NAME: Matthew's Chocolates
ADDRESS: 107 N. Churton St., Hillsborough
PRODUCT: Handmade chocolates
ESTABLISHED: 2007
OWNER: Matthew Shepherd
CONTACT: (919) 732-0900
By Jonathan Tuttle
chh@heraldsun.com; 419-6654
HILLSBOROUGH -- Last Valentine's Day, when Matthew's Chocolates was just entering its second year, women from up and down Churton Street came to offer the new chocolatier, Matthew Shepherd, a helping hand.
Shepherd crafts each piece of chocolate himself, and to see that he wasn't distracted during his busiest time of year, the Hillsborough women wrapped flowers, cleaned windows and took orders.
They wanted to see him stay in business, and they wanted some chocolate.
"I was a customer before I was an employee," explained Bobbie Whittemore, who, after stopping in a few times for truffles, decided to help out the one-man business.
She's at the counter of the small, boutique shop this Valentine's season, leaving Shepherd to fill orders in the back kitchen.
Phoned-in orders, Shepherd said, is the way to go this time of year.
"The less people in the store on Valentine's Day the better," he said. "Just the men who can't plan ahead -- which is all men."
This year, Shepherd has paired up with Callaway Jewelry up the street for a chocolate-jewelry combination, hiding a heart-shaped pendant in the center of a box of chocolates.
The boxes will be offered along with Shepherd's usual assortment of creations. The bottom row of his candy-case is devoted to barks, sheets of chocolate "packed full of things," as Shepherd says, including sugar-roasted nuts and dried fruit.
"They look like tree bark," said Shepherd. "Hence the name. There are no ground puppies inside."
He also makes mendiants, French discs of chocolate, and the more difficult cr
