Make Mine Chocolate You Couldn’t Ask for a Sweeter
Business
By GINNIE MANUEL
By day, Cathy Churcher is the dedicated, hard-working
director of admissions at Bon Secours Memorial School of Nursing. But
during her non-working hours, Churcher nurtures her passion for
chocolate, which she has transformed into a boutique enterprise called
Chocolate Cravings. The romance with chocolate goes back several years,
when Churcher began helping a colleague with an annual holiday project
of fashioning thousands of chocolate-dipped butter creams and peanut
butter balls. As she relates, she “fell in love with working with
chocolate,” and the experience gave her the confidence and inspiration
to study the science and art of chocolate-making.
Her first step was to sign up for an intensive four-month online program
conducted by Ecole Chocolat based in Vancouver, designed to turn amateur
chocolate lovers into professional chocolatiers. Churcher reports that
even though it was an online course, there was homework every week, as
she learned to work with chocolate.
A Well Tempered
Chocolate
The course introduced students to the “chemistry of chocolate,” and
taught Churcher the vital skill of tempering chocolate by hand.
Tempering involves melting the chocolate to just the right temperature
to release the molecules, and then cooling it to a point where those
same molecules re-form in a better pattern. Proper tempering is what
gives chocolate the ability to “snap” apart cleanly, as when you break
off pieces from a chocolate bar.
The online class included topics such as safe handling, molding, working
with special equipment, principles of kitchen design, and packaging.
Churcher emailed photos of her creations to the Ecole, but for actual
quality control, she had to rely on her husband, her 11-year-old son,
and co-workers as taste-testers, requiring them to give honest opinions.
These results were then reported back to the school.
Having completed the course, Churcher earned her certificate as a
professional chocolatier and was armed with “the knowledge base to move
ahead with my business.”
Next came practical training to refine her skills. Churcher took classes
under the tutelage of Belgian Master Chocolatier Jean Pierre Wybauw and
New York-based pastry chef Andrew Shotts.
Travels With Chocolate
To complete her education, Churcher has traveled extensively, including
chocolate tours to London, Paris and Bruges, Belgium. Wherever she goes,
she makes a point of visiting the finest chocolate shops and asking to
speak with the chocolate-makers. Churcher reports that these
entrepreneurs are uniformly helpful and glad to answer her questions.
She believes this is because they are a “different breed” who support
each other’s work rather than feeling competitive.
Churcher continues to expand her knowledge and is about to take a trip
to Costa Rica, where she actually will visit remote cocoa bean-growing
and processing facilities.
With all the pieces in place, it was time to get down to business.
Fixing homemade chocolates for your friends is one thing, but if you
want to sell your wares, you must prepare them in a facility approved by
the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Fortunately, Churcher was able to partner with the owners of Lavender
Fields Farm in Glen Allen which already had a commercial kitchen.
Pied Beauty of
Chocolate
Not only does the location give her a base to work from, but the farm’s
products have found their way into many of her most distinctive
creations, including chocolate truffles flavored with lemongrass, mint,
lavender and basil.
If these combinations sound bizarre, keep in mind that there has been
tremendous interest in pairings (think hot pepper, ginger and sea salt)
that balance the intense, complex flavor of chocolate.
One of Chocolate Cravings’ signature items is a chocolate “salami”
perfumed with orange zest. Churcher has also devised a ginger and
cardamom bark. Some of her more familiar offerings include white
chocolate bark with strawberries, and Irish cream- and
raspberry-flavored butter creams. For Christmas, there’s a festive blend
of cranberries and pecans.
“I love to think about new combinations,” observes Churcher, explaining
that to add flavor to chocolate, she infuses heavy cream with herbs or
spices, and then mixes the flavored cream with melted chocolate. Once
the mixture cools and is shaped, she rolls the confections in nuts or
powdered cocoa.
In recent months, Churcher has started working with local merchants who
feature exclusive chocolates that complement their product lines. For J.
Emerson’s Wine and Cheese Shop on Grove Avenue, she has designed port
truffles. A Cuppa Tea in the Fan is now offering tea truffles. And
Captain Buzzy’s Beanery in Church Hill sells a coffee bar, which is made
with their own coffee ground up in dark or milk chocolate.
Churcher also participates in the Williamsburg Farmers’ Market several
times a year, as well as selected chocolate-themed events in Richmond.
As America’s love affair with chocolate grows, so does Cathy Churcher’s
passion for introducing Richmonders to the joys and subtleties of fine
chocolate. A visit to her website,
www.ChocCravings.com, gives chocoholics an overview of the luxurious
handmade chocolates available for sale.
Ginnie Manuel writes the monthly “Virginia’s
Kitchen” column for Fifty Plus.
