A New Taste For Chocolates

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A New Taste For Chocolates

Over the last year, Aberfeldy has become a little bit of a centre for chocoholics! One of the delightful options available are charlotte flower chocolates, available from Farm fresh or direct from Charlotte Flower herself (pictured below): “Ours is a unique hand-made product; throughout the year, our selection follows the seasons, always changing and developing, always using fresh, natural and whenever possible seasonal, locally available and organic ingredients.” Charlotte told Comment.

With the Christmas season approaching, Charlotte believes that a change in chocolate is also due: “Christmas rings the changes for us in terms of flavours as we leave the local Autumn flavours (such as beech nuts) and move into the warm rich wintry flavours such as fresh ginger or black pepper and orange.

“In the spring time as local plants wake up from their winter hibernation, we will start again to use flavours found around us - elderflower picked just minutes before being infused into the chocolate, wild mint and Scots Pine.” Charlotte added.

Established by Charlotte Flower less than a year ago, the company is already going from strength to strength. She held a stall at the Dundee Food and Flower Show in September and has created bespoke chocolates for functions. The chocolates have been posted to all parts of the UK from Orkney to Cornwall, to Ireland and France. The three seasonal box schemes introduced in early Autumn are becoming increasingly popular as gifts.

She has two separate selections of five flavours for Christmas and New Year; Charlotte describes the flavours as “inspired by what we consider to be traditional Christmas and New Year 'tastes', things that sum up for us our mid-winter festivities, such as mincemeat, sloe gin, clove and orange, fresh root ginger and marzipan with Amaretto”.

Always fascinated by chocolate – initially as a happy and non-discriminatory consumer and then through work and travels. Her first encounters with cocoa production were meeting machete toting cocoa farmers in West African forests, being enchanted by the sweet flowery-ness of the white flesh of the pod, and a little overwhelmed by the pungent heady smell of cocoa fermenting along the road sides in Cameroon.

Like the chocolate itself, many of the flavours used are from around the world, but also many are gathered from around Acharn, where Charlotte and her family have lived for the last eight years. Often the flavours are inspired by connections within Charlotte’s own life, a black pepper and orange combination reminiscent of early morning cups of tea served up in Nepali tea shops on sharp, clear wintry mornings and that come to mind on clear February mornings here by Loch Tay.

Contact Charlotte at 01887 830307, cocoaflower@btconnect.com or through the website www.charlotteflowerchocolates.co.uk