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I was honored to visit the operation of chocolate maker Carlos Eichenberger last week in Guatemala City. Me, just a mere student here for one year but he was nice and patient enough to take the time and show a complete stranger into his home and show me the complete process from bean to bar. Carlos buys the already fermented cacao and then starts with roasting and goes all the way to wrapping each bar himself. Everything about his process was precise and maniacally exact. If there was so much as a blemish in a finished bar, it was stashed in the reject pile for re-melting and re-doing. Isnt this what you want from a chocolate maker? Perfection.I admit I was a dark-chocolate snob but every ingredient is such a high quality that every chocolate he makes is exceptional. I take back all the bad things I ever said about white chocolate. I think my favorite is the 60% and 70% Cacao Las Acacias. The texture is extremely creamy and smooth and lasts for a long time in your mouth, if you dont chew, that is. I almost want to say that the chocolate is playful. There is a slight fruity-ness but not enough to pin down a specific fruit, for me anyway. There may have been a hint of coffee and somewhat of a smokyness, but it wasnt overpowering at all. I paired some of the 60% Las Acacias with a Guatemalan black tea called Te Chirrepeco and that was one exquisite dessert. If youre in Guatemala and want to take full advantage of true Guatemalan cacao, then you must have Danta chocolate.

Today I joined 40 other chocolatiers - bayside with seagulls - thinking: this is a perfect day for chocolate lovers in San Fran to collect at the waterfront wharf and celebrate chocolate. Look out! 5,000 of them turned up! I was next to Chocolatique from LA, Jade from SF, Amano from Utah, William Dean from Florida, and nearly 20 wine and liqueur makers, 20 artists....and thousands of enthusiasts sampling the wares. My observatons: chocolate is still recession-proof! People were buying, chocolate was selling. New products: it's all about the bean: chocolate-enriobed beans, chocolate-covered nibs, raw, roasted....lots and lots of beans. Also, spicy chocolate is still in - chipotle chili, wasabi, ginger top the list. Caramel and toffee...decidedly old-fashioned flavors... lit up the eyes of many SF foodies when they appeared on our menus. Even so, most attendees were looking for daring spices and innovation. Who will win the best in show? What did the bloggers have to say about the event? Was there a definitive chocolate photo of the day?? More will be revealed at www.tastetv.com.

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Hi I am a chocoholica chocolate maniaca chocolate fana chocolate blogger please visit my choco world

The apprentice season is about to start in the UK, quite similar to the US but with Alan Sugar instead of Donald Trump. This year, one of the tasks which will be aired in a couple of weeks (and no we won't tell you who won), involved chocolate and we were asked to help one of the teams.Great, we thought, as this was one of our favourite tv program.Unfortunatelty it was made clear to us that any mention of cocoa content or origin was far too esoteric for the average TV main stream viewers. They would go only as far as milk/dark/white/cheap/premium. Needless to say it was somewhat frustrating and made me wonder: were the producers just a bit limited? or is the average prime time TV viewer so dull?Still it was a lot of fun to do but it could have been a little more... aspirational and inspirational.

I am pleased to announce that my chocolate company, Sweet Paradise Chocolatier will be opening this summer at the Kings Shops at the Waikoloa Beach Resort. My manufacturing kitchen will also move to Waimea, also on the Big Island. The Kailua location will remain and expand to a dessert cafe in addition to chocolates. Despite the economy I am looking forward to this move and direction into the resort world.The little shop is only 300 sf and will also serve gelato and a unique variety of frozen sorbet that comes in the shell and rinds of the fruit-pineapple, coconut, lemon, orange. In addition to our signature tropical confections we will carry bars from around the world and of course locally grown island chocolates.We are printing our chocolate box inserts in Japanese and English for the benefit of the many Japanese tourists we get. Waikoloa is home to The Hilton and Marriott Resorts, the Hilton Grand Vacation Clubs and about a thousand upscale condos and single family homes. The Black Sands neighborhoods boast some of the priciest real estate in Hawaii. Waikoloa is about 25 miles north of Kona on the Kohala Coast. Also within 10 miles are the 4 Seasons Hualalai Resort, the famed Mauna Kea Hotel, Hapuna Beach Prince Resort, The Mauna Lani and Fairmont Orchid Hotels and Spas. The Kings and Queens Shops in Waikoloa is the only shopping on the Kohala Coast and features many upscale retailers like Tiffany, Coach, Tommy Bahama as well as fine art galleries and fine dining like Roys, and Merrimans. We hope to see some of you chocolate lovers in the future with the Chocolate Lovers Travel Club.

