Blogs
The chocolate enjoyed around the world today had its origins at least 3,100 years ago in Central America not as the sweet treat people now crave but as a celebratory beer-like beverage and status symbol, scientists said on Monday. Researchers identified residue of a chemical compound that comes exclusively from the cacao plant -- the source of chocolate -- in pottery vessels dating from about 1100 BC in Puerto Escondido, Honduras.
This pushed back by at least 500 years the earliest documented use of cacao, an important luxury commodity in Mesoamerica before European invaders arrived and now the basis of the modern chocolate industry.
"The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds," the scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The cacao brew consumed at the village of perhaps 200 to 300 people may have evolved into the chocolate beverage known from later in Mesoamerican history not by design but as "an accidental byproduct of some brewing," Cornell University's John Henderson said.
This pushed back by at least 500 years the earliest documented use of cacao, an important luxury commodity in Mesoamerica before European invaders arrived and now the basis of the modern chocolate industry.
"The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds," the scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The cacao brew consumed at the village of perhaps 200 to 300 people may have evolved into the chocolate beverage known from later in Mesoamerican history not by design but as "an accidental byproduct of some brewing," Cornell University's John Henderson said.
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Blommer Chocolate Announces New Sustainable Farming Program for Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa
By Clay Gordon, 2008-02-04
Blommer Chocolate, North America's largest processor of cocoa beans and ingredient chocolate products, announced recently the expansion of the company's sustainable farming initiatives with a new program in West Africa. This program (called CIFOB) will focus on cocoa farmers in Cote d'Ivoire.
According to Peter Blommer, COO of the company, "CIFOB is introducing programs to farmers focused on teaching modern farming and business techniques that will help improve the yields and quality of Cote d'Ivoire's cocoa crops. Based on our experience in Indonesia we would expect to see significant improvements in family incomes due to gains in crop yields and improved market access. The program will also advance safer labor practices."
In Indonesia, more than 15,000 farmers benefited from SAFOB in 2007, the program's second year of operation. Among the results have been increases in family incomes of 20-55% through higher crop yields and quality premiums. Seeing the tremendous impact of the Indonesian program, it was an easy decision to introduce the program in West Africa."
CIFOB has started working with 15 cooperatives throughout the cocoa growing regions of Cote d'Ivoire. Farmers are trained in techniques to revitalize their cocoa farms and to improve cocoa quality. "Simple technology can go a long way in helping farmers improve their incomes," noted Kip Walk, Director of Blommer's Cocoa Department. "For instance, we have introduced a greenhouse type structure called a solar dryer to the cooperatives. The dryers provide a weather proof, natural method of properly drying cocoa beans, which allows the farmer to create a consistent product for the marketplace." These dryers were first used [by Blommer] as part of a Blommer sponsored program in Ecuador that resulted in a 30-40% increase in farmer incomes.
According to Peter Blommer, COO of the company, "CIFOB is introducing programs to farmers focused on teaching modern farming and business techniques that will help improve the yields and quality of Cote d'Ivoire's cocoa crops. Based on our experience in Indonesia we would expect to see significant improvements in family incomes due to gains in crop yields and improved market access. The program will also advance safer labor practices."
In Indonesia, more than 15,000 farmers benefited from SAFOB in 2007, the program's second year of operation. Among the results have been increases in family incomes of 20-55% through higher crop yields and quality premiums. Seeing the tremendous impact of the Indonesian program, it was an easy decision to introduce the program in West Africa."
CIFOB has started working with 15 cooperatives throughout the cocoa growing regions of Cote d'Ivoire. Farmers are trained in techniques to revitalize their cocoa farms and to improve cocoa quality. "Simple technology can go a long way in helping farmers improve their incomes," noted Kip Walk, Director of Blommer's Cocoa Department. "For instance, we have introduced a greenhouse type structure called a solar dryer to the cooperatives. The dryers provide a weather proof, natural method of properly drying cocoa beans, which allows the farmer to create a consistent product for the marketplace." These dryers were first used [by Blommer] as part of a Blommer sponsored program in Ecuador that resulted in a 30-40% increase in farmer incomes.
