My Story
Hello! My name is Jayne and I have always had a love of cooking, particularly baking. I took after my grandmother who was famous (at least in her village) for her Victoria sandwich. She often won first prize in the agricultural and horticultural summer shows. My mother and my sister also love to cook, so I guess it runs in the family.
I now have a husband and four grown up sons, all of whom have benefitted from my skills in the kitchen. The boys have left home so I now have the time to follow my passion of anything chocolate. A few years ago, I was fortunate to have been taught by Mark Tilling (World Master Chocolatier and winner of Bake Off: Crème de la Crème 2016) and since then I have practised and practised on my family and friends until they told me that I should share my love and talent, by creating my own collection of handmade chocolates for everyone else to taste. So, with some trepidation and lots of excitement, I launched The Cottage Chocolatier on Instagram and immediately got lots of positive responses. ……That encouraged me to make this website, so that discerning chocolate lovers can share some of my favourite bonbons. I love to see the joy on people’s faces when they taste one of my chocolates and I hope that you will experience it too.
Corporate & Social Responsibility
My intention is always to minimise my environmental impact whilst bringing the joy of delicious chocolates to my lovely customers, many of whom live close by. I do not have any employees at the moment, although it is my intention to recruit a trainee that I can train to become my assistant and potential successor. They will need to share my values, care for our environment, attention to detail and love of chocolate.
I buy from sustainable, ethically responsible sources and the ingredients are locally sourced wherever possible, although I must accept that we can't grow cocoa in England! I use recyclable packaging (even the ribbons!) and distribution is via Royal Mail. If I am personally delivering I use my own electric vehicle which is charged from my solar panels with battery storage.
I have a dedicated space in my home (5-star hygiene rated) to make the chocolates which eliminates the need to commute or have a separate building to heat or light etc.
I supply discounted chocolates to my wider family, local village activities and events.
So, you can see that environmental and social responsibility is firmly embedded in what I do as The Cottage Chocolatier and will continue to be a driving force in my decision making!
Luxury handmade chocolates. An exquisite indulgence that cannot be matched by machine made chocolates.
I make my Bonbons by hand, in small batches in my kitchen in Surrey, using traditional methods. It is important to me that my ingredients reflect my core values and I want you to enjoy my chocolates, but not at the expense of the environment or the people who produce my ingredients. I use high quality and sustainable couverture chocolate from Valrhona and natural colours to achieve the jewellery like surface which is hand painted with coloured cocoa butter.
Buy A Box Of Chocolates Today!
Valrhona is a French company who supply some of the best restaurants in the world. They have been producing the world’s finest chocolate in the small village of Tain L’Hermitage, France since 1922. From the beginning, company founder and Pastry Chef Albéric Guironnet was dedicated to the creation of unique, artisan quality chocolate with complex, balanced and consistent flavors. This mission of excellence continues as the gastronomic traditions of the renowned Rhone Valley find expression in every mouthwatering taste of Valrhona’s superb chocolate. Through their sustainability programme ‘Live Long’, they have made a firm commitment to maintain long working relationships with cocoa producers, support cocoa producing communities and minimise their carbon footprint.
Valrhona has been certified B CORP. The common goal of B CORP is to help be of benefit for the world and those in it, so it is not surprising that the “B” stands for “Benefit”. To obtain this certification, companies are assessed in 5 areas: governance, employees, customers, community, and environment.
For more information visit: https://www.valrhona-chocolate.com/b-corp
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