I've been in Guatemala for about 2 1/2 months now and today I had my first taste of good chocolate. It was quite by accident. I stopped by the University and I spotted a corner bakery where I could enjoy a coffee and make a few phone calls. On my way out I saw wrapped in cellophane with bright yellow ribbons, bars of chocolate. It read "Chocol 'ha: Chocolate Oscuro, 62% Cacao". Mmmmm! I immediately bought it, it was a good deal for 18Q (about $2.50 or so). It was delicious! I really should have bought the another; there were only two.I wasn't expecting it to be very good so I ate the first bite quickly and then the burst of flavor automatically slowed my chewing. I let it sit in my mouth for a while so I could explore the flavors and texture. It was creamy but a little hard; there was a bit of bloom on the corners of the bar. There was no graininess at all, a very uniform, creamy texture. The flavors were not too complex but they were there. It was more full-bodied that I would expected; I immediately inhaled a coffee flavor and just a hint of tobacco. After a few seconds it started to remind me of the forest -- maybe a mossy flavor? Or was it the scent of fresh, wet dirt? Whatever it was, I really liked it. It was quite an earthy piece of chocolate; not too bold but what I might call 'stately'.I called the phone number listed on the little label and the woman and I spoke for almost 30 minutes. She told me how her husband quit his job to start making chocolate, and they have a small set-up in what used to be their children's playroom. She was so pleasant and invited me to lunch and to come and see their small operation. She said that they didn't have a website just yet, but they were working on it. It was a good day!

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Chocolate! The Best of the Best Organic, Fair Trade Chocolates Find out why organic and fair trade certification really matter when it comes to chocolate, and how our editors ranked the best of these treats.Feb. 26, 2009By Katherine Loeck and Aubrey Vaughn

