Hi there Clay
I've sent a couple of emails to you, and I'm not sure if you've received them? Two of us are interested in joining the trip, from Australia. Can you let me know if it is going ahead, so we can make plans. It looks great!
Jodie
Clay,
I just read about your trip to DR in May 2011. This sounds very similar to a trip my husband and I took, but we started in Punta Cana, then headed west (toward Haiti)with the tour to the mountains. Spent several days on both cacao and coffee bean plantations - even got to crack open some pods. The trip was wonderful - we would sign up with you immediately - but have a conflict with the dates this year. I will watch for your event calendar to try to join you on another adventure.
Hopefully you'll offer this trip again....
Joanne
LuMu Candies
Hi Clay,
I would love to come but unfortunately I can't make it. I hope to join you on one of your future trips.
In May Iwill visit Paul DeBondt in Pisa!
Chocolove, Vera
Is This Trip For You
Trips "in country" (that is, to a country where cacao is grown) do involve a fair amount of physical activity. On this trip to the Dominican Republic we will be doing a fair amount of walking (during a guided tour of the Zona Colonial as well as through cacao plantations), swimming (river and ocean), and potentially horseback riding.
It is not necessary that you speak Spanish. Of course, a little familiarity goes a long way in helping you understand what's going on. There will be at least one bi-lingual guide accompanying the group the entire way.
You should also have experience traveling internationally and feel comfortable negotiating foreign airports. If this is the first time you will be traveling internationally , contact Clay to determine if this trip is right for you.
One of the great opportunities a trip like the offers is exposure to different cuisines. While we will make all reasonable efforts to cater to specific dietary requirements, it is not possible for the organizers to guarantee, for example, that a guest requiring a 100% raw or vegan diet, or that some types of food allergies, can be accommodated. If you have specific dietary requirements, please contact Clay.
Traveling to the Dominican Republic
R/T airfare is not included in the price of the tour. Las Americas (airport code SDQ) is the country's major international airport and is nearest to Santo Domingo, the capital. Unless you have plans to arrive early and/or stay late, it's best to plan to book your flights into SDQ. There will be someone at SDQ to greet your flight after you clear customs and immigration and help you get to the hotel.
Travel Documents, Visas, Health Information
Documentation and Visa requirements vary from country to country. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have any necessary tourist visas, vaccinations (please contact your health professional), etc. For travelers from the US, visit:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1103.html
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/dominican-republic.aspx
Tourist Card
If you do not already have a valid tourist visa you will be charged US$10 for a tourist card on arrival. This must be paid in $US or EUROs (). Local currency, GBP, etc, will not be accepted. A departure tax of US$20 (cash) is payable on most charter and some scheduled flights. If you are flying on a US carrier, the departure tax is always included in the taxes when you purchased your ticket, so you will not have to pay anything when leaving.
Airport Transfers (not included in the trip price)
A taxi from SDQ Airport to Santo Domingo Zona Colonial) is about $40 (official rate as of October 2008, but sometimes you can get it for around $25-30 and we are working to negotiate special rates with a local taxi provider). There are no hotel courtesy shuttles at airports in the Dominican Republic.
Taxis and other transportation
Transportation to all activities listed in the trip itinerary (with the exception of airport transfers) is included. However, not all time is scheduled and you may wish to take a taxi somewhere.
Taxi services are available. In all cases, its a good idea to go with a licensed driver and negotiate a price for your destination before you get in the taxi. Good drivers are often easy to identify by licenses worn around the neck, uniforms, and clean air conditioned vehicles. When calling a taxi company (it's best to have the hotel or restaurant do this for you), you will be given a number to verify your driver. When being picked up, make sure your driver gives you the right number as false pickups are often a prelude to robbery.
Exchanging Money
At the airport, you can exchange your US$ and to Dominican Pesos. You may not be able to exchange back local money to US$ and in your home country, so do it before leaving. As always, the best deal on currency exchange is to withdraw cash at an ATM machine as you need it rather than exchanging bills or traveler's checks at a cambio.
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is recommended for the trip (and is not included in the cost). At a minimum, you should plan to purchase insurance that covers the full cost of the trip, including transportation, in case for any reason the trip is canceled or you cannot make it because of weather or other delays.
