MEET YOUR {OUTSTANDING} MAKER - FOUNDRY CHOCOLATE
Since the time of writing, Foundry Chocolate has been awarded three Silvers, a Bronze and four Commended Awards at the just announced 2020 Academy of Chocolate global awards in London. A wonderful achievement!
Six years ago, David Herrick of Foundry Chocolate read a tiny article about someone in London who was making craft chocolate. This struck him, as he didn’t realise you could create chocolate on a small scale. Put simply, David was fascinated by it all. The next two years were spent researching away, not even telling his wife Janelle until he felt ready. From there they hatched a plan, started to build equipment and create numerous test batches of chocolate.
Fifty-one samples of cacao beans were chosen from fifty-one single origins around the world. Then began the slow process of crafting fifty-one batches of chocolate with their stone grinder and self-made machinery. At this point in time, each batch takes the duo five weeks– so you can imagine how long fifty-one batches took … Months!
Foundry Chocolate launched in September 2018. They describe their most challenging aspect as also the very best – the variables associated with the cacao beans they use in their two-ingredient chocolate. Factors include the genetic makeup of the beans, the season they grew in, when they were picked, how they were fermented, and how they were dried. These all influence how David roasts the beans. The addition of emulsifiers or extra cacao butter would allow for an easier process, but at Foundry they do not add anything extra, honouring the beans’ natural qualities.
Each origin is completely different, meaning you find yourself at mercy of the cacao bean. This results in differences between how long they stone grind the chocolate and even the length of time the chocolate is matured for. Called “bean-to-bar chocolate makers”, David at Foundry Chocolate makes his from scratch. No ready-made nibs, cacao mass or couverture chocolate is used – Foundry starts from the cacao bean. The second and only other ingredient is organic cane sugar. That’s it. Despite only having two ingredients, each bar houses a completely different flavour profile due to the different single-origin beans.
David states that others think Foundry is bigger than it is, but they are mistaken. David makes the chocolate, tackles all of the production, fixes the machines and hand wraps each bar. He organises importing the beans, dealing with the growers directly and spends time making and modifying the equipment used to create such a premium product. Janelle, the other half to David and the other half of Foundry, spent months designing visuals and packaging – each chocolate pack representing a cacao pod and how each type of chocolate tastes. In recent times, some neighbours have been employed part-time to aid in folding wrappers to wrap and number each bar.
To David and Janelle, the look on people’s faces as they taste Foundry Chocolate for the first time is a key factor to what keeps them going. Seeing the “disbelief on people’s faces” as they process all of the tasting notes from just two ingredients never gets old.
When the pair aren’t working, they enjoy relaxing and hanging out in Mahurangi where they reside. When the rare opportunity arises that is!
Find out more about Foundry Chocolate visit their website www.foundrychocolate.co.nz