THE CHOCOLATIER

I recently had the pleasure of spending the morning at a chocolate workshop run by Hughie O'Hare of Somersby Chocolates in Nottingham. While I was there I got to ask Hughie all about his passion for his work. To see the full gallery of images visit the Guest Gallery on my website.


So tell us a little about Somersby Chocolates…
We started in 2006 from our kitchen in Woodthorpe, Nottingham, making our own handmade chocolates. We began with a chocolate round selling to local schools,  residential nursing homes, local business, along with all the local craft fairs and farmer's markets. Eventually we outgrew our kitchens in Woodthorpe and moved to bigger premises and opened our first retail Chocolate Shop & Coffee House at 962, Woodborough Road, Mapperley in 2009. In 2010 we opened our Chocolate Courses & Chocolate School spread over 3 rooms above our Chocolate Shop and we have been booked for a whole range of our courses every week since we opened.


And have you always wanting to work in chocolate? What was your inspiration?
I was a teacher before setting up our own business as chocolatiers. I was Head of Design & Technology at a number of schools and that included the teaching of Food Technology. The sheer enthusiasm students got from creating their own dishes never failed to inspire me and of course, the idea of tasting and experimenting with chocolate grabs everyones attention and brings a smile to their faces!


You must have a personal favourite – dark or milk?
It varies between milk and dark, dark is more versatile in terms of the flavours you can produce, but our chocolatiers have got the opportunity to test different flavour combinations in milk and white. Currently our Cinnamon & Florida Orange blend mixed in a crunchy base and dipped in our creamy milk chocolate is a wonderful creation..mmm! I can't take the credit for that one, Lois one of our chocolatiers has perfected  her own original flavour after much experimentation.

You have some pretty unusual flavours too, what would be your recommendation?
Apart from the one above, Heather, one of our main chocolatiers has developed a rich cardamom & 70% dark chocolate bar that is simply stunning and is fast becoming one of our best sellers.


What’s the oddest flavour you’ve given a go?
We try not to mix 'odd' flavours, we look for flavours that compliment each other. There are chocolatiers who mix odd flavours just for the sake of saying they are an unusual taste. Often they are not pleasant to taste and are just put together to grab attention.


Apart from chocolate, what one food couldn’t you live without?
Does coffee count? Strong and black!


And what food do you detest?
Cheesecake. Peter Kaye was right, ...a cake, with cheese no way.


Is there anyone you’d like to name who works with food that’s inspired you?
Not necessarily a confectioner or chocolatier as I think most take it far too seriously. Clearly, Jamie Oliver is an inspiration as he is educational and is not afaid to produce and present food in an informal way. That can be hard with chocolate work, but we try to challenge conventional ways of presenting chocolates, for example, with our own tray baked chocolates which are rough cut and rustic in presentation but the key element is the taste, which is the main focus of our creations.


So running your own show. Has it been a journey of A to B or more a rollercoaster ride?
Definitely a rollercoaster ride!


What’s been your high?
So many to mention. Seeing the look on customers faces when they walk through the door for the first time and the looks of amazement when they collect one our contemporary handmade chocolate cakes. And also the joy adults and children alike get from making their own chocolates at our chocolate school. Seeing our chocolatiers grow in confidence and been given the time to use their talents.


Any lows?
Only that our website is in need of a makeover.  So if anybody out there is interested.....


Any regrets?
None.


What would be your advice to others about to start their own business?
Make sure you have a product that sells; sounds obvious but it's true. Test it, refine it, that's why we started at craft fairs, farmers markets, etc. Listen to customers opinions, also, don't be afraid to experiment and offer customers something new.  

To see the full gallery of images visit the Guest Gallery on my website.