Forum Activity for @Paul2

I'm interested. Did you buy the unit new? How many hours on it?

 Where are you at?  Both Rutgers and Penn State have cocoa trees growing at their campuses...

Hi Annette.
I'm interested in your activities .
It might be difficult.
But, I believe that if I can also grow cacao tree in Japan.
And if successful it is wonderful.
I'll study harder in future.

That's wonderful!!

こんにちは。Hello.

This is a list of Japan. Still very less.

Bean to Bar Chocolate

CACAO MAGIC

Choco Reko

Emily’s Chocolate

Imalive chocolate

Marc

Minimal

Palet Dor

Pierre Marcolini

xocol

Cacao Lab

Coffee Beans Yumeji

Thank you for the good information.

I was surprised that you use the hair dryer.

I feel I can do it.

thanks

I think I've learned a lot.

It is very convenient.

I agree with Sebastian. A good stick blender (I paid $50 for mine) can give you a wonderfully smooth ganache (and I've eaten more than my fair share of Parisian chocolates)

All you really need is a good stick mixer (burr blender), and a recipe you're happy with.  You can make a fantastically wonderful ganache without spending 10's of thousands in capital.  If you're not satisfied with the ganaches you're currently making, i don't think an expensive piece of equipment will change that.  Not knowing your details, i'd focus on the recipe.  if by hand blender you mean a beater blender (two rotating beater blades), i'd suggest you consider an inexpensive stick blender (it's a very high RPM/shear mixer where the blades meet the ingredients; downside is that it's a small unit, so it takes longer to get full contact with all the ingredients)

Thank you for the information. Sounds logic to use either a stephan mixer OR a Cadix but not together.

ok, the reason why I am so interested in such things is because i tried some great ganaches from top chocolatiers from paris, like henri le roux or patrick roger, and (apart from there delicious taste) they got a very smooth and still cutable ganache. Especially I like the texture of the ganache. I made alot of ganaches by myself and never got that smooth and fine texture (tried alot of different ratios, added glucose,invert,sorbit,hony,...), so I was thinking it has something to do with my equipment (hand blender) and so i started looking what they use (and found the machine which you see in the pictures).
After seeing that alot chocolatiers use a stephan mixer with vacuum I am thinking my process adds some air into the ganache which affect the texture. unfortunatly these machines are very expensive.

Does someone made similar experience?

edit: or maybe to summarize: Does a Vacuum mixer (like Stephan) makes a different texture than a handmade (or hand blender-made) ganache?

Email contactus@eatingevolved.com for more information.

For sale, used Cocoatown melangers in good working condition with new belts.  Multiple units available for purchase.

Unit description:

ECGC-12SL CocoaT Melanger is a granite stone on granite stone grinder to grind cocoa bean nibs to chocolate liquor. Melanger is an ideal tool for chocolatiers who want to make chocolate from bean to bar or cocoa nibs to cocoa liquor. The melanger has enhanced ventilation system and helps to grind 8 – 10 lbs of cocoa nibs for 24 hours or more.

Melangers have two #3 black granite stone rollers that rotate at 135 -140 rpm on a granite slab. This creates tremendous shear and reduces the particles of sugar and cocoa to the smoothness expected in modern chocolate, about 15 micron range.

The roller stones and wiper are attached to the stainless steel shaft, and the whole roller stone assembly, is removable as one piece. They are easy to clean, handle and store. The roller stone assembly is locked into the lid for reproducible tension. The conical roller stones serve dual function – conching in addition to grinding.

Deluxe Melanger is ideal for small chocolate businesses or for R&D to develop recipes for big businesses. In addition to grinding cocoa nibs, deluxe melanger can also be used to grind nut butters, tahini, and more. It grinds upto 8 lbs of cocoa nibs in a single batch.

$250 per machine.

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Does anyone have any recommendations for good places for hot chocolate in and around New Orleans USA?

Thanks!

Giselle

www.ultimatehotchocolate.com

Hi

I spent a few weeks in Oaxaca tasting and making hot chocolates. I wrote up several articles about my experiences on my blog Ultimate Hot chocolate (www.ultimatehotchocolate.com).

