Blogs

I do a lot of experimenting with Flourless Chocolate Cake, and lately I have worked on recipes for white and milk chocolate (instead of the same ol' dark chocolate cake). Here is result of my white chocolate experiments with fresh Ontario peaches: http://ultimatelychocolatecakes.blogspot.ca/2014/08/flourless-white-chocolate-cake-with.html I'd love to see your flourless chocolate cake recipes! Send me the links! More of mine can be found here: http://ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-ultimate-chocolate-recipes.html .

I have tried all the commercial brands and some craft brands....but what are your favourite craft, bean-to-bar 85% dark chocolate bars? Please tell me in the comments section on my blog page: http://www.ultimatechocolateblog.blogspot.ca/2014/08/whats-your-favourite-85-chocolate-bar.html

Dark chocolate is probably one food that is not only sinfully delicious but nutritious at the same time. Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants and contains a good amount of soluble fiber and essential minerals. A 100 gram bar of dark chocolate contains 70-85% of cocoa extract. If you further breakdown the contents, you get fiber, iron, magnesium, copper and manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. Of course, we cant afford to forget that it also contains a considerable amount of calories and sugar, so moderation is the key here. You can enjoy your favorite dark chocolate in tempting shapes and sizes or gift them to your loved ones by ordering them online from sites like MyChocolateShapes.com and PiqChocolates.com that offer customization of chocolates.

Top 4 Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolates

Here are the healthy reasons you can give, when you get tempted to eat dark chocolate.

Provides Youthful Appearance and Fights Certain Cancer

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a measure of the antioxidant impact of food. Raw and
unprocessed cocoa beans are amongst the highest scoring foods on this scale. Dark chocolate is infused with valuable organic compounds that function as antioxidants, including polyphenols, catechins and flavanols. These antioxidants liberate your body from free radicals, the primary cause of oxidative damage of your cells. These free radicals can speed up the aging process and even lead to certain types of cancer. So, including antioxidant rich diet, such as dark chocolate, is a delicious way to look young and stay fit.

Controls Blood Sugar

Dark chocolate keeps your blood vessels healthy and maintains steady blood circulation, which in turn protects you against type 2 diabetes. The flavonoids present in dark chocolate help reduce insulin resistance by assisting the normal functioning of your cell and by helping your body regain the ability to regulate insulin levels efficiently. Dark chocolate does not usually cause a huge spike in blood sugar level, since it has a low glycemic index

Protects Against Heart Disease

In an observational study conducted on 470 adults, cocoa was observed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death by a staggering 50% over the period of 15 years. Another study revealed that if a person consumes dark chocolates two or more times per week, the risk of calcified plaque in the arteries is reduced by 32%. The compounds in dark chocolate are highly protective against the oxidation of LDL (low density lipo-protein, which is the bad cholesterol). This, in the long run causes less cholesterol being lodged in the arteries, which further lowers the risk of heart disease.

Improves Brain Function

Cocoa contains stimulants, such as like caffeine and theobromine, which are believed to improve brain function. Cocoa enhances blood flow to the brain and also improves cognitive function in elderly people with mental disability. It also believed to improve verbal fluency.

All you need to do to enjoy dark chocolate and share your love for the cocoa bean with loved ones is to order customized and personalized chocolate shapes online.

Reading some papers about cacao propagation I stumbled upon a granted patent on embryogenesis procedure on theobroma cacao tree. What I found alarming is that as long as a decade there're methods to introduce external traits to the embryo. Oficially creating a GMO cacao tree.

Here's some extract from the document :

"A foreign gene is intended to mean any gene or polynucleotide not naturally found in cacao. In addition, this technology enables the development of transgenic cacao varieties with improved agronomic performance characteristics, and provides a new experimental system for study of gene expression and function, in cacao. The use of cacao varieties improved via the utilization of transformation technology also facilitates the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices in cacao cultivation, and eventually helps maintain a healthy tropical forest ecosystem."

What!

Can someone confirm if some GMO cacao exists in production farms?

