Military, marketing and now making chocolate: Karen Morley combines art, science and food

Chocolate is much more complicated than it looks.

It requires the knowledge of things like the chemistry of sugars, fat and moisture migration — or what Regina-based chocolatier Karen Morley describes as a "convergence of science and art."

"It's not like throwing some chocolate into a microwave and throwing it into a bowl," said Morley, an American and former photogrammetrist who has worked in the tech industry and is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

Morley was diagnosed with late stage cancer shortly after she moved to Canada and got married. She was given a 30 per cent chance of survival but she beat it.

Morley couldn't go back to marketing after being out of it for two years because younger workers are wanted in that industry, she said.

She also couldn't work in Canada because she didn't have a permanent residency yet, something that's more difficult to get because she was sick. She was treated for her illness in Canada but it cost her nearly $250,000.

While she was going through her treatment, Morley spent the days looking for something to do. First, she began blowing sugar (like glass blowing but with sugar instead).

Then she began blogging Top Chef Canada winning entries and contacting those winning chefs. One of those chefs sent her a homemade chocolate bar and it was then that Morley realized the complexities of the art.

"It suits my personality," Morley said. "The complexity, I realized, was more than something I could do on my own."

It's that complexity which is why she attended École Chocolat in Vancouver, where she became a certified chocolatier. And then earlier this year she attended the Académie du Chocolat in Montreal.

And, Morley eventually proved to authorities that her Canadian marriage was legitimate so that she could attain permanent residency.

"I'm having a great time anyway, right. Whether I succeed or fail, I've got chocolate."

– With files from CBC Radio's Saskatchewan Weekend