I found without my difficulty local women who taught me a variety of ways to make different locally loved hot chocolates. Everyone here drinks hot chocolate and it is an important part of big cultural events such as weddings etc. So groups often come together to make family recipes the traditional way. 

Hi!

My name is Giselle and I have been reading chocolate life posts for a few years now on and off.

I write a blog called Ultimate Hot Chocolate which is about my travels around the world in search of the ultimate hot chocolate. The blog is part travel blog with tips about the locations I visit and part cafe/restaurant/chocolatier review blog with notes on the hot chocolates I find. This year the blog will also have recipes added. You can find it at www.ultimatehotchocolate.com

I am always looking for great spots to visit on my travels so if you have a favourite hot chocolate please let me know and if I am ever in your area I will definetly check it out. 

Larry, thanks for the informative thread on the DIY cooling tunnel. Its cool to see other MacGyvers out there...I like the DIY approach whenever possible. It kind of suits my mindset on many things.

A proper cooling tunnel would theoretically work in my space, but it would take up so much space to rend it an impractical solution for me.

I guess I'll stick to parchment paper for the belt...I was just curious, since I saw a video of the belt with a silpat type material, and thought it would be cool to do. I do this with textured acetate sheets when I hand-enrobe...guess I'll stick to that when wanting the textured foot.

I'm just hoping to make good use of the JKV with all its attachments, now that I have it operational in the space. Turns out the space was already wired for 3-phase, (if you recall my previous thread on the subject), so I didnt need that phase converter after all. Was a shocker to both me and the owner of the building, when the electrician told us we were good to go!

Dallas,

I suspect the 2m take-off belt is too short. I've read that chocolates about 8 minutes in a cooling tunnel to set properly. Thus with an 8 foot cooling tunnel, the belt can move 1 foot per minute. a 16 foot cooling tunnel allows the belt to move at 2 feet per minute and so forth.

The challenge with just having the take-off belt (no cooling tunnel) is the chocolates would have to sit for quite awhile before being able to touch them to take them off the belt. Like Clay mentioned, the paper take-off allows you to move the chocolates elsewhere to cool and set.

Do you have space for a cooling tunnel? the old chocolate life website has basic instructions on building one, or you could add a manufactured one to your system.

There is no particular reason to heat up cream in the Cadix and transfer it to a Stephan unless the Stephan has a vacuum attachment and the Cadix does not. If that's the case, then it may simply be a volume issue - the Cadix is a large heated vessel. You can get Cadix Pros with vacuum attachments.

As Sebastian points out, heating the cream to a certain point can help with shelf life and a high shear mixer is good for creating stable emulsions.

If your volume requirements are much smaller and you don't need the vacuum, something like a HotMix Gastro Pro might be worth looking at.

Interesting, re: textured-belts. I have a 2m long take-off belt, so its something I could definitely consider. I like the textured foot look.

I have 3 Martellato M2000 Bar Molds for sale.  They are in great shape, I used them for about a month and decided to use a different mold.  The plastic is very thick and sturdy

New -  http://www.bigtray.com/martellato-usa-inc-chocolate-mold-ma2000-sku-mloma2000-c-14630.html

Pictures

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

Asking $50 for all three molds, plus $5 for shipping or local pickup in Portland OR.  Thanks for looking

@dallas - commonly used on enrober (take-off) belts, no; they are most often found on cooling tunnel belts.

The take-off belt on most enrobers is too short for the chocolate to completely set, that's why paper or parchment is used to cover the belt and to make it easy to transfer the product to some other location to finish cooling. The textured belts (often with a logo) are custom-order items.

I've never used a cadix, but these types of things are useful as they're high shear, heated mixers.  Some of them can pull a vacuum.  Very good at mixing things up and cooking them simultaneously.  In a ganache, heating the cream can help form a better emulsion, and if you get it hot enough, can help with shelf life.

I came across a short video on the internet showing an enrober belt with what appeared to be a silpat-styled belt, or cover. I've got parchment paper rolls or acetate rolls, but a re-usable silpat would be pretty cool. You get the texture of the silpat on your bonbon bottoms too...I like that look.

