Rodney Macuja
Artisan chocolates dotted with 24-carat gold leaf? ‘Tis the season, after all.
WHO Chocolatier Amanda McKeith started Winnow Chocolates in 2013. These days she crafts everything from brittle bars of white chocolate with Turkish delight or summer berries to dark chocolate-dipped oranges in her small kitchen in Sydney’s Waterloo.
HOW Winnow Chocolates are made using the traditional French method of hand-tempering on marble, which gives them their unique shine and snap. “This technique has become something of a lost art, with machine-based tempering the preferred method for chocolate companies these days,” says McKeith. The marble, together with the constant movement of a palette knife and scraper, reduces the temperature. “It works to re-crystallise the chocolate, allowing it to be moulded”.
WHAT McKeith uses an organic Belgian couverture as the base. “The chocolate doesn’t contain any vegetable fats, artificial preservatives or additives, so what you’re tasting is real chocolate,” she says. The tempered chocolate is then combined with dried fruit, nuts and spices that have been sourced from local producers.
WHERE Exclusively from winnowchocolates.com.
Clockwise from bottom left: milk chocolate salted caramel cubes and dark chocolate golden honeycomb cubes, $39.95 per box (pictured); salted caramel balls, $13.50 per bag; candied orange slices with gold leaf, $24.95 per box; assorted brittle, $8.95 per bag.
