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my story

I grew up in Namaqualand, the floral Kingdom, where freedom and the joy of a down to earth country life became a part of my soul. My earliest and most vivid memories are of my Dolls House in our garden, and of making sugar bowls out of clay formed by the mud patch our dirt road turned into after heavy rains. I particularly remember that magic moment as a very young child, my first attempt at ‘cooking’ in my make-believe-kitchen – where the mud mixture I was stirring up started to bubble over. This was thanks to some baking soda stolen from mom’s pantry, and from this surely came a love of experimenting in the kitchen. Fortunately, by my teenage years, I could whip up batches of fudge and other treats for friends.

In my late thirties, the travel bug bit as I was curious to explore new places and cultures. To fund this, however, I needed to develop entrepreneurial skills! The church Christmas Markets seemed to be the ideal spot to launch my artisanal career. I started off at these markets making truffles using local chocolate filled with a friend’s home-made liqueurs. But – a trip to Switzerland where I discovered melt-in-the-mouth Lindt chocolates, awakened a desire for something a little bit more upmarket. Rather than merely fiddling with chocolate, I wanted to learn more about couverture and my aim now was to create a decadent sweet/candy, which had a more refined texture than fudge, a longer shelf life – and yet kept that high quality of couverture.

In 2007, after attending a fun-filled week learning more about the confectionery arts, I discovered a passion for making delicious, home-made sweets. This passion soon gave birth to ANNA-LIZE's CHOC CARAMELS in my kitchen.

My life at this time was divided into weekdays spent in the corporate environment, and weekends filled with adventures in my kitchen! Here, I was able to swop rigid corporate routines for fun and play with my new passion - and this was reflected in the bright colourful wrappings of my choc caramels. This sense of fun and adventure has been the basis of my business ever since.

In 2011, I was retrenched. After the initial shock, I started having a feeling that God had a new plan for me, a plan where I could create jobs and share my delicious creations with the greater public.

I was now able to put all my focus into my small business, and I very soon expanded my range to include peanut brittle, turkish delight, caramel waffles, toffees and more.

2018 marks my 11th year in the confectionery business and to celebrate this I have introduced a SUGAR-FREE, easy-to-chew toffee range, peanut brittle and humbugs. These three exciting new products are targeted towards my health-conscious supporters.

In all of this, I am blessed with the love and support of family, friends, and a great work team!

I live by the motto – if you can dream it, you can do it.

Life is wonderful and I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

Sweet Greetings.

ANNA-LIZE