Forum Activity for @Steven Shipler

I would definitely be interested in doing a test batch. Just added you as a friend lets talk

Howard, have you received the feedback that you wanted. If not then I'd be more than willing to put your cocoa to the test. I am only starting in the chocolate making, but a single origin hand crafted Samoa chocolate bar would be a great thing to produce. Finding out what percentage worked best would be a fascinating challenge.

Hi Howard, I'd be very interested in evaluating some of your beans if you still have them available. I'm a small artisan maker in California and would very much like to add learn more about your FF beans.

Yep, there's no doubt Koko Samoa is an acquired taste (I am a fan) - possibly a bit "smokey" for most people.

However we have been making hot chocolate by melting our finished chocolate (made from Samoan Trinitario cocoa) with milk (roughly 250ml of milk to 50g of 70% cocoa chocolate) and it is pretty fantastic.

Have also tried brewed cocoa with the finings from winnowing - works quite well in an espresso machine (even has a little crema on top) but again a bit of an acquired taste for most people.

A potential customer in Tasmania asked whether Samoan cocoa is good in hot chocolate. What, is the pope Catholic? Samoas national beverage is called Koko Samoa and the average Samoan drinks 5 cups a week. That would be 200g or 10kg a year. That puts it in the leagues of Switzerland in terms of per capita consumption. You can see a good recipe at http://www.samoafood.com/2010/10/koko-samoa-samoan-cocoa-recipe.html Now, in my shop I have been focus-grouping it to a variety of customers. Mostly they go yuck that looks like cocoa water. Australians expect a think gooey syrupy milky substance with lots of cream and sugar, maybe some added corn starch to make it even thicker. Or they prefer the ubiquitous powder (even Starbucks uses it) with West African beans and probably Fonterra dried milk. No, mate, this is the really McCoy. It is a bit like when you were a teenager and someone said try this for the first time . . . coffee, and you said how can anyone drink this. Or maybe when you first tasted wine. The way they make it in Samoa is the farmer goes into the plantation and picks some ripe pods of cocoa, takes out the beans, dries them in the sun, and roasts them slightly on a BBQ. Sometimes they ferment it before they dry it, but often not, and I cant taste the difference. Then they pound it by hand with a wooden mortar and pestle. The result is a think cocoa paste still containing morsels. You can buy this paste in the markets everywhere in Samoa and also in the Samoan Food stores e.g. in Auckland and Brisbane. You just shave off a couple tablespoons with a serrated knife, two T to 1 cup water, and you gently boil it for five minutes. My wife the Choc Diva loves it straight, but I usually put a T of raw Queensland sugar. Some people add a bit of coconut milk. Ive experimented with adding Chai Spice.

But Australians turn their noses up at it. Id say about only one quarter like it, and no one prefers it given the choice of gooey.It just goes to show you that chocolate consumption is a very cultural phenomenon.

Hi everyone: Just an update. I brought ~30kg of Samoa Gold Pacific BioKoko to Melbourne with my proper phyto-sanitary certificates and had to pay only Australian GST. You have to make a declaration of how much it was worth, so I gave my price.

We have had inquiries from Brooklyn to Perth of master and craft chocolatiers who are interested in testing this product.

At this point, I need people who can roast, give me a flavour profile (e.g. is there a note of coconut?, how much cocoa butter is there?) , and "tame" a single-origin bar. If you have an idea where I can have a craft chocolatie, I'd appreciate it.

PS This is the logo we used on the first export bags from Samoa. We designed to be a collector's item. BioKoko refers to the fact that our factory will use a biowaste generator which sequesters carbon. I have a stock of empty bags for $50 each. The Polynesian Vaka will cruise the Pacific on a publicity tour, if anyone is interesting in hosting an event? I know it's an arcane hobby, collecting cacao sacks, but I once had one with "Cocoa from Revolutionary Nicaragua" that I then onsold when I became an entrepreneur.

Hi Howard, i'd also be interested in adding a Samoan to our other Pacific range. Prefer un-roasted beans or nibs.

Happy to look at roasted or liquor but would need to know the roasting profile used so we can benchmark. Also may have a market for the frozen pulp of the cocoa, which is usually a by-product.

We also use the winnowed shell for cacao tea so please advise pricing on this if available.

will also message you, cheers

Hi Howard, I just sent you a message on The Chocolate Life.

Thank you

Hi! Im Howard Frederick, chocolatier in Australia and Samoa. Im writing to see if any master craft chocolatiers would like to have a free shipment of Samoan Gold Cocoa beans? We'd love you to evaluate them. We now have a renewed supply of Samoan cocoa beans. Our BioKoko Single-Origin Samoan Cocoa is organic, fairtrade and . . . carbon-neutral because we use only biogas energy in our production.