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Adding a Social Networking Twist To Searching for Chocolate on the Internet
By Clay Gordon, 2008-02-04
If you look across the navigation tabs, you'll see that I have moved the search widget from the left-hand column after the Latest Activity section to its own page. I did this to speed up page loads.. The widget searches for text, images, and videos related to chocolate and aggregates them all on one page of search results.
What makes this widget cool is that I get to train it by specifying sites that are related to chocolate and giving it keywords that define the "tag cloud" or "buzz cloud." And you can help me train the widget.
You can help make this THE best chocolate search widget on the Internet by:
Have fun!
What makes this widget cool is that I get to train it by specifying sites that are related to chocolate and giving it keywords that define the "tag cloud" or "buzz cloud." And you can help me train the widget.
You can help make this THE best chocolate search widget on the Internet by:
- Rating the search results. When you use the widget you get to cote on the relevance of the search results. If you see a result that does not pertain to the topic of your search, give it a NO vote. If you find a page that really does a good job of answering your search request, give it a YES vote.
- Suggesting a word for the tag cloud. Not all the words I have entered are displayed, but feel free to recommend anyway. Add your suggestions as a comment to this post.
- Suggesting a "model" site. You don't get to see these, but the widget enables me to select sites that are related to chocolate and the search engine uses those to help determine the relevancy of the results. If you know of a really good site about chocolate that might not be well-known, add your suggestion as a comment to this post.
Have fun!
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Chocolate Landmarks Food Network Challenge Feb 10th at 8.00pm. Watch Fritz and Torben Bang compete amongst the best in the chocolate industry. The show also airs Feb 11th 3.00am, Feb 13th 9.00pm, Feb 14th 12.00am, Feb 16th 2.00am, Feb 17th 7.00pm.
Fritz's throwdown with Bobby Flay will also be aired on Food Network the same night at 10.30pm. The show also airs Feb 11th 1.30am, Feb 19th 9.30pm, Feb 20th 12.30am and Feb 23rd 4.30pm
Fritz's throwdown with Bobby Flay will also be aired on Food Network the same night at 10.30pm. The show also airs Feb 11th 1.30am, Feb 19th 9.30pm, Feb 20th 12.30am and Feb 23rd 4.30pm
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Rogue Chocolatier is the newest American bean to bar chocolate maker. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this efficiency apartment sized chocolate factory was started just a few months ago by Colin Gasko. Aside from the fact that he has created what is most likely the world's smallest chocolate factory, there are a few things you should know about Colin. He is 22 years old, he doesnt own a car, he does a lot of the work himself, he has not yet been to a cacao plantation and he makes fantastic chocolate.
A bean to bar chocolate manufacturer means a maker who does everything from the raw bean, starting with cacao beans that have been fermentedand dried by the grower, but not yet roasted. So the beans are takenall the way from this raw state to a molded bar of chocolate by thesame maker. The process begins with sorting, then roasting, thenwinnowing and cracking, then grinding, then mixing, then conching. Andthen there is tempering, molding, cooling, and wrapping. Colin does nothave employees, and much of this is his one man show. He is helped outby his father four days a week, and a friend pitches in ten hours aweek. Colin often relies on friends for transportation.
Therearent many bean to bar makers in the world, some 50 or so at lastverified count. About 20 are in the United States. When I say verified,it is because bean to bar has become a desirable label denoting anartisan maker, and so many chocolate companies seek to elevate theirstatus by claiming to make their chocolate bean to bar, but they are what else fudging the truth!
Sowithout a car, Colin gets rides, takes the bus, or rides his bike tohis Southeast Minneapolis warehouse space each day, which happens to beright next door to nationally known Twin Cities chocolatier B.T.McElrath, and there he usually spends 14 hour days perfecting hischocolate.
This manufacturing operation is all in one openspace, with one small storage alcove in the back, where Colin storeshis beans in 5 gallon plastic pails there is no room for large sacks of beans. As we progress along thetour, he says things like I use this as my cooling room, as he makesa sweeping motion to the wall in another part of the space, just acouple feet away from the conching room we are standing in, which isthe middle of the room. This funky metal rack is the room where thebars cool inside their molds resting on shelves. There are maybe 50bars in the cooling room today. And some 100 more against another wallawait their packaging in their very own wrapping room.
