Flavorista

Sweet Marguerites for Mother’s Day, Part I

April 29th, 2009

Earlier this month, I had the delicious pleasure of sitting down with fellow South Portlander, Meg Swoboda.  Before you read on please read my disclaimer: I am the self-proclaimed  #1 fan of Sweet Marguerites Artisinal Chocolates.

I first found these divine chocolates in the obscene chocolate section of our Whole Foods Market.  Initially, I was drawn to the packaging.  I adore the blue/brown color scheme of the box and I liked the look of the logo.  With one bite I was hooked.  Sweet Marguerite Chocolates easily rival any other boutique chocolate, but they are even more attractive to me because they are handmade here in South Portland.

Artisan chocolate is career number two for Meg, her first career was in finance.  Following two years of culinary school, Meg decided to pursue her passion: Fine Chocolate.  She furthered her chocolate education with training at the Culinary Institute of America and Ecole Chocolat.

Sweet Marguerites is a total family operation, Meg’s husband built her workshop and her website.  When her children are home from college they help with packaging.  For over two years, Sweet Marguerites has been delivering hand-dipped and hand molded chocolates to local retailers and to other retailers nationwide via their website.

Being a chocolatier requires a lot of dilligence.  Working with chocolate can be fussy because it is so sensitive to heat, humdity and certain ingredients.  For me, tempering chocolate, a process of heating and cooling chocolate to stabilize it, is harder than making a perfect hollandaise.  I just to do not have the patience needed for successful chocolate making.  No joke, my first foray into chocolate was this past Christmas.  I was brave enough to make chocolate bark.

Starting a gourmet food company during these wild financial times may seem like a crazy idea to some, but to Meg it was "what she was meant to do."  To supplement the chocolate business, Meg moonlights as a server at the award-winning, Hugo’s, in Portland.  It is very safe to say that this lady knows her foods and flavors.  Meg’s favorite savory dish?  Risotto with a nicely paired glass of wine.

Sweet Marguerite chocolates are developed and made with sophisticated palettes in mind; sweet caramel is balanced out with Maine sea salt, dark chocolate ganache is ideally seasoned with fantastic Tahitian vanilla beans.  The strawberry balsamic chocolate that I sampled during our interview was sweet with jammy berry flavor but perfectly balanced with a subtle hint of balsamic.

There were no oompa loompas in sight, but Meg’s 10×10 chocolate workshop and its contents were definitely magical.

Dark chocolate being tempered for dipping.

Planning a party?  Take a look at these party favors.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Sweet Marguerites could make for easy gift giving.  Locally, you can find Sweet Marguerites at Whole Foods or you can order her chocolates online.

 

Entry Filed under: Buying Local,Websites/Blogosphere