DRÔME-Châtillon en Diois

AMELLE WICK STARTED THE MANUFACTURING HIGH-END RAW CHOCOLATE (UNROASTED) IN 2016. THIS CHOCOLATE, BOTH FULL OF FINESSE AND POWER, IS AVAILABLE IN 2 SIZES, 3 COLOURS AND 9 FLAVOURS, CONCOCTED WITH THE COMPLICITY OF LOCAL PRODUCT PRODUCERS. Portrait.

Passionate about pastry from an early age, Amelle Wick created her raw chocolate factory in her native Drôme, at the foot of the Vercors, returning from a 2-year stay in Vancouver, Canada.

From lyrical singing to the chocolate factory passing through macaroons…

It was during his 2-year stay with our Canadian cousins that this lyric singer (Mezzo) of profession made a double discovery that would permanently change her life. A fan of Parisian macaroons, she has developed an expertise in this field to the point of manufacturing them for a large chain of high-end American organic products. At the same time, she discovered raw chocolate, a product little known in France but widely used in baking in the United States and in some European countries, and it was love at first sight.

… and from Canada to the Drôme via Ecuador

Information taken, Amelle started looking for the most authentic cocoa bean possible, able to restore its finesse and purity by freeing itself from the roasting stage.

In the course of her research, she finds the rare Pearl, a very old cocoa variety, cultivated only “on a tiny territory” at the foot of the Andes which “accounts for 0.0012% of the world cocoa production, to give an idea”. The idea then makes its way: to associate this very qualitative bean with products of the same quality that she knows well and particularly likes: those of her homeland, in Drôme at the foot of the Vercors.

Good, beautiful and healthy

Cru Sauvage chocolates are made exclusively from a expertly blended blend of cocoa butter and organic chocolate powder.

“Cocoa has many medicinal properties when it remains raw” explain the young woman. Thanks to its antioxidants, iron, potassium, etc. raw chocolate is a natural antidepressant that preserves the heart, blood circulation, etc. “All materials are natural and organic,” says Amelle.

“I use organic honey here for chocolate 80% and if not coconut sugar for white chocolate that has a lower blood sugar index than other sweeteners and is also naturally enriched with vitamins. I work as much on textures as on colors: I have developed a green chocolate with Matcha tea for example. ” To flavour its plant chocolates (Mint, Damascus rose, Matcha tea, vine flowers), Amelle macerate the ingredients directly in the cocoa butter which she filters several times until the desired taste and texture is obtained..

All the ingredients used to enhance the range are also organic and local as much as possible: honey from Châtillon en Diois, walnuts of the Vercors, vine flowers from the surrounding hillsides, Roses of Damascus and Mint grown in Châtillon,…

Today, CRU Sauvage is in the development phase thanks to its distribution network (organic shops in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Valence), but also thanks to its website which will soon evolve a Swiss version, “a big chocolate market! » .

Some great names of the pastry are also fond of this new range of delicate chocolates. A major event that was concreted in particular by Amelle’s participation in the competition of  “talents gourmands” 2018, competition organized each year by Crédit Agricole to highlight local “talented” producers. “Not only was I able to meet the chefs including “Olivier Samin” from Carré d’Aléthius in Charmes sur Rhône, and measure their interest in my chocolates, but I also benefited from a visibility relayed on their dedicated website“.

Corinne Legros