Much of the equipment has been custom built to a scale fitting the digs. The batch size at the time of my tour is small 30 lbs. A new conche is being built and is slated to arrive next month, and this will increase batch capacity to 200 lbs.
Colinprefers a shorter conching period of about 18 hours. He conches toabout 20 microns. The chocolate is currently aged one month. He prefersto age for two months, and says this will become possible when thebatch size increases with the new conche. With increasing demand due toa recent article in the local weekly City Pages, and such small batches, it has been difficult to let the chocolate sit a full two months as of yet.
Thefirst time Colin got the idea to go into business as a chocolate makerwas one year ago, only six months after the first time he had made hisown chocolate at home. He had been making truffles for awhile and foundthat to be limiting and an already crowded field, and so decided toembark on a little home made experiment, and his first bars were madeusing equipment from Chocolate Alchemy , aone stop shop for the home chocolate maker and the same way others havegotten their start. Like many other small batch artisan makers, Colinis teaching himself the trade by reading old manuals, consulting withother artisan makers, and by the experience of trial and error.
Colinhas eaten a lot of chocolate since he was a boy. When the tides ofchocolate making in this country began to gently turn toward a moreartisan approach, he took notice and became an early fan of ScharffenBerger when their first bars came out in the early 2000s.
CurrentlyRogue offers a Sambirano and an Ocumare, both at 70%. The next originson the docket are Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. I had achance to sample the Trinidad, Im a big fan of this origin, andcommented to Colin that what I liked best about his take on thisinteresting bean was the way he handled the coconut, differently thanTrinidad bars Ive had by other makers (namely Pralus and Amadei.) Andwith a smile he proudly told me that it was a trick he had pulled tobalance the coconut and fruit, and this was the reaction he was goingfor.
I also had the chance to sample some raw, unroasted cacaobeans (below) for the first time, they were from Jamaica. I found themmuch less bitter than I had anticipated, and with a sweetness I did notexpect still evidence of the sweet cacao pulp before some of its delicate flavor is roasted away. I really enjoyed it.
Colinoffered me a sample of the Ocumare, then the Sambirano, and he wasanxious to hear my response to his work, and kept pressing me for morefeedback than simply good. I told him that he would have to read therest on the blog. I told him I need to give this the full treatment,with the fresh palate in the morning, and he said la Chlo! Yesexactly, I replied, la Chlo!
Chlo is Chlo Doutre-Roussel ,whose name is inevitably encountered early on in the world of finechocolate. Her famous little pink book, the introductory manual Chocolate Connoisseur ,is familiar reading to most of fine chocolates initiated. More aboutChlo and her book later on the Chocolate Note. For now lets say sheis notorious for her six a.m. chocolate tastings, conducted with afresh palate no eating first!
Colintold me that he had just recently received an email from Chlo, whoheard about Rogue from the City Pages article, and is already on thescene offering guidance, asking questions, without even having tastedRogue chocolate. She has been encouraging him to stop using vanilla,which many in the new artisan movement are tending to omit. Colin doesnot use soy lecithin, also becoming more common practice among artisanmakers, and he uses nondeoderized cocoa butter. He would like to takeChlos advice and experiment with no vanilla, and also with no addedcocoa butter down the road. He would like to play with otherpercentages, but at this time his plans are to unveil the Jamaica,Trinidad, and Dominican Republic as 70% bars, sometime later this year.He is also working on a blend using some of the above origins plusArriba, and this will likely be a limited edition run.
Colinlooks forward to these and other experiments and admits he has a lot tolearn, and that his palate is still developing. When asked if he wouldhave a presence on the chocolate salon circuit next fall, he said hemay not be ready. He really wants the chocolate to be as close toperfectly where he wants it to be as possible, even if he thinks it isnot too far off now. For the time being he is content to work withsolid bars no flavored bars, no milk chocolate, no bonbons. He is happy to explainthat since he only processes cacao, sugar, and vanilla in his workshop,his products are currently 100% vegan, gluten, nut, and dairy sensitivefriendly!
And what chocolate bars other than his own is he happyto eat? I like the Theo Ghana, thats a good one for that nice cocoa-ykick. And I liked Scharffen Bergers last Cuyagua, once it settled alittle bit, for a couple months. And he can't say enough good thingsabout Steve DeVries and his chocolate. Steve has served as a source of inspiration and guidance to many of the newer artisan chocolate makers.
