Megan Hile aims to bring chocolate to Johnson Street this fall with the expansion of her Madison Chocolate Company business.
The shop at 821 E. Johnson St. will feature a small-batch bakery, chocolate tasting bar and a tea tasting bar, through a collaboration with Anthony Verbrick and Rachel Fox Verbrick of Macha Tea Company. A shop name is still in the works, and no target date for opening has been set.
Hile is eager to create a comfortable, laid-back shop to share her passion for chocolate, and is gearing up for a Kickstarter campaign this month to raise funds for kitchen construction and store build-out. Macha Tea Company raised $23,456 in pledge money, as of July 2, for its portion of the project. Macha will serve teas and baked goods similar to those offered at its former location on Monroe Street.
Megan Hile at work on her single-origin chocolates.
She envisions the chocolate tasting bar will highlight single-origin chocolates — including ones from Venezuela and New Guinea — and melted chocolate drinks with a bit of orange, cinnamon or hot pepper. She’ll also coordinate small classes to educate adults and children on the finer points of the chocolate-making process.
“I want it to be a place where people not only get stimulated by what they’re eating and tasting, but also by what they’re seeing and hearing,” Hile says.
Hile, 40, has made small-batch, hand-crafted chocolates since 2012 at the FEED Kitchens on North Sherman Avenue, and sells “chocolate shares” using a community-supported agriculture model. Customers can sign up for three-month subscriptions (fall, winter, spring and — new in 2015 — summer) and pick up boxes of chocolates at east- or west-side locations. She’ll move share production to the new shop once construction is complete.
Hile became inspired by food and cooking after suffering a setback with multiple sclerosis in 2010. During a one-month hospitalization, friends brought Hile food every day. “I thought about how much food plays a part in our healing,” she says. “That’s what triggered the [chocolate-making] process.”
When she returned home, she read The New French Baker and perfected author Sheila Linderman’s three-page recipe for chocolate caramels.
“The caramels were amazing. I just kept remaking them and serving them at parties and potlucks, and realized I really liked making chocolates.”
International chocolates and beans are a priority for Hile, who participated in a seven-week internship in Ecuador during a master’s program with Ecole Chocolat, a professional chocolatier program based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
She strives to create intriguing flavor profiles to challenge a person’s palate, and uses organic dairy and other natural ingredients in recipes. One treat she’s particularly proud of is a Hawaiian chocolate ganache with mission figs soaked in tawny port wine. Another, spotlighted in the summer share, is Hawaiian lavender ganache, with a Venezuelan and Ecuadorian chocolate blend on the outside.
Says Hile: “I really like to see the joy on somebody’s face when they eat a chocolate.”
