You're Kidding, Right?: Sewing Needle for Bon Bons
The Answer to Dipping Delirium
Bon Bon Makers sew their stuff
The Chefs: Charlene (The Bon Bon Queen) Dupray and her husband, Pascal Siegler, run South ‘n France Bon Bons in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The You’re Kidding, Right? Tool: A sterilized sewing needle.
What They Do With It: They use it to dip their bon bons—some flavors include café au lait, chocolate chip cookie dough and coconut—into liquid chocolate, and produce anywhere between 300-3800 bon bons each week, varying depending on the season. Their current record is 16,000 bon bons in 3½ weeks, and that was before they discovered the ease of using a needle.
How They Stumbled Upon It: “We tried lots of other things including dipping forks, toothpicks, even escargot dishes, but the needle works best because the bon bons glide easily on and off the needle, and it leaves a tiny, clean hole,” says Charlene. “When we dipped those 16,000 bon bons, we got a little bit crazy thinking that there must be a faster way and tried all sorts of crazy experiments. At one point, in his dipping delirium, I walked into the kitchen to find my husband rolling bon bons in chocolate on the escargot dish. Needless to say, it didn’t work.”
Pascal—who does the lion’s share of the dipping—has a favorite needle and only uses that one. The Duprays have a small collection of other needles they use for extra dippers and for demonstrations, but Charlene says she’s not partial to a particular brand.
Interesting Factoid: Charlene and Pascal also teach other people to make bon bons at local bon bon parties. “Homemakers and amateur cooks who make holiday candies like Buckeyes are also amazed by how well the needle works and swear they’ll never use a toothpick again,” says Charlene.
“No one has ever objected to using a needle, and I can’t see why anyone would. Needles are made of stainless steel and can be sterilized, and they’re much cleaner than a toothpick. And Pascal wipes the needle clean with a disposal paper wipe after each bon bon is dipped. That way no excess chocolate from the previous dip can contaminate the next dip.
