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Azurelise | 919-946-5063
Azurelise
Chocolate Truffles
Raleigh,
North Carolina
I
have been making Azurelise chocolate truffles in my one man
downtown Raleigh, North Carolina chocolate shop since Fall 2002.
I make all Azurelise chocolate truffles according to my own original recipes and techniques.
"Azurelise" is derived from my daughter's
name: "Azure Elise".
Since
people
always ask me, here is the answer to the question "What got you into the chocolate truffle making
business?"
In
July 2002 Azure relocated with her mother from Raleigh,
North Carolina to Seattle, Washington. At the time, I was a tenured
associate professor of philosophy at North Carolina State University and
needed more money to make regular visits to Seattle.
Preparing
my lectures for the first day of fall 2002 classes, I nodded off and
dreamed I was explaining to my daughter why it would be difficult to visit
her. My daughter, who could not speak "in reality" at the
time, responded "Daddy, you're a philosopher, make chocolate."
I
taught my first day classes then went to visit my friend Sylvio Sisteste
who owned Sylvia's Pizza Restaurant on Hillsborough Street across the
street from my office. Sylvio asked me how my classes had gone.
I informed him they went very well. Then I told him about the
dream.
Sylvio,
an Italian by birth who had immigrated to the States from Argentina,
responded "Reginaldo, your bambina is very smart. My uncle
started a chocolate company in Argentina knowing nothing about making
chocolate and made a big fortune. He is the richest person in my
family. You should listen to your daughter."
Sylvio's
advice made sense to me. For some time there had appeared to me to
be an unmet demand for high quality "old fashioned" chocolate
truffles. Sylvio's story about his uncle persuaded me the fact I
knew virtually nothing about making chocolate truffles was
unimportant.
I
started by typing "how to make chocolate truffles" into my
internet browser. That led me to buying a tempering machine, custom
chocolate molds, driving to South Carolina to buy some very high quality
couverture chocolate and buying some other natural or organic ingredients
for a filling at my local Whole Foods Store.
I
taught myself how to temper chocolate, how to make truffle casings and how to make a chocolate filling. After several months of working
on my filling recipe, I called Ms. Joyce Fowler manager of the candy
department of A Southern Season in Chapel Hill. I asked her
if she would taste test my chocolate truffles and give me her honest
opinion of them. She made an appointment for me to meet her the
following week.
I
met with Joyce and handed her a bag of 10 dark chocolate truffles. She
unwrapped one of the truffles and ate it very slowly with her eyes closed.
When she opened her eyes she looked at me and said "These are very,
very nice. Not too sweet. Where's your price list?' I
presented Joyce with a price list a year and a half later in April, 2004
and began selling Azurelise chocolate truffles at A Southern Season
in May 2004.
Today,
Azurelise chocolate truffles are the best selling
gourmet chocolate truffles at A Southern Season.
Reginald O. Savage.
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