<Not only is organic, fair trade chocolate better for everyone - from planting the cacao trees to popping a morsel into your mouth - the flavor trumps that of conventional chocolate every time.Sweet, bitter, spicy, smooth these are just a few of the dozens of ways to describe chocolate.But if you want really great chocolate, chocolate that makes you feel as good about buying it as it makes your tastebuds feel about meeting it, there are more decisions involved than simply what flavor makes your mouth water. To make the best decisions (and discover the best quality), consider a few questions such as: Where is it grown, how it is grown, and by whom? Does the farmer earn a living wage? Are pesticides used on the cacao trees?These are tough, but important questions. The good news is weve made answering them easier for you.Most of the chocolate on grocery store shelves isnt anything like pure, real unadulterated chocolate. Filled with high fructose corn syrup (and, therefore, possibly mercury), grown with pesticides, and sometimes including wax and other decidedly unappetizing ingredients, common chocolate pales in comparison to that made with real food ingredients. If Big Name chocolate is the only chocolate youve tried, Im sorry to inform you that youve not really had chocolate. Not the kind thats worth its weight in silver (or even gold) or that Aztec emperor Moctezuma would offer to Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes. And certainly not the kind that merits its own diety, the Myan god of cacao farmers, Ekchuah.So how do you find such chocolate and find answers to all those questions? Fortunately, there a couple of qualified certification logos you can look for that quickly and easily separate the bean from the husk: Fair Trade and Certified Organic. What is Fair Trade chocolate, and why is it important? According to Reonne Haslett, co-owner of Earths Sweet Pleasures chocolate company, Fair Trade means that farmers receive a guaranteed fair price and good labor conditions, including safe working conditions and fair living wages. Plus, middlemen are eliminated, which allows farmers to strengthen their organizations and be competitive in the global economy.Also, the farmers decide democratically how to use their revenues, investing in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement training and organic certification. As for the crops themselves, the Fair Trade certification system prohibits using genetically modified organisms (GMOs), promotes integrated farm management systems that improve soil fertility, and limits the use of harmful agrochemicals in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers health and preserve ecosystems. When it comes to chocolate, what does Certified Organic really mean? Jessica Holten-Casper, in charge of sales and also daughter of founders Jacques and Pam Holten at Sjaaks Organic Chocolates, explains that organic cocoa is grown using sustainable methods, which means not using chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides whereas conventionally grown cocoa is one if the highest pesticide-using crops. By choosing organic chocolate, consumers help prevent the use of massive amounts of chemicals, which is good for both the consumer and the farm workers who would otherwise be exposed to these toxins. Plus, the environment is spared contamination from the chemicals. The USDA National Organic Program regulations also prohibit the use of artificial flavors, artificial colors, preservatives and GMOs. Who makes Certified Organic, Fair Trade chocolate, and who does it best? Though youve already got a great head start on recognizing great chocolate, we know you want to get right to the best chocolate you can find. So, we managed to summon our collective determination, dedication and will to do the dirty work, so you dont have to. After many, many tastings and much debate, here are our favorite brands and flavors.1. Lake Champlain Chocolates. Hands down, this was our all-around favorite. While the Lemon Ginger Dark, straight-up 70 percent Dark, and Cayenne and Cinnamon were all delectable, the fabulous little squares of Sea Salt & Almond Milk chocolate disappeared at an astonishing speed, and inspired the only (known) instance of lust-induced chocolate thievery from the sample table.2. Newmans Own. Yumm. Good thing they sent a lot, lest we resorted to arm wrestling over Dark Chocolate Caramel Cups. Those creamy delights were seconded closely by the perfect pairing of chocolate and peanut butter in their Peanut Butter Cups.3. And the going gets tough: Theres a three-way tie between Earths Sweet Pleasures, Ithaca Fine Chocolates and Divine Chocolate, in which the favorite flavors are the Gourmet Fudge Bar, Exquisite Swiss Milk, and the White Chocolate and Mint Dark Chocolate, respectively. Try them all, you wont regret it.4. Rapunzel Chocolate. If milk chocolate is your favorite, Rapunzel is the way to go. Creamy, perfectly sweet, but not too, this chocolate was universally enjoyed.Thank you to all of companies that sent generous samples for our taste test we pretty much liked them all, really. Unfortunately, theres only room for so many in a Top 5, and weve already gone over by one. If you really love chocolate and are interested in sampling the short list above and then some, you cant go wrong with any of these (in no particular order):Sweet Earth Chocolates, the Vegan Ultimate Turtle, Dark Chocolate Coconut or the Peppermint CupTheo Chocolate, the Ginger chocolate, Scotch chocolate, and absolutely try the Burnt Sugar Truffle.Dagoba Chocolate* Sjaaks Organic ChocolatesCocoa VinoShaman ChocolatesSweet RiotUliManaYou can find out more about each of these companies, their health, environment and production policies at their websites. Youre bound to be impressed.