I am not sure you know but the Samoan cocoa industry was started by German settlers before World War I. See the photo of 120 year old cocoa trees still producing.

Samoa was devastated by cyclones and a tsunami and is just now getting back on its feet. Before the cyclone, Samoan cocoa was designated as Fine and Flavourful (the top category) by the International Cocoa Organisation. There are 5000 acres under production and about 1200 farmers. Right now were re-starting the industry with beans export, and the moving up the value chain. You can see below an artists concept of our factory under construction. Our energy source is a biogasifier using agricultural waste, so we make a positive contribution to the planet by sequestering carbon. We believe the LOHAS markets will find them an attractive marketing angle.

Cocoa orchards are concentrated in the two 'rain shadows' (see map) along the northwest coasts of both islands. Ninety percent of Samoan cocoa is Trinitario. Samoa's fine chocolate quality may be due to the unique soil composition of Samoa's cocoa growing areas. The northwest rain-shadowed coast of both islands experiences marked dry seasons; trees seemingly grow out of rocks. Almost no mechanization is possible, even walking is difficult. Land is difficult to clear, but once established, cocoa trees on the lava flow thrive on the weed-free environment, where their own leaves cover the earth so their feet stay cool.

So my question to you is, can you use some Samoan FF beans or likor? May I send you some product? Im happy to air freight you 2 or 10 kg for you to bench test. I know youll be very happy about the re-entry of Samoan Gold Standard Cocoa into the world market.

Kind regards, Howard

Prof Ahorangi Howard Frederick

Mmor Chocolates & High Tea Szaln

153 Johnston Street, Collingwood (Melbourne), VIC 3066 Australia

T: 03-9419-3869, M: 0435-622-446

On behalf of
Cocoa Samoa Ltd
P.O. BOX 488, Apia, Samoa, South Pacific
Saleufi Street (opposite Chan Mow Complex)
Apia, 'Upolu Island, Samoa
Telephone: +(685)27122 Fax: +(685)27122

Feel free to contact Alufoil Products for all your requirement of Chocolate Foil.

www.alufoilindia.com

Hello,

We are manufacturer & exporter of Candy Foil + Chocolate Foil + Laminated Foil which is food grade certified. It is also available in custom sizes as per clients need. Multiple colors are available with paper lined confectionery foil. You can make your company name print or embossed or precut size as per request.

Please feel free to fill this form, click on the link - http://www.alufoilindia.com/inquiry.php

Waiting for your reply.

Prerna

alufoil@gmail.com

Please our Chocolatelife page....

Hi, we are manufacturer & exporter of chocolate foil. We make customized foil as per our clients requirement. Kindly mail us your requirement at chocofoil@gmail.com or alufoil@gmail.com.

Please visit our website - http://www.alufoilindia.com/chocolate-foils.php

the above link is for chocolate foil page, where you can get more info about our products.

I am also attaching a catalog for chocolate foil with this message, please view it and revert me back.

Thanks

Prerna Jhawar

M: +919831494506
Skype - prernaj77
Phone: +913322314989
Fax: +913322314988

Hi Beth,

Know you posted this some time ago, but could help others asking the same question. Alufoil requires you purchase each color and size in lots of 1000 sheets each. At www.bagsforgifts.com you will find Confectionary foils in all standard sizes including Candy Bar lined sheets. The standard foil is .00045 thick. If you need thicker we can order you .00060. We have no minimum purchase. You can order from 1 pack of 100 sheets and ship via USPS for $2 to $3 depending on the size of the foils or you can ship from up to 40 packs of foil again depending on the size with Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope for only $5.85, We have large in house inventory and ship most orders the same or next day.

Clay,

Thanks for the info, we will check Frank's site out. The next question is the printer outerwrappers. Is that something we do locally or is there an on-line source.

Pierre

ChocolateLife member Frank Haberman contacted me recently and he says he offers foils in a variety of sizes and colors through his on-line store Candy Foil Warehouse . Not sure about the custom sizes, though. He has a companion store that sell all sorts of materials for packaging that might also be helpful, Bags for Gifts .

We were talking about some sort of special discount or incentive program for ChocolateLife members, so why don't you contact Frank and see what he can do for you?

We've ordered from Alufoil since we opened. They have always provided great service.

Thanks, I am ordering from Aufoil, but I have run out of color options and need to expand.

I have seen recommendations for Alufoil.com or Glerup.com. If buying smaller quantities pre-cut Sugarcraft.com may be a good fit.

Hope it helps.

does anyone have any leads for suppliers of confection grade foils, I need something thick and preferably paper lined, (not essential), but available in many colors and custom sizes?

Melanie,

I was at Tomric on Tuesday - they have the Pavoni electrical one. Didn't get a price however.

