Overberg’s Very Own Chocolate Factory

Posted in Food & Wine | Lifestyle | Sweets & Chocolates

Willy Wonka Step Aside…

Something good and “ooh so heavenly” is going on down in Betty’s Bay, at the far end of town. Gaspard Bossut, chocolatier and owner of GaBoli’s Chocolates is hard at work making sweet dreams come true.

Like all magical fairytales begin, once upon a time in a town not far from our own, there was a man, but this man was no ordinary man…

Gaspard Bossut can be found in a quaint little facebrick house that he shares with his South African wife, Violet. The house is neatly tucked away in amongst the surrounding vegetation, the only giveaway that something is afoot is the Belgian flag flying high in the front yard and a signboard highlighting just what exactly is going on inside.

Upon entering his kitchen you are welcomed by the sweet smell of sugary goodness and a cheerful black cat. Surprisingly the cat doesn’t bring bad luck with him but a heart felt welcome by the man who has become known as the “Willy Wonka” of Betty’s Bay.

There are plenty of machines running, the one that catches our eye first is definitely the large vat that is spewing rich chocolate lava as the wheel turns, secondly it is the array of chocolates, laid out, wrapped, stacked and packed that get the heart beating a little faster, especially if all things chocolate make you weak at the knees.

Gaspard runs through each an every item that is used to produce the finest Belgian chocolate that you will ever taste, his passion is reflected in comical hand gestures and tasting trays laden with different varieties of truffles, pralines and slabs.

The chocolatier was born in Belgium and came to South Africa 49 years ago along with his parents when he was 16 years old. He lived and worked in London, China and Namibia before finally settling down in Betty’s Bay.

He was on holiday with Violet when they came across The Whaling Station restaurant and decided to purchase it. They ran the restaurant for 9 years before up and selling it to pursue the art of chocolate making.

It was 2001 and the approach of the festive season got them thinking about their Christmas menu. They had originally dabbled in a few desserts but wanted to come up with something unique that people would really fall in love with.

After finding a truffle recipe in a magazine, along with Violets remarks of being Belgian so why not make Belgian chocolates, the idea sprang to life. The chocolates were a hit and orders began to pour in.

During this time in walked the real maccoy, a Londoner, Edward Wohlmuth. Edward had just retired from a lifetime spent in the Belgian chocolate industry. In 30 minutes he had showed Gaspard more than what he had learnt in 2 years. For 3 weeks Gaspard spent every day working alongside Edward, soon a life long friendship was formed. For the last 13 years Edward has visited Gaspard every year, bringing new insights into the world of chocolate and showing Gaspard more than he could have ever imagined.

A person would be pleasantly surprised at the list of flavoured chocolates that he makes. When asked as to how he comes up with the flavours he grins and replys: “It’s the 3 in the morning madness.” Do not let the fact that he is a local producer fool you, the flavour menu that he whips out ranges from the tame to the bizarre.

There are alcoholic inspired truffles from beer, champagne, sambuca, rum, grappa, frangelico and more. There are floral hinted ones like rose, fynbos and violet to the coffee laced chocolates like macchiato and espresso. For the adventurous there is chilli, blue cheese and blue cheese and biltong and for the more subtle there is nougat and maldon caramel salt.

He hasn’t forgotten about diabetics either. As a diabetic it is really hard to come across chocolate that is without the xylitol aftertaste but the master which Gaspard is has made use of maltitol, a natural occurring sugar in wheat that has no after taste. In the end you are provided with 2 bars of chocolate that taste identical, however, one is diabetic and one is not. Gaspard says: “I’ve been tricking my wife ever since, she still cannot tell the difference!”

If you would like to sample some of Gaspard’s delectable creations you are most welcome to pop by the studio by appointment. It really is a treat and your appreciation for the craft as well as the product grows.

The Hermanus Wine Village also supplies a fine selection of GaBoli Chocolates.

Just one bite is all it takes to live happily ever after knowing amazing, Belgian chocolates are right around the corner.

Contact Gaspard: 082 394 1016

Address: 2037 Delport Road, Betty’s Bay

Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate. ― Jo Brand

Gaspard’s Chocky Facts…

GaBoli is the name of his company. The Ga is for Gaspard, the Bo is Bossut and the Li stands for limited, as he has no intention of mass producing his delicious product.

All his chocolates are hand-made and contain no vegetable fat, palm oil, palm kernel oil, vegetable shortening or additives.

Lemon Gaspard only makes use of Belgian chocolate and goes through 2 tons of it a year!

Gaspard even supplies his chocolates to a company in New York.

GaBoli produces white, milk and dark chocolate pralines, slabs and truffles.

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. ― Charles M. Schulz

Wacky Chocky Facts…

Chocolate was originally drank in a liquid form by the Aztec’s and was also used as a form of currency.

The oldest accompaniment to chocolate is chilli.

70% of the world’s cocoa is grown in Africa.

Cocoa plant More than 3,000,000 tonnes of cocoa is produced each year.

Chocolate slabs were only created in the late 1800’s.

The better the snap when breaking the chocolate the better the quality of chocolate is.

A dark chocolate slab contains 30% sugar and 70% cocoa mass. Milk Cocoa beans chocolate has milk added to it and the sweet white chocolate that some of us like consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk. The white chocolate has no dark cocoa solids added to it.