With a mission to use local ingredients, source the best single-origin beans and couverture chocolate possible, and commit to finding ingredients that are ethically sourced and of the highest quality, Karat Chocolates has changed the confectionary scene in the Okanagan.
A second-generation pastry chef, chocolatier, and the owner and operator of KARAT, French-trained Julian Helman loves to compete and win at both a national and international level.
KARATs creations are a whimsical take on the traditional flavors of the Okanagan. While I think most people know KARAT for their couverture chocolates (AKA Fancy AF bonbons) and chocolate bars, the thing that makes our hearts swell with excitement when we enter their shop and cafe off Bernard is their complex yet amazingly delicate surreal fruit-shaped pastries. These little works of art look like real fruit sitting carefully on top of flakey pastry. The fruit, often a thin chocolate shell artfully painted to mimic its muse, is filled with compotes, creams, biscuits, and other confectionary magic.
Breaking through that chocolate to unveil the surprise center is an experience I covet and savor like a child does a new doll or favorite toy. It’s truly a treat for all your senses.
Scroll though these images above for a video of break-through!
Every time we go to KARAT, the case is filled with sky-high macarons, cheesecakes, fruit tarts, and every other thing Willy Wonka would go crazy for. We need about 10 years to get through trying everything, maybe even longer because we keep going back for the fruit, it seems. Oh, and the drinks, coffee A++, teas, they got them, hot chocolate … OMG.
However, if you are not a lover of Okanagan fruit-inspired pastries, or you’re trying to space out your treats, KARAT has a whole range of savory treats daily in the shop. The ham and cheese croissant should be illegal for how often it enters my dream. This is a whole other separate post for another time because you can only drool on your computer’s keyboard so much.
If you take a trip to KARAT, please, PLEASE tag us in your photos on Instagram and Facebook—we need a regular injection of their pastries in our life, and our waistline can only take so much. Images are a good substitute for the in-between!
