Carmen Portillo
Chocolatier
At the age of 19, Carmen Portillo left her hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas and moved to London, England. While abroad, Carmen had her first handmade, gourmet chocolate truffle. Often she would frequent a tiny chocolate shop in Wimbledon and admired the craftsmanship of chocolatiers.
“It was always such a treat for me to pick out the most beautiful truffles.”
While in Europe, she traveled to Paris, France and caught the chocolate fever! When she returned home to Little Rock over a year later, she longed for that experience again, so she researched ways to learn the trade and techniques for making delicious, artisan truffles.
Carmen has gathered techniques from world renowned chefs and studied at the Notter School for Confectionary and Chocolate Arts in Orlando, Florida. This combined with a certificate from Ecole Chocolate Professional Chocolate Arts, makes Carmen the first and only Certified Professional Chocolatier in the State of Arkansas.