You miss the atmosphere of a real chocolate passion though in such a neutral mall.
Very good to know that!
I will contact him.
Thank you very much.
Francisco -
You might also want to get in touch with ChocolateLife member Vaagn (member name: Marabel Farms). They have a plantation along the north coast.
:: Clay
For the moment, nobody knows who I am going to visit.
I spoke to Chalyin and Yissel from RIZEK. They will take me to the fincas.
Maybe they can give me the DVD as well as Maximiliano..
Thanx!!
I would urge you to NOT let one organization know you're going to talk with the other organizations there.
Who did you speak with at Rizek - Masimillano (Max)? Ask him about his DVD to get the 'non business' relationship growing 8-)
Hello Eric,
Thanks a lot for your comment.
I am interested if you have other sources of cocoa beans (organic and no organic).
Off course I want to see the hole process and I would like to visit them.
I have a hole week to travel all around Dominican Republic and visit growers and plantations.
Thank you very much Sebastian!!!
I already talked to Nazario RIZEK and made an appointment in their offices in Santo Domngo. They will also take me to the "fincas" inside the country and spend the hole day!!! So your contact is excellent.
Thanks a lot!
The names listed below are good. I already have sources of organic hispanola beans if you are interested. However, I am sure you want to get down there and see the whole process anyway. 
Let me know if I can help in any way
Eric
Hello Malenie,
How are you?
I can see that you already travelled to Dominican Republic on 2009 and I am planning to go on May.
I would like to know if you visited some plantations over there (organic and no organic) and maybe you can recommend me where to go!!!
I want to visit plantations and open relationship with beans suppliers. And off course I want to learn the hole process of cocoa bean (fermented and dried beans).
Well...
Look forward for your comments...
Thanx
Venezuela produces about the same amount of cacao as it did three centuries ago: 15,000 tons a year, less than 1 percent of global cacao output. But that amount stirs the passions of critics and devotees, turning a luxury crop destined for foreigners into a contentious, and sometimes violent, political issue. Cacao from here is so desirable that European chocolate makers sometimes engage in cut-throat competition to gain access to it. Chocolatiers talk of the unique factors here on the Caribbeans edge in a way that resembles the got de terroir, or taste of the earth, crucial to fine wines.Venezuela is in a league of its own, said Gary Guittard, a California chocolate maker who buys Venezuelan cacao. It takes years to develop the uniqueness of the best cacao, maybe 20 or 30 years, maybe 100, so other nations need to catch up.Viewed as a treasure abroad, cacao is seen differently by many Venezuelans, from the president to the poor. A loophole for this nature reserve allows cacao haciendas to dot the forest, near villages populated by descendants of African slaves and near poor migrants who live in squatter villages in the park....Despite partnering with the government in a cacao venture in Barinas, Mr. Chvezs home state, Chocolates El Rey, a leading company in Venezuelas gourmet chocolate industry, was powerless to stop squatters who invaded the farm earlier this decade and still occupy it.We could be a world leader with cacao, what beef is for Argentina or rice for Thailand, said Jorge Redmond, Chocolates El Reys chief executive, reflecting on the industrys upheaval. Instead were faced with 52 different permits to export a container of our product, compared with four steps to export when Chvez came to power.
New blend makes antioxidant rich chocolate easier to create, says Wild Chocolate products full of natural antioxidants are growing in popularity as consumers associate antioxidants with healthy living.But to create antioxidant rich products manufacturers normally have to buy special quality cocoa beans, with high levels of antioxidants. Furthermore, processing has to be gentle to ensure that the finished product is still high in antioxidants, said a Wild spokesperson.Natural powder blendWith its new natural powder blend, Wild plans to make it easer for chocolate makers to formulate antioxidant rich chocolate products.The blend itself contains plant extracts from green and white tea as well as green rooibos and grape seeds, which all have high and standardised levels of polyphenols, according to Wild.The powder blend can be added to chocolate bars or pralines, with or without fruit fillings, to boost antioxidant levels and allow manufacturers to use less rarified cocoa beans.In addition, the blend can be added to the chocolate mass after conching so that the polyphenols, or antioxidants, are not destroyed by the processing.The consistency and taste of the chocolate is unaffected by the addition of the powder blend, said the company spokesperson.
