Along the way to becoming a pastry chef, Jennifer Ashby says she fell in love with making chocolate and candy making and has made that her life’s work ever since. After graduating from culinary school, she worked around town locally as a chocolatier, gaining further experience and education before going to confectionary school in Florida.
She then founded Ashby Confections in 2004, making chocolates for herself at home before leasing a space at a local bakery while she developed wholesale clientele. From there she got her own space in Scotts Valley in 2012 and will soon be moving to an upscale storefront in downtown Santa Cruz that she says will be bright, welcoming, modern and elegant.
Ashby defines her namesake confections as artisanal, small-batch and hand-crafted, made with high-end organic ingredients and available on her website, at farmer’s markets, wholesale and walk-in retail. Flagship chocolate stand-outs include truffles like fresh banana, mocha, roasted hazelnut and the award-winning raspberry. Other favorites are cherry chocolate crackle with puffed quinoa and dried cherries, caramel/chocolate/roasted pecan tortoises and nut brittles inspired by her mom’s recipe—like IPA peanut and porter almond pecan. Non-chocolate crowd-pleasers are the soft, tender and chewy fruit candies, somewhat akin to elevated Sour Patch Kids. Almost all offerings are gluten-free and many are vegan.
What about chocolate so inspires you?
JENNIFER ASHBY: It’s a product that brings people joy and happiness, whether it’s for themselves or as a gift for someone else. Putting something delicious like a chocolate in your mouth is very grounding and brings you right into the present here and now. As the world changes and life speeds up, all we have is this moment and these sweet delicacies that we make can really enhance that.
What differentiates your wares?
It’s not only the quality, but also the care that goes into our products. Most businesses are and should be concerned about the bottom line, but I don’t put a primary focus on that. Instead, I make items that are incredibly time-consuming, but it’s a passion project and I don’t compromise quality even at the expense of profit. We don’t cut corners, we actually add them, and these details really make a difference. We are about making great products the right way, old-fashioned and with no stabilizers or preservatives.
16C Victor Square Ext., Scotts Valley, 831-454-8299; ashbyconfections.com
