Forum Activity for @Jeff

Jeff
@Jeff
12/17/14 03:23:03PM
94 posts

What to do about To'ak Chocolate?


Posted in: Opinion

We dont have to do anything except point out the truth. Eventually the reality of what they are doing will trickle down to the consumer.This IS NOKA all over again. They didnt last long either.

BUT....my mummified alapaca skin wrapped bars for $1000 each will be available soon....well....as soon as we can get the shaman down out of his ayahuasca induced trance....bugger is too high to be blessing anything right now...

Jeff
@Jeff
12/01/14 07:33:01PM
94 posts

Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar


Posted in: Uncategorized

She succumbed to the BS in person....

Jeff
@Jeff
12/01/14 07:32:45PM
94 posts

Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar


Posted in: Uncategorized

Ok just watched it. Pure hype. He deferred to his website constantly. Its marketing garbage. Watch his eyes; even he doesn't believe the horse shit he is spewing.

Jeff
@Jeff
10/26/14 02:47:30PM
94 posts

Toak Chocolate - $260 per 50 gram bar


Posted in: Uncategorized

this is a travesty. It in no way defines the concept of a 100$ chocolate bar. This is pure unadulterated marketing. plain and simple. while they will certainly sell every bar they have, only a fool would believe they made 1 batch of 28 kilos. That is one tank in a cocoatown. This is not real. The website is beautiful, for sure, but the story of these beans and the process is a bit muddy. rare secret trees....yet they have 14 farmers?....which is it guys?

whatever....like NOKA this will disappear....

Jeff
@Jeff
12/03/13 08:07:11AM
94 posts

Question on Top Chocolatiers?


Posted in: Opinion

I had no idea anna was still in business. She makes beautiful chocolates and is a sweetheart to boot.

So yeah...its really a matter of taste. Some poeple swear by one or the other but having eaten everyones chocolate on every top 10 list I couldnt say who was the best. Each chocolatier has a specialty that discerns their work from the others. Each one has something great they bring to the table. Julien is an excellent chocolatier but he is hamstrung by being part of a large corporation where shelf stability trumps taste. You see this alot. Mass production need not kill the quality but it can.

when I made one of those Top 10 Lists I was flabbergasted to be up on stage with jaques, and norman and michael reccuitti and norman and jen and julien....but then I thought about it and realized my work is just as good even if not as widely known. I keep it simple and small and do what needs to be done to stay original. Thats what you should look for, originality and balance. The chocolate still needs to be the star---not the pretty colors or the exotic flavor combo....

Jeff
@Jeff
12/01/14 07:12:17PM
94 posts

What the Chocolate Industry Needs is A $100 Bar of Chocolate


Posted in: Opinion

yep. I mean we know clay cant say it, and others may be too nice. This, of course, is not my MO. These guys have zero track record for making quality chocolate. ...or ANY chocolate for that matter. I suppose I am just jealous on some level because I am honest to the point of recklessness and feel that what they are doing is dishonest. Its NOKA all over again. I might as well do my own....

"Announcing the world's most expensive chocolate bar! These one of a kind cacao beans were spoon fed to sloths in the costa rican rainforest and extracted from their feces in a loving and kindly manner after fermenting in their slow moving guts for 3 whole days. Each individual bean was hand roasted, one at a time, in a used smack heads spoon from the lower east side with a bic lighter. They are then cracked with a ball peen hammer and then winnowed with the breath of nubile virgins. The sugar was processed in a toaster oven heavily modified by our crack equipment crew having been salvaged from a burned out tenement in the Bronx. After 462 hours of grinding in a mortar and pestle by coca fueled aliens in a Tuscon shitbox the finished chocolate is aged in an old gold mine in a pool of fulminated mercury for 6 months. Each individual 100 gram bar is wrapped in the dried skin of an alapaca that died of natural causes no later than 1749 and was skinned by a shaman under the influence of ayahuasca and mummified at high elevation in the Bolivian Andes. Each one of these shaman blessed bars is certified gluten free, certified organic, certified vegan, certified GMO free and only $1000.00 per bar."

