Wickhambrook Women’s Institute
Monthly Meeting held in the WI Hall Tuesday 14/09/21
Artistry in Cocoa : Cheryl Brighty
With a title including references to chocolate it was not surprising to see a large turnout of members for this month’s meeting! Cheryl began by telling us about how Artistry in Cocoa came into being. Together with her family of five daughters she began with a shop in Newmarket selling mainly truffles. With rents becoming expensive the business is now run from their home which is a former pub. The company now runs events and parties for all age groups where anyone can have a go at making delicious chocolates and truffles.
We were each given a little pot with various samples of chocolate both white and brown. We were told to wait before tasting the samples but some members found it hard to resist! Cheryl then told us a bit about the history of Cocoa , how it was discovered by the Mayans in South America who initially drank it as a chocolate delicacy. It eventually came to Europe where it was expensive and therefor a luxury. It was the Fry’s Chocolate Company who first made chocolate into solid bars for consumption. Cadbury’s then went on to refine the chocolate by inventing cocoa crumb which helped to set the chocolate. Cheryl had brought moulds and a marble slab to show us how to work the chocolate in liquid form and also how to roll truffles by hand. It all looked very scientific and messy! Cheryl was at pains to point out that chocolate itself is very good for you, it’s the added sugar which is the problem. We were told to taste the chocolate samples at various stages of the talk and compare the tastes of each one – those of us who had managed not to eat it straight away!
Finally we were given a truffle to sample before being offered the chance to buy some chocolates including chocolate popcorn.
