Heat leaves chocolatier in sticky situation

A chocolatier has said she has had to halt some of her production because of the ongoing humidity.

Isabelle Chappelle, owner of Chocolat Chocolat near Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, said the recent heatwaves had disrupted chocolate-making during the hottest part of the day, impacting summer sales.

The company, which has a shop in Cambridge, has been using freezer packs in deliveries to prevent them from melting, while most of its stock is piled in one air-conditioned room.

The company is now looking at ways to deal with the heat. Chappelle added: "We'll probably have to look at extra aircon, making earlier in the season and stockpiling a bit more."

The company buys Belgian chocolate from France, which is then turned into handmade sheet chocolate and other sweet treats.

Chappelle said imports had decreased this summer and any deliveries that had arrived in Cambridgeshire had to be checked in case they had melted.

"The humidity is more of an enemy to us than the heat... it's a little bit of a challenge," she added.

"It has impacted on our summer sales for things like birthdays, graduations and everything like that as we can't send anything in time."

Chappelle said the company was usually sampling Halloween and Christmas products at this time of the year but had been unable to.

"It impacts on our storage and our new products that we're making for the autumn," she added.

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