An Alberta chocolatier brought a distinctly Canadian flavour to the baking show Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking, a magical experience she says taught her to think bigger.
Priya Winsor of St. Albert, Alta., a finalist on the show and the owner of Compass Chocolates, said the show pushed her well beyond her comfort zone, particularly when it came to constructing large-scale edible showpieces.
“It really gave me an opportunity to stretch my muscles and try something different — something bigger than what I thought I could do,” Winsor said.
The Newfoundland-born chocolate maker grew up reading the Harry Potter books and watching the movies, so filming the Food Network show on the original movie sets in the U.K. felt surreal.
The series, hosted by the actors who portrayed the Weasley twins, James and Oliver Phelps, saw pastry chefs, chocolatiers and cake artists from around the world compete to make hyper-realistic, edible showpieces inspired by locations, characters, artifacts and magical creatures from the Harry Potter universe.
Many of the showpieces Winsor created with her partner on the show were inspired by personal experiences that felt especially Canadian.
In the Edible Artifacts challenge, Winsor incorporated Newfoundland sea salt into a salted caramel paired with masala chai ganache for Bellatrix’s dagger. She said blending flavours from different cultures was especially meaningful to her.
“I love Canada. I think it is a magical place in many ways,” she said. “A big part of my business focuses on flavours from home and from around the world. It was neat to bring that into the Harry Potter world.”
In the semifinals, Winsor’s team was tasked with creating Cornish pixies—mischievous blue magical creatures. A lover of folklore, she said the chaotic pixies reminded her of her own children.
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To evoke flavours tied to childhood nostalgia, Winsor used toasted vanilla bean marshmallow, a honey graham tart shell and smoked dark chocolate ganache, adding chili chocolate, cayenne pepper and chipotle for depth.
The pixies were crafted from fondant and modelling chocolate and suspended “in the air” from a mobile candelabra, with one bolt featuring a Cornish pasty-inspired s’more.
Winsor said the smoked marshmallow and graham cracker flavours were inspired by memories of bonfires on Newfoundland’s rocky ocean beaches.
Growing up in Newfoundland, surrounded by a strong culture of hospitality and food-sharing, played one of the key roles in sparking her interest in cooking and baking, she said.
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking Chapter Two is available for streaming on Crave.
