Scott Witherow: Prophet of Chocolate at Olive & Sinclair
With accolades from Garden & Gun, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine and Oxford American in his pocket, Scott Witherow is making the premier bean-to-bar chocolate in the South. Stone-ground in small batches, select single origin beans are combined with pure brown sugar for a smooth and robust flavor unique to Southern Artisan Chocolate. But this isn’t just any chocolate; his varieties include his latest Duck Fat Caramels, our favorite Bourbon Nib Brittle, Mexican-Style Cinnamon Chili Chocolate and Salt and Pepper Buttermilk White Chocolate.
Working in restaurants and the food industry since the age of 14, Witherow was obsessed with food, food culture, and of course chocolate. With a Le Grande diplome from Le Cordon Bleu London, he spent time in England and the United States cooking. In late 2007, he formed Olive & Sinclair. With small table top machines he started making 3-5 pounds at a time. Oven roasting and hand cracking the beans, with something resembling your grandmothers old sausage grinder that clamps to the side of the kitchen counter, Witherow would separate the nibs from the shell using a hair dryer and an old French “chinois” he had brought home from Culinary School. Two years later, Southern Artisan Chocolate was born. Amen.