What to Bring
A complete list of what to bring will be provided to everyone who signs up for the trip.
Cancelation Policy
Available upon request.
Discover Chocolate in the Dominican Republic is for chocolate professionals and serious chocophiles with a passion for chocolate who want to experience cacao first hand: to see cacao pods growing on the tree, taste fresh cacao pulp, see and smell fermentation and drying ... in short, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the magical and complex process of growing, harvesting, and processing wet cacao into the dried cocoa beans used to make chocolate.
Discover Chocolate in ... trips are comprised of a mix of local culture and cacao/chocolate activities because knowing about the local culture - history, food, society - is important to understanding cacao and chocolate. The Dominican Republic (or, more precisely, the island of Hispaniola) holds a special place in the history of cocoa and chocolate. Santo Domingo, the capital, is the oldest European city in the New World and the island is one of the first places outside Central America where cacao was transplanted by the Spanish.
Discover Chocolate in The Dominican Republic starts in Santo Domingo with an exploration of the Old City (the Zona Colonial) and follows a counter-clockwise path around the island to Hato Mayor, the largest city in the Oriente (the east) and the center of cacao production in the area. In the region we'll be visiting two cacao plantations, one a small co-op and the other an older farm selling cacao to respected chocolate makers internationally.
We will spend a night at one of the quirkiest hotels anywhere, located on the edge of a vast nature preserve, and enjoy some fine tipica comida y criolla beforecrossing the Bay of Samana to spend some time enjoying the world-famous Dominican beaches and other scenic beauty.
From the Samana Peninsula we head west towards San Francisco de Macoris. In the west and along the way we will visit four cacao plantations, including a model cacao farm maintained by one of the largest cacao processors on the island as well as a farm being newly rehabilitated.
Each day of the trip will be a mix of cultural and cacao/cocoa/chocolate activities which, taken together, will increase your understanding of cacao, cocoa, and chocolate, and the local culture. A feature of every Discover Chocolate In ... program are the optional informal evening gatherings in the hotel where the group is staying that are forums wide-ranging discussions covering all things cacao, cocoa, and chocolate. Two evenings will include tasting events - chocolate one night, and Dominican rums another. On the recent Discover Chocolate in Paris trip (October 2010), these discussions often started around 7pm and lasted until past midnight on at least one occasion. Any topic about chocolate is open for discussion, from very technical discussions about post-harvest processing to talking through retail business concepts.
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Saturday, May 21st
Today you fly to the Dominican Republic, landing at Las Americas airport, located to the east of the capital city of Santo Domingo. After clearing customs and immigration, a greeter will get you to a taxi to the Zona Colonial, the heart of the old city, where you will check in to the Hotel Beaterio (or similar).
Depending on when you arrive, you will have an opportunity to freshen up, relax in your room, or start to explore the Zona Colonial. A welcome dinner at a restaurant in the nearby Parqueo Colon is scheduled for the evening. In addition to being able to meet everyone on the trip), Clay will go over the itinerary for the week, answer any last-minute questions anyone might have, and generally get the week off to a great start.
Sunday, May 22nd
Today will be spent easing into the time zone. After breakfast in the hotel, we will take a guided walking tour of highlights of the Zona Colonial. The tour will include a visit to the Mercado Modelo, the major market in the city. After the morning walking we'll lunch at Meson de la Cava before returning to the Zona Colonial to continue our tour of the city. Optionally, you canreturn to the hotel where you can partake of a very excellent local custom (siesta). Dinner is on your own. Clay and the hotel staff will work with you to arrange your evening which can include a visit to a local casino.
Monday, May 23rd
Be sure to wear swimming gear under your clothes! After an early breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we're on our way to the town of Hato Mayor. There we will visit a small cocoa cooperative that sells beans to CONACADO. In addition to walking through their cacao farms and seeing how they do their post-harvest processing, everyone will have the chance to taste the other products the group makes from cacao - including chocolate para la taza (drinking chocolate), cacao pulp marmalade, and cacao vinegar.
From there we travel just outside the town of El Valle for a catered al fresco picnic lunch at Rio Yanigua reserve. Rio Yanigua is known locally for the special grey clay (no relation) on the river bottom, revered for its curative and restorative powers. The water really is nice and a dip/dunk (souvenir towels provided) is an option while lunch is being set up.
