Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Me too, thanks again!
Forum Activity for @Tom
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Sent you today via POST AIR PARCEL 4 kg of Dried Cacao Beans. Looking forward to your receipt of the beans.
Jun
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Hi Tom,
I will have my first 5 kg ready by Monday next week. Can you please email me your address. kablon.farm@gmail.com.
Regards,
Ernesto
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Hi Ernesto, I would be interested in giving you feedback on your beans. I have had a lot of experience with different origins and have done some work with Australian farmers on the issue of post harvest processing and its effect on the final chocolate. I have worked with a lot of cacao from the South Pacific too, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji and PNG and could give feedback on how your cacao relates.
Let me know. Cheers
Tom
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Hi Sebastian - We have the crop, harvest, ferment in boxes (200kg per batch) in two tier box, on the first 12 hours we let them drain then put them in a box for 3 days after which they are transfered in another box and leave it for another 2 days on the 6th day we dry them in the sun
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
HI Ernesto, i would like to test your beans.
i'm based in South Africa, how do i get them here?
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Ernesto - can you elaborate a bit on how you ferment (mass size, box configuration, duration, # of turns, etc), as well as how you dry (what does improved drying mean - how is it done)? Are you doing the post harvest work yourself, or is the fermentation and drying being done by multiple farmers?
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Yes the criollo beans and other varieties of cacao that was originally planted in our farm was sourced from the big Island of Luzon (The cacao of the Philippines actually brought by the Spaniards from Mexico during their 400 years of occupation of our country). We now grow them in our farm in the foot of Mt. Matutum about 500m above sea level 35 km from the City of Gen. Santos, located in the Island of Mindanao about 200 km west of Davao City.
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Most people don't know that there is a very long history of cacao in the Philippines. Until recently, with chocolate made from beans from Davao I don't think many people knew that cacao even grew in the Philippines.
Is there some particular interesting history in the beans you're growing? And what part of the Phillipines are you growing in?
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
FYI, everyone, Ernesto is in the Philippines.
Re: Cacao Beans for Testing!
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
To all Bean Testers!
I would love to hear from experts in Chocolate who might be interested in testing our beans. We grow cacao beans organically and have improved our drying system. The parent stock of our cacao comes from criollo, trinatario and forastero varieties. Our volume is about 20tons of dried beans 15 tons are processed into traditional cacao liquor for chocolate drink. I could send 5kg of beans for the test and hope to hear an intelligent opinion of our bean quality.
Ernesto
updated by @Ernesto Bugarin Pantua Jr.: 04/13/15 17:44:23
Quality Chocolate Products Equals Money
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Eddie:
Can you please provide some more details about specifics of Colombian cocoa? In order to make good chocolate you have to start out with good cocoa.
Does Coinex operate in a specific province (I know that Santander grows the most cocoa, followed by Huila and then Arauca), what sorts of varietals you're working with, what is typical of your post-harvest processing processes to improve quality. You mention some of the lowest manufacturing costs - I assume that is chocolate - but what is the differential between the price at the gate, the local market price, and the price the exporter pays - and then receives?
I know the Colombian government is committed to a vast expansion of the cocoa industry in the next decade, growing production from 42,000MT in 2006 to over 200,000MT in 2020.
Thanks,
:: Clay
Quality Chocolate Products Equals Money
Posted in: Self Promotion / Spam
Anytime you can provide a quality product at an economic price you have a winner. This is the case with Colombian Chocolate products. The quality of Colombian Chocolate is considered if not the best one, one the best in the world. The cost of manufacturing in Colombia is one of the lowest in the world. Combine these two factors and you have the recipe for high profits. COINEX can help put you together with a finished product or contract manufacturing for specific custom products. Contact ehernandez@coinex.com.co or visit our website to learn more about all the services COINEX can provide. www.coinex.com.co
updated by @Eddie Hernandez: 04/13/15 16:20:38
Temperer, bloom and advice...
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Thank you so much for replying Ruth! I will give this a huge try tomorrow since we are there all day cooking.
Last night we heated it to 100 then brought it back to 88... that was when we still got a tiny bit of grainy look to it. Not the bloom like we got from day 1 though. We almost had it last night. However, I hadn't added any lump to the back bowl so I will do that.
So apreciative of the response. Thanks again!
Temperer, bloom and advice...
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Do you have any lump chocolate behind the baffle? Turn the temp to about 90 and toss some solid chocolate behind the divider. Get the bowl spinning and leave it for about 15 minutes. Test the chocolate before using. It should set up in about 3 minutes. I'm guessing you heated the chocolate and turned the temp down, but never tempered it. You need to keep solid chocolate in the machine to seed the melted chocolate. As you use the chocolate, it will tend to over-seed and you might need to turn the temp up a few degrees. Good luck.
Temperer, bloom and advice...
