Sandra McCuaig and Isabel Jamieson of Bodalla Country Chocolate with some of their chocolate slabs that break with the most satisfying snap. Photo: Marion Williams.
Now there is another reason for lovers of first-class, delicious country produce to stop at Bodalla. The mother and daughter behind Bodalla Dairy have opened Bodalla Country Chocolate.
Just like their award-winning dairy produce, their chocolates are beautifully presented.
The slabs – variously decorated with things including nuts, nougat, and native plant ingredients – look so good it is almost a shame to break them. When broken though, there is a very satisfying snap, the result of exact tempering.
Robert McCuaig did a course on chocolate some 15 years ago which got his wife Sandra and daughter Jane thinking about making chocolate.
From his travels around the world, Robert has given them further inspiration. One idea is an emphasis on freshly made chocolate, something he saw in a shop in Europe. He also went to a Swiss chocolate shop, Laberach, in London’s Regent Street which stocked nothing but slabs.
“We won’t do twee little things,” Sandra said. “It is country chocolate, good value and wholesome.”
It is wholesome in that it is made with local milk. It starts with the finest Belgian chocolate they could source. “If we are going to do it, we are going to do it properly,” she said.
Sandra said the price of the Belgian chocolate had risen almost 50 per cent this year, apparently due to a virus in the cacao trees and climate change.
Bodalla Country Cottage is in what is reputedly Bodalla’s oldest house. The groom of the baker’s horse originally lived there. Photo: Marion Williams.
A chocolatier stayed with Sandra and Jane for two weeks to teach them about the process and give them confidence using the various pieces of machinery, some of which use the latest technology.
“Chocolate is all about temperature control,” Sandra said. “The room can’t be any warmer than 22 degrees [Celsius] so in the summer we will have to close on the days we make the chocolate.”
Humidity is also a problem, so a dehumidifier is part of the substantial investment.
The shop, between Bodalla Dairy and Bodalla Lavender Shop, is in what is reputed to be Bodalla’s oldest house.
“It is the house of the groom of the baker’s horse,” Sandra said. “We have a photo of it from the early 1880s.”
As well as chocolate, they are making marshmallow, honey crunch and honeycomb.
As if that is not enough temptation, they have also bought a doughnut machine. The doughnuts are finished by rolling them in cinnamon and fine sugar.
“They are hot and delicious, or you can have them with a dish of warm chocolate for dipping,” Sandra said.
Sally Dart has mastered the art of making doughnuts. They are served warm, finished with cinnamon and fine sugar. Photo: Marion Williams.
By the end of the school holidays they hope to have it set up so that children can make their own chocolate.
It will be named “Made by Me for You”. The chocolates will have Bodalla Country Chocolate branding on the base and groups of six children can decorate them how they like. They will be able to collect their personalised chocolates 15 minutes later.
Sandra and Jane have had huge help from Isabel Jamieson who worked in Bodalla Dairy. They have had to master making perfectly round freckles to get the nod of approval from their Michelin chef Margareta Sirac.
Sandra has no qualms about opening a business at a time when many are struggling to keep their doors open.
“You have to work out what the public likes, what you can do, and what your machinery can do,” she said.
Bodalla is certainly a beneficiary of the new mountain bike trails in Narooma and Mogo.
“We get a lot of people coming between the two,” Sandra said. “They are the healthiest, cheeriest people and they come back even more cheerful.”
Bodalla Dairy also gets far more than its share of visitors from China.
“There is a Chinese website like Tripadvisor that says Bodalla Dairy is the best thing to do in Australia,” Sandra said. “They take pictures of our ice-cream and the building.”
Bodalla Dairy is on the Princes Hwy at Bodalla. Winter hours are Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm; weekends 9 am to 5 pm. Summer hours are 9 am to 5 pm seven days (closed Christmas and Boxing Day). Calf feeding times are 10 am and 4 pm.
Original Article published by Marion Williams on About Regional.
