Forum Activity for @holycacao

Aloha! Our bitter tasting product needs some guidance to turn tasty!

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Try grinding nuts (macademia maybe) with sugar into a paste and working 10-20% sweetened nut paste into the 73% chocolate. Adding water to the chocolate is going to shorten its shelf life and seize the chocolate making it difficult to melt. Sugar does not dissolve into chocolate so I would recommend starting with a sweeter chocolate if you don't have any grinding machinery.

Nut paste will soften your chocolate (Gianduja) and cut the bitterness of the kava.

Hope that helps.

All the best,

Jo

Aloha! Our bitter tasting product needs some guidance to turn tasty!

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Aloha!

Thank You for having us on the forum! Great to be here! We are choco-lovers albeit novices at working with this amazing medium.

My wife and me are kava growers on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kava is a relaxing antianxiety agent. This bitter tasting root has been used in Polynesia for over over three Millenia.

We have been experimenting to find ways to make our kava more palletable and came up with a kava chocolate paste (73% cacao. Hawaiian made chocolate)

Because the chocolate is not sweet enough, we put it in a double boiler and added raw sugar to it and whisked it about. The granules refused to melt so I was forced to add a tiny amount of water and this totally worked and the chocolate gathered a sheen and thickness and turned beautiful! We cooked the water off and were left with an outstanding chocolate paste to which we can add our kava.

Here are some questions, comments and concerns we have:

a) By doing what I did above, are we lowering the shelf life of our chocolate (if left at room temp - ingredients are only cacao masse, coconu oil, sugar with vanilla.)? We are hoping for a one year shelf life at room temp if possible (the added kava is totally stabilized)

b) The final product is very hard after the chocolate cools. A serving size of our product is 1/4 tea spoon (or a gram) and this makes it very hard to get a dose as one is fighting with a tiny spoon to get a tiny mount out! TO soften this product for easy access, we added coconut oil. Our question is if we can add something more effective which is dairy free, shelf stable. If it is not flavored, this is a plus, but slight flavor is acceptable. Any ideas?

c) For such a bitter product, we feel a lower cacao % a better option. We feel the only problem with this is that the additional cacao butter will harden the product even more! What can be done here for a smoother, softer dairy free product which is not as bitter?

d) Do you prefer any citrus oils from a particular vendor online? Cost is not a consideration as we are trying to produce the finest artisan kava product.

Mahalo Nui Loa for reading this post and helping out!

Aloha from the Big Island

A. Ghiasi

updated by @Paradise Kava: 04/11/25 09:27:36

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Ok, I tried tempering again the other day. I used Cacao butter 3oz, Cacao Paste 3/4oz, 1/4 oz coconut Nectar (liquid/raw) 1 1/2 oz coconut sugar, powdered, 1/4tsp van extract, 1/2 oz cacao powder.

It was just ok. I think it actually tempered though as it had a nice snap to it. It was still a little soft when I rubbed my finger over the final product. THe taste was so so and the texture also so so. I left it out on the counter and the kids ate it so it must not have been that bad.

When I was melting over double boiler there were what appeared to be unmelted fragments on the bottom of bowl. Upon closer inspection (taste) it was one of the sugars. Must have been the coconut sugar wasn't powdered enough i'm assuming.

Taste is not creamy enough. I"ve had much better raw chocolate...and much worse! Still working on it... I have sunflower lecithin on order and want to try a few drops of it also. I think it needed more sweetener.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

HI David,

I will go over that discussion you talked about. I experimented a little yesterday with tempering the cocoa products that go into my original chocolate recipe. Then I added it to my other ingredients such as cashew butter etc... It actually created a product that was able to withstand being out of the fridge! I was so excited.

What I want to do is create a new tempered chocolate coating to replace the untempered one I was using before. Thats what I will work on tomorrow after I make all the fillings. I want to use this tempered chocolate to create a bar that doesn't need refrigeration. It also must taste great, something that I haven't come across much with the raw bars I have tried.

