Helen Peacocke on the family mixing it up with delicious flavoured confections

Despite the torrential rain and chill wind that rattled around the stalls at Deddington’s Farmers’ Market during the holiday weekend, the Ramaglia family tenaciously rode it out. Their winning smiles won through and convinced passing visitors that their home-made chocolate products were well worth stopping for.

Enrico Ramaglia, his wife Isabel and their two children, ten-year-old Ella and seven-year-old Maya were at the market selling their sumptuous organic, sugar-free chocolate that is gaining popularity.

The chocolate bars they sell come in several glorious flavours which include lavender, liquorice, vanilla, cardamom, Persian blue salt, and orange. The orange being their most recent flavour they have added to their range. They were attending the market to launch their orange chocolate bars which are flavoured with orange oil and dried zest of orange which is scattered across the smooth surface of the chocolate to create a starry night effect. The couple describe it as chocolate marmalade in a solid delectable form.

They have recently launched their Serious Chocolate too, this is a luxurious, dense new bar which drives chocophiles wild.

Having worked as a chef for more than 30 years, Enrico knows all about flavours. Although he still works in a pub kitchen during the day, he spends his free time developing a range of chocolates that he sells under The Chicken Shed label. His years as a chef have taught him a great deal including the need to focus on taste, flavours and temperature when preparing chocolate.

His aim is to produce scrumptious chocolate, which not only tastes good, but has less sugar. Indeed he uses no sugar in his chocolate, he sweetens it with honey, what’s more it’s created from organic ingredients, which Enrico points out gives it a high nutritional value.

Enrico says their chocolate products just had to be organic as he and Isabel are not keen on consuming artificial pesticides and would not sell anything to the public that they could not eat themselves.

“We do not add sugar because honey is such a healthy alternative. It not only tastes good but boosts your enzyme and antioxidant levels and has a much lower GI (glycemic index) than refined sugar.”

The honey Enrico uses is produced by the wild bees of a forest of flowering trees growing on Kalahari drift sands which is certified organic and fair traded.

By tempering his chocolate at a lower temperature than usual, the nutrients in the chocolate remain intact.

Tempering chocolate is the all-important process that raw chocolate undergoes to help it melt in the mouth, retain its gloss and make that delightful snap when broken into pieces. This is achieved by stratifying the fat in the cocoa butter, which, if not tempered will cause a waxy taste and create those unsightly white streaks and surface blotches that can ruin the chocolate’s appearance.

This process calls for the chocolate to be put through a cycle of temperatures, which Enrico does on a large marble slab on which the warm melted chocolate is poured, then worked rigorously with a spatula until it begins to cool. This is considered the old fashioned way of tempering chocolate, but Enricho says it is the most satisfying and a wonderful way of spreading the mouth-watering aroma of melting chocolate around the house. Yes, he works from home after applying for his kitchen to be inspected by environmental health officers, who after inspecting his premises gave him permission to work from his kitchen having awarded him five out of five for cleanliness.

There are three different types of cocoa beans Enrico could use for his chocolate bars: Forastero the most ubiquitous variety which is used mainly for bulk production. Trinitario, also widely used and the noble Criollo which has a slightly reddish colour and distinctive, complex taste which differs considerably from the other two varieties. He uses Criollo and is thrilled with the distinctive flavour it offers.

More than 200 years ago Criollo was the most predominant chocolate bean. Unfortunately the Criollo tree has a low resistance to disease, which is why the more robust Forastero now dominates the market. Enricho’s wife Isabelle agrees that Criollo is best. She helps Enricho conjure up new flavours and at the same time helps with the products quality control. Her enthusiasm is infectious and fundamental to their business, which calls on the talents of Ella and Maya too. They are already proving great salesmen when the family sell their wares at Deddington Farmers’ Market. They love helping and being part of a bustling market where the variety of stalls such as theirs never fails to attract customers.

To discover where Chicken Shed products will be on sale this month visit www.thechickenshed.eu/news