sourced mainly from the Pacific region, all with incredibly diverse flavour accents depending on where they come from.

a table full of regional chocolate

Peter kindly answered a few of my chocolatey questions:
How did you arrive at the name Cravve for your business?

we were formerly byron tea & cocoa but on moving to burleigh felt a name change was due to something not as demographic and defined our philosophy in a single word over time we drifted to crave but for trademark reasons use a 'vv'

What led you into making chocolate and when did you start?

i've spent a lifetime in food and worked with chocolate off and on over the years around 2000 started in drinking chocolate with a origin range which has grown to couverture drinking choc which led to couverture dark chocolate

How did you source your beans? 

mainly through industry contacts made over the years who put me in touch with growers & grower groups across the Pacific

Do you roast and process them into chocolate yourself?

yes, we have the beans harvested and dried shipped to us then we sort- roast- winnow-refine and finally conche the cocoa into chocolate over a 3-4 day period

Do you still love chocolate? J(I assume you did/do)

yes but only dark origin cacaos, i don't have much interest in pretty lolly chocolate.

Steve and Peter in front of Monty's

monty's chocolates Brisbane CBD

I spoke to Steve from Monty's Chocolates today about his fabulous chocolate shop(s).  The original store is in Paddington and he has expanded to Spring Hill and the CBD.  If you love really good chocolate this is the place to come.   I tried a cup of the insanely good hot chocolate made with couverture chocolate;  oh boy!  It was so good and I can taste it now.  Silky smooth and deliciously decadent. I also tried a beautiful geranium truffle which is still reverberating on my tastebuds.  As Steve said- when you go away you will still be thinking about that taste -and he was so right.
Steve said his aim is to provide best quality products with fantastic flavour and excellent service.  Two lovely older ladies were in the shop today and they couldn't resist telling me how bloody wonderful they thought the hot chocolate was.   To die for as one of the ladies said!
All in all well worth a trip into one of the stores to check out the gorgeous truffles, drinks etc.

Inside Monty's

Posing outside Vanilla Zulu

Truly we did not deliberately match our colours-pure accident!

Interview with chef Mel

I posed a few questions to Mel about her journey from Africa to Australia to find out how she ended up here in our lovely Brisbane city.  Mel now runs Vanilla Zulu Culinary Adventures- a successful (and fun!) cooking school as I can attest.

Why and when did you come to Australia?

I arrived in gorgeous Australia on the 22nd February 2008, after two very long years of waiting for our visas to be approved!  We had had too many close calls in a very violent Africa so decided to bring our two gorgeous children to the most wonderful place on earth... Australia!

Why did you choose Brisbane or did it choose you?

I think Brisbane chose us. As a farm girl I love the laid back attitudes, the friendly people, the beautiful surrounds and the perfect climate.  In South Africa they refer to Brisbane as 'Durban without the Death!'.  Same climate as Durban but you're not as likely to get hijacked, killed or attacked.  It seems a world away now, living in constant fear like that.

How did you get started in the food world?

I have always grown up in very remote places as my father was a farmer when we immigrated to South Africa from Zimbabwe, so I spent a lot of time on my own growing up as a child.  My only source of entertainment was cooking and experimenting and using my family as very willing tasters for my creations.  There were no shopping malls where I grew up, some farms being 100's of kilometres from the smallest town.  My parents bought me my first recipe book as a four year old (which I still have) and my older brother would read the recipes out to me before I could read and I would cook.  The first thing I ever made was a loaf of brown bread...and I forgot the salt!  My parents still ate it, bless them!

Did you always have a passion for food?

Yes!!  I am always hungry so I am always thinking about the next meal.  It's my biggest passion in life apart from my two amazing sons.  I always get asked if I get tired of cooking. How could I?  There is always some other amazing recipe or ingredient to try!

When and why did you decide that a cooking school was the best way to showcase your food passions?

I started my first cooking school in Durban back in 2002 when 'hobby cooking' or 'domestic cuisine' was still  in its infancy.  I quit a perfectly good job and converted a granny flat into a cooking studio, my friends and my ex-boss thought I was crazy but I followed my passion and well, the rest is history!

What training did you have?

I did three years at ML Sultan Hotel School in Durban

What are your plans for the future?

I am planning to publish my first recipe book very soon, it's all typed up and tested, now I just need a few sponsors to help me complete it!  I would love my own cooking show, with a difference, watch this space...

So if anyone is interested in a fun cooking class and picking up hints and skills give Mel's culinary adventures a go.  She is a fun and informative teacher.  Check out her Facebook page for more info.

Interview with Mel from Vanilla Zulu

Today Mel kindly gave me some of her precious time to fill me in about her journey to becoming a stalwart of Wilston Village business life.  Go here for Mel's website.