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Greetings~ So my husband and I have started working in the kitchen of our new chocolate shop. We've made some wonderful ganaches and toffees and wild marshmallows. However we have an entire rack of polycarbonate molds we are dying to use and the temperer is not working with us. We fired it up added the chocolate on the first day it was too hot we had realized. So I went back and read the manual and about the chocolate and the settings one more time. Day two, I made tiny frogs, they came out of the mold shiny and fine, I left them on the table and came back later and they had a few spots on them. The shop was air conditioned so that couldn't have been it? So we did the test on the back of the spoon after setting the temperer one more time... Spotty once it had set.
I am using dark chocolate, in a hilliards 80 lb temperer. Should I have to take the chocolate out since it was heated too high on day one? It was heated to 115. I didn't think I needed to take it all out, it was not burned. And how do I get this down? I am getting frustrated, I do have a separate thermometer so I know the temperer is keeping the right temp...It must be something I am doing. Any suggestions???
Also~ the molds... Do they need to be coated with cocoa butter or treated in some way before we use them to mold? I did read warming them would be beneficial, do you all do that? I am asking this because I am having a little trouble getting them out of the molds, but of course it was the chocolate described about so I am sure that is the issue...
Any thoughts or suggestions would so appreciated....( more than you know )
updated by @Emily Woloszyn: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Chocolate Liquor
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
I would use a refrigerated container, and you'll need to keep an eye on relative humidity as well. You're shipping from a warm, high moisture environment to one that will soon be much colder, so you'll need to give thought as to how you're going to prevent it from 'raining' inside your shipping container. Or growing mold.
Chocolate Liquor
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
Thanks for the info... If I am shipping it from Colombia to New York via Ocean freight does it need to be in a refrigerated container or can I ship it in a dry container that may temperatures of 120 to 140 degree F.
Eddie Hernandez
Chocolate Liquor
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
it' unlikely that it will go rancid at those temperatures. it will, however, begin to separate out and 'oil off'. general rule of thumb - don't keep it hot longer than you need to, don't expose it to light longer than you need to, and keep it moving (or at least intermittent agitation).
Chocolate Liquor
Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, Techniques
What is the best temperature to store chocolate liquor and can high temperatures (120 to 150 degrees F ) damaageit or cause it to go rancid.
Eddie Hernandez
COINEX
updated by @Eddie Hernandez: 04/11/25 09:27:36
Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
If you're looking for a folding bar wrapper, Solis' suggestion is exactly right on - any decent printer should be able to do one for you. Heck, the Mast Bros buy paper that is already print it, cut it to size, and slap labels on the wrapped bars.
Alufoil is probably the best place in the country to get foil bar wrappers. Lots of colors and weights and they do send free sample books.
What kind of packaging do you want to put your macarons in? Clear plastic?
Why don't you consider clear plastic tubes like these from Qualita? Koerner was also showing similar macaron packaging last year.
Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
Clay I'm interested in a foldover format and was going to have my box guy custom make one. But if you have anyone in mind that has something for the old school 100g break away bar, roughly 3" x 6" I'm interested.
Macaron boxes as well...Glerup has flimsy boxes that are way too long. I've seen macaron packaging out there that is way tighter, but I cant seen to find a supplier.
Thanks!
Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
Photoshop, your logo design, chocolate bar info, net weight/oz/grams of bar, dimension of bar +size of wrapper, fold lines, ( use another companies wrapper as a template, one which is the same size as your bar. Ingredients, nutritional facts, bar code. Take to a printer, choose paper. Any graphic artist or computer designer can do this, along with some computer geeks! Take to nice sized printing shop, choose paper. Order foil, again, go by the size of a company that has a bar similar to what you will be making. If you have an artist friend ask for help, pay them in chocolate. Alufoil Products will send you color samples of their foils.
You will have to get your bar code. Your chocolate supplier should have ingredient info and nutritional fact for their chocolate. This is all info you will have to come up with no matter who does your printing.
Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
What format of wrapper are you looking for? A foldover like the ones Scharffen Berger or the Mast Bros use? Or is there some special requirement?
Wholesale Candy bar wrappers ?
Posted in: Classifieds ARCHIVE
Hey everyone,
I am looking to get some custom candy bar wrappers done but cant seem to find a company that does it on a wholesale level. All the companies i have found just make the wrappers to go over hershey bars.
If anyone would be willing to give up the name of the company they use that would be great!!!
We are lookingfor a starting quantity of around 5,000 pieces.
Thanks for the information!!!!
Justin Schaffer
Irresistible Confections
updated by @Justin Schaffer: 04/07/25 13:00:14
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
Rights to ALL square chocolate products, or only rights to the square in the size Ritter produces?
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
Hi Clay,
Wow that sounds weird. I heard they won a case against Caffarel, because the Caffarel wrapper was very similar to Ritter's. If you still need a translation, get in touch with me. Maybe I can help...
Cheerio!
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
Looks like a particularly unusual Germany *specific* situation. Guess Toblerone have the triangle LOL
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
From the Toytown site:
The square shape is actually patented at the German Patent & Trademark Office, rather unusually in fact.
Traditionally geometric shapes are excluded from such protection, unless a brand can prove that the buying public only associates their brand with that particular shape.
After tons of research and consumer tests showing customers square bars, with neutral packaging, no packaging, even with Milka lilac packaging with a cow on it, the public still saw square as equalling Ritter Sport.