Jeff
@Jeff
12/01/14 05:36:24PM
94 posts

What the Chocolate Industry Needs is A $100 Bar of Chocolate


Posted in: Opinion

annmarie? There is no way on the face of this earth that the toak chocolate is what they say it is. Their website is inconsistent(we have 14 farmers--but only a few 100 year old trees?))...to the packaging and hype around it. So this ex wall street guy goes on a surfing safari, falls in love with chocolate and voila...he makes the worlds most expensive chocolate bar? I will call bullshit on it everyday from now to eternity. What they claim is just not possible. nor do these guys have any experience making chocolate. It takes years of practice and experimentation to get a quality product, even from really good beans. This bar is marketed to the 1% and they will buy it...but you can well bet it is not any better than Pacari or even a Guittard Ecuador for that matter....

Jeff
@Jeff
05/02/12 02:37:38PM
94 posts

Examining a Mast Brothers Assertion


Posted in: Opinion

People listen, pay attention, and measure others' performance by what they say.

If my work is being judged or assessed by others because of the spin some hipsters with deep pockets in Brooklyn say, as opposed to the actual quality of the product, then this industry is doomed.

Jeff
@Jeff
04/30/12 10:17:25PM
94 posts

Examining a Mast Brothers Assertion


Posted in: Opinion

good point jim. It is very easy for those of us making chocolate to be nit picky and catty about what others do in this industry. Its really none of my business what the mast brother pay or say they pay for their beans.

Jeff
@Jeff
04/30/12 03:00:42PM
94 posts

Examining a Mast Brothers Assertion


Posted in: Opinion

Highly unlikely those prices were paid anywhere, to anyone....

premium prices run about $5k+ a MT for FTO....and they arent saying they use FTO are they?

Jeff
@Jeff
04/30/12 06:20:45PM
94 posts

What happened to Samoan cocoa?


Posted in: History of Chocolate

howard...

I was approached 2 years ago by a man who said he was representing some cocoa farmers in Samoa. He talked a long talk and was slicker than seal fat. Long story short it was a scam. Now the good people at the farm in Samoa were nice enough but the man who was representing them and was supposedly setting up the NGO was a con artist who had bilked other industries in Samoa out of money. I have his name and a long list of lawsuits filed against him if interested.

The beans he sent me were either completely moldy or not fermented at all.

Jeff
@Jeff
12/09/11 10:09:27PM
94 posts

"Intentional Chocolate" - Your Thoughts [sic]?


Posted in: Opinion

exactly. Its a marketing ploy to sucker gullible new agey types.....consider the source....
Jeff
@Jeff
12/09/11 04:49:05PM
94 posts

"Intentional Chocolate" - Your Thoughts [sic]?


Posted in: Opinion

PT Barnum would be laughing his ass off if he wasn't dead.

Jeff
@Jeff
01/06/11 04:38:37PM
94 posts

FCIA meeting Jan 15th in San Francisco


Posted in: Opinion

Not going to the meeting sarah but come to the FF show...booth 1750....
Jeff
@Jeff
09/08/10 12:07:04PM
94 posts

Leaky cordials and caramels


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

its a pain in the ass but we look at every cavity and use a small artists palette knife to remove any potential problem areas. with 32 cavities x 25 molds a run its a mind numbingly tedious process but our reject rate is very low now. patience is key. meticulous anal retentive exactitude a must.
Jeff
@Jeff
09/08/10 11:07:44AM
94 posts

Leaky cordials and caramels


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

dirke,we make thousands of very liquid cordials and caramels every week. A very small percentage always leak. It is, most likely, a seal problem. we take great care to make sure no filling rides up the sides creating a place where the filling can ooze out. this is, most likely, where your problem is.
Jeff
@Jeff
05/02/10 09:12:00PM
94 posts

Just curious...


Posted in: Opinion

actually clay I would be very surprised if they made their own shells. They are thick and there is a break away between the enrobing and the shell...so the shells are certainly filled.for the price they charge they better use felchlin...but I suspect they are not....I have no proof one way or the other, I only know they certainly a pre-made shell, filled, and then enrobed.
Jeff
@Jeff
05/02/10 11:12:48AM
94 posts

Just curious...


