INTERVIEW

DID SOMEONE SAY chocolate?

When Parnell’s Chocolate Boutique opened ahead of Christmas 1997 HELEN PERRY reported on the mouth-watering new store. Just prior to Christmas 2021 she revisited the shop to talk to owner Barbara Bicknell who was handing over the reins after nearly 25 years steering the shop into legendary status.

Much of New Zealand, in particular Auckland, may have come grinding to a halt during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the chocolate gods haven’t missed a beat or not many at any rate.

With lockdowns keeping shops closed and people at home for months, it was, perhaps, chocolate’s time to shine. Almost overnight, it seems like a great number of people were discussing the virtues of chocolate in the way they might talk about wine or coffee.

And, in and around Parnell, many lamented that retail closures meant their favourite shop and café for pairing chocolate with coffee was closed. But with the re-opening of retail in November last year the fans returned and if not quite in droves, they certainly flocked in for their favourite sweet treats.

The last hurdle for Barbara was waiting for the green, or rather, red light so the café side of the store could also welcome back patrons many of whom appreciate the late night opening for sweet treats.

“The café has long been a popular spot for those who have dined out locally, perhaps at one of the many Asian-inspired restaurants, then popped into us for a scrumptious dessert,” Barbara says. However, she adds the time had come to let someone younger steer the dual business forward. behind the counter if needed; this would make me very happy. It would be great to keep up with regulars but be able to go home at night without having to attend to the mechanics of business.”

Barbara’s interest was first sparked in 1995 while visiting Australia where she came across a small, boutique business, Dolci d’oro, specialising in chocolate making.

“I decided to bring home a range of these wonderful chocolates to see if someone, such as Smith and Caughey would be interested in stocking them but then I began to see greater possibilities for myself,” she explains.

After a great deal of research, which included setting up an experimental concept shop in south Auckland, this astute entrepreneur, with a sales and marketing background, knew she was on to a good thing.

“I realised if these chocolates were marching out the door in Clendon they would do so anywhere so I began looking for a permanent site.”

With her heart set on the colonial charm of Parnell, Barbara opened her new venture in tiny premises near the top of Parnell Road in October 1997. In no time her somewhat ambitious start up felt like an everyday essential. My chocolatiers buy the chocolate from Belgium and then make it into finished products here in NZ with local ingredients for the centres. Shoppers like the idea of choosing their own selection instead of buying a box which might contain flavours they don’t especially like.”

Although she heralded from a very different background in cosmetics, it didn’t take Barbara long to use her marketing skills so she could safely say she had arrived in her happy place.

The shop’s imaginative and elegant packaging ideas continue to impress partly because patrons are unlikely to find them elsewhere.

That’s because Barbara and long time staff member, Jenny are ardent scrap-bookers and card-makers.

“Anything to do with stamps, ink and paper and I’m into it,” Barbara says. “Jenny and I make cards and gift boxes for the shop which go down a treat. In particular, our little ‘handbags’ are snapped up with shoppers filling them with their own selection of sweets or chocolates.”

With the Chocolate Boutique virtually an instant success, demand saw Barbara expand into neighbouring premises. Then, seven years ago she took over part of an adjoining restaurant and was able to develop a café at the rear of the shop. a dessert café and it’s worked. I think our consistent and late opening hours encourages people to stop in for dessert or extra indulgence when out on a stroll or after dining elsewhere.

“Our 10pm closing came about because there was a time when you couldn’t get a decent coffee around here after 4pm. That seemed ridiculous. Now patrons can come in for coffee and their dessert any night of the week.”

And, why wouldn’t they when there are such temptations as waffles with lashing of fruit, cream and chocolate, lava cake, sundaes and the café’s famous, death by chocolate, to name just a few on the mouth-watering menu.

Importantly the Chocolate Boutique offers egg-free, glutenfree and vegan treats – vegan hot fudge puddings being a favourite. So, while the Chocolate Boutique remains firmly anchored in Parnell, Barbara’s grip at the helm is definitely loosening.

“But, I hope that doesn’t mean I’ll disappear forever,” she says. “I love this shop and its products so it will be hard to give it away altogether. I’d like to assist from time to time.

On the other hand, more time to travel, countrywide for now, then further afield if Covid eventually allows, would be marvellous. What’s more, I’m sure to always have a chocolate or two with me.”

FOOD OF THE GODS

Chocolate may be a sweet treat but it also has a dark side! Symbolic of indulgence, richness, love and joy, boxed chocolates are gifted at many special occasions – Valentine’s Day, birthdays, Christmas, Easter, anniversaries and more.

However the story of chocolate is not entirely sweet. Native to the equatorial regions of the Americas, cacao plants were discovered in Mexico about 4000 years ago where the Olmec people were the first to turn its pods into chocolate. They drank it during rituals and used it as medicine.

By the 15th century, the Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency. They believed that chocolate was a gift from the god, Quetzalcoatl, and drank it as a refreshing beverage, an aphrodisiac, and even to prepare for war.

The Mayans, too, praised chocolate as the drink of the gods, their chocolate a revered brew made of roasted and ground cacao seeds mixed with chillies, water and cornmeal. In fact, vessels with the residue of chocolate drink in them were found in an early Classicperiod (460-480AD) Mayan tomb.

By 1662, Pope Alexander V11 had declared that religious fasts weren’t broken by the drinking of chocolate although one early European, who tasted the mix, which included chile peppers, fragrant flowers, and sometimes cornmeal, proclaimed it, “more a drink for pigs than a drink for humanity.”

In time, he grew to enjoy the beverage, as did aristocrats across Europe who took to drinking a similar blend made with rose water, egg yolks, or almonds but it wasn’t until the 19th and early 20th centuries that chocolate became big business with the launch of companies such as Nestle, Cadbury and more. Prior to the Industrial Revolution chocolate was mainly available to the upper classes but when the hydraulic press was brought to bear on cacao beans, indulgences such as chocolate bars, truffles, and cakes emerged.

To write about the production, types and the uses of chocolate would take a book but in brief, chocolate comes from the small, football-shaped pods which grow on the trunks of the evergreen tree, casici samam, in the genus Theobroma (“food of the gods” in Greek).

The pods have leathery skins covering a slimy, sweet-sour flesh which house roughly 40 seeds each.

As well as satisfying the human sweet tooth, cacao beans are full of fibre, antioxidants, monounsaturated fat, flavanols, and other compounds considered important to overall health. Its flavanols are good for lowering blood pressure, yet, beware: chocolate is poison to dogs!

After making its way to Europe, the plants were also introduced to west Africa and countries in that region are now among the largest cacao producers in the world.

Sadly, the journey from plantations to chocolate houses has always been one of hardship. Harvesting and processing of the delicate pods is done by hand and locals, including children, work long hours in extremely difficult conditions for poor pay.

The good news is more is being done to improve conditions overall and today many chocolate product labels indicate ethical labour standards: Fairtrade, Utz, and Rainforest Alliance are among them although audits of supply chains for child workers are not considered perfect. Life happens, chocolate helps Chocolate lovers everywhere will identify with some of the many phrases and idioms which express warm feelings about chocolate. Here are just a few:

• A balanced diet is chocolate in both hands • Chocolate is cheaper than therapy • Hot chocolate is like a hug from the inside • I could give up chocolate but I’m not a quitter • When life gives you chocolate eat it all and tell no one • And, that famous one from the movie, Forrest Gump –

Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get!