Voulez-Vous Bonbon in Greeley pairs unique ingredients to create enticingly edible art

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Chocolatier Anna Martinez is not shy about inquiring persons what they’d like to eat, especially if it receives individuals intrigued in the delectable edible artwork she generates in her Greeley kitchen area. In actuality, it could possibly be just one rationale why she named her chocolate-making business Voulez-Vous Bonbon, which indicates “Do you want a sweet?” in French.

The business’s title is also a tribute to her favourite ABBA tune, “Voulez-Vous,” a strike pop solitary that arrived out in 1979, for this reason the full 70s vibe of her brand.

Growing up in Greeley, Martinez analyzed trend, artwork and photography in school. She moved to Denver, working in eating places, primarily front of household.

She grew to become interested in chocolate-producing in 2017 even though performing at Souk Shawarma, whose proprietor was in the approach of opening a chocolate store. A single factor led to a different and in advance of she knew it, she was serving to out in the kitchen at Mood Chocolates generating chocolate, which landed her a full-time posture.

Certified chocolatier Anna Martinez functions in her house kitchen to generate gorgeous edible functions of chocolate art. Martinez was awarded the People’s Option Award in Meals Struggle Denver in 2019 and named one of the girls primary the Front Range Culinary Scene by 5280 Magazine. (Photo courtesy of Voulez-Vous Bonbon)

Even so, Martinez describes her ability in the edible art kind as self-taught. She concluded a certification application by way of on the internet instructing system, Ecole Chocolate, but said it was far more reading and experimenting that ultimately lifted her to head chocolatier at Temper.

The exertion paid off in 2019 when she was awarded the People’s Option Award in Food Battle Denver and named a single of the girls major the Front Range Culinary Scene by 5280 Magazine, in accordance to MyGreeley.com.

Martinez describes her design and style as experimental, and a person seem at the abstract artwork painted with cocoa butter on the exterior of her creations confirms that.

“I never use an airbrush, I use sponges, brushes and my fingers as the principal resources to make the exterior artwork,” she defined.

Primarily using Valrhona chocolate, a French chocolate-making organization viewed as to deliver some of the greatest top quality professional chocolate in the earth, she fills tempered chocolate shells with creamy ganache or gianduja — a nutty filling equivalent to the hazelnut and chocolate spread Nutella. Martinez blends her gianduja with fruit jams, gels or caramels.

Chocolatier Anna Martinez takes advantage of sponges, brushes and her fingers as applications to create summary artwork on the exterior of her Valrhona chocolate bonbons. (Photo courtesy of Voulez-Vous Bonbon)

Chocolate-generating is quite the approach it normally takes her a couple several hours to make 50 bonbons of a person taste.

After portray the molds, Martinez pours a layer of tempered chocolate to develop the shell, knocks it out to make it hollow, places in the filling and then caps it with another layer of chocolate.

She draws inspiration from pop culture, vacation and seasonal botanicals to build distinctive taste pairings, offering just about anything but operate-of-the-mill bites of chocolate.

At the moment, Martinez is encouraged by Latin and Asian flavors. A current most loved is strawberry togarashi, a Japanese spice blend made from chile flakes, seaweed and black sesame seeds. A small dried orange peel adds citrusy notes.

For Easter, she worked with pandan extract, a southeast Asian tropical plant, filling chocolate eggs with a creamy pandan marshmallow. Viewed as the vanilla of Asia, Martinez said the flavor is a cross amongst coconut, almond and vanilla. Its dazzling inexperienced coloring makes it popular in desserts.

Creamy pandan marshmallow filling, thought of the vanilla of Asia, tastes a little bit like coconut, almond and vanilla. Its dazzling green coloring will make it common in desserts. (Picture courtesy of Voulez-Vous Bonbon)

If you are seeking for other bites with heat, there is a morita chile — a smoked pink jalapeño chile — and cayenne bonbon that has a marginally fruity, smokey taste. She’s functioning on a new filling for summertime, partnering chayote, a crunchy Central American fruit with apple and cucumber notes, with a lime or inexperienced apple gel.

A single of her most special pairings was a custom bonbon she designed for barbecue eating places: a combo of rendered pork unwanted fat and rendered brisket unwanted fat in position of butter created for an unctuous caramel filling which she coated in dark chocolate and topped with a chicharone.

And then there are the grasshoppers — or “chapulines” — a protein staple eaten by a big selection of the world’s population that’s grow to be a gourmand craze. Crunchy when dried, Martinez provides them to mezcal milk chocolate ganache to generate a crispy handle.

Unique and eye-catching, Martinez’s chocolate jewels objectify what an eye for vogue and the normal environment can be when introduced in edible art.

Chunk into a single and savor the flavors. And when Martinez asks, “voulez-vous bonbon?” just say, “oui!”