The Sweet Factory in Amboise
Willy Wonka has arrived in Amboise, except his name is not Willy Wonka, it’s Nicolas Viollet and although he trained as a chocolate confectioner, like his father and grandfather, he doesn’t make chocolate, he makes sweets, thousands of them. We spent a delightful hour watching Tugdual (a fine old Breton name) making some with honey from a local beekeeper.
Tugdual, Conservatoire de la Confiserie
The inspiration for Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came from the gigantic machines in the chocolate factory near Dahl’s home. M. Viollet’s machines are not gigantic but some are impressively large. These rare examples of superb engineering are now works of art in their own right. What a joy to see them back in action.
In the story, Charlie lives just outside town, just like M. Viollet’s sweet factory which is a two minute walk from Amboise station. Just like Mr Wonka, he looks forward to welcoming children and their parents to his ‘wonderland of confectionery creations’.
Nicolas Viollet is the third generation of father to son Touraine confisiers established just after the second world war when France had almost forgotten what sweets tasted like. When he was twenty-one he took over an empty confectionery in Bourges. As this is where Charles VII established his Court, the business was named in the king’s honour.
M. Viollet has put his heart, his soul and his savings into his Conservatoire de la Confiserie the tangible realisation of a dream to preserve France’s heritage and to display the antique tools of his trade he has been collecting since he was a boy.
As the profession is no longer taught in France, he plans to open a school and take on apprentices to revive the ancient art of confectionery and bring back long forgotten recipes.
The sweets we remember from childhood are on sale in the shop but unlike other sweet shops these are made on the premises. If your visit coincides with a day they are being made you can watch all the stages and get to sample the wares.
As soon as word gets round, harassed teachers, desperate for new ideas on how to educate their charges in an entertaining way will be queuing round the block.
Toutes nos félicitations a M. Viollet.
Find Conservatoire de la Confiserie at 22 Rue Germain Chauveau, 37400 Amboise.
Tel: +33 (0)2 47 30 08 53
Post by Pamela, photography by Mark.
