So the machine came in on Wednesday. It’s an Indian grinder that came recommended from a few sites.  Unpacking was an experience: Box to box to plastic to box to styrofoam.  At least that way we’re sure it’s not damaged.

On the way through all the cardboard I was greeted with the name of the (I believe) import company:

Well… That’s a good omen.

Continue reading Well at least we have hot chocolate for this snowy day! →

Ok, so there’s a lot of excitement about this new adventure… Not sure if it’s because people are genuinely interested in the craft, or if they are more looking forward to tasting some free chocolate…

What ever the case may be, I just ordered a grinder from Ultra (that’s the brand name). It’s about 1/2 the cost of the traditional cocoa grinders, and is supposed to be able to do the same as more professional grinders (from the reviews that I’ve read so far).

I was tempted to go the old school way and get a metate, unfortunately all I could find were either archeological finds or super fancy metate (yes, they can get fancy) that was much more expensive than the wet grinder I found.

So I’m hoping to get the grinder this week, and look for my next experiment at that time (note I salvaged a lot of the cocoa from the first try, so I’ll try to use that).

Stay tuned!

Following on my update from last night (with more photos now).

It all started really well.

Step 1 was to lay the cacao beans on a cookie sheet and preheat the oven.

The oven was preheated to 250ºF but my gauge indicated that it was closer to 275ºF.  The beans were in the oven for 25 minutes. I reduced to 200ºF at about 20 minutes.  The smell started out acidic at first, and smoothly progressed to a deep dark brownie smell. Continue reading More on the First Trial →

So last night was a big night!  I gave it a go with the beans that I had ordered.  The roasting, cracking, and winnowing went very well.  I was nervous that I was going to lose a lot of good material during the winnowing as the roasted beans broke up into very small nibs.  Surprisingly, I don’t think I lost that much.

Where the failure came in was with the grinding.  I ran the nibs through the Breville juicer we have. I ran it through about 4 times when the filter/basket broke.  It was a loud popping sound. I almost thought that we motor blew up.  It was a bit funny afterwards as I stood there in the kitchen thinking I had turned off the juicer but in fact it was still spinning.  The damage is minimal (a replacement filter/basket is about $30).

I’ll add pictures later, but for the time being, here’s a teaser of what came out.  You can tell that after 5 times, the oils are starting to come out and juice is starting to form.  I need to find a better way to grind the nibs without resorting to spending $500 on a machine.

The sign of chocolate liquor, this gives me hope!

All the ingredients arrived (well those that I needed to order). Looks like we’ll get started soon (today?)

Continue reading First Delivery! Let’s get started! →

Well hello there!

Last month, I was traveling in Belgium. We spent a couple of days in Brugge, which is known for it’s breweries, chocolates, needlework, and more recently being in a movie.

When traveling, my wife and I love to just get lost in the city and discover what it has to offer. We normally stay away from tourist traps, unless we absolutely have to. Surprisingly, we both decided that going to the Chocolate museum was a good idea…

Now I have grown up with chocolate. I grew up in Switzerland (“the” or “the other” land of chocolate), and even experienced a chocolate factory tour when I was a kid. All I really remember from that tour was the smells, and the size of the infrastructure (which you need if you are going to do industrial scale production of chocolate).

Continue reading Mmmmhh… Chocolate! →