Hello from a newbie, glad to be here

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

Hi all! I stumbled upon this forum while doing some intensive Googling to figure out which chocolate couveture I wanted to order for some chocolate work. An older post debating different brands helped me make a decision and I've been diving through other posts and finding a wealth of info. This seems like a great community and I'm excited to be a part of it.

 

I'm a CIA grad, baking and pastry arts, who then went into journalism with dreams of being a food writer. Have had some great experiences both in writing and pastry professionally over the years. Pandemic derailed a lot of things for me career-wise and I'm currently doing admin work while figuring out my path. As part of this, I'm starting to do some chocolate and confection work at home. Chocolate and confection class with Chef Greweling was my absolute favorite when I was at school. I'm considering getting back into practice and starting some kind of micro-chocolatier business in my area. One step at a time though! Here's hoping tempering chocolate will be like riding a bicycle 🤞

 

I'm grateful to have found a place in cyberspace with people who seem to have the same appetite for culinary minutia as I do. 

[pastrygirl]

welcome!

[TdeV]

Welcome @chocolatecoveredcaton !

Folks are mostly cordial, you're sure to make some fast friends.

Not a chocolatier here, but I love looking at everything people make.

 

Whereabouts in the world are you?

 

Did you find this thread?

 

[Alex]

5 hours ago, TdeV said:

Did you find this thread?

 

And this one: 

 

[Alex]

And this one: 

 

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

On 2/24/2025 at 2:40 PM, TdeV said:

Welcome @chocolatecoveredcaton !

Folks are mostly cordial, you're sure to make some fast friends.

Not a chocolatier here, but I love looking at everything people make.

 

Whereabouts in the world are you?

 

Did you find this thread?

 

Thanks @TdeV! I hadn't found that thread yet, thank you for sharing the link. I haven't had a ton of leisure time to explore the forum at my ease but look forward to doing some soon! 

 

I'm in North Carolina in the US at the moment, though it's not the first or last state I've lived in. Originally from CA, have also lived in NY, Alaska, and Arkansas. Where about are you in this wide world? 

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

On 2/24/2025 at 2:12 PM, pastrygirl said:

welcome!

Thanks, @pastrygirl! What kind of pastries are you into?

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

On 2/24/2025 at 8:28 PM, Alex said:

 

And this one: 

 

 

On 2/24/2025 at 8:29 PM, Alex said:

And this one: 

 

Hi Alex, thanks so much for sharing these threads! Super helpful! I look forward to reading through! 

[TdeV]

50 minutes ago, chocolatecoveredcaton said:

Thanks @TdeV! I hadn't found that thread yet, thank you for sharing the link. I haven't had a ton of leisure time to explore the forum at my ease but look forward to doing some soon! 

 

I'm in North Carolina in the US at the moment, though it's not the first or last state I've lived in. Originally from CA, have also lived in NY, Alaska, and Arkansas. Where about are you in this wide world? 

 

Middle of Illinois. Used to be California (SF Bay area).

 

Notice that eG chocolatiers are "planning on the weekend of May 16, 17, 18 to be at the very brand new (not even built yet) TCF Sales facility in Cedar Park, Texas.  This is a suburb of Austin."

 

If you can, this would be an excellent meet/greet learning event. 

[pastrygirl]

I used to be a restaurant pastry chef, did mostly plated desserts for years. Now I'm focused on chocolate.

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

8 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

I used to be a restaurant pastry chef, did mostly plated desserts for years. Now I'm focused on chocolate.

@pastrygirl That's awesome. I worked as a restaurant pastry cook for awhile as well. What part of chocolate work do you enjoy most?

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

9 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

Middle of Illinois. Used to be California (SF Bay area).

 

Notice that eG chocolatiers are "planning on the weekend of May 16, 17, 18 to be at the very brand new (not even built yet) TCF Sales facility in Cedar Park, Texas.  This is a suburb of Austin."

 

If you can, this would be an excellent meet/greet learning event. 

@TdeV Ah, nice, I have family in the SF Bay-ish area. I grew up in Southern CA. 

 

That meet up sounds fun! I see some info about it in the thread @Alex shared above. Austin is the best part of Texas (in my extremely biased Californian opinion), lots of good food, etc! I'm not sure I'll be able to make it but I'll definitely look into it! 

Edited Friday at 11:15 AM by chocolatecoveredcaton (log)

[pastrygirl]

10 hours ago, chocolatecoveredcaton said:

What part of chocolate work do you enjoy most?

 

It's super satisfying when the bonbons come our all shiny and pretty, but excited customers doing involuntary happy dances are downright intoxicating.  Makes all the hard parts of business worthwhile!

Edited Friday at 09:20 PM by pastrygirl (log)

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

6 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

It's super satisfying when the bonbons come our all shiny and pretty, but excited customers doing involuntary happy dances are downright intoxicating.  Makes all the hard parts of business worthwhile!

Chocolate = narcotic levels of happiness ❤️ Do you have a shop or a home-based business?

[pastrygirl]

I have a shop, or more accurately a production kitchen where people can also shop.  It's in an industrial area & I'm always a little surprised when people find me.  I sell more wholesale to gift shops & gift basket companies than I do direct, which is fine. 

 

If you decide to go into business, check with your state Dept of Ag for their Cottage Food laws & if they aren't friendly to chocolate, look into commissary kitchens.

[chocolatecoveredcaton]

8 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

I have a shop, or more accurately a production kitchen where people can also shop.  It's in an industrial area & I'm always a little surprised when people find me.  I sell more wholesale to gift shops & gift basket companies than I do direct, which is fine. 

 

If you decide to go into business, check with your state Dept of Ag for their Cottage Food laws & if they aren't friendly to chocolate, look into commissary kitchens.

 

I'm currently trying to solve that puzzle. NC has home production laws that allow chocolate and confection production, but unlike states I'm familiar with from friends who had cottage food businesses, like CA where your pets just can't enter the kitchen area of your home, NC doesn't allow food production in a house that has pets in it at any time ever. And I have two dogs. My city only has a commissary kitchen that is opening soon and it is the only one within over an hour away, and it looks like it will be super nice but it's also super expensive. They are really taking advantage of their monopoly on the market, which is their right in the free market so good for them, but annoying for me just starting out. Trying to think of creative options to get space in a commercial kitchen, but as I'm just getting started again, I have time and am just going to practice my techniques and fine tune some products before I sweat too much about it.