Dianne Trinque worked as a chemist for most of her career - never did she eat one of her experiments.
Now she can.
After three years studying the sugary science of chocolate making, Trinque's own Oro Valley sweet shop, Sabino Artisan Chocolates, opened Tuesday.
There's still a lot of the scientist in Trinque, a 1978 University of Arizona graduate who, among other things, went on to do lab work for the Environmental Protection Agency.
She can tell you that chocolate solidifies into six different crystal forms and which is best, or how emulsion (a mixture of two unblendable liquids) affects a chocolate's shelf life.
"There's an awful lot of science," said Trinque, who has traded in a white lab coat for a neatly-pressed pastry chef jacket of the same color.
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Trinque's store at 10110 N. Oracle Road, Suite 140, is the culmination of three years of study with chocolatiers throughout the United States and Canada, including the Notter School of Pastry Arts in Orlando, Fla., and Callebaut Chocolate Academy in Chicago.
Trinque molds chocolates made from her own recipes in her on-site kitchen, producing a colorful array of bonbons, fudges and other treats. Her original creations range from glossy dark chocolates filled with passion fruit to the more kid-friendly chocolate-dipped Oreo cookie.
And like a true scientist she's given to tinkering in the lab. Her current project is a Guinness-flavored truffle she hopes to have ready in time for St. Patrick's Day.
The chocolates have this subtle emerald sheen, but the Guinness flavor still isn't coming through, she admits. "It's very much an experiment," she said.
Trinque's husband, Pete, who has also taken chocolatiering courses, pitches in on the weekends when he is not managing the couple's other business, Restor-to-Nu, a south-side furniture-repair business.
"I'm also a chocolatier, but I'm not as good as she is," Pete Trinque said.
The two have shared something of a lifelong love affair with chocolate with fond memories of the candy store they both grew up with in Enfield, Conn. The idea of opening an independent chocolate store is something they have been kicking around for 20 years, Pete Trinque says.
"This is getting away from the Hershey's. It's a whole different feeling," he said.
If You Go
Sabino Artisan Chocolates
Address: 10110 N Oracle Road, Suite 140, Oro Valley.
Hours: Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays or by appointment.
Contact: For more information, call 989-0466.
Contact reporter Alex Dalenberg at adalenberg@azstarnet.com or 807-8429.