Decadence Unwrapped

The secret to creating our signature couture chocolates is in using top quality basic ingredients: chocolate, cream and butter. Everything we produce is pure and clean. We never use any additives, preservatives, colourings or unnatural flavourings. Our chocolate producer, Alessio Tessieri of the Italian artisan chocolate company, Noalya, sources the world’s most exceptional cacao. He goes to every producer and farmer direct — usually in South America and Central America, where cacao is a native tree. He also tracks down specialised cacao varieties in other parts of the world, looking for the best quality beans from farms with production methods that match our rigorous commitment to ethical and organic cacao harvesting. The beans are then shipped to Italy and crafted into chocolate, which is sent to London ready to be shaped into one of our creations.  

One of my favourite chocolates to make is our mint chocolate. We infuse fresh mint into warm cream and allow it to infuse before straining the mixture. We boil the cream and pour it over chocolate, then add softened butter and blend everything together. This mixture is called a ganache. The warm ganache is poured into a frame, then set overnight and cut. It is then coated in chocolate and decorated.

I take inspiration from my background and life experience, as well as those of the other chocolatiers on the team at William Curley. I’m from Scotland, so ingredients and recipes from there play a role in a number of creations such as our tayberry, pine, heather honey and millionaire’s shortbread chocolates. My wife and business partner, Melissa, grew up in the British countryside; she finds traditional fruits and herbal flavour combinations an ongoing source of creativity. I also find London endlessly inspiring: it’s such a cosmopolitan city, with cultural influences from all over the world — a melting pot of influences for the chocolates we create.  

We make a chocolate featuring Ham Lands Meadow Honey. It’s produced in a nature reserve less than a mile away from our chocolate kitchen in London’s Richmond-upon-Thames borough. We are very lucky to be based in a part of London filled with meadows, woodlands and parks. The huge variety of wildflowers and trees gives the honey an amazing flavour that changes throughout the seasons. 

Probably our Peruvian Couture Chocolate. It is a pure ganache made with a single-origin cacao from Peru, which is native to that part of the Amazon rainforest. The wonderful thing about this chocolate is that the flavour is all created by the cacao and the environment it has grown in. It’s deceptively simple, but has an extraordinary depth to the flavour profile. 

Our Nostalgia range is made up of luxury versions of favourite childhood British chocolate bars, including Bounty, Snickers, Jaffa Cakes and millionaire’s shortbread. Each of these relies on many different components. For example, the Jaffa Cakes are made with a layer of génoise sponge, topped with orange ganache and filled with marmalade before being enrobed with chocolate and sprinkled with dried orange zest. 

It’s hard to pick just one — all our chocolates exemplify different elements of COMO’s approach to style, integrity and comfort. If I had to select one product, it would be our Luxury Fruit & Nut box. It’s a selection of different chocolate-coated fruits, nuts and rochers, combining both classic and contemporary flavours. While it may be a touch decadent, the chocolate is all very pure with plenty of healthy ingredients. All in all, it’s a selection that’s great for happiness and wellbeing, while making a perfect gift.