Andso, as promised, I have conducted my morning tastings and present myconclusions below. Colin himself is not so into these rituals aroundtasting times of day, palate cleansing, special methods No, he says I just put it in my mouth and chew. For his first twoefforts, I will say Bravissimo! As to the new chocolate, I look forwardto having new Rogue chocolate to put into my mouth and chew!
Wherecan you get Rogue chocolate? Outside of a few Twin Cities retaillocations, currently limited to the Kitchen Window, Surdyk's andKopplin's Coffee, it is currently only available through Rogue Chocolatier. And once you've ordered online the rest is simple, you know what to do put it in your mouth and chew!
Ocumare
origin: Venezuela (Ocumare Valley)
rating: 9.2
An Ocumare to get your motor running. The champagne explosion is balanced by an appropriate amount of coffee and bitter notes.
Don'tlet the fact that my flavor notes are the shortest fool you, the tasteis is the most amazing part. The finish has an aromatic herb bouquetthat is best described as sprucey. More often than with any otherchocolate I have so far tasted, I had the feeling that there weredistinct flavors and aromas which I should be able to recognize, butwas not able to quite name. "What's that, oh, wait, what's that?"
aroma:raisin, currant, mint, olive, tobacco, banana, coffee, blackberry,walnut, cranberry, must, soy/tofu, bee pollen, blueberry, raspberry,leather, palm tree
flavor: chocolate, coffee, plum, cranberry, nutmeg, banana, bouquet of fruity wine/ champagne, bouquet of tropical fruits
finish: cream, coffee, dirt, hay, tobacco, mint, plum, water chestnut, hibiscus, doughnuts, bouquetof fruity wine, silk, mushroom, honey, bouquet of aromatic herbs: sage,lavender, and spruce, resin, lemon, cinnamon, apricot, flax seed,smoked fish, dandelion wine, orange, tomato, strawberry
Samibrano
origin: Madagascar (Sambirano Valley)
rating: 9.1
Forthe aftertaste, at first I thought, "This finish is not so stellar asthe aroma and taste had led me to expect," but every time Ithought,"Okay, that's it," it kept coming back, if subtly, with wavesof the most pleasant chocolate, overlapped at turns by nectar,marshmallow, craisin, and rose. So that by the time it really was done, my taste buds, like a child just finished with a ride at the fair, said "Let's go back and do it again!"
aroma:leather, cherry, walnut, almond, champagne, banana, blueberry,chocolate, dirt, coffee, caramel, nutmeg, cinnamon, floral
flavor:coconut, banana, chocolate, rose, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry,wine, bilberry, peppermint, hay, lime, plum, caramel, mint, mango
finish:blueberry spritzer, zinfandel, old leather boots, shoebox, lemon, lime,mango, white wine, Chardonnay, lime jello, cigar, toffee, plum, coffee,green apple jolly rancher candy, clove, lavender
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A bean to bar chocolate manufacturer means a maker who does everything from the raw bean, starting with cacao beans that have been fermentedand dried by the grower, but not yet roasted. So the beans are takenall the way from this raw state to a molded bar of chocolate by thesame maker. The process begins with sorting, then roasting, thenwinnowing and cracking, then grinding, then mixing, then conching. Andthen there is tempering, molding, cooling, and wrapping. Colin does nothave employees, and much of this is his one man show. He is helped outby his father four days a week, and a friend pitches in ten hours aweek. Colin often relies on friends for transportation.
Therearent many bean to bar makers in the world, some 50 or so at lastverified count. About 20 are in the United States. When I say verified,it is because bean to bar has become a desirable label denoting anartisan maker, and so many chocolate companies seek to elevate theirstatus by claiming to make their chocolate bean to bar, but they are what else fudging the truth!
Sowithout a car, Colin gets rides, takes the bus, or rides his bike tohis Southeast Minneapolis warehouse space each day, which happens to beright next door to nationally known Twin Cities chocolatier B.T.McElrath, and there he usually spends 14 hour days perfecting hischocolate.
