Paul Young, Director and Master Chocolatier at Paul A Young Chocolates, tells International Confectionery about his proudest accomplishments and more.
What attracted you to this industry?
As a pastry chef chocolate was always a go to ingredient when creating plated desserts and over a period of three years I gravitated towards handmade chocolates and chocolate products. I could not find the chocolates I wanted to eat at the time, (2002), so I decided to create fresh, unpreserved and seasonally changing chocolates. It’s a super creative industry which gave me so much creative satisfaction when new product development is at the heart of your business.
What has been your proudest accomplishment?
I have two proud moments, the first was in 2009 when my first chocolate recipe book won The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, Best Chocolate Book. Such a wonderful achievement that I still hold close to my heart. The other is winning the first gold award in 2005 with The Academy of Chocolate for my sea salted caramel filled chocolate at a time when sea salted caramel was new to the industry. This award is the reason we opened our chocolate business.
What’s your favourite kind of chocolate?
This may be the hardest question to answer as a chocolatier. I on some days love creamy rich milk chocolate, some days single origin dark chocolate, some days it’s something nostalgic from my childhood and most days I can always eat a great chocolate brownie.
What’s your favourite part of your job?
Product development and training; it is a wonderful and privileged part of my job, creating new products with our chocolatiers is always a joy and especially when our customers then share their enjoyment. Training is something I am passionate about as we as skilled chefs have a responsibility to pass on our skills to the next generations of chocolatiers and it’s very rewarding to share skills with people of any age and ability.
What is a skill you would like to learn?
I would love to be able to sing, well, very well and to perform live.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Do everything in your life that you want to do, that makes you happy, that brings you joy, that means you feel fulfilled and that makes you smile and that brings as much creativity as you need to be happy.
What’s the most interesting place you’ve visited?
The most interesting play I have ever visited was Honduras to see cacao farms, cultivation of rare heritage cacao varieties and to see the Mayan ruins. It was fascinating, interesting, educational and mesmerising to experience a totally different way of life and to have some of the most wonderful food ever…
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Caitlin Gittins
Editor, International Confectionery
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