Now Try This #3Bee SqueezinsThis will be a dark chocolate spirits filled ganache using in a light milk chocolate shell. My light milk is about 40%-45% cocoa, dark milk is around 55% in my workshop.A friend of mine who owns a caf/nightclub locally is also known for the mead that he makes . This is wine from honey. It sounds as if this wine might be sweet but to make it he uses a strong champagne type yeast and then ferments the wine until dry; no residual sugar. Big Al tries to get near 14% alcohol in his mead which is about all the yeast can tolerate before going to drunken yeast heaven.Once finished fermenting, Big Al racks the mead off the yeast sediment and lets it settle for several months to clarify. After this he freezes it ! Yeah, the mead is reasonably good tasting out of the glass jug after clearing but Al likes a stronger hooch so he freezes a bowl of mead and pours off the concentrated liquor which remains after freezing. This he calls Bee Squeezins.OK, so were going to take this and make chocolates out of it, naturally. Mr. WineCandy will try anything.Before deciding what type of chocolate to use for the ganache and shell we have to think about the flavors in the liquor (infusion). I suppose this is true for any filled chocolate confection. Youve got to think about flavor pairing so as to avoid clashes and disagreements on the palate.Example 1:For some liquor infused ganaches Ive tried to emphasize the caramel flavor notes by using evaporated milk instead of heavy whipping cream as the ganache base. The theory being, evaporated milk has a more caramel type flavor and boosts the oaky/caramel flavors of, for example, Jim Beam whiskey. They blend and compliment and reinforce each other. Once deciding to focus on the rich caramel notes of the filling, then you can think about the shell flavors desired and I have often chosen a dark spicy chocolate like a 66% Madagascar dark for the shell around a whiskey ganache. Now, being a bean head and roasting my own in the workshop; Im all about single bean chocolates. Since, in the example above I chose Madagascar dark for the shell, Ive got to go with Madagascar of some type for the ganache. This is where the experimenting starts. Ill try a whiskey in dark, dark milk (like 55- 60% cocoa) and light milk (like 45%) to make the ganache. All with evaporated milk to enhance the oakyness of the whiskey. Whichever of these ganaches seems to work best with the Madagascar dark gets the prize. Usually I go with contrasting flavor pairing : ganache to shell. That would suggest the light milk chocolate for the whiskey ganache. But you could argue against this in favor of complimentary notes just as well I suppose; ie dark shell and dark ganache.Back to the Bee Squeezins.Big Al doesnt ferment or age his mead on oak chips. I guess he could but Ive never heard of that being done with mead. So therell be no oaky flavor in the spirits infusion. For that reason Im going to use heavy whipping cream to make the ganache, not evaporated milk. The cream ganache is lighter, it doesnt contribute much flavor to the filling. Most of what well get in flavor will be Bee Squeezins and chocolate. The mead doesnt have a strong flavor and so the Squeezins dont either except for the heat of the alcohol. I would compare this spirits flavor to something like Vodka or Tequila as opposed to Scotch or rum. For this reason, Im going to try to compliment the spirits flavor with a milder chocolate, Mexican Tabasco, rather than the spicy Madagascar. Having made the decision that mead liquor will go best with Mexican Tabasco Im going to need to stay with the same for the shell.Just for the purposes of experimentation, Ill use a Mexican Tabasco light milk chocolate(40%)for the shell , a cream ganache using heavy cream and the dark Mexican (66%). Im going to try to use as much liquor as possible in the ganache without breaking it. You could use any combination of milk chocolate and/or dark in the shell and ganache but I came to the above combination due to the light flavors of the Bee Squeezins.Heres the recipe for Big Als Bee Squeezins in Chocolate(this is for quite a small experimental batch, youll have to scale it up for larger batches) :Warm 1.5 oz (45ml) heavy whipping cream in a sauce pan to boiling and add 2 Tbs (30ml) Bee Squeezins. Pour this warmed liquid over 2 oz. (57gm) chopped Mexican Tabasco Dark (66%) chocolate and stir until well melted and blended. Let this ganache cool in the refrigerator until well set; it can then be scooped into the milk chocolate shells and covered with a layer of chocolate for the shell bottom. Another method, after youre sure you have a ganache formula that will set solid, is to pipe it warm into the chocolate shell and seal.For a mild flavored spirits like this, its important to get the most liquor possible into the ganache so you can actually taste it in the chocolate. But you dont want to add too much spirits to the ganache blend.My way of infusing the ganache with spirits in the correct proportion is to make a ganache without spirits first, just cream and chocolate ; measure and record the proportions of each. Then subtract a quantity of cream in the formula and replace it with an equal volume of liquor to make a test spirits batch. Now make more test batches adding slightly more liquor each time until the ganache breaks (some of the liquor remains liquid after the ganache has set; or the ganache just wont set at all). The highest un-broken ratio is the one to use. This will give the most spirits flavor in the finished filled chocolate piece.Al tried these chocolate pieces and thought they were just the bees knees.PS I gave a bowl of the Mexican Tabasco light milk chocolate ganache with mead in it to Big Al for his Valentines Day dinner crowd. This was honey mead wine to replace some quantity of cream in the ganache (not Bee Squeezins) . His customers loved it ! They were dipping strawberries in it and pouring it over cake and raving about it. Problem was, I didnt make enough of it. Al needs to buy more honey and yeast.That's all this time from Mr. WineCandy