This manufacturing operation is all in one openspace, with one small storage alcove in the back, where Colin storeshis beans in 5 gallon plastic pails there is no room for large sacks of beans. As we progress along thetour, he says things like I use this as my cooling room, as he makesa sweeping motion to the wall in another part of the space, just acouple feet away from the conching room we are standing in, which isthe middle of the room. This funky metal rack is the room where thebars cool inside their molds resting on shelves. There are maybe 50bars in the cooling room today. And some 100 more against another wallawait their packaging in their very own wrapping room.
Much of the equipment has been custom built to a scale fitting the digs. The batch size at the time of my tour is small 30 lbs. A new conche is being built and is slated to arrive next month, and this will increase batch capacity to 200 lbs.
Colinprefers a shorter conching period of about 18 hours. He conches toabout 20 microns. The chocolate is currently aged one month. He prefersto age for two months, and says this will become possible when thebatch size increases with the new conche. With increasing demand due toa recent article in the local weekly City Pages, and such small batches, it has been difficult to let the chocolate sit a full two months as of yet.
Thefirst time Colin got the idea to go into business as a chocolate makerwas one year ago, only six months after the first time he had made hisown chocolate at home. He had been making truffles for awhile and foundthat to be limiting and an already crowded field, and so decided toembark on a little home made experiment, and his first bars were madeusing equipment from Chocolate Alchemy , aone stop shop for the home chocolate maker and the same way others havegotten their start. Like many other small batch artisan makers, Colinis teaching himself the trade by reading old manuals, consulting withother artisan makers, and by the experience of trial and error.
Colinhas eaten a lot of chocolate since he was a boy. When the tides ofchocolate making in this country began to gently turn toward a moreartisan approach, he took notice and became an early fan of ScharffenBerger when their first bars came out in the early 2000s.
CurrentlyRogue offers a Sambirano and an Ocumare, both at 70%. The next originson the docket are Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and Jamaica. I had achance to sample the Trinidad, Im a big fan of this origin, andcommented to Colin that what I liked best about his take on thisinteresting bean was the way he handled the coconut, differently thanTrinidad bars Ive had by other makers (namely Pralus and Amadei.) Andwith a smile he proudly told me that it was a trick he had pulled tobalance the coconut and fruit, and this was the reaction he was goingfor.
I also had the chance to sample some raw, unroasted cacaobeans (below) for the first time, they were from Jamaica. I found themmuch less bitter than I had anticipated, and with a sweetness I did notexpect still evidence of the sweet cacao pulp before some of its delicate flavor is roasted away. I really enjoyed it.
Colinoffered me a sample of the Ocumare, then the Sambirano, and he wasanxious to hear my response to his work, and kept pressing me for morefeedback than simply good. I told him that he would have to read therest on the blog. I told him I need to give this the full treatment,with the fresh palate in the morning, and he said la Chlo! Yesexactly, I replied, la Chlo!
Chlo is Chlo Doutre-Roussel ,whose name is inevitably encountered early on in the world of finechocolate. Her famous little pink book, the introductory manual Chocolate Connoisseur ,is familiar reading to most of fine chocolates initiated. More aboutChlo and her book later on the Chocolate Note. For now lets say sheis notorious for her six a.m. chocolate tastings, conducted with afresh palate no eating first!
Colintold me that he had just recently received an email from Chlo, whoheard about Rogue from the City Pages article, and is already on thescene offering guidance, asking questions, without even having tastedRogue chocolate. She has been encouraging him to stop using vanilla,which many in the new artisan movement are tending to omit. Colin doesnot use soy lecithin, also becoming more common practice among artisanmakers, and he uses nondeoderized cocoa butter. He would like to takeChlos advice and experiment with no vanilla, and also with no addedcocoa butter down the road. He would like to play with otherpercentages, but at this time his plans are to unveil the Jamaica,Trinidad, and Dominican Republic as 70% bars, sometime later this year.He is also working on a blend using some of the above origins plusArriba, and this will likely be a limited edition run.
Colinlooks forward to these and other experiments and admits he has a lot tolearn, and that his palate is still developing. When asked if he wouldhave a presence on the chocolate salon circuit next fall, he said hemay not be ready. He really wants the chocolate to be as close toperfectly where he wants it to be as possible, even if he thinks it isnot too far off now. For the time being he is content to work withsolid bars no flavored bars, no milk chocolate, no bonbons. He is happy to explainthat since he only processes cacao, sugar, and vanilla in his workshop,his products are currently 100% vegan, gluten, nut, and dairy sensitivefriendly!