After lunch we're off to Hacienda Elvesia (the Swiss Farm). This is the farm that supplies beans to Felchlin for their 74% Cru Hacienda bars (among other chocolate makers). Here you will have the opportunity to see a much larger scale operation than the co-op we visited earlier in the day. The differences in post-harvest processing techniques will be explained.
After we leave Elvesia it's off to our hotel, El Paraiso Cao Hondo .To say that Cao Hondo is a little quirky is an understatement. The architecture reminds me of a cross between Swiss Family Robinson - if the head of the Robinson clan was actually the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi ... with streams running everywhere. It's a truly special place. After checking in and relaxing we'll sit down to dinner - the fish soup I had the last time I was there was stellar. After dinner there will be an optional informal gathering to discuss the day ... and a chocolate tasting.
Tuesday, May 24th
After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, the morning will be spent in a group activity in the Los Haitises National Reserve to learn a little about the natural history of the island and the native Taino Indians.
From there, it's across the Bay of Samana to the Cayo Levantado, a small island near the mouth of the bay. There we will have lunch, relax, explore, and swim. After lunch we travel to Las Terrenas on the North Coast of the island, famed for its beaches. Our destination is the all-inclusive resort El Portillo, where rest of the day is free to enjoy on your own. After dinner, the group will gather for the optional discussion.
An aerial view of Cayo Levantado.
Wednesday, May 25th
The Dominican Republic is known worldwide for the beauty of its beaches and other natural attractions. Just past the mid-way point of our trip, this day has been set aside to relax and explore the natural beauty of the Samana Peninsula. The day will start with an (optional) trip to Limon Waterfall (on horseback or on foot if you prefer; snacks and water provided), where you will have the opportunity to swim in the pool under the waterfall.
El Limon Waterfall
From Limon Waterfall we return to El Portillo where the rest of the day is free to relax, explore, or enjoy the resort's attractions. We will dine together as a group and the after-dinner group discussion will include a Dominican rum tasting.
Thursday, May 26th
After checking out of the resort, we head along the coast to the town of Nagua where we will turn inland on our way to San Francisco de Macoris. Our first stop will be the new in-development Cacao Prieto farm where we will see their nursery and learn about their plans to grow the first large-scale plantation in the world that will be planting stands of 100% white bean porcelana strains. Two other cacao plantations are on the itinerary for the day as we travel to the town of San Francisco de Macoris wherewe will check into our hotel, Las Caobas. After dinner will be the group meeting.
Friday, May 27th
On today's calendar is a visit to a model cacao farm operated by Rizek Cacao, one of the largest cocoa processors in the Dominican Republic. The planting of the farm itself is a contrast to some of the others we've seen. After the visit and lunch, it's time to return to Santo Domingo.
After checking in to our hotel and freshening up, it's off to Restaurant El Conuco , famed for its Dominican cuisine ... and dance and music demonstrations. A fitting send off for our week together!
Saturday, May 28th
Check out of hotel, return home.
Optional
Additional nights are available in Santo Domingo at a good rate at the end of the trip for those who would like to extend their stay.
THIS TRIP HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL 2012.
Discover Chocolate in the Dominican Republic is for chocolate professionals and serious chocophiles with a passion for chocolate who want to experience cacao first hand: to see cacao pods growing on the tree, taste fresh cacao pulp, see and smell fermentation and drying ... in short, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the magical and complex process of growing, harvesting, and processing wet cacao into the dried cocoa beans used to make chocolate.
Price
$1850 p/p single occupancy
$1599 p/p double occupancy
There is a 12 person minimum required to make the trip, 15 people maximum.
Early-Bird Pricing
Paid in full by March 30, 2011
$1650 p/p single occupancy
$1399 p/p double occupancy
Referral Discount/Commission
$50 discount/commission (single rooms only)
The price includes:
All breakfasts, most lunches, and all dinners specifically mentioned.Transportation via private charter coach.Accommodation.Souvenir beach towel.Two group tasting sessions.
NOT included in the price:
R/T airfare to Santo Domingo.Arrival and departure taxes.Airport transfers.Meals not specifically included.Tips at hotels.Your bar bills.Personal expenses (e.g., souvenirs).
To make Reservations and Payment
Send a message to Clay Gordon.
