MPCHOCOLATES - MILTON LAYCOCK AND ISILDA CALDWELL

MPGOURMET PRODUCER PROFILE

Isilda Caldwell and Milton Laycock

Produce Grown: Chocolate Manufacturing
Business Name: Mornington Peninsula Chocolates

Milton and Islda Laycok love the Mornington Peninsula area. They have been coming down here since they were kids. They love the way the sea and countryside blend. The beaches, the restaurants ,wineries and the lovely produce available. They used to have time for Milton to go sailing and Isilda loves doing her pottery, but no time now. The art of chocolate making has become more than a passion.  They still enjoy learning about chocolate and still go to courses regularly and once a year overseas to refine their techniques.

Milton and Isilda take up the story....

"We have been leaving in the Mornington Peninsula for the last eighteen years and always wanted to do something as a business in the area. We watched  the movie “Chocolat” and it really has been instrumental in inspiring us to try making chocolates. This changed the direction of our lives. We have become very passionate about our chocolate making. At MP Chocolates it is a combination of our finest ingredients, knowledge, skill and expertise craftsmanship that allowed us to achieve award winning chocolates. It has been nine years since we started our chocolate making and five years since we open our retail shop.

Our challenges was to find the very best ingredients around the world to produce the finest chocolates and pralines. Our ambitions lie in sharing our passion for premium quality chocolate. We have studied along side famous Master Chocolatiers from Belgium, Switzerland, France and Italy. Our expertise and craftsmanship has been gained through many years of intensive work.

We believe that chocolate needs to be true to itself. Each origine chocolate variety has its own flavor and should be clearly distinguishable. A lot of commercial mass produced chocolates lose their individuality and cannot be distinguished from one another. High quality ingredients is the only way to achieve exceptional flavor and characteristics. There really is no substitute for quality. We make sure that we only use the best and source ingredients both locally and from overseas.

There is great satisfaction in manufacturing a high quality product and seeing the reaction when people try them for the first time – and they come back for more."