And what chocolate bars other than his own is he happyto eat? I like the Theo Ghana, thats a good one for that nice cocoa-ykick. And I liked Scharffen Bergers last Cuyagua, once it settled alittle bit, for a couple months. And he can't say enough good thingsabout Steve DeVries and his chocolate. Steve has served as a source of inspiration and guidance to many of the newer artisan chocolate makers.
Andso, as promised, I have conducted my morning tastings and present myconclusions below. Colin himself is not so into these rituals aroundtasting times of day, palate cleansing, special methods No, he says I just put it in my mouth and chew. For his first twoefforts, I will say Bravissimo! As to the new chocolate, I look forwardto having new Rogue chocolate to put into my mouth and chew!
Wherecan you get Rogue chocolate? Outside of a few Twin Cities retaillocations, currently limited to the Kitchen Window, Surdyk's andKopplin's Coffee, it is currently only available through Rogue Chocolatier. And once you've ordered online the rest is simple, you know what to do put it in your mouth and chew!
Ocumareorigin: Venezuela (Ocumare Valley)
rating: 9.2
An Ocumare to get your motor running. The champagne explosion is balanced by an appropriate amount of coffee and bitter notes.
Don'tlet the fact that my flavor notes are the shortest fool you, the tasteis is the most amazing part. The finish has an aromatic herb bouquetthat is best described as sprucey. More often than with any otherchocolate I have so far tasted, I had the feeling that there weredistinct flavors and aromas which I should be able to recognize, butwas not able to quite name. "What's that, oh, wait, what's that?"
aroma:raisin, currant, mint, olive, tobacco, banana, coffee, blackberry,walnut, cranberry, must, soy/tofu, bee pollen, blueberry, raspberry,leather, palm tree
flavor: chocolate, coffee, plum, cranberry, nutmeg, banana, bouquet of fruity wine/ champagne, bouquet of tropical fruits
finish: cream, coffee, dirt, hay, tobacco, mint, plum, water chestnut, hibiscus, doughnuts, bouquetof fruity wine, silk, mushroom, honey, bouquet of aromatic herbs: sage,lavender, and spruce, resin, lemon, cinnamon, apricot, flax seed,smoked fish, dandelion wine, orange, tomato, strawberry
Samibrano
origin: Madagascar (Sambirano Valley)
rating: 9.1
Forthe aftertaste, at first I thought, "This finish is not so stellar asthe aroma and taste had led me to expect," but every time Ithought,"Okay, that's it," it kept coming back, if subtly, with wavesof the most pleasant chocolate, overlapped at turns by nectar,marshmallow, craisin, and rose. So that by the time it really was done, my taste buds, like a child just finished with a ride at the fair, said "Let's go back and do it again!"
aroma:leather, cherry, walnut, almond, champagne, banana, blueberry,chocolate, dirt, coffee, caramel, nutmeg, cinnamon, floral
flavor:coconut, banana, chocolate, rose, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry,wine, bilberry, peppermint, hay, lime, plum, caramel, mint, mango
finish:blueberry spritzer, zinfandel, old leather boots, shoebox, lemon, lime,mango, white wine, Chardonnay, lime jello, cigar, toffee, plum, coffee,green apple jolly rancher candy, clove, lavender
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When it comes to learning about the history of chocolate, most people never look past the excellent book, The True History of Chocolate by Sophie and Michael Coe. I have to say that the timing of the publishing of this book (1996) was instrumental in my quest to become a chocolate critic. While I am sure that the Coe's did a fair amount of primary research, much of what they wrote was gleaned from the writings of others, which can be confirmed by taking a look at the bibliography.
Many of the sources that are referenced are not easily accessible - even in the current age of Internet access - unless you have access to a good university research library.
For me, one of the cool things about chocolate is that it affords me an opportunity to satisfy my curiosity on a lot of subjects. While I do the tasting and criticism things, my ability to do these is informed by my knowledge of the history, cultural anthropology, economics, agronomy, genetics, and more about chocolate. Chocolate is a lens that I use to look at any subject of interest.
