Georgia Magazine - January 2023 - 38

GEORGIA Cooks
By Pamela A. Keene
Chocolate:
food of the gods
E
lizabeth Weaver of Marietta calls herself an accidental
chocolatier. Even before she retired after three decades
as an arts administrator for Cobb County, she knew she
wanted her next career to be about cooking.
She launched her personal-chef business, Elizabeth's
Edibles, in 2011.
" When I retired from the county in 2015, I still found myself
very busy, not only as a personal chef but [also] working with
organizations like Due West United Methodist Missions, Cobb
YMCA and others to help them get their community kitchens
permitted through the Cobb Health Department so that they
could prepare meals for the public, " she says.
Two years later, she wrote and published " Generations of
Edibles: A Southern Legacy, " a cookbook featuring many of her
family's recipes and her own creations. Weaver plans a second
printing of the popular cookbook this spring.
Her recipes received raves, but it was her handcrafted,
hand-decorated hot-chocolate bombs that helped launch her
wholesale and retail businesses.
She began her chocolate business during the 2020 holiday
season, when a Cobb County boutique asked her to provide it
with her specialty hot-chocolate bombs.
She turned to her church to use its commercial kitchen.
" Due West United Methodist Church allowed me to cook
there, and we made 24 hot-chocolate bombs every other day
for [the boutique owner], " she says. " That year, we made about
2,000 between mid-December and mid-February. "
By then, word had spread and Weaver expanded her offerings
to include coffee-creamer bombs. She took both products
to the Atlanta Merchandise Mart in July 2021 to offer them
wholesale to retailers around the country. During the weeklong
mart, she took orders for more than 30,000 bombs.
" All of a sudden we were in the hot-chocolate bomb
business, so you could say it was quite by accident, " she says.
" My husband, Richard, became our business manager. My
daughter, Caroline, a trained pastry chef, became my manager.
We hired staff and now make 21 flavors of hot-chocolate bombs
and nine flavors of coffee-creamer bombs. "
As her wholesale business took off, Weaver broadened
her product lines to include barks; classic chocolates, such as
turtles; peanut butter balls; and truffles. She opened Elizabeth's
38 Georgia Magazine January 2023
Top left: Belgian chocolate boxes from La Bonbonnière in Augusta
come with assorted chocolate treats inside. Above: Elizabeth Weaver
pours chocolate to make confections at Elizabeth's Delightful Edibles,
her retail store in Marietta.
Delightful Edibles, her retail location in Marietta, in October 2021.
" When we added retail, it changed a lot of things, " she says.
" We expanded our lines to make chocolate-covered pretzels,
graham crackers and Oreos; cookie-dough balls; fudge; pecan
pie balls; and peanut butter balls. Most are available in white
chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate. "
Like Weaver, other Georgia chocolatiers know the nuances
of what some call the food of the gods.
K GOODWIN PHOTOGRAPHY
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Georgia Magazine - January 2023

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