Taiwanese chocolatier and founder of the shop Q Sweet Queenie Wu (吳葵妮) has triumphed at the International Chocolate Awards World Final, winning three golds, two silvers and one bronze, plus six special prizes.
The world final took place in Florence, Italy, on Tuesday last week. All of the contestants had won regional and national competitions. Wu qualified after winning three silvers and five bronzes in the Asia-Pacific regional contest.
This is the third consecutive year that Wu has won gold at the world finals. She was awarded medals for her array of creations, which included floral-flavored chocolates and others filled with fruit puree.
Photo courtesy of Q sweet
Her “Comfort fruit - Green Mango” won gold and a special prize with a score of 89.4, while her “Exclusive pate de fruits - Ginger Lily” with a score of 89 and “Comfort chocolate bar - Jasmine & Strawberry” with a score of 88.4 both won gold and two special prizes.
Her chocolates flavored with roses grown in Nantou County and violets also proved to be a hit with the judging panel, winning her accolades.
Wu said she chose to include the essence of flowers in her chocolates to demonstrate girl power and be a voice for women in a male-dominated industry.
A significant challenge when producing the chocolates was figuring out the logistics of using fresh fruit to make pate de fruits — fruit jelly — because even in its origin country, France, frozen puree is used, not fresh fruit, Wu said.
It took her a year to perfect the art of using fresh produce, during which she was forced to throw away tens of kilograms of waste.
Another challenge was ensuring she obtained the best flavor from the fruits and flowers, as each has a different fiber and water content, pH value and sweetness level.
Wu said she hopes her success inspires and empowers more women to enter the chocolate industry.
The International Chocolate Awards are is the world’s largest chocolate product competition and aim to identify the best chocolate on the planet.
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