So, if it's not easy to get access to many of these resources, where can you go to learn more?
One great resource is Project Gutenberg, a collection of eBooks that are in the public domain. I like to use the resources at archive.org because they aggregate the Project Gutenberg eBooks with those available from other sources.
One eBook I can recommend is The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cocoa and Chocolate, by Arthur W. Knapp, originally published in 1920 and titled Cocoa and Chocolate: Their History from Plantation to Consumer.
Click here to read the eBook online in a web browser.
The text is also available for download in a few different formats from links on this page:
From time to time I will be posting other good learning resources that are available online as comments to this post. (Book recommendations will be posted in the forums in the Book Reviews category.) If you have some online resources that you'd like to recommend, you can post them here.
Many of the sources that are referenced are not easily accessible - even in the current age of Internet access - unless you have access to a good university research library.
For me, one of the cool things about chocolate is that it affords me an opportunity to satisfy my curiosity on a lot of subjects. While I do the tasting and criticism things, my ability to do these is informed by my knowledge of the history, cultural anthropology, economics, agronomy, genetics, and more about chocolate. Chocolate is a lens that I use to look at any subject of interest.
So, if it's not easy to get access to many of these resources, where can you go to learn more?
One great resource is Project Gutenberg, a collection of eBooks that are in the public domain. I like to use the resources at archive.org because they aggregate the Project Gutenberg eBooks with those available from other sources.
One eBook I can recommend is The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cocoa and Chocolate, by Arthur W. Knapp, originally published in 1920 and titled Cocoa and Chocolate: Their History from Plantation to Consumer.
Click here to read the eBook online in a web browser.
The text is also available for download in a few different formats from links on this page:
From time to time I will be posting other good learning resources that are available online as comments to this post. (Book recommendations will be posted in the forums in the Book Reviews category.) If you have some online resources that you'd like to recommend, you can post them here.
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If you scroll down the home page of The Chocolate Life you'll see a new calendar of events I have created. If you have (or know of) an event that can be included on this calendar, send me a message and I will add it. Better yet, please leave your recommendations as comments to this post.
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Do biotic community dynamics of shaded coffee plantations inform cacao plantations?
By Lorna, 2008-01-29
I went to a talk last week about the dynamics of biotic communities on coffee plants on a 100 year-old organic shaded coffee plantation. The biotic interactions were fascinating, and ever increasing as the speaker elaborated on her research. The speaker was Ivette Perfecto from the University of Michigan. Here's the gist:
Arboreal ants live in nests in the shade trees and come down to tend scales (coffee herbivores) on the coffee plants and eat the honeydew produced by the scales. At first glance, it's boo ants.
The ants are parasitized by a decapitating fly that kills ant nests, leaving aggregates of the arboreal ant nests rather than a dense blanket of nests across the plantation. So the ant parasites hedge ant populations and thereby the scale populations too.
An adult beetle is a coffee herbivore and is predated upon by the arboreal ants. So, in the presence of the adult beetles, a good level of ants is beneficial. Yay ants. However, young beetle larvae are covered in fuzz that fumbles up ant mandibles, allowing beetle larvae to live in refuges near the ants' scale farms. Thus, ants are both helping and hindering beetle populations.
Additionally, coffee beetle borers dive into the fruit and eat the seed. Ants camp out by the bored hole to predate on them. Yay for ants again.
Finally, coffee rust (a leaf fungus) is present in Central America but has not started to threaten a crop collapse (as it did in Sri Lanka, which now grows tea). This is seriously scary stuff. A different white ring fungus grows on the tended scales and harms the coffee plants and is possibly transmitted by the tending ants. So it's boo for ants and scales again, except that the presence of this white fungus appears to stymy the growth of the more dangerous coffee rust. So, it's actually yay for ants again.
Surely this story only gets larger. As with any ecosystem, boundaries are fuzzy and dynamics are like ripples. However, it is a complete enough story to see that the shade trees harbor a rather useful biotic control, namely the ants. Farmers are disposed to see them tending harmful scales and dislike them. Educational efforts are being made to communicate the benefit of this intertwined system that acts like a rubber band web, pulling the system back to stability after perturbations. And especially the resilience it offers to the greatest perturbation: the threat of collapse from coffee rust.
