Oh chocolat!

Credit: Marilyn Gillespie

These delicate treats from Bowen Island chocolatiers will set your heart aflutter.

These delicate treats from Bowen Island chocolatiers will set your heart aflutter

In a small village shop, a chocolatier melds tart raspberry purée with dark chocolate ganache, shaping decadent Dark Heart truffles in her practised palms. It’s not a clip from the sensuous film Chocolat, set in a village in France. This scene stars chocolatier Joanne Mogridge, who, with her husband Carlos Vela-Martinez, owns Bowen Island’s Cocoa West Chocolatier organic chocolate café.

“Using organic ingredients and eating organic has always been important to me,” says Mogridge. “It’s something that I can do that is not only good for me and my family, but when I make all of my products with organic ingredients it’s good for our customers.”

Handmade concoctions include Hungarian Heat, a spicy mix of Hungarian paprika vodka tucked into dark chocolate ganache and finished with paprika and cayenne. Another favourite is the two-layer Shot in the Dark, made with salted maple caramel and espresso-infused ganache.

If these don’t make your heart flutter, Cocoa West offers The Chocolate Suite, a decadent bed-and-chocolate retreat, where guests can cosy up with organic truffles and Cocoa West’s Poblano and Signature hot chocolate. (Cocoa West hot chocolate mixes are also available at Meinhardt’s, Urban Fare, and Gourmet Warehouse, all in Vancouver.)

Cocoa West Chocolatier and The Chocolate Suite, Artisan Square, Bowen Island. 604-947-2996. www.cocoawest.com