Tatamagouche NS

by Alain Bossé

From humble beginnings in a small one-bedroom cabin to a modern location with a funky vibe; from rural Appleton NS to the bustling village of Tatamagouche, Appleton Chocolates has come a long way. Founded in 1997, Appleton was run by Alan and Merle Heustis. Sadly, just two short years later Merle passed away. Eventually Alan remarried and he and his new wife Beth Durkee carried on with the business until 2014 when their son Michael Foote and his wife Heather took over. They stayed in the original Appleton location until 2016, when the business was moved to a shared location with the Tipperary Bakery and Café on Tatamagouche’s main street. The company was so successful that in two years they outgrew that location; so they opened the very bright and welcoming new shop, directly next door to the bakery, in June 2018. Appleton has had substantial growth and now employs 6 people from the area.

While there are many flavours of handmade chocolates to choose from the most popular are maple wild blueberry truffle in dark chocolate, coffee bark in milk chocolate and a ginger pieces in milk chocolate bar. All the hand-dipped chocolates feature a truffle center that is incredibly smooth and creamy; Michael personally recommends the maple ginger. Throughout the store, flavours of the Maritimes abound; wild blueberry, cranberry, and maple are in full use. Appleton Chocolates also has offerings that are both gluten free and dairy free.

Appleton Chocolates also does a selection of solid bars with coffee bark topping my list of must-try flavours! But you really shouldn’t miss out on the Northumberland berry bar in dark chocolate or the candied ginger in milk chocolate. Or, well, any of them!

Michael’s passion is for playing with new recipes and he plans to expand into ganaches, caramels, and cremes and even has plans in the works to begin making nut butters. So far, Gianduja, which is chocolate and hazelnut paste, is his personal favourite.

All of Appleton’s products use only the highest quality ingredients, and whether you choose French dark or Belgian milk chocolate with maple and cranberry, maple and wild blueberry or black current (just to name a few) you are getting a truly artisanal product. The truffle mixture is made in house, the chocolates are double-dipped and each individual piece is hand wrapped in colourful foil. You can sense the pride that Michael and Heather have in their products, in their business and in their community.

Appleton Chocolates is located at 261 Main Street in Tatamagouche, is open year-round and operates daily from 9am to 5pm.