That's the basis of the design patent. In US law such a determination would probably not stand as consumer perception is not the basis for patentability.
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
The key information in this page is the following as it refers to the mark:
Mark Drawing Code: Drawing/Design + Words
Design Search:Plain single line squares (Geometric figures and solids - Squares)
This particular trademark registration (which expires this month) is for a logotype, not for the box or packaging format.
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
Toytown Germany - Germany's English-speaking crowd wrote an article 2007 about Ritter Sport and mentioned this:
"The square shape is actually patented at the German Patent & Trademark Office, rather unusually in fact."
http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/index.php/t67934.html
I bought my first Enric Rovira square bar nearly 15 years ago. Wrapped in a box Ritter Sport didn't care about before.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) offers IP-services. http://www.wipo.int/services/en/
I searched International Trademark Registration (Madrid System) and got 24 hits searching for"Mark"and Ritter Sport but not sure what to make of it. Maybe someone else can get find useful information (ROMARIN (International Trademark Information Database):
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
From my recollection they are flow wrapped in a unique resealable wrapper.The idea of trying to trademark square bars isoutrageous. I think they would also have considerable difficulty in proving prior art. i.e. that they were the first people to produce square bars.
e.g. the "Ugg" word trademark in Australia was thrown out as the term ugg was in common Australian english use prior to the trademark "ugg" being sought.
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
That's crazy!
i also produce a bar that is square, and a round one and a rectangular one... do we all now have to be scared of any Corporate that has the money to patent anything? what if they patent as well the hazelnut in it or even better the word chocolate!
I don't buy Ritter and i hope that all the German friends stop doing it as well!
send me the papers, Clay, i'll have a look into it and let you know what does it say...
Boycott Ritter Sport ??
Posted in: Opinion
While I am pretty confident that Ritter Sport is not high on the list of chocolates that many ChocolateLife members eat on a regular basis, it turns out that recent legal actions being brought by the multinational company - and not against chocolate makers but against retailers - could have a profound affect on how chocolate is produced and marketed in Europe and beyond.
You see, Ritter appears to think it has a trademark on the square.
At least when it comes to chocolate packaging.
And they appear to believe that people walking into a store will be confused when they see brands as Akesson, Domori, and more, in square boxes.
I am fairly confident that anyone looking to buy Domori is not going to be confused into buying Ritter just because the bars are the same shape - just as I am confident that someone looking to purchase a Ritter Sport bar is not likely to be confused into buying Akesson - especially when they see the price difference.
Things might be different if Ritter were actually going after the chocolate makers. But they're not. They're going after retailers. In addition to fines (reportedly US$6,000 for a first "offense" and US$30,000 for repeat "offenders") there is also the theoretical possibility that Ritter could refuses to supply "repeat offender" retailers with Ritter product going forward.
Is it possible to trademark a shape as common as a square? Also, if my memory serves me correctly, all Ritter Sport bars are flow wrapped and I know Akesson and Domori come in boxes.
Will people really be confused?
While Ritter have claimed they are only interested in asserting their rights over their packaging in Germany they do sell worldwide so there is always the possibility that they could go after American companies (notably Tcho) for the same reason.
Bertil Akesson tells me that he and Domori (which is owned by Illy, a fairly large company) are working together to fight these cases.
How can you help? You can start by taking a poll that I've added to the Facebook page for TheChocolateLife .
You can vote directly by clicking on one of the radio buttons, but you can also leave a comment (and vote) by clicking on the title of the poll or by clicking here . (You have to be a Facebook member to vote.) And - while you're at it, why don't you "like" TheChocolateLife and add it to your Favorite pages?
We will keep you posted here of any updates as they are revealed to me.
Also, I am looking for someone fluent in German who is interested in doing some translation work. I don't know the exact language of the papers being served to the retailers and it's not possible to rely on machine translation for the nuances of such.
updated by @Clay Gordon: 04/12/15 17:49:54
Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
I am now going to try out some of those hand cracker cocoa mills.
But if you ever find your self with out one (like Me last week) i found that my little hand cranked mincer worked really well. you run the beans through without and mincing plates in, the cocoa beans crack in the auger Chamber and come out in nice almost cube shaped bits with large bits of separated shell.
Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
Please keep us posted!
Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
Hello to everyone!
I am from Brazil and I bought one of these Botini coffee crackers for cracking cacao.
It's very cheap, about U$ 50,00 (without freight).
It has an adjustable gap, not much, but enought for different sizes of cacao. I don't have a cranckendstein to compare, but I think this one makes a pretty good job.
I'll try to post some photos of the nibs, dust and shells.
Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
I don't disagree. I just hope that the final price, when it's announced, makes sense.
Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
Hi Clay, I saw an earlier version of the Aether and the results were much better than the Crankandstein.
Also, I really liked how little dust the earlier version produced. Now that the improvements have been made I am even more interested in it.
Cracking cocoa beans using a Brazilian coffee sheller
Posted in: Geek Gear - Cool Tools (Read-Only)
I'll add it to my list of projects!
