MERIDIAN, ID — Unless you frequent downtown Meridian, it's easy to miss this hole-in-the-wall candy shop that opened a few years after the owner wanted to make a favorite sweet treat of hers.
"I was looking for a peppermint truffle for myself. In about 2013, I came upon a recipe and started playing with that technique of chocolate and tempering and ganaches, and it just kind of went from there," said Truffles Etc. owner Lisa Black.
That was in 2013, and after getting a business license she began selling her amazing sweets in various events and venues up until two years ago.
"I was still selling to friends and family but it wasn't going anywhere, it was just stagnant. So I said, okay, I need to take the next step to get my chocolate out there to where people can actually come out and purchase it," said Black.
With that, Truffles Etc. was born in January 2020, delivering homemade chocolates, espresso drinks, and even ice cream after Lisa's husband Mike retired from Micron .
"He went to Florida to an ice cream store and learned all about how to make ice cream and has come back and started playing with flavors and recipes," said Black.
The couple were both raised in Idaho, and have four Idaho-born children as well, so keeping everything local is an important part of their business.
"We use products such as 44 North Vodka, Cinder Wine, we go up to McCall and pick huckleberries for our huckleberry truffle, my husband sources mint from a mint manufacturer in Greenleaf," said Black.
But it's not all their local products are edible as they sell plenty of art and other items made by local artists.
"From boxes to resin bowls to jewelry to crochet to pictures, we try to get a variety of people in here," said Black.
And when you try just about anything in the shop, you can taste the care that goes into it. Almost everything they sell is made in shop, a mentality Lisa developed after being raised on a farm in Payette.
"We used everything we possibly could, my grandpa grew a huge garden and we'd get together as a family and we'd can and freeze the produce that he grew. We always wanted to make homemade and it was just something that we enjoyed doing," said Black.
It doesn't get much more Idaho than Truffles Etc., where the family, their products, and pretty much their entire list of ingredients were all homemade in Idaho.
"We just love Idaho. We love the community here, we love the people here. Supporting local artisans and hopefully helping the community revitalize in Downtown Meridian and make that a destination place," exclaimed Black.
