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• On Coco:

  Posted on 28th of July 2006

  Sue and Holly Newland, chocolatiers of Coco, Southsea, Marmion Road, Hampshire. Until four months ago, Sue and Holly Newland, a mother-daughter team of chocolatier-restaurateurs were accountants in their native Portsmouth ‘doing the books for restaurants, pubs’ and other businesses in the area. Now, the proud owners of Southsea’s Coco since April, 2006, they sell a vast array of hand-made chocolates, cakes, tarts, croissants (‘we start making them at 6.30 am’), the daytime café-shop taking off from day one. ‘We had queues of people out the door,’ Holly recalls, the novice chocolatiers handrolling truffles by the trayload in the kitchen to keep up with the demand. After a chocolate vision, they signed a deal on their Marmion Road premises, called it Coco, bought some stunning black chandeliers and attended a Barry Callebaut [the world’s top supplier of industrial chocolate] Swiss chocolate academy in London to ‘learn tempering, moulding’ and other skills attached to the art of chocolate-making. ‘We also spent a day with Paul Young, no, not the singer,’ Sue laughs, ‘but a pastry chef who taught us at his chocolate workshop in London,’ the pair learning how to make chocolate shoes, footballs, baby boots and other novelty shapes that are proving ‘very popular’ with their burgeoning clientele. ‘We also learnt how to make real fillings using fresh nuts, cream and booze but no additives,’ the result of their ‘steep learning curve’ producing the likes of tequila and chilli, Earl Grey ganache, praline cream, seasalt caramel (‘the salt enhances the chocolate taste’), lim

• On Marmadukes:

  Posted on 27th of July 2006

  Lara Madge, an ex-pilot in the UK and in South Africa, decided that the high life was not for her anymore and started her own company, Marmadukes, in 2004. Success came early to Lara with her wonderful, full-of-flavour with nary an additive strawberry jams, chilli chutneys, beetroot marmalades and meringues finding favour at Harrods and Fortnums and Masons as well as in her local Hampshire area. Lara sources her ingredients locally and organically and also grows her own and rears chickens for eggs. There is a huge demand out there with people fed up with additives and e-numbers,' she believes, and is currently expanding her range with bee-keeping for honey, an organic orchard with plum trees and berry bushes. I urge you to try her chilli chutney - a real triumph - as are her jams and, what's more, she makes them in her kitchen in batches of 12 for quality control.

• On Montezuma's Chocolates:

  Posted on 24th of July 2006

  Only six years old, the fabulous, well-thought-out company, run by a husband and wife couple who found inspiration in Argentina, makes hand-made chocolate using high content cocoa solids. A must for lovers of total quality chocolate.