Gold Medals, MasterChef and Terroir: Inside the World of Kirsten Tibballs

Valerie Henbest talks with chocolate royalty, Kirsten Tibballs, about her path from teenage apprentice to gold-medal-winning pastry champion and MasterChef Australia favourite.   They unpack the pressure of live competitions, the making of The Chocolate Queen TV series and how terroir, fermentation and farming shape the future of chocolate.    Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School In 2002, Tibballs founded Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School. Tibballs cited the local Australian market as "lagging" compared to the European market and so wanted to open an institution that offered the resources for Australian pastry chefs who could not afford to travel to Europe. As the owner and director of Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School, Tibballs runs the business. The school teaches a variety of classes on chocolate and patisserie. In 2013, Kirsten Tibballs expanded the Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School by launching an online platform featuring video tutorials designed for a global audience.[6] By 2024, the Savour platform hosts a comprehensive library of over 550 online classes. Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School has hosted numerous world renowned, industry-leading guest chefs who have conducted both hands-on and online classes. https://savourschool.com.au/about/ The Chocolate Queen Television Show The Chocolate Queen, a show aimed at home bakers, features accessible recipes along with innovative chocolate tips and techniques. The series, hosted by Kirsten Tibballs, premiered in 2018 and was broadcast both in Australia and internationally. Its success led to four additional seasons and the show was broadcast across 89 countries. https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/the-chocolate-queen Cookbooks Kirsten Tibballs has authored three cookbooks. In 2012, she self-published Chocolate to Savour, which won the Best Photography Cookbook of 2012 award from Gourmand in the UK. In 2016, Tibballs released her second cookbook, Chocolate. In 2023, her third book, Chocolate All Day, was published. https://www.amazon.com.au/Chocolate-All-Day-Recipes-indulgence/dp/1922616885