Looking at some of the flavour combinations at DWN Craft Chocolatier, it’s fair for one to wonder what’s happening in Dawn Nita’s head.
“I have things that are still happening right now,” she said with a laugh.
Cassis cardamom. Chamomile spearmint. Earl Grey lavender. Strawberry sumac. Yes, these are real chocolate creations available at Nita’s downtown Orillia shop at 11 Mississaga St. E.
To say she is experimental would be an understatement.
“Part of it is seasonality and making things that correlate to the growing season in Ontario, and then there’s just a general percolation of ideas that happen in my brain,” she said.
There’s a lot going on up there.
Nita’s ideas aren’t Willy Wonka-level eccentric. She doesn’t make Swudge and there isn’t a chocolate river running through her shop, but I wouldn’t put it past her.
Her adventurous side knows no bounds. Consequently, there’s nothing in Orillia remotely like DWN.
While she has a set of products that are always available, she is regularly pushing the envelope, putting creative additions on the shelf to intrigue customers, hoping they’ll bite.
One of the reasons she does so, as mentioned above, is the changing seasons. They dictate much of what she offers, given her penchant for incorporating local ingredients.
Last year, she made a lilac-infused dark chocolate bar with bee pollen. The lilacs came from her backyard. The pollen came from Orillia Honey.
It’s one of many bold choices she makes, but she trusts her instincts and her talent.
There are many in the business who buy pre-made chocolate and melt it before trying to flavour it. Not Nita.
“At that point, you don’t really have many options in terms of adding flavour,” she explained.
They will fold it in, add some kind of oil, or sprinkle something on the finished product. The result is not the same, and it’s certainly not something Nita is ready to settle for.
“The ability to make your own chocolate from scratch gives you a lot more range in terms of ways you can include flavour,” she said.
The Earl Grey lavender bar is a delicious example. She infuses the flavours into the cocoa butter like one would a tea. She then strains it and makes chocolate from it.
One of her newest creations was made with similar attention to detail. It’s the old fashioned dark chocolate bar with a twist of buckthorn.
Cocoa nibs from the Dominican Republic are infused with the toasted old fashioned maple whiskey cocktail from BarChef in Toronto and garnished with buckthorn berry.
If the ingredients alone aren’t enough to pique your interest, the products’ appearances should be. Impressively, all of the colours and flavours are natural.
“This is not a dis on anyone who uses it, but Instagram is filled with people who have very beautiful-coloured bonbons, and I don’t like the fact that the makers of the colour have some proprietary components of it that they won’t share with you,” she said.
She wants to own her product, and she has the skill to do it.
She recently made her own coloured cocoa butter by grinding it with blackberry powder, the result being a vibrant fuchsia.
Chocolate wasn’t always queen in Nita’s mind. She was a pastry chef for more than a decade.
When she left her last full-time baking job, she wanted to focus on either bread or chocolate. She chose chocolate.
She worked at SOMA Chocolatemaker in Toronto, where she learned almost everything she now knows about it.
She then went to work for Chocolate by Brandon Olsen. That’s where she discovered the importance of appearance, particularly in the age of social media.
For Nita, appearance isn’t key to the chocolate alone. It extends to her labels. They are, at first glance, simple. But read on.
How does it feel to try a mocha almond crunch bar? According to the label, it’s like “pulling on your favourite sweater on the first cool morning of fall.”
Want to experience “sneaking out from work for a bike ride?” Try the hazelnut milk chocolate bar.
The maple whiskey old fashioned is akin to “sitting at a cozy dark bar in Toronto sipping toasted old fashioned.” That one’s a little more on the nose.
The coconut crunch bar, however, will have you thinking about “your first set of flip-flops on the first warm day of spring.”
“Usually, at that point, people can smell the suntan lotion,” Nita said.
Don’t worry; that scent isn’t wafting from the chocolate. What Nita is trying to do is evoke a welcoming, nostalgic sensory experience.
Creative on a normal day, she steps it up when “chocolate holidays” roll around. New releases can be expected for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter.
Speaking of the upcoming holiday: Some exciting offerings are in the offing.
DWN will have milk, dark and white chocolate bunnies.
Want to have some fun with your sweet treat? Get ready for the “smash Easter egg.” Crack open the strawberry chocolate shell and inside you’ll find a rabbit-shaped vanilla marshmallow coated in passion fruit white chocolate.
Nita is also creating a colouring sheet, which will soon be available at her shop and on her website. People are invited to draw a design for an Easter egg.
In a further display of confidence, the chocolatier will randomly choose two designs, recreate them in chocolate and give the finished products to the winners.
Subjects of this column are usually asked to explain what makes them stand out. Nita need not. Her work speaks for itself.
Check out what DWN has to offer by visiting its website or following along on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
The good stuff
Most popular: sesame chocolate chip bar, Neapolitan malt balls
Dawn Nita’s favourite: old fashioned dark chocolate bar with a twist of buckthorn
My favourite: coconut crunch bar, Earl Grey lavender bar
Nathan Taylor’s local food and drink column appears every other Saturday.
