Botanical Chocolate

LOOK!! We're not the only ones to be Botanically Enthused: Fiona Sciolti has developed a great reputation as an inventive Artisan chocolatier who uses herbs in her garden and many other local flavours including teas and honey.

Fiona is half Italian and she certainly combines that famous Italian passion with a good palate to produce beautiful and delicious chocolates, many of them seasonal.

Fiona Sciolti

The last time I saw the beautiful Sciolti chocolates was at Bath Love Food Fest, where Giles Sciolti was joined by their daughter to show off the chocolates Fiona had stayed up till 4am making!

The Sciolti Display

Earlier this year, Fiona approached us with the idea of using our flavours for her chocolates and we are delighted that she has now made three different varieties which Fiona describes:

Rosemary & Blackcurrant

Womersley are to vinegars and jellies, what I am to chocolates.  They grow and use natural English flavours to infuse into their amazing range.  This is the second of three chocolates that I have created especially for Womersley, combining their Apple & Rosemary Jelly and enhanced with their Blackcurrant & Rosemary Vinegar to create a chocolate cleverly matched and packed full of surprising flavour.

Dandelion & Apache Chilli Vinegar

A chocolate with humour! Never mind all these lovely herbs and blossoms and fruits found in the garden; I figured we had way too many dandelions. Dandelions have been used for cooking for thousands of years and in Italy the new leaves are harvested for salads. However, in my chocolate, I've incorporated the beautiful yellow petals, and you'll see them running through the ganache, like strands of saffron. Team this with Womersley's stunning Golden Raspberry & Apache Chilli Vinegar Dressing, to sharpen it up a little, and suddenly you have honey from a weed.

Geranium

The third in the trilogy of Womersley/ Sciolti Botanical Chocolates. Actually I have been hunting pelagoniums all Summer long... they're surprisingly difficult to find.  Anyway Womersley conveniently helped me out with their stunning Geranium Jelly, with it's sensual and fragrant Turkish Delight tones. I love this one, and as a thank you, have decored the chocolate with a lustred Womersley W.


You can see all these and more on the Sciolti Chocolate website, where you can buy your own. Just type in "Womersley" in the search box. Also, do have a read of Andy Hunting's blog piece on Fiona's use of our vinegars in her chocolates.
Like us, Fiona does Food shows (we will both be at The Festival of Pride this weekend, near Newark, Notts.)

Go on, give yourself a double dose of Botanical Enthusiasm... 

Note: Many thanks to Fiona and Giles Sciolti for their help in providing photos and words for this post.