All you need is love, and chocolate
Every two years Nicola McConnell and Kathie Bartley from Marvellous Marketing seek out New Zealand’s finest chocolate and chocolate products via the New Zealand Chocolate Awards.
It doesn’t matter if you are a large producer or tiny artisan chocolatier making small volumes in a home kitchen, you can enter these awards.
There are a few small chocolate producers in the Nelson region that usually perform very well in this competition and this year is no exception.
Over the years Karl and Marina Hogarth have developed a range of wonderful chocolate bars made from single origin beans, as well as flavoured bars. They have been very successful in this competition almost from the very beginning, and this year is no different.
Nelson-based Aroha Chocolate specialises in beautifully handcrafted filled chocolates while in Golden Bay Choco Loco make a range of filled chocolates and chocolate bars that they sell from their ‘‘sweetest little chocolate shop in New Zealand.’’
Wairarapa’s Lucid was the Supreme Award Winner at the 2022 NZ Chocolate Awards with their Lucid Chocolatier 68% Port.
Young Wairarapa chocolatier Johnty Tatham took the title ahead of 150 New Zealand-made chocolates from 31 chocolate makers and chocolatiers from across the country at the awards, which were judged in Auckland at the beginning of last month.
The star performer from this region at the 2022 awards was Aroha Chocolate who won the filled chocolates – truffles and bonbons category with its Whiskey Hearts.
I had a brief chat with Aroha Chocolate owners Mike Duke (Wobblie) and Jo Logan at the Nelson Market a few weeks ago. They told me that when Covid hit they decided to go all out and grow their artisan business, refining their products and developing new flavours.
Aroha Chocolate has had a stall at the Nelson Market for many years, rain or shine they are there selling their little parcels of deliciousness.
Wobblie says that the market has always been their main sales outlet, but ‘‘during the various lockdowns when the market wasn’t able to operate we spent time redeveloping our website to grow the business and expand our clientele outside of the region’’.
During that time people were buying treats to send to friends and family, a lot
‘‘We have always said that we want to give our customers a great flavour experience, so our focus has always been flavour first.’’
Jo Logan
with really special messages included.
‘‘At the same time Jo was made redundant, it was an uncertain time. However, we decided this was an opportunity to fully concentrate on the business and we were going to take it.
‘‘We had time to play with different flavours and refine our production processes enabling us to produce larger volumes without compromising our quality.’’
Jo has trained as a Master Chocolatier in Canada where she expanded her chocolate knowledge and worked alongside a local chocolatier. The skills she has continued to grow and refine have set her firmly in the list of top chocolatiers in New Zealand.
When I spoke with Jo last week she told me that the category win at this year’s awards are really exciting for them.
‘‘It is huge for us, we are such small producers in the scheme of things so to win with a filled chocolate that is one of our favourites is really special,’’ she said.
‘‘We have always said that we want to give our customers a great flavour experience, so our focus has always been flavour first.
‘‘We can only achieve this if we use great ingredients, so we source the very best we can, like the finest chocolate made by Callebaut in its Belgian factory and Waitui Whiskey from local producer Kiwi Spirit Distillery.’’
It’s this dedication to excellence that has seen the awards flow for their range of chocolate products.
‘‘We now produce truffles, squares of chocolate, a gourmet rocky road and chocolate drinks as well as our specialty filled chocolates,’’ Wobblie said.
At the 2022 awards, Aroha Chocolate picked up a gold medal for its Whiskey Hearts filled chocolates, that went on to win the category, as well as silver for its Boysenberry & Cream Heart and Morocco Heart filled chocolates. Rounding out the medals was on for its Chilli Hot Chocolate drinking chocolate.
Hogarth Chocolate was awarded a gold medal for its Liquorice Caramel chocolate bar and a silver for its Anzac Biscuit chocolate bar.
Choco Loco from Golden Bay won gold medals for its Choco Loco Sesame Sweet filled chocolate and Fruit & a Root (Milk Sweet & Sour Caramel) filled chocolate as well as for its Diddly Puds in the Christmas Speciality category where the Itty Bitty Chrissy Cake was awarded a silver medal.
The whole region can be incredibly proud of these Nelson Tasman Chocolatiers who work incredibly hard to refine their skills and make outstanding chocolates that are anything but ordinary or a mashup of different sweet flavours.
The products these talented people make are simply outstanding and deserve to be sent to friends and family this Christmas as special treats. Of course, you can just buy them as a treat for yourself, and you really should do this anyway.