Hi Melanie,

Martellato also makes this type of guitar, manual,and has more frame sizes.

http://www.martellato.com/scheda.asp?content=1,83,91,1126,chitarra_taglio_a_spinta_40x40,01.html

Omar

Chocolate World shows an electric one and Vantage House shows a manual one made by Chocolate World - cost seems to be a little over 2000 english pounds - they are calling it a nougat/fudge cutter.

Pavoni makes a similar automatic cutter as well as a manual one. You may wish to obtain a quote from them too. Let us know how it goes!

http://www.pavonitalia.com/gestore.php?var0=eng&var1=Products&var2=MACHINES&var3=Cutter_units

Hi Melanie. Given the frame sizes that you listed above (15, 22.5, etc.), the base for this machine will have 7.5mm spacing. There are 25.4mm per inch, therefore you would want a 25mm cutter in order to make 1in square cuts. Check to see if the machine comes in a 5mm base option, since that would give you a 25mm cutter instead of a 22.5 -- which would do the trick.

Hi Melanie,

Those guitars seem pretty interesting. It seems as though the automatic guitar actually cuts slower than working with the traditional guitar. I personally have a Dedy, the German made guitar. It is easy to clean and much better than the plastic model. I cut my ganaches using a 25 mm frame. That is the perfect size for me. 22.5 is a little too small for me and 30 is a little too big in my opinion. I make a lot of fleur de sel caramels and I cut them all on my guitar without breaking strings. With that said, I would never cut nougat with it or anything with large pieces of nuts. If I focused on those products, the automatic guitar might be a good option. Let us know if you spring for it.

I have some questions about the Savy Goiseau Automatic Guitar that can be seen in the following video:

Automatic chocolate guitar full cut SAVY-GOISEAU.wmv

I was quoted $6825 plus shipping for this from Chocolate Solutions in Canada.

It comes with several frames 15.0, 22.5, 30.0, 37.5 and 45.0. (mm?)

I need to check those sizes to compare how close it comes to the 1" squares I currently cut.

I have a Martellano guitar I had retooled to make 1" squares as their frames were too big or too small.

Chocolate World, Belgium also has one but I have not received the quote back..

The guitar can cut thru nuts as demonstrated in the You Tube video. Not sure if it can also cut caramels.

Does anyone have one of these? It looks more efficient than a standard guitar and hopefully less complicated to restring.

Great contribution. Very funny, thanks for sharing!

On a more serious note, what makes us artisan or not? We are surely not making chocolate like the old mayans did but most of us are far away from being industrial in the sense many people think about.

Thanks Jessica, Andy and Patti!!

Jessica that is a very funny blog and is exactly what I was asking.

Andy and Patti I couldn't agree more. I'm trying to get away from using artisan as well and emphasize hand made and hand crafted as well.

I know i have recently read that Dunkin Donuts was being sued over the use of the word "artisan" describing their bagels. I try not to use the word exactly for this reason- everyone is using it so it has lost its meaning. It is being used to describe products that are decidedly NOT artisan, so it has lost all its meaning. At least that is my opinion. I think I will just refer to my chocolates as ' small batch and hand crafted."

Oh we could have a long tirade of over used notions.. Dark chocolate? Abused percentages? Starbucks trying to own the word macchiatoand then redefining it as something that it's not.. The incorrect usage of Gourmet.. Whitewashing, Greenwashing, Pinkwashing..

As a marketer I'm jaded--for a fun (hehe) read check out Brandwashing.

http://thatisnotartisan.blogspot.com/

Very funny blog about exactly what you are talking about...

Jess

Has the word 'Artisan' as an adjective been over used? This is a question that was recently posed to me by one of my friends who saw it as a description for a product at Dunkin Donuts. As someone who uses this word to describe my own products it gave me great pause and I started to pay more attention to the word as a descriptor. I've now seen it used on products that are clearly factory made and on bakery and chocolate items that are made from hand with great care.

According to Websters 'Artisan' when used as an adjective is: pertaining to or noting high quality, distinctive products made in small quantities: ie artisan beer.

Not to beat up on any company in particular but it would appear that perhaps this word has been used incorrectly at the very least in some product descriptions. As much as I love Dunkin Donuts coffee I would never use 'Artisan' to describe any of their products, I feel the same way about large bakery chains using this word to describe their breads and pastries.

So what do you think? Has 'Artisan' jumped the shark as it were?

Mark

Has anybodymixed chocolate, for instance 1/2 milk chocolate and 1/2 54% chocolate to create a chocolate blend of 43% cacao or something similar? If so, how did it work out? Are there any pitfalls? How will this change the tempering properties? I will be tempering in a Selmi unit.

Any advice is much appreciated.

David

Greetings, dear friends! You are invited to view my video .

And please visit my new Chocolate Tasting Meditation (CM)tmFacebook page where you may find some familiar faces.

Thank you in advance for any "like."
Gratitude & blessings!