What I'm curious about is do you use the whole bean and grind it up, the nibs, cacao paste bar, or just cacao butter and cacao powder? Or a combination? I've had a tough time coming up with an un-bitter chocolate using the nibs and paste bar. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

I"m wondering if I could use coconut sugar AND liquid Agave. I need to find out the ratio of sugar to chocolate. Its confusing as the books that I have read on cooked chocolate says to use bittersweet, semi sweet etc... THe sugar is already in the bar and its just melted and tempered. I dont have that luxury with raw chocolate as I'm not aware of any bar that can be melted down that is already raw. Besides I do too much chocolate to make it economical for me to buy one already made even if there was one. I want to make my own.

Thanks for your help. I will be a success soon. People are counting on me

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Thanks Nat,

Great info from everyone on this post.

Coconut sugar: I am going to use the un-raw stuff and powder it in my vita mix. Yesterday that worked great. Its not raw but very nutritious. The other stuff I was talking about was "raw" coconut sugar from Coconut Secrets, its wetter so had a difficult time powdering it. Maybe I will use Agave and coconut sugar. I like to mix my sweeteners in other recipes. I think it makes for a great product. BAck to chocolate>>>

I've heard some people talk about conching but I dont know much about that. I dont have any machines. I am using a double boiler method. I feel so "green" here next to all you experts.

I'll let you all know how it turns out. thx

Jennifer

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

People who are making tempered "raw" chocolate are probably using agave powder not syrup. The temp is driven up during conching to about 115-120 depending on your machine and the temp controls you have on it, so I don't believe this is high enough to drive off the amount of water in agave syrup.

What do you mean the coconut sugar wouldn't "break down" due to temperature? You don't want the sugar to melt during processing, but rather be ground very fine. You can do this before adding it to chocolate by grinding it to powdered sugar consistency in a coffee grinder or a high-powered blender.

I prefer to call "raw" chocolate unroasted chocolate instead since the magic temp for raw is 115 F which is almost always exceeded in cacao fermentation unless someone is very explicitly controlling the temp as they discuss at places like Big Tree farm. There is no certification for raw so any manufacturer can slap the raw label on any product they want without running afoul of the law. There has been some problems certifying that raw cocoa powder is actually not processed above 115 in the last year.

-Nat

____________________

Nat Bletter, PhD

Chocolate R&D

Madre Chocolate

http://madrechocolate.com

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Have a look at these http://shop.chocolatealchemy.com/collections/equipment they are even hobby sized. I may be getting confused mysef but i think a melangeur is basically a conche.

To work it appears the cacao liquor must be molten i.e. > 36 degrees C but presumably if you had a spot IR thermometeryou to just switch the machine off if its getting too hot.

I'd also assume if you can modify the gearing you could in principle do a REALLY slow grind where the friction heat generated was mostly lost during the grind. I have also seen AC motor speed control where you could presumably lower the grind speed as you desire.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

there are a few bars and truffles I have tried that are raw and are actually tempered and very good. Most though leave alot to be desired like you said.

I dont know much about conching but I hear it drives up the temperature and is hard for the person who does not have industrial equipment. I would have to read up on it though.

Where theres a will theres a way!

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Coconut oil melting temperature is 24C. Butter melts at about 33.5 C. Cocoa butter has a melting point of around 36 C.

Would conching help drive out water, impove granularity and general consistancy. I've been sampling some of the raw bars available in Australiarecently and their texture, taste and temper generally leaves a lot to be desired. After reading about tempering temperatures it should be possible to produce a raw tempered bar though.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Yeah, I know what you mean by trying to temper stuff with Agave. I know its possible as there are others doing it. Maybe they dont use large amounts?? I am concerned that if I use coconut sugar it wont break down enough in the chocolate as temperature cant reach too high. There is a raw coconut sugar new on the market by coconut Secret but it is wetter than the others. HHHHmmmmm....