Natural systems are unique in that their complexity creates an effective buffer against disturbance. (One striking note is that this plantation has acquired such a complex biotic system in only a century.) A shaded plantation is by definition more complex in its flora. Cacao, a shade crop, might also reveal such dynamism in both plantations and natural forests.
When I asked the speaker, she said that cacao research lags coffee research, but has begun in earnest in the last 5 years or so. I will definitely keep an ear to the field and report back!
Arboreal ants live in nests in the shade trees and come down to tend scales (coffee herbivores) on the coffee plants and eat the honeydew produced by the scales. At first glance, it's boo ants.
The ants are parasitized by a decapitating fly that kills ant nests, leaving aggregates of the arboreal ant nests rather than a dense blanket of nests across the plantation. So the ant parasites hedge ant populations and thereby the scale populations too.
An adult beetle is a coffee herbivore and is predated upon by the arboreal ants. So, in the presence of the adult beetles, a good level of ants is beneficial. Yay ants. However, young beetle larvae are covered in fuzz that fumbles up ant mandibles, allowing beetle larvae to live in refuges near the ants' scale farms. Thus, ants are both helping and hindering beetle populations.
Additionally, coffee beetle borers dive into the fruit and eat the seed. Ants camp out by the bored hole to predate on them. Yay for ants again.
Finally, coffee rust (a leaf fungus) is present in Central America but has not started to threaten a crop collapse (as it did in Sri Lanka, which now grows tea). This is seriously scary stuff. A different white ring fungus grows on the tended scales and harms the coffee plants and is possibly transmitted by the tending ants. So it's boo for ants and scales again, except that the presence of this white fungus appears to stymy the growth of the more dangerous coffee rust. So, it's actually yay for ants again.
Surely this story only gets larger. As with any ecosystem, boundaries are fuzzy and dynamics are like ripples. However, it is a complete enough story to see that the shade trees harbor a rather useful biotic control, namely the ants. Farmers are disposed to see them tending harmful scales and dislike them. Educational efforts are being made to communicate the benefit of this intertwined system that acts like a rubber band web, pulling the system back to stability after perturbations. And especially the resilience it offers to the greatest perturbation: the threat of collapse from coffee rust.
Natural systems are unique in that their complexity creates an effective buffer against disturbance. (One striking note is that this plantation has acquired such a complex biotic system in only a century.) A shaded plantation is by definition more complex in its flora. Cacao, a shade crop, might also reveal such dynamism in both plantations and natural forests.
When I asked the speaker, she said that cacao research lags coffee research, but has begun in earnest in the last 5 years or so. I will definitely keep an ear to the field and report back!
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According to their monthly newsletter, Costco says that Theo is making a "limited" (as limited as anything that is sold in Costco can be) edition Valentine's Gift Set.
This follows a trend for well-known chocolate companies to sell their wares through Costco. While probably less destructive to the bottom line than selling through WalMart, the fact that people can purchase the chocolate at 20% normal retail prices would indicate that Theo is not making its customary margins.
The Gift Set is actually pretty extensive and would make a decent introduction to their products for an emerging chocophile: 5 origin bars, 6 flavored bars, and 6 bob bons. The article does not give a price, you'll either have to go online or into your local Costco to find that out.
This follows a trend for well-known chocolate companies to sell their wares through Costco. While probably less destructive to the bottom line than selling through WalMart, the fact that people can purchase the chocolate at 20% normal retail prices would indicate that Theo is not making its customary margins.
The Gift Set is actually pretty extensive and would make a decent introduction to their products for an emerging chocophile: 5 origin bars, 6 flavored bars, and 6 bob bons. The article does not give a price, you'll either have to go online or into your local Costco to find that out.
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Hold on to your hats everyone, rumor has it that Starbucks will be getting into the "artisan" chocolate business in a big way pretty soon. Given the number of doors (that's the technical term that people use when they talk about the number of stores) in the Starbucks franchise it stretches credulity to believe that the chocolate will actually be made using artisan production methods. When I know more I will let everyone know what I find out.
In the meantime, take a moment to post your thoughts in the Forum Discussion "What Makes an Artisan Chocolate Artisan?"
In the meantime, take a moment to post your thoughts in the Forum Discussion "What Makes an Artisan Chocolate Artisan?"
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