Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pounds upon pounds of chocolate creations, many happy customers, lots of tired and loyal employees.........our second Valentine's Day has come and gone. I will try to explain the feelings associated with our first year as Goumas Confections.

On February 2, 2009, my husband, Soc and his brother Greg opened their new business. This event was gratifiying on many levels, due to the fact that, 2 months earlier the guys were forced out of their former business, where they had been the candy makers since the death of their father in 1985. I won't go into all the details here, but the guys were 56 and 57 years old and started "from scratch". A huge piece of the success is due to their 12 employees (from their former business) who chose to follow them to Goumas Confections.

As of June, 2009, Goumas Confections has two locations! Our Granville, Ohio shop is located on Broadway, right next to the Huntington Bank. Granville is our village, and we are so fortunate to have the support of two communities, Newark and Granville!

For the past week, Soc and Greg have worked "round the clock" in their kitchen to create chocolates and other sweets for their customers. The old copper kettle really got a work-out, with batch after batch of caramel, English Toffee, and other favorites being cooked to perfection. Some of our employees have stayed until midnight or after to make sure the retail area was ready for the next day!

Yesterday, on Valentine's Day, Soc created a new Confections treat. I will describe it and you tell me what you think....better yet, stop in and sample the new item.
It has been christened "English Turtle" and this is why:

Greg makes incredible English Toffee and Soc's caramel can't be beat. So, Soc decided to combine the two favorites and create the English Turtle. As many of you know, a turtle is made with pecans, caramel and chocolate. English Turtles have no pecans, but toffee instead. They look like a turtle, but have a unique flavor with the toffee inside.

With all that said, we, at Goumas Confections are "flying high" with the support of our employees, friends/customers. With the support and prayers of many, we
threw outselves into our new venture and worked harder than we could have ever imagined.

Thanks for reading this and check out our online store at www.goumasconfections.com

Close your eyes and try to get this picture in your mind..........

A long narrow kitchen containing a copper kettle, gas stove, enrobing machine, chocolate temperer (melts and holds chocolate at correct temp.), long-handled wooden spoons, thermometers, red aprons, and lots and lots of chocolate, not to mention all types of nuts, sugar, corn syrup, peanut butter, and a variety of tools, all used to help in the art of candy-making!

Even before you enter the retail portion of our store, delicious smells entice you. I know that some of those smells are from our friends at the Bake-n-Brew Restaurant next door, but the sweet, nutty, buttery smells are ours! And yours, too, if you care to visit.

Today we will feature, Greg Goumas, our expert hand-dipper of chocolate. Greg is busy making dark chocolate nut clusters today....all kinds of nuts which he has roasted will be gathered into his hands, then carefully dipped into a warm pool of dark chocolate. Each cluster is placed on a tray, cooled and boxed, all by hand, one piece at a time.

He uses almonds, peanuts, pecans, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, cashews. He also will be dipping raisins, coconut (haystacks) cranberries, dark chocolate sea salt caramels, potato chips, pretzels, English Toffee.

So, if the art of candy making interests you, or if you just want to look at/eat our candy, visit our online store at www.goumasconfections.com

Or come into our candy shop at 1287 Log pond Dr. in Newark, Ohio or 224 E. Broadway in Granville, Ohio. We would love to share our history and some of our quality products with you!

Tuesdays at Goumas Confections...........

Sweet smells are wafting from the candy kitchen! Here's why

Soc and Greg are working on pouring chocolate into molds to make 500 "Thank-You's" for an area church. Each letter is made by pouring tempered chocolate into a mold. After they are dry, they are arranged to say "Thank-you" and placed into attractive boxes, which are clear on top to show the chocolate words.

Other products emerging from our kitchen today
* chocolate Valentine suckers in two sizes

*Valentine-decorated Oreos (dipped in chocolate, of course)

*Pretzel rods which have been dipped into our home-made caramel, then into chocolate and sprinkled with hearts

Many of the pretzel rods are going to our long-time customer, State Farm Insurance. They will be distibuted in the Newark and New Albany, Ohio offices.

We are also filling our weekly order for the Licking Memorial Hospital Twig gift shop.....more caramels!

Peanut butter, caramel, and fudge hearts, all dipped in chocolate are February favorites...ready today!

A new item that is catching on is our sea salt caramels. These are our home-made caramels, dipped in chocolate with a tiny sprinkle of sea salt on top........WOW!

Today is caramel day at the shop. My husband, Soc and his brother, Greg use an old fashioned copper kettle to mix, then cook this treat to the exact temperature it takes to create a gooey, buttery treat that will melt in your mouth. After the mixture comes to the correct temp, the guys pour it onto the marble slab for cooling, cutting.

The caramel is cut and wrapped (all by hand), or used to make turtles, sea salt caramels, pecan logs, or other unbelievable confections.

Candy making is truly an art!