Is this something commonly used on enrober belts? 

thank you for the answers

I was more interested in the function of this machine. It seems that (2nd picture) it is used to heat up cream (for a ganache) and later it is put together with the chocolate into a stephan mixer. I am curious about why to use such a machine to heat up(cock) cream? or is it because of quantity.

i am looking for chocolate world moulds number 2051 , these moulds are no longer in production by CW. IF you have any that you no longer require please message me

mick , kilbeggan handmade chocolate 

It's a product from CadixPro in France. Similar to a Stephan or RoboQbo. http://www.cadixpro.com/portfolios/sugar-cooker/?lang=en

hard to say from the photo.  could be a stephan mixer / kettle.

Hello chocolatiers,

We are selling our 2nd 2012 Selmi One tempering unit. 

Volumetric dispenser and pedal to control the flow of chocolate. Close circuit cooling system featuring counter current heat exchanger.

• Tank Capacity: 26.45 lbs

• Pwer Requirements: 220V, 3 phase

• Dimensions: w 14.18" x l 28.75" x h 57.48"

Condition: Excellent

Location: NYC

Price: $6000

Please feel free to reach out with any questions!

Diana 

DianaKelleryd@gmail.com

 Selmi One 1.jpg - 75KB

Calling all chocolate consumer enthusiasts/lovers to help us with our research.

We're beginning to do research to find out how and why consumers buy and enjoy craft/artizan chocolate.  We're looking for consumers/enthusiasts of dark chocolate.  This includes anyone that consumes craft/artizan chocolate but IS NOT in the business as a chocolate maker or works in the chocolate industry.

Once this research is complete, we'll publish our finding and analysis for anyone in the industry to benefit.

Please fill out the following survey.  Then if you agree, we'll pick 10-15 people to participate in a more detailed interview.  

We know your time is valuable, so if you're selected for the interview, we'll give you $50 Amazon Gift Card for your time!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HS7QFLQ

Thanks.

Ilya Sterin

Hi, i just need some little help. I want to know what machine this (image attached) is?
I saw it at a few chocolatiers and it seems it is something for cocking and mixing? (one picture with where cream is inside in the other picture there are caramelized nuts inside).
Does someone know this machine?
friendly regards, dd

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I run a homemade chocolate business and I am searching for a new packaging service company. Has anyone heared of the Clearpak Creative Packaging, here in Ontario. Have been thinking of doing the packages from there. Would love to hear some more about their services, incase anyone here have tried them before. Thank you.

Where is the table located?

4 Ft x 4 Ft on Casters, the marble is 2 inches thick an it is 30 inches high.  It is excellent to help chocolate cool. Can be used for chocolate making birthday parties (people can sit at the table with regular chairs), can also be used for several types of candy making. Email for details TRIANAML8@AOL.COM  Asking $1,000

Custom Made Prefamac Double Head Spinner for sale.  1 1/2 years old, prestine condition.  This machine includes vibrate button and dual fans. 2 arm spinner, it can hold from 8-16 moulds at a time. Custom made and imported from Belgium. $10,000  Located in Northern NJ. Shipping not included. Email me for more details or questions.  TRIANAML8@aol.com

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Two years old. Holds up to 240lbs of chocolate per day. Not heated with light bulbs. In perfect condition. $6,000. In northern NJ. Shipping not included in price. Email me for more info. TRIANAML8@AOL.COM 

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I over-ordered on   chocolate   (and a few other things) this season and am looking to   sell   some stock. 

In the simple view, Barry-Callebaut is a "bean-to-bar" maker because they do make chocolate bars. Huge ones that are mostly only used by remelters. Small from-the-bean makers who wish to differentiate themselves from industrial producers would have a problem calling B-C a "bean-to-bar" chocolate maker though they are in a literal sense. They make chocolate from cocoa beans and they mold chocolate bars.

From-the-bean clearly differentiates a remelter, who would be properly labeled "from-couverture."

By throwing the retail bar in their own label requirement in, you can say that a "bean-to-bar" chocolate maker starts with cocoa beans and ends up producing finished bars for retail sale. This disqualifies Barry-Callebaut (and, unfortunately Felchlin as well - which produces very fine bars for many companies under private-label contracts), but it means that companies like Guittard, Valrhona, and Cluizel, and many others who are also industrial-scale producers can be considered bean-to-bar.

