Club gives glimpse into world of gourmet candy making

By THERESA HOGUE


Gazette-Times reporter

Down a long set of wooden stairs, girls and their mothers descend into the basement of Burst’s Candies, where the clanging of machinery and the smell of melted chocolate fills the air. It’s a glimpse into the world of gourmet chocolate making not everyone gets to experience, but for the second year in a row, owner Patrick Magee is opening up his chocolate-making facilities for a very special group of new friends.

Every Friday during the summer at 1 p.m., girls of all ages and their mothers are invited to attend a free chocolate club, just recently named “Chocolate Girl-ore,” which encourages building friendships, cooperation, and of course, chocolate.

“I set them up and help them and then I disappear,” Magee said. “I kind of ruin it because it’s a girls’ club.”

A dozen girls participated in the first class, but during the second week the Independence Day holiday narrowed the group to three, including 4-year-old Natividad Salcido, 7-year-old Erin Carlisle and 8-year-old Claire Kepner.

During the first week, students used marzipan paste to make shapes that were then dipped in chocolate.

“It was so cute,” said Natividad’s mom, Tricia. “They shaped them into little animals.”

The second week’s course included threading colored marshmallows onto sticks, which Magee hand-dipped.

The class begins with the girls introducing each other formally, which Magee encourages. Then they go over last week’s activity. Magee quizzes the girls on what they did.

“We made things with some other stuff,” Erin said vaguely, but then recalled the difficult name, marzipan.

“It’s made out of almond,” she said, suddenly remembering.

Magee’s helper, Valerie Carson, helped each girl push marshmallows onto sticks to make marshmallow kabobs, and when the marshmallows became too sticky to work with, she made them herself, having each girl choose which order to thread the fluffy treats.

“If it’s all messed up, you can eat it,” Tricia whispered to Natividad, who was using all her powers of concentration to put tiny colored marshmallows in a very particular order.

The mothers hovered in the background, watching the excitement. Erin’s mother, Rachel, used to manage Burst’s when Erin was “in utero,” she said. At one point, Rachel was so broad that when someone had to pass her behind the counter, she had to stick her pregnant belly into the display case to let them pass.

“She was literally born into this candy store,” Rachel said.

Rachel and Erin heard about the club when they dropped by the store last Friday. This Friday, they brought Erin’s friend Claire with them to try things out.

Tricia’s favorite part of the club is that mixed-age groups allow younger girls to interact with older girls they can look up to.

“(Patrick) wanted to have different age groups as mentors,” she said. “For some of the big girls, it’s a learning experience for them.”

After the marshmallows were threaded, Magee took the group to the enrober room, where he delicately dipped each stick into a vat of swirling melted chocolate. Afterward, the girls sprinkled their creations with purple sugar, and they were put aside to harden.

While they waited for their candy to set, Carson held out bottles of scented oils used in candy making, and had each girl guess what she was smelling. Licorice turned out to be the most difficult one. Guesses varied from lemons to pizza. Mint and maple were a little easier to identify.

4-year-old Natividad was quick to guess all the scents, making her mother realize she might have undiscovered sensory talents. If she doesn’t grow up to be a candy maker, she might have a career as a sommelier.

At a glance

Chocolate Girl-ore is open to girls of all ages. Young girls should be accompanied by older female relatives or friends. Burst’s Candies is located at 353 S.W. Madison Ave. in downtown Corvallis.