I'm going to take a trip to Chicago soon. Anyone have dark chocolate shop recs near the Magnificent Mile or just a cab ride away? Many thanks!
Hello there, i am in search of Organic/Fair Trade cocoa butter.
Does anyone on this site have any contacts who would be able to supply me with around 150-200 kilos of Organic/Fair trade butter ?
I live in the UK, so shipping rates would befor the UK.
Any help would be much appreciated 
ChefRubber.com has some great stuff.
Pavoni has some AMAZING stuff www.pavonitalia.com
www.chocolat-chocolat.com also has some great stuff too.
I've purchased from all of them and had great service.
With regard to hand dipping tools, I would recommend have your own made. Every tool I've purchased has failed. Simply put, they are crap.They are tack-welded together and the welds inevitably fail. Plus they are all flat, and you have to bend them to get them to work properly. As soon as you start bending mild steel to make it do what you want you start to weaken it. They are a bad design - pure and simple.
Hope that helps.
Brad
Hi,
I am looking to equip a new chocolate factory.
Apart from tempering equipment etc, can anyone recommend a good online site for buying the accessories, like truffle spoons, etc.
Thanks in advance,
Stu
Your point is correct. That grinding and conching has to be decoupled.
Has anybody used the chocokneader attachment provided with the deluxe melanger? It is a simplified conching tool for the deluxe melanger. Can anyone test it and post the results?
When you use the choco kneader attachment, it just mixes the chocolate liquor around and there is no grinding action.
That makes sense.
Using a non grinding conche process would also decouple the grinding from the oxidisation / volatiles evaporation processes. This would give full control of the two variables. I'm very interested in lowering acidity as acidity needs balancing off with sugars.
So the thing to do is grind down to your optimal mouth feel then conche a variety of durations. Making sure the product is tested at the duration from crafting you feel a customer is most likely to consume the chocolate.
I presume it possible to do this conching in one mixer removing part of the cacao liquor at various time intervals to get a series of different volatiles.
Any idea what process is involved once the chocolate is resting? Some kind of crystalisation?
As far as I know there are two components to conching, to round the particles off for better mouth feel (the 'grinding' component) and to drive off unwanted volatile compounds (the heating/mixing component). These two usually occur in concert but with the Kenwood, as you say, there would be no grinding component.
The thing with conching though is that you need to know what you want to achieve by doing it. Iwork with some beans that I don't conche (anymore than what occurs in the time it takes to grind a batch down to 15-30 microns - heating/mixing/griding) and some that are more acidic that I find benefit from what I would call a medium conche and others that are very acidic that need a damn good conche.There is a lot ofpersonal taste in this too.
To further complicate this the flavour and mouthfeel of chocolate will change quite dramatically over the three weeks after you make it so you have to follow your chocolate's flavour/mouthfeelcarefully for about three weeks before you get good feedback on what you have done to it.
To do the heating/mixing part of conchingin a Kenwood though you would need to heat it with an IR lamp or other heating appliance.
I have seen a couple of references to people using Kenwood mixers to conche cacao for product R&D. Anyone know what mixers are involved (Chefs?) or whether and attachment is used? or how exactly its working??
I've tried mixing cacao in the 703 Kenwood Chef with mized results. The primary problem appears to be thelowest mixing speed is too high. Furthermore the K head does not move close enough to the bowl.
I'm hoping I can use my trusty old 703 for doing a bit of concing R&D work.
Thanks, Brad! Hopefully someday we can achieve a fraction of the great thingsyou've done withchocolate!
Come out and visit us sometime in Oahu!
We almost got a bar ofyourchocolate here, but our "messenger" from Calgary ate it all enroute since it was so good, and all we got were the cool looking packaging!
Great article! Congrats on the press!
Here a nice article in theHonolulu Weekly that mentions The Chocolate Life as "the facebook of chocolate";Kokoleka O'Ka 'Aina, started by Seneca, a regular on The Chocolate Life; us atMadre Chocolate,and other new goings on with cacao and chocolate in Hawaii, including the Hawaii Chocolate Festival that just happened yesterday which was a blast. Hope some of you were able to make it there!