The question is ... where do you want to draw the line? Purists will say that a "true" bean-to-bar chocolate maker must own all of the equipment and do all of the work in-house. I am less demanding because I can see a lot of value of roasting and liquor-making at origin. But to be considered bean-to-bar the chocolate maker would have to personally supervise every single roast and grind. If they just phoned it in, then they'd from a from-liquor chocolate maker.

Some companies, like Pralus and Scharffen Berger in the early days, only produce some of their bars. When I visited the Pralus factory I could only see wrapping machines for their 100gr bars, not the smaller tasting squares. Those were (at the time, I don't know the situation now), wrapped by someone else with special machinery.

Answers to questions about where to draw lines become even fuzzier if we want to start talking about the definitions of craft, or artisan, or micro-batch. In the end I think that these are nuances that are important to only small, but passionate, segments of the producer and consumer markets.

[Edited on Jan 5, 2016 for typos and grammar.]

By Simran Sethi and Clay Gordon

The Mast Brothers were in the right place at the right time with the right product and the right image. Clay made  this observation  back in 2012; they captured the cultural zeitgeist perfectly, guiding and riding the wave they expertly caught. But change any one aspect of that picture and the Bros may have had less success. Take away Williamsburg, the flannel and, yes, the beards they claim were  grown on a bet  about the amount of chocolate they sold. What you have is chocolate built upon the work of others, heralded by journalists and cool hunters hungry to rave about a hot new thing—some of whom are now indulging in gleeful  schadenfreude  about the takedown.

There are many reasons to be disappointed in the Mast Brothers. They were willfully dishonest about which, if any, of their chocolates were bean-to-bar (as chronicled in exquisite detail by Scott Craig in his  four-part series ). This is an affront to any chocolate maker dedicated to the painstaking process of sourcing beans from various origins, paying for shipping (a much greater expense for smaller makers who do not have economies of scale) and then working through the laborious process of transforming the seeds of the cacao pod into chocolate.

It takes about 400 beans, or approximately 11 pods, to make 1 pound of chocolate. The seeds we call beans are roasted, cracked to release the cocoa nib, and then shelled (winnowed) to remove the papery husk. Next, the nibs are ground into a paste known as cocoa liquor, which can be directly processed into chocolate or pressed to separate the fat (cocoa butter) from the non-fat solids. The resulting “presscake” is processed into cocoa powder which can later be recombined with cocoa butter to make chocolate or with vegetable oils, like palm oil, rendering a much lower-quality product (that cannot be called chocolate in the U.S.)

The cocoa bean contains between 47 and 54 percent fat—a stable fat with a long shelf life, one that’s solid at room temperature but starts to melt in our mouths or under our touch. Its stability means it’s coveted not only in chocolate but also as an ingredient in medical and beauty products. The butter can have a mild to very present cocoa flavor, depending on the way it’s processed, and is the only part of the bean used to make “white” chocolate.

Butter separated out from the powder is often added back during the chocolate-making process because fat—glorious fat—makes the chocolate creamier and, as the carrier of cocoa’s aroma compounds, more flavorful. (Interestingly, some craft chocolate makers do not add any cocoa butter to their recipes, thinking that added butter detracts from the “true nature” of the cocoa bean.)

The resulting mass (with any added ingredients—sugar and, perhaps, vanilla) is now the texture of coarse mud. As it’s refined, the size of the cocoa and sugar particles get progressively smaller. Conching (most often a separate step from refining) improves texture and tames harshness by evaporating off unwanted volatiles and fostering chemical reactions that can create delicate aromas and flavors.

A chocolate with particles over 30 microns will register on our tongues as gritty. Through refining, a cocoa liquor that starts out with particles in the 100 to 150 micron range is, ideally, reduced down to between 18 and 22, resulting in a smooth texture. That sensation influences the entire experience of flavor. “The whole process of making chocolate is to break down particle size and expose flavor,” explains Trinidadian chocolate maker Matthew Escalante. “Every step of processing changes the possibilities.”

