Chocolate is the food of love; its deep dark sweet waves making mouths water, taste buds quiver and the senses go wild.

More than flowers, it’s the way to a girl’s heart, a chocolate truffle far more potent than petals. And there’s no finer excuse to taste the wonderful world of chocolate this month than the start of National Chocolate Week on Monday, October 8.

It’s a celebration of the “sublime substance” that 4,000 years ago was a sacred plant of the Olmec people of South America and today is a luxury food the world over and an industry worth £3.5billion in the UK alone.

With National Chocolate Week recognising the work of top chocolatiers and chocolate companies, it’s clear that Sussex has some of the most innovative, playful and imaginative chocolate makers in the country.

The decadent sculptured fantasies of Brighton’s Choccywoccydoodah, famous for their voluptuous bespoke cakes and fabulous fun chocolate shapes, are a stark contrast to the genteel and elegant chocolates of companies such as Audrey’s Chocolates of Hove, Montezuma’s of Brighton and relative newcomers such as The Sussex Chocolate Company of Cross in Hand in East Sussex.

“The myth that if you can eat all the chocolate you want, you soon give it up is simply not true,” says Simon Hobbs, who established The Sussex Chocolate Company in 2010. A “stressed out” Anglican priest, he gave in to his lifelong chocolate addiction and learned how to make his own – “I thought what I really wanted to do is make chocolates”.

After training as a chocolatier, he opened a workshop near his home where he creates seductive flavours such as Raspberry & Rose Petal Wine, “a ganache with raspberry puree and rose petal wine from Lurgashall Winery in West Sussex encased in 70% dark chocolate”.

He also created a Sussex Mead Truffle made with mead from the Carr Taylor Vineyard near Hastings, and a “Champagne” Truffle, “a smooth velvety truffle made from Tickerage Blush, a pink sparkling wine from the Blackboys Vineyard in East Sussex”.

“I am completely addicted to chocolate. They say it is not a physical addiction to chocolate, but a psychological one,” Simon muses. “I associate white chocolate with my childhood and so I love white chocolate. It is a delicious taste, wonderful, and there are things in chocolate that make you feel good.”

The love of chocolate lured lawyers Helen and Simon Pattinson into launching their own chocolate business in 2000. They started Montezuma’s “with only a kitchen sink-sized machine, huge enthusiasm, spades of naivety and a broad ideal to bring chocolate innovation to a boring and staid British chocolate market”.

There are five Montezuma’s shops now, selling chocolates “where substance wins over style” and chocolate bars go by enticing names such Shake & Shiver (Ecuadorian dark chocolate with peppermint and cocoa nibs) and Airs & Graces (Ecuadorian dark chocolate with nougat pieces). Their nibbles are named Dainty Dollops and truffles tantalise with titles such as American Idol and Mint Eastwood.

At the other end of the chocolate spectrum is raw chocolate, and in Sussex it is represented by companies such as The Raw Chocolate Company at Henfield and the Sussex-based Total Raw Food. “The whole healthy superfood chocolate concept seems big at the moment here in Brighton,” says Jess Fenton, author and “Raw” lifestyle coach at Total Raw Food, which is based in Brighton.

“It’s not surprising, really though, as you can now eat chocolate that is actually good for you.”

Raw chocolate, Jess explains, hasn’t been heat-treated so it retains vital nutrients such as magnesium and antioxidants. Real raw chocolate recipes contain a natural sweetener called agave nectar rather than refined sugar.

“The agave plant is the same natural desert plant that tequila is made from – but you don’t get drunk on it,” she says. “Real chocolate is free from cheap fillers, E-numbers and dairy - and with a world population fascinated by chocolate as a whole, it’s time they woke up to what chocolate really is.”

It’s a sentiment echoed over at The Raw Chocolate Company, based in Brighton. “If you haven’t tried raw chocolate before, then you really are in for an amazing treat,” says Linus Gorpe, the company’s founder.

