Tosier Chocolate |
Because authentic chocolate is our obsession. In 2016, I established Tosier Chocolate, and the following year, at the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival in Suffolk, I introduced the Tosier Chocolatemaker label. During my time spent in Europe, I was able to sample a wide variety of chocolates. As my curiosity grew, I decided to investigate the process of making chocolate directly from cocoa beans.
Learning how to make chocolate was a natural progression from my lifelong interest in producing things by hand. Making chocolate in small batches is akin to alchemy; chocolate is a finicky product, and in the beginning, there was a lot of room for error and a healthy dose of beginner’s luck. The success of my preliminary efforts has spurred me to continue my education.
I took a theoretical and practical course in chocolate making with Chloe Doutre-Roussel and Marie Fernanda Di Giacobbe at Cocoatown in Atlanta, Georgia, and at Ecole Chocolat in Paris. The opportunity to learn from and be inspired by these two exceptional women solidified my resolve to create the best chocolate in the world. When I made the decision to buy the supplementary tools I required in the United States, there was no turning back.
Not the finest time, but the business was ready, so we moved from my basement to a Port-a-cabin and then to a converted dairy during the epidemic.
When I first set out on this path, I never imagined that we would evolve into a family business.
Since we started with just four bars, we’ve expanded to eight bars (two of which include inclusions), dragées, pralines, and Freddy Rocks! My husband, Jonathan, handles sales and marketing, and our son, Emile, who is trained as a chef, works in production with me.
Being a chocolate maker is exciting since you’re constantly faced with fresh obstacles. The financial components of the firm are particularly difficult for me to manage because there are so many others.
Because I began creating chocolate out of pure passion, without giving any thought to genuine growth or how to achieve it, establishing a foothold in the market has been challenging. Everything up to this point has happened naturally, but now that we’ve expanded into a family business, we’re taking a hard look at where we want to go.
However, Tosier’s core values have not changed, and the company has instead evolved into a specialized small-batch chocolate factory that produces its chocolate in batches of 64 kilograms by sorting, cracking, winnowing, grinding, and conching.
Producing on such a small scale allows us to meticulously monitor each step and guarantee the finest quality chocolate.
Being able to trace something back to its original source is crucial. Tosier participates in a transparent supply chain that benefits cocoa-growing communities by paying a fair price to growers.
Tosier Chocolate Ltd.’s Deanna Tilston is the company’s founder and head chocolatier.
Tosier Chocolate
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