For many people today, chocolate is a constant source of happiness because its consumption stimulates the production of endorphin, the 'happiness hormone'. Quality and flavours vary, but those tempted by the more unconventional incarnations of chocolate know that it is better to look for them in specialist shops or artisan workshops where the sweet temptation is made right before their eyes. It is such a place in the heart of her native town of Vratsa that our compatriot Mihaela Kateva has created. 

"Some time ago I was in England, working as the boss of a fresh fruit company, where I saved a large part of the money I invested in my business", says Mihaela in an interview for Radio Bulgaria. "I work with professional machines that are the best on the market, they are made in Italy. Also, all the products we work with here are of the highest level. We try to be competitive on the market, even though we are located in a small town like Vratsa (Northwest Bulgaria). We strive to meet the requirements for what we claim to be - a chocolate workshop. I also have very interesting French chocolates that I am currently offering - raspberry flavoured, yuzu flavoured (a mixture between lemon and orange), passion fruit, strawberry, which are made from extremely high-quality ingredients. We also use them in our handmade chocolate candies."

Our compatriot gained invaluable experience in chocolate making in Slovenia, where she stayed for 3 months, invited by a local master:

"It was great because right when I went it was the pandemic and they closed absolutely everything. I was the only one in the hotel where I was staying," recalls the young chocolate master. "When I arrived, my host received a very large order from a country next to Slovenia and I was asked to participate in the production process for the candies from Monday to Saturday, and on Sunday we had agreed that we would experiment - to make new recipes and ideas that I have, or he has and has not yet implemented. Basically, we worked in absolute harmony on Sundays, and the rest of the time, we were producing around 6,000 candies, three people a day, and that was probably over the course of a month where I helped them quite a bit. I had a wonderful time there." 

Today, Mihaela uses everything she learned from the Slovenian master in her own workshop. Inspired by the packaging used there, she also creates her own kind of "letter envelopes", with which she delivers "sweet" messages to her customers. 

"We experiment a lot and some of the flavours we have so far are from the beginning of my chocolate workshop. Such as melon and bacon. I met a sushi master who gave me wasabi and we created a wasabi and mango candy. We do other slightly unusual combinations of sweet and salty - pepper, cherry and dark chocolate, we also have sweet and chilli candy with dark chocolate. And we don't forget the people who can't have that much sweet. For them, we offer sweets with sugar substitutes, so they can enjoy our goodies too. We also offer different percentages of dark chocolate, not just white and milk chocolate." 

Mihaela is happy that, as a teacher at a high school in Varshets, she was able to inspire her students to choose the profession of baker-confectioner. Some of them have already applied their knowledge in her workshop, preparing for various culinary competitions. Her advice to young people is to do what they enjoy and to realise their potential in Bulgaria by starting their own business with the help of various European programmes.

Photos: private archive