We have started growing Cacao on our finca in the rain forest near the volcano Arenal in Costa Rica . We planted two trees and have started some from beans the we got from a pod .We had 100% of them sprout .Does anybody have any suggestions to aid in both the growth rate of the trees and also the yield . The first photo isof the pod .the second the beans in the pod . the third the beans sprouting [ on the left cleaned - on the right - un - cleaned ] . the next is in pots and the last four days later transplanted into cow manure . As you can see they are growing very rapidly . Thank you - PEACE FROM THE JUNGLE!!!

Dear chocolate makers and chocolate lovers,

I wanted to share my blog, where I'm writing about my chocolate-making endeavors and experiences. Please feel free to comment. If you'd like me to highlight your business or your ideas, shoot me a private message and I'll reach out to do an informational interview.

www.rootchocolate.com

Thanks for being such a great community!

Best,

Landen

When I recently wanted to blog about a Amsterdam-based bean-to-bar chocolate maker I realized that I never properly introduced 'bean-to-bar' on my own blog .

Now I finally made a brief drawing to roughly illustrate the process from tree to chocolate with a focus on the flavor developing steps (which is: fermentation, roasting, conching). Hard to hide my science background I guess...

On my blog post about chocolate making you can also find a higher resolution version of the illustration. Hope you like it. Since so many chocolate making experts are sitting here: Let me know if you find some major misconceptions or have any other type of suggestions! Thanks.

Here I am with Roberto Granja of Transmar, one of the larger cacao companies in Ecuador. Roberto was at last year's Salon as well and they buy production from San Martin and Huanuco in Peru as well as other places.

Above: I am wearing a real Panama hat. Although they are called Panama hats they were originally created in Ecuador. Mine is also made in Ecuador. Below: A "nativo" pod from a cooperative near Cusco. Bottom: Another pod from the same co-op. The genetic diversity of cacao in Peru is astonishing.

On Saturday, the second full day of the Salon, the International visitor spent most of the day participating in business roundtables. You can think of these as business speed-dating. Every half-hour from 10am to 6pm with a two-hour break mid-day, we sat down with representatives from different co-ops. They explained a little bit about the history of the organization and presented samples of what they were doing. Each of us then presented what we were looking for - in terms of beans and/or semi-finished products - at the Salon.

If any ChocolateLife members are interested in getting samples of some very interesting beans from some very interesting sources let me know. Serious inquiries for at least a pallet, please.

There is a lot of confusion in Peru about the word criollo. Well, they're not really confused, we are. They use the term meaning "native" or "from here" as opposed to forastero, or foreign. When we hear criollo we want to believe that we are getting genetic criollos. While there may be some criollo in Peru (and there is a lot of white cacao, though criollo white beans) what is meant when the locals say criollo is "nativo" or native varieties.

While Peru likes to claim that 90% of their cacao is cacao fino - in truth the bulk of the cacao being grown is CCN-51. This is because USAID has focused on productivity for most of the past 20 years, believing, correctly, that it needed focus on providing farmers a viable economic alternative to coca. Low-yielding strains did not fit that model.

Now, a lot of effort is focused on providing alternatives to CCN-51. Varieties that can yield as much as CCN-51 but that offer much better flavor.

Above: Here I am with representatives of one of the co-ops I met with - Kemito Ene - which is near the Rio Ene in the south. They are doing impressive work, had one of the best presentations, and provided samples of some very excellent beans.

For an equipment geek the show was also very interesting. There were two companies exhibiting machines to process cocoa beans into chocolate. While none of the local companies is really ready for prime time export, they are not far off, and I will be working to improve the quality and see what I can do to make them available to purchase. One company is offering an 80kg per hour cracking/winnower that delivers really quite remarkable performance - at a cost of under US$5000 ex-works. I also saw a small roaster and a number of pin mills that were very attractively priced for the throughput.