The next step is tempering: forcing the fat crystals in the cocoa butter to line up in a specific shape through a controlled combination of heating and cooling. This increases the chocolate’s sheen and intensifies its snap. Tempering is tricky; if the chocolate isn’t tempered properly, it has a greater chance of getting fat bloom, the whitish coating or splotches caused by cocoa butter separating out of the chocolate. After tempering comes the sublime moment when the tempered liquid chocolate is poured into molds, cooled and—finally—packaged for consumption.

You can see why chocolate makers would be frustrated by anyone melting down pre-made  couverture chocolate and claiming they’d had a hand in the entire process. This work is arduous.  Through unclear labeling, Mast Brothers allowed consumers to assume all bars were made from beans they had sourced. They were not; they fudged the truth. 

By 2006, about the time the Bros turned their attention to chocolate, the real pioneers of the American craft chocolate movement— Scharffen Berger  first of all; then John Nanci’s  Chocolate Alchemy  and his work with  Santha  and  Crankandstein.net  to solidify the first end-to-end micro-batch craft chocolate production pathway; and chocolate makers including  Steve DeVries ,  Art Pollard ,  Shawn Askinosie ,  Alan McClure , et al.; and even Clay’s own chocophile(.)com ( now TheChocolateLife.com )—had done all the necessary preparatory groundwork. Work that had, in turn, been built on the efforts of  Valrhona ,  Cluizel ,  Bonnat ,  Pralus ,  Bernachon ,  Domori ,  El Rey , and  Vintage Plantations  (the list stretches on), plus the community around Martin Christy’s  seventypercent.com .

In essence, the required foundation had already been laid for them, the path already paved, and the market proven—chocolate could pretty much be made by anyone. But chocolate is a product almost everyone loves, but few actually know anything about when it comes to sourcing or production. A product with none of the universally accepted sensory evaluation criteria that has been long established in wine and coffee.

Was it done out of wondrous fascination for the purity of what they made in the cloistered atmosphere of the apartment where they first started experimenting? Or was it with an awareness of a unique market opportunity? Probably a combination of the two:

• right place;
• right time;
• right product—with no established local competition; and
• right image—where the Masts really set themselves apart.

The beards were distinctive; they solidified the Iowa-farmboy-cum-Amish/Hipster personae that the brand gelled around. The tattoos didn’t hurt, nor did the puzzling (at least for Iowa farm boys) nautical references.

And then there was the wrapping on the chocolate. The paper gave a tangible aura of quality, gravitas, even  value  to the chocolate—a characteristic that their early attempts at chocolate making did not possess. (And, many would argue, the product still lacks.) There was and is something about opening up the wrapper of a Mast Brothers chocolate bar that lends credence to what’s inside, that says, “Take notice of me. I am important!”

Was the packaging any better (or more authentic?) than what Shawn Askinosie was doing at the time? Shawn was putting pictures of actual farmers on his labels, naming people and identifying the real communities from which his cacao was sourced, and closing the wrappers with threads from the jute bags in which the beans had been transported from origin to Missouri. His wrappers were (and are) physical artifacts—a tangible bridge between the farmer, the end product and the consumer.

We may never understand how and why the Masts thought it necessary to start gilding the lily—or perhaps, more appropriately, the paper—but at some point they did. The most cursory examination of the chronology shows that the equipment and methods needed to make craft chocolate from the bean had been created well before the brothers started experimenting in their apartment.

Did they invent the bean cracker they used? Nope. The barley mill for home beer makers they purchased from Crankandstein was modified at the request of John Nanci. Using a hair dryer to winnow? Also John Nanci. Using a Champion juicer as a pre-grinder? John Nanci again. Using Santhas as grinders? Guess who. The  CPS winnower  they bought? Not John Nanci, but the Masts had no hand in its design. The winnower  they claim to have built ? A modified Brooklyn Cacao Vortex Winnower.

In short, almost every claim they have made about their roles in equipment innovation and processes of craft chocolate making are, to put it politely, embellishments. Or, to put it plainly, misappropriation. They were creating a myth and they spun it of whole cloth because, for one reason or another, no one called them out on it publicly. There was no little boy pointing out that the emperor was not wearing any clothes. Chocolate makers were whispering this to themselves, but not one journalist turned the whispers to shouts  until earlier this year .

