Artfully Chocolate/Kingsbury Confections - one of my favorites
This is a rare photograph, according to Rob Kingsbury and Eric Nelson, owners of Artfully Chocolate/Kingsbury Confections. They're rarely found together, one of them holding the fort at the Alexandria store, the other manning the 14th St NW location, probably behind the bar area creating chocolate-based cocktails and drinks.
The two companies joined together late May to create ACKC Cocoa Bar Alexandria in the Del Ray district, combining their separate passions for chocolate. Eric Nelson, left, is the chocolatier. Astonishingly he's never had a formal lesson in the craft. His New England great-grandparents and grandparents were in the sugar candy business. "My family had a ridiculous amount of cookbooks. I went through them with my mother and found recipes that were family-based." He began tweaking them, adding some edge to come up with an array of chocolates of his own that was more creative. He plays with flavors, adding tastes from unexpected sources like lavender.
"Eric's being really modest," interrupts Kingsbury. "He's a genius. His chocolates are really incredibly wonderful. They're all hand-made, hand-dipped, not processed," which gives them a slightly rustic appeal. The pair haven't fallen for the current fashion for decorating their chocolates with immaculate transfer sheet designs that lend chocolates an art-stamp look. While they respect other confectioners' work in that field, they want to create chocolates that will remain desirable because of their taste once the 'painted' trend is over. The most popular flavor combination currently is chipotle-cinnamon. Nelson likes the lavender-pistachio combination, while Kingsbury admits a bite of champagne truffle perks him up if he's feeling low. Both, however, agree the classic hazlenut truffle is hard to beat.
They plan to open a kitchen shortly just around the corner to give classes on how to make chocolates the ACKC way - including lessons on the transfer sheet process.
Artfully Chocolate/Kingsbury Confections, 1529c 14th St NW, 202 387 2626 and 2003a Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria, 703 635 7917
The two companies joined together late May to create ACKC Cocoa Bar Alexandria in the Del Ray district, combining their separate passions for chocolate. Eric Nelson, left, is the chocolatier. Astonishingly he's never had a formal lesson in the craft. His New England great-grandparents and grandparents were in the sugar candy business. "My family had a ridiculous amount of cookbooks. I went through them with my mother and found recipes that were family-based." He began tweaking them, adding some edge to come up with an array of chocolates of his own that was more creative. He plays with flavors, adding tastes from unexpected sources like lavender.
"Eric's being really modest," interrupts Kingsbury. "He's a genius. His chocolates are really incredibly wonderful. They're all hand-made, hand-dipped, not processed," which gives them a slightly rustic appeal. The pair haven't fallen for the current fashion for decorating their chocolates with immaculate transfer sheet designs that lend chocolates an art-stamp look. While they respect other confectioners' work in that field, they want to create chocolates that will remain desirable because of their taste once the 'painted' trend is over. The most popular flavor combination currently is chipotle-cinnamon. Nelson likes the lavender-pistachio combination, while Kingsbury admits a bite of champagne truffle perks him up if he's feeling low. Both, however, agree the classic hazlenut truffle is hard to beat.
They plan to open a kitchen shortly just around the corner to give classes on how to make chocolates the ACKC way - including lessons on the transfer sheet process.
Artfully Chocolate/Kingsbury Confections, 1529c 14th St NW, 202 387 2626 and 2003a Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria, 703 635 7917
Related Ingredients...
Chocolate
Posted on Sunday 15th June 2008 in
Americas & Caribbean, Markets
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