Posted in: Opinion

yes theydo....
Jeff
@Jeff
05/02/10 11:21:27AM
94 posts

chocolatier who surfs


Posted in: Travels & Adventures

sounds awesome robert. I spent way too much time surfing hanalei on kauai and miss the water desperately. alas this gig will should go someone younger without 2 mortgages, 10 employees, and a 7 day a week business...
Jeff
@Jeff
05/01/10 03:30:26PM
94 posts

chocolatier who surfs


Posted in: Travels & Adventures

I cannot tell you how badly I want to take you up on this offer. The predominant breaks, are they rights, lefts, point, reef or beach breaks?...or....shudder...all of the above...I am drooling at this opportunity, alas my business requires constant monitoring.LONGBOARDS RULE!
Jeff
@Jeff
03/18/10 10:22:18AM
94 posts

Cheese and Chocolate -- shelf life?


Posted in: Recipes

be careful. if its pure cheese its gonna spoil very very fast at room temp. if its an emulsion of chocolate, cheese, glucose you will get better shelf life.
Jeff
@Jeff
03/16/10 08:11:29PM
94 posts

Dont shoot the messenger


Posted in: News & New Product Press

Organic RAW Cacao Bean Nibs Theobroma cacao Certified Organic & Kosher

We no longer carry this product due to possible long-term harmful sideeffects on human health. For more current information, search the webfor articles on the health effects on health of long-term consumptionof quantities or raw cacao beans.

Also, it seems that cacao beans that are generally advertised as raw aren'traw at all. Here's a letter from one of the suppliers.

Dear friends, customers and partners of Essential Living Foods,

This is a communication inspired by our need for transparency and integritywith you our beloved partners and allies in the health and superfoodnutrition industry.

I would like to share with you information that we have recently uncovered about issues regarding the cacao powderand butter processing from Ecuador and other parts of the world. Wehave been traveling around the world gathering all of the evidencenecessary to make an accurate statement.

This is a continuation of our commitment to transparency and revealing true and detailed informationabout the superfoods we provide to you.

We recently discovered very disappointing news that our cacao powder andbutter supplier was misleading us about the Low Temperatureprocessing they were using to extract our powder and butter.Fortunately, Essential Living Foods will soon be one of only twocompanies distributing a TRULY verified RAW cacao butter & cacaopowder sourced from Bali Indonesia, pressed under 118 degrees.

The Truth about Cacao Powder and Cacao Butter

A few weeks ago, one of the worlds leading chocolate experts (an oldfriend of ours) called to let us know hed been interviewed for anexpos article about the RAW cacao industry. Our friend had been askedto sample all the leading RAW cacao powder and butter brands (includingEssential Living Foods) and to give his opinion about which cacaopowders and butters were truly RAW productsprocessed under 120 degreesFahrenheit.

Soon after the taste test, our friend called to warn us that he didnt think our cacao powder was raw at all. In fact, none ofthe major brands he tasted could prove that their cacao powder wasprocessed RAW under 120 degrees F. He said there was only onemanufacturer (located in Bali) that had developed the machinerynecessary to produce a truly cold-pressed, RAW cacao butter and powder.

We were shocked to hear this, since we have a 6-year relationship with ourEcuadorian cacao supplier, and from the beginning they assured us thattheir cacao butter & powder were RAW, with specialtemperature-control processes involved.

Because of our commitment to Transparency & Integrity, we had verified nearly everythingabout our cacao products, visiting farms and cacao-bean-fermentationco-operatives, cacao nib processors, and more over the years. Everyfacility we ever visited was 100% Raw, Organic, and paying fair-tradewages to its workers...but we had never been invited nor did we demandto visit the butter/powder processing location.

