CRESTVIEW — Sometimes Main Street chocolatier Julie LeFevre’s customers can’t get enough of her truffles, barks and clusters.
“I love to experiment with my chocolate,” Julie said. “People call me with their ideas for special mixes. Like my Mexican truffles. They have a pinch of cayenne and cinnamon in them. It’s kind of like my passion.”
It all began about 30 years ago when Julie was a military wife. “I raised our son, Derek, pretty much by myself,” she said. “I had to do something, so I started trying to mix different flavors with chocolates.”
Now, Julie sells her eclectic creations of smooth Belgian chocolate that has been mixed in small batches from her stall at Rustic Reflections on North Main Street.
“I try to do diverse things with my chocolate,” she said. “There’s so much to try. I keep switching it up. It’s endless.”
Sometimes, ideas just pop into her head, like her newest recipe. “It sounds really weird: it’s potato chips and pecans in a white chocolate cluster,” Julie said. “When I first made that one, I couldn’t keep up with the demand.”
And the demand keeps growing, she said. The Baron’s Tea Shop and Hub City Smokehouse have approached her about selling chocolates in their businesses.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin, native has lived all over the world, including Saudi Arabia — “The Saudis loved my chocolates,” she said — Dubai, Europe and the Pacific, but loves having settled down in Crestview near Derek and his children, Bentley, 4, and Landyn, 6, who live in Baker.
“Everyone’s got their niche and I finally found mine,” she said. “I’m really not making a lot (of money) doing it, but I just love it. And who doesn’t like chocolate? Well, I know a few who don’t. It’s a sad thing.”
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GOT CHOCOLATE?
Julie LeFevre creates special flavors and batch sizes to order, and caters parties, weddings and events. Visit Julie’s Sweet Kitchen stall at Rustic Reflections, 267 Main St. N., call 428-1223, or email juliessweetkitchen@yahoo.com.
Julie LeFevre creates special flavors and batch sizes to order, and caters parties, weddings and events. Visit Julie’s Sweet Kitchen stall at Rustic Reflections, 267 Main St. N., call 428-1223, or email juliessweetkitchen@yahoo.com.
GOT CHOCOLATE?
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Globe trotter brings chocolate treats to Crestview's Main Street (VIDEO)