Valérie Henbest speaks with chocolate royalty, Kirsten Tibballs, about her journey from teenage pastry apprentice to gold-medal-winning chocolatier, MasterChef Australia favourite and global chocolate educator.
They discuss the intensity of live pastry competitions, the making of The Chocolate Queen television series, and how terroir, fermentation and farming are shaping the future of chocolate.
In 2002, Tibballs founded Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School to give Australian pastry chefs access to world-class training without having to travel to Europe. What began as a Melbourne school has since grown into a global learning platform with more than 550 online classes and guest chefs from around the world.
Kirsten has also hosted the internationally broadcast TV series The Chocolate Queen and authored three cookbooks: Chocolate to Savour (2012), Chocolate (2016) and Chocolate All Day (2023).