The chocolate workshop of Béla Szabó and his wife is located next to their house, which he inherited from his parents Initially, they both worked as waiters during communism, but after the Iron Curtain was broken in 1989, there were no sweets available and there was a demand for chocolate, which could be met by small-scale producers of chocolate. Now, 25 years later, chocolate is readily available from multinational companies, but fortunately some people still prefer chocolates made by hand.
There was no activity in the workshop during our visit because they had made two prism-shaped chocolates a short time before our arrival.
When Mr Szabó and his wife start making chocolate, they boil water and sugar for 3 hours on a wood-fired oven. Then, they add cocoa powder, dry milk powder and margarine together with walnuts from Romania. When the chocolate is ready, they pour the it into moulds, having to wait 12 hours to cool down, Finally, they cut it up with a knife and put the pieces in small plastic bags.
They need to always use the same ingredients in order to keep the same taste, else their customers start complaining. Anyway, the production of chocolate is small and adaptable such that they can modify their product should a need arise.
Mr Szabó brings his products himself to various small shops where their chocolates are sold.