I have some raw cane sugar that I can make into a powder and try. It seems to work good in some of my recipes. Maybe a combination of Agave liquid, Agave powder, Coconut sugar. I am going to work with this and post my results. Thanks everyone!

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Thanks for replying. I did read this and it gave lots of great advice. I think I just need to experiment some more. I dont see anyone using chocolate paste/liquor. The raw bar that I have is hard so I thought if I added some more cacao butter to it and a bit of agave, vanilla, lecithin it might work however it has a very strong flavor I have had a hard time overcoming.

I will try a few things and post my results.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

As mentioned in the other post David links to, you won't be able to temper if you use any sweeteners like agave syrup that contain significant amounts of water, and coconut oil will also cause problems since it melts at a much lower temperature than cocoa butter. Coconut sugar would be your best bet as a sweetener for still being able to temper. There is agave powder but it is mostly inulin, which is an indigestible sugar that your gut flora love, producing a lot of gas. I don't think anyone would want gassy chocolate!

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

Chocolatetempering is one of the last steps taken to process and preparechocolate candy. In this process, the cocoa butter molecules within thechocolate are stabilized through a process of heating and cooling thatallows the chocolate to harden properly and ensures a shiny finish.

Tempering raw chocolate

Posted in: Make Mine Raw ... (Read-Only)

I am wondering if anyone out there can give me some advice on tempering raw chocolate. Is there a 'best' way to do this? WHich items can I use with the greatest success?

Raw cacao butter, cacao powder, cacao paste?

Sweeteners would likely be raw agave and/or raw coconut nectar. I could use some raw cane sugar if needed. Also not opposed to using coconut sugar, although not raw it is highly nutritious.

I would also be using some raw sunflower lecithin, vanilla beans and/or extract. possibly some carob powder.

I've read lots of posts on this site and they have helped but not completely answered my questions to where I feel confident.

Any help would be appreciated. I currently make and sell raw refrigerated chocolate and its great but want to also produce something that is shelf stable.

Jennifer

The Great Un-Baked!

updated by @Jennifer Davis: 09/02/25 21:58:28

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I am wondering the difference between the automatic and semi automatic as its a big price difference. I actually have ot had a chance to peruse the catalog yet.

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I just checked my catalogue and pricelist. All numbers you require are in there.

Prices are excl VAT, but to be sure I will check them tomorrow on the phone with them!

M1921, elektronic device cutter 7,5mm: 5500

M1923, semi automatic device cutter 7,5mm: 2300

M1927, frame inox 22,5mm: 265,5

M1929, frame inox 30mm:237,5

Prices are in euro, if you didn't notice. I will give them a call tomorrow to check these prices, same for prices of shipping.

Davy

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

No problem, if I can help anyone, I would do it with pleasure! I will call Chocolateworldtomorrow and ask for these prices... I gues they can arrange shipment as well. I see you live in Canada? I will ask seperated prices for the material and the transport. I will also ask if ths cutter can be use instead of the guitar cutter. I'll let you know asap!

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Come live here in Belgium. I will stay in Maui than :o)

I will have a look in my catalogue, not sure if prices are in there for the cutter. Otherwise I will call them this afternoon. Which cutter ( this page )do you want a price for? Tell me which article numbers you need, not that there is any misunderstanding!

Davy

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Lucky you to be close, I'm not close to anything except we grow cacao!

I would be interested in pricing on the cutter clay mentioned and if they get used equipment which would be more affordable.

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Chocolate world is about an hour drive from here.. I've got all my moulds from there, it's here in Belgium the most important supplier for everything concerning chocolate. If you need some more info or catalogues I can arrange that for you.

Davy

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Thanks Clay,

I'll check it out.

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Melanie:

Chocolate World makes such a machine. Their on-line catalog is not very helpful. You will find a couple of photos on this page - M1920 (manual) M1922 (automatic).

I don't know anything else about these machines, I just remember seeing them when doing some other research.

