Marguerite Swoboda

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For the Swoboda family, making homemade chocolates is a pride and joy. At the helm is Marguerite (Meg) Swoboda, who has a culinary arts degree and has trained with chocolatiers from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and Ecole Chocolate in Oregon. Each batch of chocolates is made entirely by hand and with the highest-quality ingredients. Swoboda’s passion for chocolate has led her to create such exotic flavors as Strawberry Balsamic and Chile Star, as well as her Umami set, which includes Malted Bacon and Sweet Potato Caramel flavors. The rest of the family, husband Bill, daughter Anna, and son Jeff, round out the business by handling sample tasting, construction, shipping, production, web management, support and encouragement.

Meg Swoboda shared more of her story with us:

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Where do you get the inspiration for your chocolate flavors?

I see new flavors everywhere. On food shows, while dining out, reading magazines, talking with my family. I am looking for ingredients that balance sweetness, bring texture, or complement a flavor I want to use.

How did you create the Umami chocolates? Was it more difficult than creating flavors like Café au Lait?

The Umami chocolates were difficult to develop—especially the Malted Bacon. It was important to me that the flavors were based on the principles of umami, but not “in your face.” They had to be delicious chocolates most of all. It took me many tries to get the flavor, mouth feel and texture of the Malted Bacon just right.

What is the most challenging or satisfying part of your job?

The weather seems to be my biggest enemy. Controlling the humidity and temperature are important in chocolate making and I can’t always get Mother Nature to cooperate. The most satisfying part of my job is hearing the feedback from our customers and seeing the delight on their faces!

If someone could shadow you for one day at your job, what would surprise that person most?

Everyone is always surprised at how much we can produce in such a small production space. We have a separate shipping/storage area, but all our production is done in a room about 10 by 10 feet. I’m an organization freak, so we can actually produce a lot of chocolates there.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be Shirley Temple.

Aside from your products, what foods can you always find in your kitchen?

Goat cheese, Greek yogurt, duck fat and, of course, coffee.—Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the
author of foodspring’s food forager blog.

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