Forum Activity for @Patrick Pineda

What relationship do high quality, non-artisanal chocolate makers have with the cacao farmers/plantations?

Posted in: Chocolate Education

Jim, i have been reading your post and i thank you for sharing your insights and experience. I am particualary interested in hearing more about you experiences production.I went through your numbers and had a question :you say you haveArea 10 hectaresProduction per area (kg) 2250So i just wanted to clarify your yield is 225 kg per hectare? So your breakeven is 320kg per hectare? Are there any major reason for the low yeild?In venezuela most of the old haciendas that are now run as small plots by farmers have a low yeild of around 250 - 300 kg / hectare, this coupled with economic issues, political issues in the country and a spiraling inflation is what makes venezuelan cacao much more expensive. But the main issue for low yield is that the idea of running a farm like a business is what is missing. small farmers do not invest in the land, they do not prune the trees for fear of loosing a producing branch today even though the output will most likely be greater the next harvest. You mentioned that farmers do not know the return of investment or profits margin of their land and from my experience working hands on with coops and small farmers i echo this oppinion. We hold workshops with local ngo to educate farmers but it is a slow road.look forward to hearing from you.

Hello. I am currently in Venezuela sourcing the new origins for the next harvest. And came across your post.Thanks clay for the support.If the shell is roasted it is 'should' not be harmful or dangerous as long as the bean does not have heavy metal or high dose of dangerous levels of pesticides. If you are using for manufacuring ask for a COA - certificate of analysis from your supplier and make sure it is 3rd party lab that issued the COA.The shell is 80% insoluble fiber and 20% soluble fiber and has relative high pectic acid content which creates a gelatinous layer once left wet and a well fermented bean activates high levels of vitamin D in shells. The shell is used in industry for livestock feed and fertilizer. In africa they use it to feed the tilapia and in the US since the late 1920's they began to use it to increase the vitamin D content of lactating cows. Personally i kinda like eating the shells as is. they taste like thin chocolate popcorn - furthermore we did fda lab results on our shells and has high magnesium levels.Long winded answer to simply say if you are buying in bulk there will always be shells in your nibs. You can sift them out if needed - we have a finished product that needs clean nibs of three distinct sizes and as clean as possible and as Clay says it is very expensive to manually clean large quantities - It took my brother three days to "sift" and separate 1000lbs of nibs. See what works for your production needs and production costs.If you want to try our bulk or retail:We do 44kg kraft polylined bags of single origin Ocumare Nibs - the first USDA organic cacao from Venezuela. I think they are cheaper on amazon then our own site right now and we have 1lb and 5lbs bags as well.Good luck and let us know which you ended up trying and how you liked them.

what cacao butter should/should NOT look like ...

Posted in: Chocolate Education

cacao butter is extracted by pressing the cacao mass/liquor/paste. Either in an expeller press or hydraulic press to 'squeeze' the vegetable oil (cacao butter) from the cacao bean.Once it comes out it can either be deodorized or non-deoderized.deodorized butters are made by passing the oil through filters to remove all remnant particles of cacao solids and are used for cosmetics,pharmeceuticals and other industrial uses where white and flavor less cacao butter is needed.non-deoderized is just that, expressed butter which still has trace cacao solids, leaving slight smell and flavor of the bean varietal.we receive our non-deodorized in 44kg blocks. they are poured in a chilled room to set and hardened. In the summer the blocks and melt down in the heat of the container and harden up again. cacao butter is the one of the most stable vegetable fats and the metling and remelting does not affect the flavor as long as the the burn point is not reached.The big issue you mention is the smoothless/shineless issue with you butter.your butter looks like it was remelted and poured into a mold and as brad mentioned is most likely not tempered. hence the blooming on the outsides and the brittle nature of the shards you broke off. this does not affect taste as long as melting was done properly and once you remelt and temper should be fine.My tip is when buying cacao butter make sure you know what you are getting so as not to be surprised.non-deoderized may have light brown streaks, smokey or chocolatey smell.deodorized should be white and flavor less

cacao butter bulk sought

Posted in: News & New Product Press

Thanks clay. glad you liked our products. will send you samples of our beans that just got in. if anyone is interested in cacao derivative products or beans feel free to reach out to us. we are here to service the new generation or small to mid size bean to bar makers and chocoholics.I have been somewhat absent lately from the forum but have just posted a few albums from the harvest and our bean import. will continue to post more.