:: Clay

Mechanized cutter for chewy centers

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I want to make more chewy, nutty centers and a caramel cutter is just too much work. Does anyone know any machinery used for the cutting of things like this?
updated by @Melanie Boudar: 04/11/25 09:27:36

FCIA meeting Jan 15th in San Francisco

Posted in: Opinion

Not going to the meeting sarah but come to the FF show...booth 1750....

FCIA meeting Jan 15th in San Francisco

Posted in: Opinion

Haven't heard from too many chocolate folks, but I'll be there this year :-)

FCIA meeting Jan 15th in San Francisco

Posted in: Opinion

I am considering heading down to the bay area and wonder who might be going and what auxilary events/meet ups there might be to the FCIA meeting and the Fancy Food Show.
updated by @Sarah Hart: 04/09/15 13:20:11

Caramel 'exploding' out of shell

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

dirke,

that does help. i got another reply from an ecole chocolat grad and she surmised room temp as well. could be my room temp, though i dipped the other half of that same batch of caramels yesterday - kitchen was around 63-65, and they did great. BUT, i did NOT oil my knife before cutting them. seemed risky but they cut great and dipped beautifully. i will also pay stricter attention to my room temp when doing the caramels - i guess they have sharper edges than my slabbed chocolates and are more likely to poke through if the chocolate shrinks upon dipping.

best.

c.

Caramel 'exploding' out of shell

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

I had the same issue awhile back and found my shell was to thin. the other part of it was that it had gotten colder in my area and the chocolate was setting very quickly which basically made it shrink around the caramel. I don't precoat but everything is working well again since I warmed it up a bit and did a thicker shell. Hopefully that will help?

Caramel 'exploding' out of shell

Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques

Hi folks. I am having trouble with some of my caramels. I have a slightly chewy caramel that is slabbed, precoated w/ dark chocolate, scored then cut w/ oiled knife. I painstakingly separate each one after cutting them so they don't touch prior to enrobing (i find if they touch, they pull at one another and get misshapen). After enrobing, they hold their form nicely except that some (lately many) are cracking the exterior shell of the chocolate. Mostly they are cracking along a horizontal plane and on a couple of occasions there's a tiny dot of ooze at a corner. I don't think this is cold flow - their shape remains quite square.

Anyone else experience this? Should I just double-dip (ugh -don't want to though - I hope to avoid the extra step and thickness), or am I missing something here? Maybe just let my enrobing chocolate get a little more viscous than normal?

Also, I am slabbing caramel one day, then precoating, cutting and enrobing the next. Could this be the culprit? Does caramel need to cure longer or shorter?

Thanks for your help!

updated by @Casey Hickey: 04/11/25 09:27:36

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Glad to be of help, I agree on the degradation point, it is really dissapointing.

The recipe was 2 cups water, 1 cup sugar, 4 tbs cocoa powder, 3/4 cups frozen berries, 1 tbs jam of the same berries. As I said I haven't played with this but the levels of ingredients seemed good taste wize. Any berry will do, we used rasberry but the recipe actually indicates blueberries.

I look forward to partaking of an ice block when I get up to QLD next.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Cheers Tom that's really useful. I've got some samples from Nui coming and have tried again contacting Big Tree Farms but have yet to get a reply.

Normal ice blocks in Australia seem perfect examples of product "incremental degradation" i.e. the slow replacement of ingredients by cheaper replacements until the product is a sad parody of the original. The leading Lemon / Lemonade "flavours" don't actually have lemon in them at all.

Cacao butter sounds promising I hope it also increases the stability and makes an ice block less drippy. Can't go wrong with replacing cream with cacao butter health wise either.

Any tips on your raspberry cacao sorbet? Raspberry seeds usually need straining but I have good local supplies of the European and some access to the two Australian native raspberries. I'm betting blackberry or sour cherry would work well too. I've recently tried partly candied sour cherry and orange which was great.