“Raw cacao is a very potent little bean, one of the richest sources of antioxidants and jam-packed with minerals. Using raw cacao like we do – unroasted and minimally processed – means its exceptional nutritional mood-elevating properties can be enjoyed to its full effect.”

Now employing ten people, The Raw Chocolate Company began with “a few innocent experiments in the kitchen”

by chocolate “Jedi master” Linus, who suffered “a number of disasters before finding the path to true cacao wisdom”.

“The chocolate wasn’t just quite tasty,” Linus says, “it was delicious and people went wild for it.” Not surprising, with flavours such as Dark Raw Chocolate With Orange And Xylitol (derived from birch) or the “sweet, smooth and dreamy” Vanoffe, a chocolate bar made from the organic ingredients of four exotic plants.

Cocoa Loco at West Grinstead, makers of handmade truffles, chocolate fruit and nuts, and chocolate bars, buttons and yummy things, flies the organic chocolate flag, listing ten solid reasons for its stance. Top of list is the lack of additives, followed by its health properties and finally its taste.

“We refuse to compromise on the quality of the ingredients,” says Cocoa Loco co-founder Sarah Payne. “The only added ingredient in our products is the love and care that our small team put in to their baking and making.”

The chocoholics who want to do it for themselves might want to try a “chocolate day” at Le Salon Du Chocolat in Chichester, the ultimate do-it-yourself experience. The brainchild of chocolatier Dawn Shrives, it’s where adults and children can melt away a few hours swirling luxury Belgian chocolate into shapes and cases to satisfy your own personal dream.

“Our passion is sharing our knowledge with anyone who wants to understand more about ‘real’ chocolate,” says Dawn, who runs Le Salon Du Chocolat with her daughter Amy. “Its sole purpose is to allow the public to have a go at making chocolate just as it’s done in any small chocolate factory.”

Le Salon Du Chocolat is participating in National Chocolate Week by holding workshops for adults and children, and Dawn has just established The UK Guild of Artisan Chocolatiers, which aims to establish a network of small artisan chocolatiers.

“There are some fantastic artisan chocolatiers who are making the most delicious chocolates,” says Dawn. “The public needs to know where they can source them!”

Sussex Chocolatier Factfile

As well as Le Salon Du Chocolat, Audrey’s Chocolates and Cocoa
Loco are also participating in National Chocolate Week.
For more information, visit www.chocolateweek.co.uk .


Choccywoccydoodah,
24 Duke Street, Brighton.
Call 01273 329462 or visit www.choccywoccydoodah.com .

Audrey’s Chocolates,
28 Holland Road, Hove (01273 735561) and 16 East Street Arcade, Brighton (01273 325826). Visit www.audreyschocolates.co.uk .

Montezuma’s,
15 Duke Street, Brighton
(01273 324979) and 29 East Street, Chichester (01243 537385).
Visit www.montezumas.co.uk .

The Sussex Chocolate Company,
Unit 3, Firgrove Business Park, Firgrove Road, Cross in Hand.
Call 01435 863137 or 07791
182257, email simon@sussex
chocolatecompany.co.uk or visit www.sussexchocolatecompany.co.uk .

The Raw Chocolate Company
Of West Sussex. For stockists in Sussex, call 01273 493331 or visit www.therawchocolatecompany.com .
Total Raw Food, 1a Prospect House, Hyde Business Park, Brighton. Call 01273 686406 or visit www.totalrawfood.com .


Jessica’s Raw Chocolate Recipes by Jessica Fenton ISBN: 978-1-907332-71-5.
Cocoa Loco, The Chocolate Barn, Hill House Farm, West Grinstead. Call 01403 865687, email Sarah@cocoaloco.co.uk or visit www.cocoaloco.co.uk .

Le Salon Du Chocolat,
Hortons Yard, Melbourne Road, Chichester. Call 01243 775933,
email dawn@lesalonduchocolat.co.uk or visit www.lesalonduchocolat.co.uk .