We needed to know the truth for ourselves and our allies so we immediatelycalled our supplier to say that I was flying to Ecuador for aface-to-face explanation. When I arrived, however, our supplier refusedto let me inspect their cacao-powder processing facility: shockingbehavior from someone wed worked so closely with over the years. Wetold them that even though they would not let us see the facility, wewould find it and get the full story for ourselves and our customers.
The next day, I took our infrared laser digital-thermometer and flew tothe largest cacao-processing city in Ecuador to meet with severalprocessing companies, one of whom turned out to handle our own cacaopowder and cacao butter! Though this facility was clean, and certifiedorganic, we found out that they extracted all cacao powder and butterat temperatures no less than 200-300 degrees Fahrenheit!

We all know why this isnt ideal: heat degrades many nutrients andco-factors in foods, including antioxidants and enzymes. So why wouldanyone press RAW cacao at these temperatures? Simple: the machinesconstructed over the years to produce cacao butter and powder aroundthe world create high temperatures to reduce or eliminate microbes.


A Call for Transparency in the Superfood Supply Chain

This experience has inspired us to lead a movement to increase transparency in the superfood industry.Though certifications like Organic and Fair Trade are important, they dont say enough about the quality of the food on your plate...or thesupply-chain that gets it there. How is your food harvested, processedand transported? Is it carbon-neutral? Is it sold in ecologicalpackaging? Is it RAW? What impact does this product have on localcommunities?

In closing, we appreciate your efforts to help us create a healthier world through super nutrition, an improved quality of life on smallorganic farms and indigenous communities and promoting sustainableorganic agriculture across planet Earth.

With respect,

Kipp L. Stroden
Co-Owner
Essential Living Foods


updated by @Jeff: 05/07/15 04:04:26AM
Jeff
@Jeff
02/17/10 06:02:24PM
94 posts

Where can I find for purchase a wide selection of chocolate from a variety of different fine chocolatiers?


Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

enjoy....and when your order...enter:dncjerryas a coupon code for a 10% discount...
Jeff
@Jeff
02/17/10 05:13:15PM
94 posts

Where can I find for purchase a wide selection of chocolate from a variety of different fine chocolatiers?


Posted in: Classifieds F/S or Wanted

april?might as well give us a try too... www.lilliebellefarms.com I wasnt selected as one of North America's Top 10 this last year for my looks....
Jeff
@Jeff
05/02/10 11:26:32AM
94 posts

How Are You Making These Holidays Special with Chocolate?


Posted in: Tasting Notes

we are making our now infamous "Mommy Dearest Caramels"....they are made into the shape of wire coat hangers
Jeff
@Jeff
11/04/09 08:52:10AM
94 posts

Best Female Chocolatier?


Posted in: Opinion

I take you seriously linda...even if you are a chick... ; )
Jeff
@Jeff
10/13/09 09:18:18AM
94 posts

The Holidays Are Upon Us - What Are YOU Making Special This Year?


Posted in: News & New Product Press

Oh its happening....damn things are flying off the shelves again... I will be doing a demo of these on halloween at the chocolate show in NY.....
Jeff
@Jeff
09/18/09 05:43:40PM
94 posts

What do you make/grow/do by youself?


Posted in: Uncategorized

Since the inception of my company I have grown all of my own berries for my chocolates. I currently grow strawberries, raspberries, marionberries, grapes, and plums. I have used and or use all of these fruits in my truffles, pate defruit and bons bons. My farm is 2 acres and is certified organic.I have, for the last few months, begun turning out microbatch chocolate from bean at my shop and using that to make bons bons for my store.We also make gianduja..traditional as well as pecan, macadamia nut aand pistacchio....yer friend is wrong...
Jeff
@Jeff
10/23/09 08:19:56AM
94 posts

Online buying/selling?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

our website does not, but we do....its all about the benjamins...
Jeff
@Jeff
10/22/09 08:58:49PM
94 posts

Online buying/selling?


