One of the land-based businesses Plant Based Alchemy is currently developing, is the world of raw chocolate. So it was very exciting to think of the possibilities of growing yacon and making yacon syrup for our own chocolates. ‘Made in Wales with Welsh Ingredients’ – There are not many chocolate companies that can say that!!!

Yacon syrup is made from the pressed yacon root, which is a distant relative of the sunflower. The yacon has been ecologically grown and consumed for centuries in the Peruvian Andes and the Incas used it.  It has a delicious toffee like taste but it is glucose free and it makes a great substitute for sugar and honey.

I was browsing the ‘The Real Seed Catalogue’ website and saw they had some yacon tubers for sale and before I knew it my fingers had clicked ‘Add to Basket’ and they were on their way to me. It was so exciting when they arrived, as it symbolised the start of our land-based business and sustainably grown ingredients for our chocolates.

The Real Seed Catalogue supplied me with all of the instructions and even told me how to save the yacon to have a continuous, sustainable supply of yacon forever!! I quickly developed a new home for each tuber and settled them in safe and sound. I explained to the tubers how significant they were and how much I want them to grow and how I will love and protect them for generations.

The current problem we have on our land is the rabbits have moved in so I wanted to protect the plants to make them big and strong without little bunnies interfering, so I called upon the holly tree for help. The holly has now become the guardian angel for the yacon roots and it is keeping the rabbits away.

Now I can look forward to making chocolates this autumn from home-grown yacon syrup. I can vision it now, sat in front of the fire, a bowl full of raw chocolates made from our home grown yacon, washed down with some home grown herbal tea…it’s a hard life but someone has to test the chocolates!