As a result, the unknowing and unsuspecting public continued to grow mesmerized by gossamer tales woven of sheer fabrication, regardless of what their own intuition or taste buds told them. Mast Brothers were the “it boys.” Surely if the New York Times and renowned chefs, such as Thomas Keller, thought so, it must be true. Our own sensory experience—at least the one that culminated in our own mouths—could not be trusted.

Simran  (a relative newcomer to the world of chocolate who cared less about expert opinion than she perhaps should have) explored this in May of 2015, when she started to tease apart taste in her book  Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love :  “Cacao from Papua New Guinea is often dried on beds heated by diesel or wood, both of which can impart hammy or oily tastes to the beans because fats absorb odor. These are defects, the kinds of things most chocolate makers, particularly those concerned about flavor,  don’t  want because they mask aromas inherent in the beans. Yet one maker—who has gotten a lot of media attention and puts its chocolate in the most beautiful of wrappers—has decided to turn this defect into an attribute, repackaging the off-flavor as a novelty by highlighting the smokiness of the bar. Many craft makers who work closely with farmers on improving drying techniques and eradicating those off- flavors question if this is something we should celebrate—if, by buying into the smoke, it’s making it harder for producers who are trying to improve the taste of their beans. This is a question only we, the eaters, can answer, but it’s important to recognize we’re vulnerable to external influences, including hype and packaging.”

A  2008 study  by neuroscientist Hilke Plassmann and her colleagues reaffirms our vulnerability: We tend to enjoy identical products more when they’re priced higher or highlight positive “expectations of ... pleasantness.” This doesn’t just happen in our mouths and noses but also in our brains.

This isn’t to say we shouldn’t try a wide range of chocolates, but if we’re going to expend time and money and take in calories, we should know what our investment is supporting. We should try to understand where the flavors come from—and what good farming and processing practices taste like in order to understand  why  we love what we love.

We understand people wanted to believe the story that two brothers, toiling away in their Brooklyn apartment, had discovered something new and pure, something that never before existed. It’s part of why many were so willing to overlook and excuse the discrepancies and write them off to youthful frat boy hijinks, an aberration long in their ancient past.

The Masts now claim they were open about melting Valrhona as part of their early experimental years, before moving into their first workshop. Once they settled into their brick-walled storefront on North 3rd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, their refrain became, “Trust us, 100% bean-to-bar.”

Trust us …  now .

If a company positions itself as an “authentic” “bean-to-bar” chocolate maker obsessed with integrity, purity and every little detail (from how the cocoa is sourced right through to the wrapping), then  any  bar produced that strayed from that storyline should have been clearly identified. That is very different from being “open” about re-melting only if and when asked. The vast majority of people who purchased products in the early days were not knowledgeable enough about production to make those inquiries. They accepted the statements made about the product at face value—statements that were not honestly represented on the labels of at least some of the products.

To rebuild trust with chocolate makers and consumers, the brothers need to document their trips to origin. They claim they source directly from the best farms in the world, yet the names of specific farms and details on varietals are conspicuously absent from their wallpapered labels, their website or any other source that can be found.

Yes, Venezuela is an origin, but if you were sourcing Chuao, or an Ocumare, or Cuyagua, Carenero, Sur del Lago, or a Guasare why wouldn’t that be featured prominently? Perú does produce some terrific cocoa, but if the Masts were using some of the best—say Cacao Gran Blanco from Piura or Marañon—why isn’t that information prominently featured? Craft chocolate makers mention specific origin and varietals whenever they can because it’s what sets them apart and helps consumers ascertain value. Where are the proud photos of the bearded brothers at origin, working with “their” farmers? Or, as they proudly proclaim, sailing said beans from origin? It’s economically unsustainable to sail a small cargo of beans from Papua New Guinea, Madagascar or even the Dominican Republic on a regular basis to Brooklyn. What is also out of the economic reach of most makers is what Rick Mast boasted about claiming they once paid ten times the market price for beans. If they actually paid that price at the farm gate, we would be truly impressed. But if a significant portion of that cost is tied up in transportation and other costs, then it’s far less impressive.

