Accent Chocolate

Chocolate is a temperamental material to work with. It wants a cool room, careful tempering and quick hands, which is why the trade has always run on small batches and a year that peaks in the colder months and the holidays that fall inside them. Summer in the South Okanagan is the hard part of the calendar for anyone handling it, and how a shop manages heat says a good deal about how it works.

Confectioners divide their work in different ways. Some concentrate on filled chocolates and truffles made on site, others on bars, moulded pieces, gift boxes or seasonal shapes, and many will take orders for weddings, corporate gifts and larger occasions given notice. If you need a quantity, or something ready for a particular date, asking well ahead is sensible, because capacity in a small kitchen is finite. For visitors, a box of something made locally travels better than most souvenirs, provided it does not spend the afternoon in a hot car.