Chocolate One-on-One:
Neary Nogs

with Victoria Cooksey

— April 2018 Issue Preview Content —

Editor’s Intro

Here in the April 2018 issue, I’m excited to announce the debut of our newest Associate Writer, Victoria Cooksey. You may already know Victoria from her own chocolate blog — Dark Matters Chocolate Reviews. I highly encourage you to visit the blog here at http://darkmatterschocolatereviews.com/, and to follow Victoria’s work there, in addition of course to the great work you’ll see from her here at Chocolate Connoisseur Magazine.

You can also email her anytime via Chocolate Connoisseur via vi******@ch*********************.com.

Now, without further ado, it is my pleasure to present you with Victoria Cooksey’s first CHOCOLATE ONE-ON-ONE article!

— Eric Battersby, Editor-in-Chief

Victoria Cooksey

Welcome to NearyNógs

Today I happily introduce you to Northern Ireland’s first craft chocolate maker, NearyNógs, a family-run business started back in 2011 as a way to fund a trip to India for the eldest Neary child leaving home.

NearyNógs based their original chocolate off a recipe Dorothy Neary inherited from her mother. In 2013, the business shifted its focus to “additive-free” chocolate, at the same time upgrading its equipment to include a stone grinder, and then upscaling to increase output over time as well.

Fast-forward here to 2018… and just a few months ago NearyNógs, still family-run, launched a new website to sell chocolate worldwide. I recently caught up with Dorothy Neary to learn more about the evolution of NearyNog’s chocolate, the challenges to starting an online shop, and, yes, why there is a “Nog” in NearyNógs!

Let’s get started…

Victoria Cooksey (VC): Since starting NearyNógs in 2011, how have your thoughts on chocolate making changed?

Dorothy Neary (DN): Like night to day.

I’ve always loved chocolate deeply but growing up I never thought too much about where it came from, who grew it, its origins or how it was made. I never wondered what made it shiny and I’m certain the sound of the snap wouldn’t have been given any thought as I hoofed in it.

My mother Thelma, had given me the recipe for a chocolate fudge, from when our eldest daughter was heading off to India to do charity work and we’d organised a fundraiser. After a year of making chocolate fudge & mashing a lot of cacao nibs, I was certain there had to be a way to make chocolate from the actual bean… somehow.

Cacao beans are hard to come by in Ireland. I’d rang the mainland couverture chocolate supplier enquiring about cacao beans since they did everything else. I was greeted with a firm, NO, you CANNOT make chocolate. Its impossible, he said.

That was my green light.

John Nanci, of the chocolate alchemist’s website was a budding chocolate makers paradise!! My eyes were opened! I loved all the science & art behind chocolate… how all the variables from cacao origin, fermentation, roasting, grinding time, conching, ageing, etc can all define the end result.

I read everything I could find and then Shane (my husband) said lets just do it. So, we bought our first table top melangeur.

Our first beans arrived from Peru and the excitement became reality, until I opened the bag and the pungent smell of fermentation left me wondering how was this to work. Then, the most amazing fragrances escaped the oven doors on our first roast and we were in love!

We were covered in cacao dust trying to shell the beans and the air was heady with the smell of chocolate making. Our first batch of 70% chocolate was quickly gone. We left that tiny kitchen a few years ago now for bigger space and a bit of an upscale.

Last year we called into the London Chocolate Show with our daughter August, who is a regular patient at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. It was an amazing place to come together with so many people who care about the greater chocolate community, meeting other chocolate makers, sharing with each other, cheering each other on and championing the cause of cacao farmers in far away places.

Now, I always look to see where all the chocolate I eat comes from and its origins. I care about who grew it and how it was made. I look at the shine and notice the snap. I stop to savour the taste on my tongue for I know that the chocolate maker worked thoughtfully to bring out the best of that origin.

VC: Does Northern Ireland’s weather pose any challenges for chocolate making? If so, what types of challenges?

DN: Our Irish weather is typically mild with very little extreme temperatures that some seasons can bring. We are really rather lucky!

Our biggest challenge is keeping the damp away & the humidity down. We keep everything secure in plastic tubs to insulate from damp & moisture.

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Dorothy Neary

VC: On your website you talk about the origin of the name NearyNógs. Will you explain it further for those who don’t know? (Do you still have some of the stories?).

DN: NearyNógs is actually the name, Shane’s Dad Johnnie, called the stories he used to tell when Shane and his sister were children. NearyNógs stems from the Irish Tír na nÓg… meaning Land of the Young. Over the years the name would come up in conversation or in references to our own children and it seemed to fit.

Shane’s dad is still hunting out the stories he wrote… keep an eye out!

VC: You recently launched an online store. What has been some of the challenges in taking that next step? What have been the rewards?

DN: Launching our online store was a long time coming. We worried about packaging alot (like how to keep it eco friendly & keep our chocolate safe in transit) and of course its had its hiccups, like not charging shipping or orders disappeared from the site for a few days leaving us in a panic but everything is sorted now and ticking over like magic.