It would be great to get them down to SA...

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

They are the ones!

Ah, I have found a few minutes to cruise the web. Love the ice blocks concept, reallly appeals to the scientist in me - I'd like to try them all, the muslie one last though I think. You should so do a rasbery and cocoa sorbet one, my wife made one one day and it was amazingly good! I experiment a lot with cocoa liquor as an ingredient and found that the cocoa butter does make for super creamy ice-cream but I haven't re-made the killer sorbet with cocoa liquor yet. I have been slowed down this summer by breaking my wrist which makes most things difficult let alone making chocolate. 22 days in the cast to go.

I have a small Spectra 10 machine which I use as a grinder and a conch, I do 1-2 kg batches at a time. All other machines or devices are thecommon or garden variety and I built my own winnower. It is extremelly time consuming! Also have you approached Big Tree Farms in Indo - they do raw choc and cocoa powder - Ben Ripple is on here. Just check me friends list for a quick way to find Ben and Andreas (Nui).

Good luck, hope to see some ice blocks around SA soon.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

We make a milk chocolate ice block. I'd like to make a vegan chocolate ice block / sorbettoo. It's not our greatest seller but something we feel we need to do anda recipe we can improve upon. Current ingredients milk, cream, raw cocao powder and sugar. I'm hoping that upping the cocao butter will allow the lowering / elimination of cream. We are also experimenting with a aussie classic vegan chocolate / banana recipe but will probably blend the entire thing.

Vanuatu beans sound excellent. Papua too. Do you have a conche / melangeur? I've been instructed by my partner I've gotto focus on on ice blocks and diversifying into bean processing is too far off course.

Nui is these guys? http://www.nuicoconut.com/categories/Nui-Food/

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

I am just a hobby chocolate maker at this stage.

So your in the business of making ice blocks is that right or is that just the brand name for you chocolate?

I just realised you are not a member of the 'Chocolate Down Under' group. You might find some more info in those threads especially about Nui which makes raw chocolate bars from Vanuatu beans - they are my primary source of beans also - though I roast mine. They may be interested in helping you, Andreas is a member on here.

Which cocoa liquor you want is going to be flavour dependant, they are all quite different in this region. Vanuatu is boozy and chocolatey in flavour the Australian cacao have strong notes of pineapple and liquorice, Fiji (which Nui are also importing) are mild and have really nice honey and nut notes (similar to the beans in Samoa), Bali beans have a more orange citrus note and Papua is fruity and chocolatey - I haven't worked with beans from there myself though.

Using cacao from this region is best in my opinion, there are arange of flavour profiles, ithelps our neighbours, lowers your businesses carbon footprint and saves on shipping.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

How much do you make Tom? I probably dont need that much initially, we get through about 30 kg raw Cocao powder a year currently projected to rise to 80-100 kg. But obviously if it's liquour that willbe more.

I've not used liquour for making ice blocks yet though which is another unknown.I guess the thing to do would be start with a kg or so and make a trial batch or two.

No replies for the hippies up north either, ive tried a "yummy" "cocao & almond"bar that contains some Australian cocoa, it was nice, but the taste of dried fig over powered the cocao and I don't personally like unroasted almond.

Definately keener on PNG, Vanuatu or Bali cocao too. It seems silly importing stuff from Peru when great stuff (in PNG's case) is on our doorstep.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

You wont have any luck sourcing beans or choc from the Mossman guys as cost of production is too high and they need to value add by making eating choc and retailing. I am extremelly doubtful Michelle of Zokoko would do bulk like that either. What you want is to search for suorces of cocoa liquor, I forget the name of the copany now but there is a big Malasian company that does cocoa butter and cocoa liquor. The problem is that cocoa liquor from these companies isn't ground fine enough for end use, the usual use for this product is to make chocolate so they assume you will be diong some additional grinding yourself. I have only come across one product that is 100% and is probably fine enough available in Australia is by Luker, found in a local Spanishdeli (El Choto). The flavour is ok but not awesome - which is why I make my own.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Nicely researched list of Pacific cacao suppliers! If you're willing to look further afield, check out Whittaker's and Shoklade in New Zealand. They may have some pure chocolate liquor available for you, which is what you were describing as "Ground conched fermented [roasted] country variety cocoa bean".

