Thirty bakers and chocolatiers are gearing up for the village’s Chocolate Fest, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday.
“Everybody loves doing it,” said Britt Young, owner of The Sweetish Chef, a Front Street bakery specializing in grain-free and sugar-free breads, bagels and baked goods. It’s her third year participating in the festival, which is organized by the Ballston Spa Business & Professional Association (BSBPA) and takes place at participating venues throughout the village. Chocolatiers offer samples of their chocolate-themed dishes for $2 each and attendees can vote on their favorite in three categories: sweet, savory and beverage.
Young’s chocolate stout chili secured the savory category win last year and she’s bringing it back to Boho Chic Boutique on Front Street for this year’s festival. While Young is keeping the recipe off the record, she compares it to a mole. At The Sweetish Chef, she’s vying for the win in the sweet category with chocolate caramel truffles.
True to the bakery’s mission, the truffles will be sugar-free. Young, who has long followed a gluten-free diet, was inspired to open a sugar- and grain-free bakery by her mother’s health issues. “In 2018, she passed away from a very avoidable injury, I guess you could say, and had she been eating better or taking care of her health or her sugar levels, none of that would have happened,” Young said, noting that one in three Americans are diabetic or pre-diabetic.
The Sweetish Chef c.