-Nat
____________________
Nat Bletter, PhD
Chocolate R&D
Madre Chocolate
Hi Joseph,
Not sure about the first two questions but, answering the third one, three places you could have a look at are Keylink , Vantage House and Home Chocolate Factory . If you are going to order quite a lot of them, try contacting the original companies that make them. I contacted an Italian one and saved 200 in a 600 order compared to buying them from their distributors in the UK.
Have you find any wet grinders yet in the UK? I am also looking for one at the moment.
Carlos
Hola to all living the la vida cocoa,
Although this discussion title would beappropriatefor fascinating debate about the positive/negative implications of cacao/chocolate on health, the short comings of theHarkin-Engel Protocol, or whether or not there is sufficient phenylethylamine (PEA) in chocolate to reproduce the sense of well being we enjoy when we are in love.These conundrums are more specific and personal (although new insight or information into to the aforementioned debates would be welcome).
My conundrums are as follows;
Thanks in advance to the benevolent andknowledgeable memebers of this great chocolaty community.
Joseph Davies
Thank you, yes, Iceland.
Ive gone through many design ideas many of them using fancy script fonts with classic patterns. Then I tought, a lot of Chocolatiers use those Designs so I thought lets go the complete opposite straight lines, black on cream color background
The Idea with making H and K into "one" letter came from my father who used to use his mark J.K. so he put those together similar to my logo.
Im also working on boxes wich will be simple as well.
Thank you again.
What do you think about my new logo.
ok so Chocovic is like Scharffen Berger, bought by a big one but still sold under the same label with the same manufacturing process. Does that usually work?
Chocovicstill has an independentdistributor in Sweden (sama as before BC bought the company).
The previous owners of Chocovic (Nederland Group) sold Chocovic to Barry Callebaut in 2009.
BC bought the company (the deal closed December 2009) because they needed the production capacity - and it was (I heard) cheaper to buy the company than to build a new factory from scratch.
Last I checked, Chocovic's recipes were still being produced and sold under the Chocovic brand.
Dear Seneca,
You're totally right. All that can be done to reduce environmental impact should be done, and all that can be done to locally add value, the same (principles of slow food?). In coffee we have seen a recent growth of the consumption of quality coffee in countries of origin, perhaps the same will happen with chocolate. As far as I know some countries are net exporter of beans and net importer of chocolate products (Nicaragua, Peru). The emerging small batch processing could bring a positive change to this...
Best regards and thanks for the link
Rodney
Dear Clay,
Thanks for the feedback! To my knowledge (but perhaps it's too limited) not all cacao's do equally well in full sun systems, especially the criollo's require quite some shade (their natural habitat). In shaded systems the application of fertiliser is less effective in terms of production increase (the limiting factor is sunlight?).And very true, the origin of the fertiliser (organic/inorganic) matters quite a lot.
In Peru the farmers seem to replace coca production for cocoa. Coca is quite bad and after a couple of years result in highly degraded land. Cocoa is much better and at the same time sequesters carbon while being planted (especially when shade trees are added as well).
Best regards
Rodney Nikkels
I think it does bear considering that the first thing chocolate makers do with the commodity they just shipped is discard about 30% of its mass after roasting and winnowing. Certainly not the most efficient use of a pretty long supply chain :-)
However, it certainly is true that bringing the value-added component of finished chocolate closer to the agricultural supplier has many more powerful economic effects for local communities than some global reduction in transport cost to the environment. For the purposes of thinking about how chocolate fits in the slow food movement, that's probably a more topical area of inquiry.
Land use is central for emissions concerns, as you rightly point out. If anyone's interested, here's a link to a blog post on part of what we're up to in this area, including some good reference links:
http://kokachocolate.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/cacao-agriforestry-an...
Rodney:
To be clear, it's not the type of beans that are being grown it's the system of agriculture that is employed. It's possible to grow any type of bean in a "modern" (i.e., high density, no shade, intensive agricultural input) way- irrespective of "resorting" to pioneer farming (the clear cutting of primary or secondary forest for agricultural use).
The origin and source of the fertilizers being used also needs to be considered. There are examples of appropriate-scale on-site organic composting in the cacao industry.
Cacao is a good choice for rehabilitating degraded land if the planting is managed carefully for the long term and organic techniques are used (e.g., nitrogen-fixing plants are incorporated into the shade tree selection) - and in part because of the potential for economic return.
Correct?
