After we plan our handcrafted, hand made chocolates, the making can commence. We are a small batch artisan chocolate maker based in beautiful Harlech, Wales - but you can buy our hand made chocolate to be sent anywhere in the UK (or the world!)
How our hand made chocolate is sourced
We source our cocoa nibs, from specific areas in the world, so that our chocolate is generally single origin (e.g. from Ecuador) or from a particular region of the world (like West Africa). Our Master Chocolatier, Liss Morgan has travelled the world to sample cocoa from all over, to understand the climate and growing conditions and how they affect flavour. Just a few more ingredients need sourcing including the purest of cocoa butter - from Madagascar which is the highest quality you can get in the world, and we use only British cane sugar, and for milk and white chocolate local Welsh whole milk powder.
From beans to chocolate 'gold'
Our small batch handmade artisan chocolate is made just 1kg at a time. Taking our first ingredient, the cocoa nibs, we use a cold stone grinder, heat it up slowly, and add the cocoa nibs just a half-handful at a time so they can be evenly ground into a very fine texture. Once the cocoa nibs are in, we add the Madagascan cocoa butter into the grinder and a balanced measure of British cane sugar - depending on if we are making dark, milk or white chocolate. Milk and white chocolate batches will then have the right amount of Welsh milk powder added, according to our artisan chocolate recipes.
Once all these ingredients are in, the chocolate will be mixed for a minimum of 24 hours. An amazing, deep, warm chocolatey smell can often waft from our chocolate kitchens down into the Ice cream store, where are chocolate is sold, and the Harlech streets below. This process ends in a big, delicious, perfect 'ingot' shaped bar of chocolate which is stored at an exact temperature, ready to be used when making a batch of handmade chocolate bars or delicate handmade chocolate truffles.
Our artisan handmade chocolate bars
Our artisan handmade chocolate is often made fresh for your order. Our Master Chocolatier will select one a Harlech chocolate 'ingot', this large bar of chocolate is then tempered, which means we melt it to an exact, hot, temperature and then cool it to a specific temperature in a specific time. This process helps us create the perfect crack, and the perfect shine to ensure your Harlech handmade chocolate experience is celtig cofiadwy - memorably celtic.
The chocolate is poured into the moulds, tapped and agitated with precision, to ensure there are no bubbles, and the chocolate is smooth. Our hand crushed toppings are added to compliment and create the exact texture and experience of the flavour we are creating and once they have settled and cooled, they are hand packaged and labelled ready for delivery to our customers.
View some of our handcrafted chocolate bars in our online shop.
