What makes chocolate so irresistible? Is it the absolutely delicious, velvety texture that melts in your mouth, sending a rush of good feeling with it? Or is it just the sweetness? Maybe it’s the association we have between chocolate and celebrations and rewards.
Whatever it is, spare a thought for all those who can’t, for whatever reason, enjoy the gorgeous taste of a smooth after-dinner chocolate with their coffee. Some years ago, Tracey Watson invited some friends to dinner and they just happened to be mostly vegans. She created some little vegan chocolates for them to have at the end of the meal, with a recipe she made up. They were delighted. “If you make these for us, we will buy them because we can’t get vegan chocolates anywhere,” they said.
Watson has always been interested in cooking and she became even more interested when she discovered that her friends loved the food she cooked for them. “I learnt from my Nanna and the older women of my family and they each had little sayings that I stand by today. Nanna’s was ‘fat adds flavour’.”
Although she trained and worked as a librarian, she also worked in hospitality as a chef in the Adelaide Hills. She didn’t take up her friends’ offer to make any more chocolates until one day though she found herself out of work after a major contract had finished. Her vegan friends said, “Would you like to make those chocolates again because we’d like to give them as Christmas gifts? We’ll buy them from you.”
It was the beginning of a successful business in Adelaide, hand-making chocolates completely free of animal products.
Almost 20 years ago, Watson closed her chocolate business and she and her partner, Deb, moved to Tasmania. “I love Tasmania, I love the cold weather. Adelaide is often 40° – here, if I wake up in the morning and it’s foggy, wet, windy and rainy, then I’m a happy person.
“The thing that got me was there are so many trees. It’s just gorgeous. It’s green – you can practically breathe in the greenness of it. It’s just beautiful.”
The couple bought a beautiful property at Nubeena and settled in. They enjoyed sweeping views of the coastline and stunning sunsets and sunrises. They thought no more about chocolates ... until some of Watson’s former customers started ringing her up.
. . .
Creating a batch of chocolates takes time, from sourcing quality ingredients to actually making them. And you have to know what you’re doing. Temperature impacts the texture of the chocolate; it has to be just right. If it rises above a certain point, that delicious, melt-in-the-mouth texture is destroyed. After the mixture is made, it has to set for 24 hours. Then it’s rolled, and takes another 12 hours to set again. Finally, Watson dips it, and the outer chocolate needs to go hard.
Then each one is individually wrapped and a sticker put on it.
Watson says, “I really enjoy making them because I know, for the people who are buying them, it’s something really special. They look forward to it. They don’t just grab the chocolate and eat it when they’re walking out to the car park. They take the chocolate home, they make a cup of coffee or they hide them from the kids, or even their partner. It’s a big deal and that’s what makes me put a lot of thought and consideration into them. That’s my inspiration ... the happiness it brings to those people.”
Today, Watson has a vibrant chocolate business going once more, this time in Tasmania. “I couldn’t have done this without support from my partner and help from my friends.” She also puts her success down to the rapid growth in the number of people choosing to live a vegan lifestyle, and to those experiencing allergies, and, crucially, to her extensive research into what works and what doesn’t.
Taste testing is a significant part of the process and Watson has about 100 people on call to do it. She doesn’t lack for volunteers. Recently she added another flavour, salted caramel, which has turned out to be spectacularly popular, although, “It’s very hard to make. The caramel itself is temperamental. If it’s the wrong temperature, it’s too chewy and you can’t do anything with it. Then if I don’t double dip it, it ends up all over the wrapping paper because at room temperature it’s quite gooey.”
Her taste testers are all given a chocolate and a questionnaire. With the salted caramel, she did that about five times before she was happy with the final result.
Recently, Tracey Watson received an email from a customer, who wrote, “My mum bought your chocolates for me when I was a kid because I was allergic to so many things. I was delighted to find them again, and here in Tasmania.”
Watson’s desire to create something that others can really enjoy shows up in the quality of her work; her chocolates are delicious, whether you’re vegan or not.
More about Tracey Watson can be found on her website, constantcraving.com.au. Her chocolates are available online or through stores around Tasmania, including Teros and Goulds in Hobart, the Hill Street stores and the Pear Shed at Nubeena.
Pen Tayler is a Tasmanian writer and photographer. She photographed 12 towns for Towns of Tasmania, written by Bert Spinks, and has written and provided images for Hop Kilns of Tasmania. She is currently working on a book about Prospect and Belmont houses, Coal River Valley.
Pen Tayler can be contacted via her website, pentayler.com.
