Svitlana Amelina - the founder of the Pastivalle brand talks about how your favorite chocolates are born, and how nice it is to see that the idea of healthy sweets has so many fans. A unique pastilla made from pure berry juice is the key feature of Pastivalle. The result of our creativity and painstaking work has become a brand that confidently reaches the national level with an assortment that can make both adults and children fall in love with it.
How was a special pastilla born?
- I became a supporter of proper nutrition long before it became a fashion trend. However, it was difficult to find products of the quality that would suit me and my family. Only organic vegetables, fruits, and berries should be on the table! Then an idea hit me - how about growing my own stuff? I found the perfect patch of land, which I called my "Field of Miracles", but everyone assured me that it is impossible to grow a completely organic vegetable and fruit garden on a large area. Contrary to these opinions, I, with the support of an experienced agronomist, got down to business. In 2014, I finally bought 3.5 hectares of fields. And to this day, I grow exclusively organic products there. We immediately planted a large part of the field with berries, because, in my opinion, they are the richest source of vitamins.
- My family members especially liked the morning berry fresh. By the way, in order to efficiently process berries into juice, you need special equipment. The thing is that the berries have very small seeds, and you cannot remove the skin from them. Therefore, to obtain pure juice, you need a special juicer, and I got it. There was also a dryer to prepare fruit and berry puree for the cold season. And so, one day it occurred to me to pour pure berry juice, not puree, onto the tray of the dryer. The result amazed me! The paste turned out to be thin and transparent - it was intended to create beauty and pleasure. Many people use boiled apple puree as a natural thickener when making pastilles. But I had so many berries that there was no need to thicken anything.
From field to brand
- The paste turned out to be unique. But the question still was open - how do I make it a complete dessert that would replace store sweets for my child? Why not add crunchy nuts and real Belgian chocolate to it? And before you know it, it was a real success! I couldn't wait to share this deliciousness with others. I managed to create a recipe for tasty and healthy sweets: a unique pastilla, golden caramelized nuts, and the best chocolate. They formed the trio of main ingredients of the Pastivalle brand, which came to existence in 2018.
- Now we try to keep all the production processes exactly as they were when I was making sweets for the family. Obviously, production requires more and more berries. In addition, our pastilla requires berries of perfect ripeness, and such berries can only be found in one's own field. If you buy them elsewhere, they will send you berries of "technical ripeness", that is, they will "ripen" on the way. They may ripen, sure, but they will also lose a lot of nutrients during that process. Vitamins disappear from the berries with every hour that passes between picking in the field and consumption. Our pastilla is a product that preserves the maximum benefit of the juice. This happens due to long-term drying at low temperatures. Such peculiarities of production make the cost of pastille quite high, but I am not going to increase business margins at the expense of reducing product quality. Naturalness and healthyness are cardinal values of the brand.
What's in the assortment?
Pastivalle is, first of all (but not only), exquisite sweets. In our collections, you will find your favorite flavor of Belgian chocolate, a thin strip of pastille made from the juice of strawberries, raspberries, currants, grapes, watermelon, plums, and the perfect crunchy nut - almond, walnut, or hazelnut. Pastivalle is also exceptional chocolate bars filled with pastillas. Pastivalle sweets are one of the most popular among our partner cafes, where visitors return again and again for unique chocolates. We are happy to invite cafes, salons, and hotels to cooperate with us.
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