Guittard makes a product like this called "Oban" but that'd be a long way away (California) to get chocolate for you.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Another interesting little company wholesaling organic chocolate ingredients. http://www.organictimes.com.au/

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

I'd prefer to use some form of 100% powder or blocks.

My experience with couverture (e.g. Rapunzel) is that they contain soya lecithin and added sugar. The first is unacceptable to me as Soya is a common allergen and I would like to be completely in charge of additional refined sugars. I guess cocoa butter separation and recombination that seems to be a common practice is to facilitate easier grinding to the correct size?

Do any couverturs contain 100% bean i.e. is just ground conched fermented bean maybe lightly roasted to bring out flavour if necessary? Thus the ingredient would be "Ground conched fermented [roasted] country variety cocoa bean"

I've got a couple of email to hear from yet but if they don't come through I may give Zokoko a call and see if they can produce someting from their PNG beans.

Here is some notes I've collected.

http://www.oxfam.org.nz/resources/onlinereports/learning-from-experience6.pdf

Pacific Spices Ltd. PNG www.pacificspices.com.pg

Bris Kanda PNG www.briskanda.org.pg .
They are currently working with around 1500 cocoa growers and are distributing seedlings to a larger group.

Vanuatu Organic Cocoa Growers Association (VOCGA)
VOCGA was established in 1989 and is an umbrella cooperative for ten primary processing cooperatives that supply organically-certified dry cocoa beans.
VOCGA BP279 Luganvile Santo. Vanatu. Phone. 00678 36337 / (687)7747345. Fax. 00678 36337. Email pwaresul@hotmail.com

Alternative Communities Trade in Vanuatu (ACTIV) ( www.activ.com.vu );
TradeAid in New Zealand has given them a letter of intent to begin importing cocoa value-added products (cocoa butter, powder and chocolate) once they obtain the certification.

MARALUMI 64% from Markham Plantations at Lae, Papua New Guinea. Sell to Chocolaterie Michel Cluizel (Paris, France). Markham Farm

about 30km outside Lae City along the Highlands Highway. Po Box 3419 Lae 411 Morobe Province Papua New

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

The cacao farm up in Mossman you may be talking about is very fledgling and I haven't heard about them shipping any beans yet, let along pressing them for cocoa powder. Can you use whole chocolate in your pops instead of powder? You may have better luck finding whole chocolate couverture from some of the local chocolate makers like Haighs or the others mentioned in this post:
http://www.thechocolatelife.com/forum/topics/zokoko-australia-weigh...

and these guys Chocolate Farm

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

Nice information about the local supply of cacao powder that is raw is not hugely important as we are more concerned about taste, buthaving as pure and natural product as possible is important.

"Local" Supply of Cocao Powder

Posted in: News & New Product Press (Read-Only)

We are having troubles with our local cacao supplier ensuring we get the same product (Northern NSW Australia). Thus we are looking for something better and with more "local" origins. We currently use raw Cacao powder. Organic and fair trade is important as is carbon miles. Raw is not hugely important as we are more concerned about taste, but having as pure and natural product as possible is important (as is ethical packaging).

I've seen good things about pacific cacao (Vanuatu), Papua New Guinea (Markham Farm?) and Indonesia (Bali). There is also some fledgeling Cacao farms up in Cairns?

Any ideas from the experts and enthusiasts our there? We would love to help some farmers who are producing some high quality cacao for our mutual benefit. We don't want to get into bean processing at the moment and are not chocolate experts. http://www.iceblocks.name/

updated by @Ice Blocks!: 12/13/24 12:16:07