So, why do we care? We are not makers. We have no professional axe to grind.

Our motivation is simply to clear up misconceptions: The Masts dished it out, and most of us gobbled it up.

But through their assertions, Mast Brothers make it much harder for chocolate makers who do actual good works to flourish. And it makes it harder for us to do the work we want to do in supporting quality chocolate and makers with integrity.

Too much #mastsplaining.

Take Shawn Askinosie. He profit shares with his farmers. He has created self-sustaining school lunch programs in communities from which he buys cocoa.  Or Gianluca Franzoni of Domori, who works with the Franceschi family to preserve endangered strains of cacao in Venezuela. Volker Lehmann’s work with cacao silvestre in Bolivia and Marañon in Peru. Ingemann in Nicaragua. Graig Sams, Gregor Hargrove and company well before anyone else had their eyes directed toward Belize. Or the efforts of the  Cocoa Research Centre  in Trinidad,  CATIE  in Costa Rica or the hundreds of other conservationists and farmers working to conserve the very best varieties of cacao.

The Mast Brothers consciously and deliberately set themselves apart from the rest of the craft chocolate community. When asked by journalist Megan Giller about critics, Rick Mast glibly replied,  “We are a dangerous company because we are outsiders to the chocolate industry, never leaning on industry norms.” 

Given the meticulousness that has gone into crafting every other aspect of the brand, it’s hard not to conclude that the adoption of this position is just another aspect of the brand. As self-proclaimed dangerous outsiders, the company justifies operating under a different set of principles—and different measures of accountability—than other craft chocolate makers. Rather than replying to the press storm with openness and transparency, they have r esponded  by turning inward and closing their doors tighter shut. Their response reinforces that what the Bros may be remembered for is their branding—the beards and the paper—not their chocolate.

Simran  Sethi is the author of Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love — a book about the rich history—and uncertain future—of what we eat. Sethi is also a former visiting scholar at Trinidad’s Cocoa Research Centre housing the largest collection of cacao in the world. 

Hello, my name is Jenni, and I am a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. I graduated last year with a degree in Studio Art, however I've been working with chocolate since I was in middle school (truffles, filled chocolates, caramels, cordials, seed tempering). 

After graduation, I got myself a Premier Wonder Grinder and followed the advice of John over on Chocolate Alchemy and have been a long time lurker on The Chocolate Life. I started making chocolate bars because I had lost interest in making other chocolate confections and wanted experiment making my own chocolate from scratch, where I could control just how sweet the chocolate I eat could be. Since August, I started a small cottage food business (working title "Honmeid") and have been selling my own formulation bars to friends and family. So far, it's been a success!

I will be leaving West Palm Beach, Florida and moving to Seattle in order to start a life somewhere new and different at the end of January. Currently, I'm looking for a job in the chocolate or confectionary industry so I can learn more about chocolate making up close. I'd love to hear any advice you have to offer, especially anything job-related!

Thanks for your info, Larry.

Yes, this one is definitely a 3-phase machine, with a NEMA 16-20R outlet.

I briefly spoke with Ian this morning re: this issue, but he had no idea about the 3-phase with regard to this machine.

Machine is roughly 12 years old.

Thx, Dallas 

Does the JKV 30 need 3 phase? I had a pair of older machines & they just took 220V. This required some specialized wiring, but was relatively easy to do.I ran both machines on one 20 Amp 220 circuit.  What style outlet does the machine need? Mine needed a NEMA-6 outlet. (indicating 220V).

Ian Mackenzie is the JKV rep I've dealt with. you can reach him at his first name @JKVNL.com

Thanks,
Larry

We had a hard time finding anything related to cacao in San Blas, though it was still one of the most awe-inspiring places I've been to on the entire planet. The next time I visit I'm hoping to stay off the islands and explore the mainland a bit more, with hopes that I'll be able to find cacao there. Check Bocas del Toro, Almirante, and across the border in Talamanca (Costa Rica) for lots of great cacao. There are lots of options in these areas that aren't too hard to find.. I'm at me@brianwallace.com if you'd like more details. Happy travels.