It is difficult for foreigners to really appreciate what the Salon means to Pervians in general and to the cocoa and chocolate markets domestically an internationally. It is important to grown both the national and international markets at the same time. Bringing in international visitors shows the average Pervian the respect the international market has for Pervian cacao and chocolate ... and great strides are being made in the quality of production that is being done in-market, noticeable even from one year ago. Pervieans are fiercely proud of their culture and their food traditions, rightfully so. (Lima is host to the world's largest food festival - Mistura - and hosts a dynamic foodie culture that rivals anything in South America (and many large cities in the US. But it's not yet possible to get good pizza, I hear. Peru is an incredibly inventive fusion of cultures with access to foods from the Amazon that most of us have never heard of before and they are not afraid to use them.)

The 5th annual Salon del Cacao y Chocolate was held in Lima, Per July 4-6. This was followed up by La Ruta del Cacao, a trip into la selva (the jungle) in and around Tarapoto in San Martin province July 7-9. I was one of a group of more than 20 invited international guests who attended both the Salon and La Ruta.

As with last year, the two events were organized and enjoyed the support of a broad range of organizations and government ministries including the Pervian federal government Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Economic Development, DEVIDA (National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs), PromPer (the Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism), Technoserve (a US-based NGO), APPCACAO (the Pervian cacao growers association), and USAID, among others.

The Salon del Cacao y Chocolate and La Ruta del Cacao serve a number of purposes:

1. To promote Pervian cacao and chocolate internationally.
2. To promote Pervian cacao and chocolate on the national market.
3. To showcase the work that has been done in the cocoa sector of the Pervian economy in terms of the improvements in yield and quality, but also as a means to combat the narcotics trade by providing farmers with an alternative to growing coca.

This year, the Salon was held near the Parque des Aguas in the Parque de la Reserva instead of in a hotel conference center. 5 tents were erected for the Salon - one for general business activities, one for a series of kitchen demos, two for art exhibits, and the main tent which held all of the stands for the exhibitors.

Above: A view of one of the fountains in the Parque des Aguas. This is the typical winter weather in Lima. Below: A panorama of the tents making up the Salon del Cacao in the Parque de las Reserva.

As a venue, the Parque was a much better choice than a hotel ballroom because it offered more or less unlimited outside space to relieve crowding and congestion - and this year the organizers were expecting as many as 30,000 (!!!) visitors to attend. Sadly, attendance did not meet expectation as there were two quarter-final World Cup matches on both of the first two days. Much as people love chocolate, their love of and for the World Cup runs deeper.

I arrived in Lima on the 2nd in order to attend the opening session on the morning of the 3rd. This included talks by the head of DEVIDA, the president of APPCACAO, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, and the #2 person from USAID in Per. These presentations were to be as expected. What was unexpected was the attendance - especially the number of media outlets that were represented including national newspapers, radio, and television. We don't have any event in chocolate here in the US that can match the attention that gets paid to the Salon in Per. We certainly don't have the head of the USDA showing up to any chocolate festivals telling us how important cocoa and chocolate are to the US economy - because they're not that important.

After the opening ceremonies and before we headed out to a lunch for the international contingent hosted by ChocoPer - a group of chocolate makers and confectioners in Per, the exhibits were open so we (actually, the government ministers and the press) could take an advance look.

Above: A shot of the attendance and media at the opening session. Below: VIP guests in the booth of the Mishky cooperative. which is located in Chasuta in San Martin province. Bottom: A view of the Pacific Ocean from the Larco Mar - where we had lunch - an upscale shopping mall built into a cliff in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima. I did not see the sun break through the clouds the entire time I was in Lima.

The international group for the Salon this year was entirely different from last year - except for me. A number of ChocolateLife members were in attendance, from the US, Australia, Chile, Mexico, and Belgium. (The entire list of countries represented also included Holland, France, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia.) Several members I'd never met before, and some were old friends - though we were all fast friends by the end of the trip. Although we were there to be be observers, we were also there to be active participants. Every single one of us had the option of giving a presentation or to give a kitchen demonstration. I chose to give a presentation (my topic was marketing Pervian finished chocolates internationally), but the projection screen was broken so all of us had to improvise and give our presentations without our support materials.

You can check out my reviews of the chocolates I've tasted at Choco Files . I also explain my review philosophy and I'm adding more and more files with my ratings for each bar.