Posted in: Tech Help, Tips, Tricks, & Techniques

The only ones I liked were Lillibelle's (Jeff is a member here) and they were the ones that were willing to ship USPS! No hassle!Blush......we try hard to please and only fail once in awhile...if you are shipping you should try to find the best way to ship to the country in question....recently we have shipped to:antarcticaalaskacanadachinaturkeyafganistaniraqdubaisaudi arabiafrnceenglandscotlandhollandall in the last 2 months.....all arrived safely.....some fedex, some ups, some usps....
Jeff
@Jeff
10/28/09 11:59:46PM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

I bought a brand new kettle years ago....yes I have dealt with jim and john....nice guys....overpriced...but nice guys....they have a habit of going to the auctions, buying shit up at ridiculously low prices and turning it around for 3 x what they paid for it without doing fuck all to the equipment to refurbish it.....no fault of theirs...capitalism at work....but still....I aam not dumbbut I digress....
Jeff
@Jeff
10/28/09 10:14:27PM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

oh....man....a cooling table?? Like a water jacketed one??? drool in envy....we went to a friend, he made us a 6' long 4' wide 3" thick polished granite slab....its a good heat sink....heavy though...and beth? I started in my small house kitchen too. I am on my 4 th facility in 7 years........DONT DREAM IT, BE IT!!!!
Jeff
@Jeff
10/28/09 08:23:52PM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

you go beth. Its a bitch learning the hard way and I did temper by hand for awhile and then just pulled the trigger on a REVII...ha!...I made thousands of truffles with that bad boy...then a REVX, then a Hilliard 6" coater....now its a 24' wcsmith enrober, a 1000lb national over/under melter temperer, a 250lb savage(for milk), and a old 100lb smith melter(for white)...we run 4 REVX's all day everyday for small batch and use the hilliard for molding....no one shot....all hand poured...I used to make my own fondant too...but thats dumb....although we are coveting a 3' cream beater to make it with now as the price of finished sugar has gone up....glad you saw the cuisineternship vids....the stuff they cut out of the promo was the best...me and gabe had a ball....but neither of us have a filter and the producers were cringing hard every two minutes...you mean you cant say "Thanks for lettin me play with your hot nuts" on TV???? who knew....
Jeff
@Jeff
10/28/09 08:26:45AM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

taunting me with anachronisms and rotting phishhead flesh might do the trick. I am afraid though that I am stuck here in oregon. the wifey's parents, the tween daughter, the farm, the fishing, theponytail now touching my waist, the lax MM laws-(oh my aching back)-and a firm commitment to having spent my whole life west of the sierra/cascade mountains. All these things combined have shown me that i aint going anywhere accept furthur west. the dream is to return to the south pacific and never comeback. let global warming slowly raise the ocean level over my head on some far off atoll where telecommunications are negligable at best. just drown in fish tacos and barreling reefs breaks.

ps.....you got that sponge candy thing down huh? we fuck with that seasonally and people really dig it. hurts my teeth
Jeff
@Jeff
10/27/09 09:31:06PM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

vermont sounds pretty. Do have a lot of feral hippie phish heads in burlington? that could be a deal breaker....
Jeff
@Jeff
10/26/09 11:43:01AM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

with those credentials you are a shoe in....
Jeff
@Jeff
10/26/09 11:00:40AM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

300 grateful dead shows earned me my "Kynd Hippie Merit Badge"
Jeff
@Jeff
10/25/09 02:50:57PM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

thank you...but really...I am just another fucked up hippie with a good job....I have, in no particular order, been:a chefa commercial fishermana tye dye makera janitora musiciana B&B ownera caterera burger flippera radio program directora radio personalitya roadiea band managera farmera dishwashera political analysta actora singera pofessional slackera deckhandbeing a famous chocolatier is just one more position that was neither planned on, nor executed with anything more than a dream and the ability to incur massive debt.so....for those of you who admire people like me, just remember the words of the immortal dr.frankenfurter: "Dont dream it, Be it!"

Jeff
@Jeff
10/23/09 10:47:05AM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

I didnt mean to belittle the school experience. By all means, take classes if they are what you can afford. My comment is one one based on personal experience. Trial and error are part an parcel of the game., even with school. I have never taken a class. I built my business from the ground up through experimentation. I probably SHOULD have taken classes. Alas that is not to be for me; old dog, new tricks.
Jeff
@Jeff
10/22/09 09:03:16PM
94 posts

Best chocolate school


Posted in: Opinion

buy chocolate, buy a book(roger geerts, andrew shotts, peter grewling), buy a tempering machine, practice.good luck
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