Kia Ora and Hello ,
By way of introduction I would like to offer a look into why I have asked to be part of this forum .
My wife and I are in our mid 70's and could be regarded as semi retired . Over the years we have dabbled in all sorts of creative things and for 18 years owned a company producing traditional , hand made , Turkish Delight - One of the high points of that period was being asked to make the TD for the iconic movie "The Lion the Witch and the wardrobe" which was shot here in New Zealand - for the few seconds of fame in the movie where the dwarf offers Edmond the TD as a temptation we made about 100 lb of special size and flavour TD . The initial samples were standard size inch square cubes but were not dramatic enough on the test movie shots so were made almost twice that size . The original Rose flavour was also an issue for the actor who refused to eat it , so it looks correct in the movie but actually tasted like Raspberries.
As time went passed , the physical effort involved in making 250 pound batches of product , hand cutting and packing it all became just too heavy and we made the decision to move the TD business on and set up an artisan /hobby Chocolate business .
That happened several years ago and has been an interesting learning curve for us both . My wife had dabbled with chocolate over a number of years and we had acquired a Chocovision Mini tempering machine to give us a start in learning about handling chocolate and with the disposal of the TD business we decided to attack the new "Project " enthusiastically .
The result was a custom built studio on our property , insulated and air conditioned , specifically set up for "playing" with chocolate . While its small at around 15 feet long and 10 feet wide it is spacious enough to enable us to make and do pretty much anything we wish in the chocolate and general confectionery . We have a Chocovision Delta tempering machine , a pan type melting/tempering machine and an even smaller version that does about a pound of chocolate . We have been collecting vintage chocolate moulds for a while and these are not used for decoration but as they were intended 100 years or so ago to make hollow moulded items like Sanas and easter rabbits .
Much of the early things we did were simple dipped and cast items but as we grew more comfortable with handling chocolate we ventured overseas and did a couple of Courses at Savour School in Melbourne , Australia where we started in on the real world of ganache , moulding and decorating Bonbons and were exposed to panning as well . The experience there has led to other experiences in the UK and France and we like to absorb as many new ideas as we can along the way . We are off to Europe again in August and looking forward ro visiting Chocolate World in Antwerp ( where many of our moulds come from ) and the chocolate museum in Cologne as well .
As I had an engineering background the idea of panning was an interesting challenge , but the costs of a small machine were prohibitive . The answer was to design and build one so that was duly done and at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a branded machine . Works perfectly !!
These days we sell some product to specialty retailers , to people who want something unique for a special event ( weddings and the like ) , at weekend markets and a good deal go as treats and gifts to family and friends .
New Zealand has a small population spread over a wide area so its not easy to find someone to share experiences with or ask for advice should there be an issue outside of our experience to resolve .
Its my hope that this forum will provide an opportunity for that sort of dialogue and that our experience will also make it possible to be a contributor as well .
