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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On February 27, 2012, at 6:00 a.m. PST, MDP Signature Chocolates launched its Kickstarter Project ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1844679095/from-firehouse-chef-to-master-chocolatier ) to raise capital to open a small chocolate factory and retail space in Seattle, Washington. The goal is to have people pledge $50,000 in 30 days. Kickstarter is the worlds largest funding platform for creative projects.
In 2004, Chef Michael D. Poole established MDP Signature Chocolates and began producing handcrafted, French chocolates under this label.These chocolates were provided exclusively to catering clients. With an increase in client demand, Michael began boxing the chocolates for retail sale on the Internet at http://mdpchocolates.com .
Since 2004, MDP Signature Chocolates has won silver and gold awards at both the Seattle and San Francisco International Chocolate Salons. The judges at the Seattle Chocolate Salon proclaimed, the lemon meringue truffle from MDP was like a bite of lemon meringue pie enrobed in white chocolate.
In addition to establishing a chocolate business, Chef Michael has served 32 years as a firefighter and lieutenant on the Seattle fire department.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Michele L. Simms-Burton, Ph.D.
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
571.527.7629
michelelsimms@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=331906960178308&set=a.161110650591274.27279.160235940678745&type=1&theater
I was curious what is your favorite chocolate and drink pair? I personally have been enjoying dark chocolates with a nice porter (mostly pecan porters) but I feel like trying something new. Any suggestions? I typicallypreferbeer pairings but I am open to nice wines as well.
This cake is very quick and easy to make which I love. I am not very good at complicated recipes with too many stages, the fewer the better is my philosophy. As the cake cooks it will fill your kitchen with the most beautiful aroma of chocolate, spice and orange, the perfect natural room fragrance!
For the cake
100g butter 100g hot chocolates dark chocolate buttons 75g dark muscovado sugar 100ml golden syrup pt milk Grated zest 1 orange 175g plain flour 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 2 round teasp ground ginger 1 round teasp ground cinnamon 1 large egg
For the topping
100g butter 75g hot chocolates dark chocolate buttons Juice 1 orange 50g icing sugar
Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 3. Grease and line a 7in square baking tin with greaseproof paper. Melt the butter, chocolate, sugar, syrup, milk and zest together in a pan over a gentle heat. Sift flour, bicarb and spices into a large mixing bowl. Once melted add the chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and beat well. Add the egg and beat again. Pour mixture into the tin. Tap the pan on the work surface to allow excess air bubbles to rise to the top. Bake in the oven for exactly 30 mins, test cake with a skewer in the centre, if it does not come out clean leave for another five mins and keeping testing until skewer is clean. Leave to cool in tin for 10 mins then empty out on to a wire tray to cool completely. Place cake on serving dish.
For the topping, melt the butter, chocolate, icing sugar and orange juice in a small pan over a gentle heat stirring all the time. Pour over the cake and eat when cold, if you can wait! Sharon
I came accross this article tonight and found the future of cocoa to be quite concerning. We all really need to be proactive in this fight for the future of Cocoa.
Take a read......what are your thoughts?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-future-of-chocolate
So far I can surmise or suspect that only Big Tree Farms may be producing chocolate that is truly raw. Since there are currently no industry standards in place, what is the best way to be assured that you are buying truly raw cacao nibs, butter or powder? I would like to market my confections online but I want to be sure it is truly a raw product I am offering. Raw in this sense does not refer to raw materials, but to the fact that the cacao was never heated above 40 to 45 C at any time during any part of the harvest and processing. Any other raw chocolate friends here?
This past December, one of the villages we visit every year was burned by members of the Ivorian Army, specifically pro-Ouattara forces. Broguhe was pro-Gbagbo during the last election, so this is probably a form of punishment. We (Project Hope and Fairness) are rebuilding the sewing room this week and electrifying it. In any case, Ivory Coast, which supplies 40% of the world's cocoa, is slowly rebuilding from a civil war that started in 1993 and flashes on and off.
Tom Neuhaus
I just received an offer, as I'm sure many others did, for "beta testing" of a new chocolate from a particular company. Cool. Get to sample 3 different types, provide feedback, yada, yada. Then I saw the price. For3 "shipments", eachcontainingtwo 25-gm samples (total of 150 gm, or about 5 oz.) it was about $50. That figures to be about $160 on a pound-for-pound basis. To me, that's really pushing it, especially given that the stuff is totally untested. For a "beta test" the price should be way less, since the whole point of a beta test is to get the kinks out of a developing product.
For this price, I can do far better, and for proven quality.
It's true, cocoa paper is made by hand using traditional methods.
A team of 6 make an astounding 40,000 sheets of cocoa paper a month! We have many more skilled paper makers eagerly waiting to join our team and double or even triple that number if sales increase.
Watch this short video to learn how cocoa paper is made.
I'm excited to announce that you can now buy Cocoa Paper products online!
Cocoa Paper is handmade using sustainably sourced cocoa tree bark and recycled white paper. For all our home and office stationery needs visit: http://www.cocoapaper.org/
Feel good about supporting cocoa sustainability. 