Sweet Dreams

WITH HER FORWARD VISION AND PASSIONATE APPROACH TO HER CRAFT, CHOCOLATIER EXTRAORDINAIRE JODIE VAN DER VELDEN HAS PUT THE BLUE MOUNTAINS ON THE NATIONAL CHOCOLATE MAP.

Words: Lisa Doust. Photos: Josophan’s Fine Chocolates.

It’s fitting that Jodie Van Der Velden opened her first store on an Easter weekend back in 2005. Having moved to the Upper Blue Mountains village of Leura not long before, the self-taught chocolatier had noticed a gap in the local market for high-end fine chocolates.

“Josophan’s Fine Chocolates was born out of a desire to create a small business that would allow me the flexibility to raise my two daughters while doing something I loved,” recalls Jodie. “The name is an amalgam of my name and those of my daughters, Sophie and Hannah.”

Keen to thoroughly master the craft of chocolate making, Jodie began to dig deeper. “I became aware of the process from bean to bar and respecting the ingredient,” she explains. “I was looking at how I could take the theory and science of working with chocolate to a new level, and as I created fillings and flavours that enhanced the chocolate, essentially I started to understand it could be an art form.”

Chantel Coady, founder of the globally renowned British company Rococo Chocolates, was a source of inspiration for Jodie in the early days. “Chantel raised my awareness of the source of the cacao beans and the process which impacted on the final product,” she says. Jodie went on to sign up for a couple of short chocolatemaking courses in Melbourne before taking her first trip to Paris in 2007 to explore artisan chocolateries and visit the Salon du Chocolat Professionnel, a trade show dedicated to the chocolate and cocoa industry.

“The show really opened my eyes to what was happening on a global scale, and I felt a connection with those tiny French boutique chocolateries and what I was trying to achieve,” she says. “Patrick Roger, the artisan chocolatier and chocolate sculptor, became an inspiration, and visiting his production facility and spending time chatting with him was definitely inspirational.”

In the years since, Jodie has returned to France to undertake training at Le Cordon Bleu, LeNotré and The Ritz Hotel Escoffier school: “I continued to hand-pick my training all over the world and made it a priority to visit cacao plantations in Central America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands and Africa to understand first-hand the process of growing and harvesting the cacao bean.

“I’ve always believed that to have integrity in what I did, it was important to immerse myself in the process of understanding every aspect of the industry, and the ethics surrounding the plantations came first and foremost.”

“Many of our chocolates have a very short shelf life, as we refuse to use preservatives or artificial flavours.”

In keeping with her commitment to ethics, Jodie chooses to use Fair Trade certified chocolate and single origin/single plantation chocolate, where the exchange is transparent.

“My commitment to quality has underpinned everything I have done with Josophan’s, and sets us apart from others in our market,” she says. “Searching for the pure flavours and treating ingredients with respect has been paramount.”

Step into the store, at the top of Leura Mall, and you are likely to be a little overwhelmed by choice. The selection of Fine Chocolates is infused with everything from Passionfruit, Tahitian Vanilla Bean and Orange & Fresh Mint Leaf to Mayan Chilli and Honey & Saffron.

The Truffle range is equally tempting (Chai, Orange and Butterscotch truffles are all on offer), as are the Rocky Road options and chunky slabs of Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate.

“We choose not to use artificial ingredients and opt for fresh, natural flavour infusions,” says Jodie. “Many of our chocolates have a very short shelf life, as we refuse to use preservatives or artificial flavours. The chocolates are almost more like a patisserie product.”

Using pure flavour infusions was almost unheard of in the Australian chocolate industry when Jodie founded her business, with many saying it would not be feasible. “I think I’ve proved the naysayers wrong, as 14 years, millions of chocolates and many happy customers later, we’re still producing beautiful chocolates,” she adds. While her daughters have now grown up and found their own paths, Jodie remains as driven as ever and has made a significant contribution to the Blue Mountains food scene. As well as Josophan’s, Jodie owns and operates Café Madeleine (also in Leura, on the original Josophan’s site) and the Gingerbread House, in the neighbouring village of Katoomba.

Along with a comprehensive range of chocolates, cakes and desserts, the Gingerbread House serves up breakfast and lunch menus that highlight local ingredients.

“This was a really fun project to put together,” Jodie explains. “I fell in love with the old church building, which is over 100 years old and had just undergone a beautiful renovation. I knew it needed something characterful to do the space justice and felt there was a gap in the market for an accessible and large café environment where all demographics were welcome.”

At the same time as she was bringing the Gingerbread House into being, Jodie started talking to her great foodie friend Pam Seaborn about how desperately the profile of the Blue Mountains as a food and wine destination needed to be raised.

“Pam and I set about creating Plate Up, a local food and wine advisory group. With other likeminded people in the Blue Mountains food and tourism industry, we look at initiatives where we have an opportunity to include a food and wine component,” says Jodie.

The annual Leura Harvest Festival is a perfect example of Plate Up in action. Each year Jodie and Pam organise a ‘Chef’s Table’, where the region’s finest chefs have the chance to connect directly with the community by creating and serving up tasting plates for just $7.50.

“The mountains encourages creativity, and I think you’re seeing that these days in the vibrancy of our restaurants, cafés and food producers,” says Jodie. “For visitors to our region, there’s an enormous choice of wining and dining experiences condensed into a relatively small area and surrounded by incredible natural beauty. It’s an exhilarating place to live and work.”