Biting into a delicately crafted chocolate at Miel Bon Bons can release fusions of pomegranate, lavender, blood orange, rosemary, saffron or ancho chile.
The owner of the place, Bonnie Lau, has as many flavors — her Hong Kong upbringing, her French and Japanese education, her Carrboro destination.
“Chocolate is a universal language,” she said. “Using different tastes brings someone back to their home.”
Lau and her business partner, Robert Healey, make an average of 2,500 chocolates a week by hand in their shop in Carr Mill Mall.
Their titles range from mango and saffron ganache to four-layered almond truffle to lemongrass with coconut puree.
“People’s tastes have evolved,” Healey said. “People don’t just want a milk chocolate anymore.”
If a chocolate is made correctly, it should have a nice snap when broken, Lau said. Poorly made chocolates are grainy.
One tray of 28 square pieces of undecorated chocolate takes Lau half an hour to make, assuming the temperature is stable. Healey said chocolate is incredibly sensitive to temperature.
“If you’ve ever opened a candy bar and it’s white, that’s because it is poor-tempered,” he said.
Dark chocolate is the most popular among customers, Healey said, especially filled with rose water raspberry ganache.
To make ganache-filled chocolates, Lau first coats the inside of each spot in the tray with a thin layer of melted chocolate, tapping the sides of the tray to eliminate bubbles.
After the inner shell sets, Lau squeezes ganache, a fluffy whipped chocolate, to each shell. The filling is made by boiling cream and infusing the desired flavors, she said.
Lau feels the ganache to know when to add the top shell of chocolate. She pours the chocolate over the tray and scrapes off any excess.
For colorful chocolates, Lau uses food coloring powder mixed with cocoa butter and airbrushes the inside of each space in a tray.
The intricate designs topping some of the pieces like a tattoo are from transfer sheets, which are individually sized and applied to each chocolate.
Lau said she uses her world experience as flavoring inspiration.
Before making chocolates, she was a pastry chef for a five-star hotel in San Diego, Calif. In 2001, she was inspired to go to France to study chocolate.
While Lau finished her studies in France, construction was beginning on the Carrboro store. She flew between France and North Carolina while preparing to open.
Miel Bon Bons, which opened in 2008, has done well in its second year.
“It’s like a guilty pleasure that people can still afford,” said Anna Pepper, owner of The Painted Bird, another store in the mall.
Lau and Healey said they’d consider expansion in the future, eventually offering classes in chocolate-making and cake decorating.
“Chocolate is very special,” Lau said. “You should treat it like a jewel.”
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Miel Bon Bons blends chocolate and craft
Miel Bon Bons makes an average of 2,500 chocolates by hand each week. DTH/ B.J. Dworak
