A sample of the most commonly asked questions:

What is the "best consumed before" date for our chocolates?

 

We do not use preservatives, so our chocolates have a shorter shelf life than other brands. We recommend enjoying our gananche-filled chocolates within four weeks of purchase, and our caramel-filled chocolates within two months. 

Our chocolate bars, nuts, and dried fruit products have much longer shelf life and are best enjoyed within four months...assuming you can resist that long!

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Are our chocolates gluten-free?
Yes, they are except for our creations that contain natural black liquorice.

 

Where does our chocolate couverture come from?

Our chocolate couverture comes from France, Switzerland, Colombia, and Peru. The cocoa comes from Latin and South America and Africa. 

What brands of chocolate do we use?

We use Valrhona, Luker Chocolate, and Maranon in all our chocolate creations.  Both Valrhona and Luker are Certified B Corp companies due to their focus on environmental sustainability.  Further, the Luker chocolate we use is Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project certified.and Maranõn couvertures. 

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How do we get our chocolates to shine?
We are often asked how we get our chocolates to be so shiny, marble-like. There's nothing artifical (or easy) about a bit...manual labour to polish our moulds by hand combined with well-tempered chocolate make our chocolates shine naturally!

What is tempered chocolate?
Tempering is the process chocolatiers follow to melt and reshape chocolate through a three stage process to heat, cool and then heat chocolate again so cocoa butter crystalizes. Easy ways to determine if chocolate is well tempered: it will have a glossy appearance, snap when broken and will maintain its form. 

What is ganache?
It is typically a blend of cream and chocolate and can also have a bit of inverted sugar and butter as well. Ganache is the smooth filling inside chocolate shells and can also be used with cakes. Ganaches can also be made using water, soy or other cream substitutes. Our ganaches are made with infusions from fruit, vanilla beans, spices, and other natural ingredients. 

Does Gem Chocolates have vegan-friendly products?
Most of our products do contain some form of dairy products. However, the good news is we do offer some vegan-friendly options, too. Non-dairy options include a variety of dark chocolate bars, naturally flavoured dark chocolate truffles made with coconut oil, as well as chocolate dipped candied orange peel, ginger and licorice. We use dairy products in our ganaches and caramels, so our chocolate collection can only act an eye candy to our vegan friends. 

How many cocoa beans are needed to make 1kg of chocolate?
About 270 cocoa beans.

How does Gem Chocolates enter chocolate competitions?
Unlike the drama of food network shows, we make our chocolates at the shop and mail them to the competitions we enter. There they are judged for quality and we are thrilled to have been received several accolades for our chocolates. Generally we enter three or four chocolates each in various competitions...usually selecting from those most popular with customers. So a big thank you goes to our customers for being the ultimate judges since you buy them! Like anyone, judges may have their personal bias towards flavours, likes and dislikes. They may evaluate entries on such things as appearance, technique/formation, texture, pairing (filling with the shell) and flavours. 

 

How long does it take to make a chocolate?
There are several stages to making our chocolate. First we polish our moulds by hand, then we make the shell and allow the chocolate to crystallize (several hours). Then we make and pipe the ganache or caramel into the shell, allowing it to rest from 6 to 24+ hours so the filings properly crystallized. Then we seal the chocolate with the bottom layer of chocolate, and let the chocolate rest another 6+ hours. Once removed from their moulds, the chocolates we may had a final decoration of food lustre or other finishing. We don't rush the process, so in general a single chocolate takes anywhere from 24 to 72 hours (elapsed time) to make.