As part of our ‘meet the community’ campaign on Facebook, we recently featured the fabulous Buds n Blooms, but did you you know that their very talented florist, Jodie Williamson, is also a chocolate maker?! Not only that, but alongside her full time job, she runs her own business, Indulgence Chocolate. We asked Jodie to tell us a bit more about herself and Indulgence, which is only just over a year old and is already proving hugely popular with chocolate lovers throughout the county. Her inspiring story below comes with a warning though – by the time you get to the end, you’ll want to sample her chocolates immediately! Over to Jodie…

I qualified with an HND in professional cookery from City of Glasgow College in 2013. As part of this course we had a short term of studying chocolate. At the time I honestly did not see myself starting my own chocolate business – however small!

The idea for Indulgence started in June last year, after being encouraged by my colleagues to make the most of the skills I learned whilst at college. I jumped in head first and came home from work and told my husband, Connor, how excited I was at the idea of doing something fun and creative for myself. I placed my first order of supplies and equipment that night. After months of planning and practice, Indulgence was launched in September 2019. My goal was to create edible art, and my ambition is to continuously learn and enhance my skills to ensure that Indulgence is known as luxury chocolate with bold flavours and colourful modern designs at a purse friendly cost.

I like to change my flavours regularly to keep things new and exciting for me and my customers, so I don’t have a set menu of flavours. I work with Single Origin Madagascan Dark chocolate, Milk, White, Ruby and Caramelised White chocolate. Some favourites that do make a regular appearances in my boxes are  Passionfruit, Milk Chocolate Orange,  Baileys, Biscoff and Salted Caramels. I also make a variety of chocolate bars; the most popular of these has to be the caramelised white chocolate bar with biscoff pieces topped with salted caramel crisp pearls!

One of my favourite designs has been the salted caramel domes decorated with hand painted waves which were inspired by our stunning coastline.

My chocolates are available on my Facebook page and on Instagram. I always post when I have boxes available and people message to reserve their boxes which are then collected from Buds n Blooms.

https://www.facebook.com/IndulgenceChocolate
Instagram @indulgence_caithness

Huge thanks to Jodie for taking the time to write this for us. If you’ve tried Indulgence chocolates, let us know your favourite flavour. We’re loving the sound of that caramelised white chocolate bar with biscoff pieces and salted caramel crisp pearls! As a final question, we also asked Jodie, when it comes to shopping local, which Thurso shop (excluding Buds N Blooms, of course!) is her favourite and why?

When it comes to shopping local one of my favourite places to shop is Serendipity. I’ve been a customer there for years and the staff are so friendly. I’ve always enjoyed looking at all their baking supplies and they sell such a wide variety of products, they always have what I’m looking for.