Forum Activity for @Beryl Wells Hamilton2

alternatives to champion juicer

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

Clay, Thanks very much for the link to Compatible Technologies International. We live in northern Minnesota, and they are in Saint Paul, so we drove to their headquarters last Wednesday to test their Ewing Grinder with Don Jacobsen, one of the founders. We ground about a pound of Venezuela roasted nibs (had to go to Target to get a hair dryer to heat the burr grinders and shaft first, and heated the nibs in the microwave, and after that, the grinder turned the nibs into a powder (probably because it was not completely heated, but a very fine powder) that we later added to our Premier Grinder. It worked great! We will purchase the machine and adapt it with a motor, but we are confident it's going to do a great job and save us a lot of time and energy. Will post more, with photos, when we get the machine. You can find out more on their web site. CTI is a wonderful company! 

Reached our Kickstarter Goal!

Posted in: Uncategorized

Howdy, chocophiles!

Meadowlands Chocolate's Kickstarter Project has exceeded its goal and we have six days to go! We'll be able to buy our first order of beans in bulk in four origins, plus four new machines, a 10-lb capacity temperer, and more. We'd love to go beyond the goal so we can purchase more equipment and supplies, like more stainless steel tables and storage shelves for our tiny kitchen. The chocolate rewards include all four of our original origins, and Madagascar origin if we go over $10,000.

I found a great quote about craft chocolate and wanted to share it here:

"There is a growing movement, led by chocolate makers (typically small companies at this point), that forges direct relationships with cacao farmers and cooperatives in order to secure fine cacao for their flavorful chocolate. Direct trade supports farmers--to the tune of many TIMES the commodity price--so that farmers may support the beautiful chocolate made from their beans. This is the way to go.

Support craft chocolate--it's helping to preserve cacao, farmers' livelihoods, the rainforest, and your health. I promise it's the tastiest ethical choice you'll ever make." - Bar Cacao

Link to article by Kelsey Timmerman (source for Bar Cacao comment)

Link to our Kickstarter Project

Thank you!

Beryl and Clyo, craft chocolate makers

Meadowlands Chocolate

updated by @Beryl Wells Hamilton2: 04/22/15 08:09:37

Meadowlands Chocolate, Bean-to-Bar, KICKSTARTER announcement

Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Would anyone be able to give us some tips and pointers for getting the word out about Meadowlands Chocolate's Kickstarter campaign? Kickstarter has been very successful for several other bean-to-bar chocolate makers. We have a great product and would like to succeed in our Kickstarter goal. Would appreciate any help, especially from those who have run successful Kickstarter campaigns.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412260686/meadowlands-chocolate

Meadowlands Chocolate, Bean-to-Bar, KICKSTARTER announcement

Posted in: Allow Me to Introduce Myself

Greetings fellow chocolate lovers and chocolate makers! Clyo and I have been so busy making chocolate and getting our business going, that we haven't had much time to post here. However, we have learned a lot from The Chocolate Life people who post here over the past year. Just a note to let everyone within earshot (or cyber-earshot) know that Meadowlands Chocolate (we make handcrafted, single-origin, bean-to-bar chocolate) has launched our first KICKSTARTER Project! Please take a look, enjoy the video and read our story, and consider contributing if you can and are so inclined.

Great Chocolate definitely ROCKS!

-- Clyo and Beryl, Meadowlands Chocolate

Here's the link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412260686/meadowlands-chocolate

Enjoy!

updated by @Beryl Wells Hamilton2: 04/11/15 21:56:31

which is the best grinder/melanger to buy??

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

Hello. We love our Premier Grinders. We do four single origin chocolates in very small batches, so these small machines work very well for us. We also like being able to back off the stones so the chocolate stops grinding but keeps conching. After several hundred hours, the belt got a bit loose so the chocolate was conching but not grinding/refining the particle size down enough. We opened the top, loosened the nuts that hold the motor in place, adjusted the motor so the belt was tight, and tightened the bolts. Problem solved.

We also want to add our thanks to those on this forum who have contributed so much information and advice. We would not be making bean-to-bar chocolate without you.