ML - Aspen Peak

2013 - Issue 2 - Winter

Aspen Peak - Niche Media - Aspen living at its peak

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MOUNTAIN PATROL Marina Chiasson may sample her recipes for breakfast, a sweet start to a day spent in the test kitchen. chocolatier to the sweet treats during family ski trips overseas. "The first place we'd always stop when in the Zurich airport was Confiserie Sprüngli, and we'd get the truffles du jour," recalls Chiasson. "That chocolate always brings me back to that period of my life, those happy memories. My parents still send us boxes, and each chocolate [reminds me of] a different childhood memory." To re-create those mouthwatering moments she had at chocolate shops near the slopes of St. Moritz, Chiasson launched Aspen Fine Chocolates, which will sell traditional European-style truffles online; she also plans to create custom Aspen assets: favor boxes laden with heavenly morsels for "On any given special events, including weddings. day you can go "I'm trying to incorporate as many local for a hike and Colorado ingredients as possible, whether it's then go to a fancy event at local cherry, peach infusions, or an amazing the art museum. goat cheese that we have here. I'm still develI love that there's oping those signature flavors, but using so much culture." Aspen-specific ingredients is an important Mountain muse: part of what I'm trying to do," she says. "I felt "The kids that there was a void in Aspen in terms of having grow up here are so lucky to have that high-end, luxury [chocolate] shop where the mountains in you can take the experience of your ski vacatheir backyard." tion home with you or pass along to friends." A former captain of her Division I ski team for St. Lawrence University in Upstate New York, Chiasson was drawn to Aspen four years ago for the slopes. Here, she coached the Alpine J5 program at the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club, worked in marketing at Plum TV, then as director of membership and events at Casa Tua Aspen. Last December, Chiasson got her master chocolatier certification online via the Ecole Chocolat before devoting herself full-time to her new enterprise. "[It's] an intense course where you learn everything from how to run a small business to the hisMARINA CHIASSON launches Aspen Fine Chocolates, tory of chocolate," says Chiasson, who recently discovering that crafting truffles can be just as completed an internship with master chocolatier Jacques rewarding as ski racing. by jill sieracki Torres. "To learn so much about a product I already loved was really fun." Today, Chiasson finds herself with no shortage of volunteers willing to taste-test her confections. "Everyone is can eat chocolate any time of day," says Marina Chiasson, founder of Aspen Fine Chocolates, a locally made luxury truffle purveyor debuting excited to try the new flavors, but it's a slippery slope—I have to be careful this winter. "I could wake up and have chocolate for breakfast, but I only where I keep them, because it's easy to overindulge," she says of her rich treats, have it alone; I wouldn't [blend it] with anything else. I'll have it as a sweet bite which range from a dark 70 percent cocoa morsel to a green tea–infused truffle. "Being in such a small town, it's nice to have so much support and after lunch or a little snack, and I love all types and flavors." Chiasson's mother, Pamela, a Switzerland native, introduced the budding encouragement from people here." aspenfinechocolates.com  AP Insight "I photography by david clifford Calling on Cocoa 76  aspenpeak-magazine.com 076_AP_SP_MP_Chaisson_WIN13_SPR_14.indd 76 10/29/13 4:17 PM

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