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Post by Alan on Feb 8, 2006 11:25:01 GMT -5
Dear all, My love of chocolate has existed since I was a child, yet it is only since living a visit to France that I finally really came to appreciate chocolate. The thought of making my own chocolate eventually led me to searching for information online and the discovery of Mr. John Nanci’s Chocolate Alchemy Site. However, when I first discovered John’s site, it was in its pre-Santha form and I decided that maybe it was not really feasible to make my own chocolate after all. However, let no one tell Mr. Nanci that he can’t do something when he has his mind set on it because upon checking back to the site about a year later I noted some substantial changes. The most substantial change, of course, was John’s discovery of the wet/dry grinder, and his discovery that Santha’s version worked quite well for chocolate refining. It was at that moment that I started trying to figure out how to spend the money on a Champion, Santha, and all the other materials (molds, etc.) required for chocolate alchemy It took me quite some time before I finally was able to convince myself to spend all the money, but gradually I worked out ways to purchase the equipment that I needed, and in the meantime John worked out a deal with the Santha company to have continuous running and cooled Santhas made at the factory itself. Everything sounded about as perfect as it could get. The time was right, and now here I am with both feet firmly in the chocolate vat. I still really don’t know much, but I am beginning to understand the chocolate making process. Hopefully I will achieve my goal. I hope to see you all around and to learn a little about your path to becoming a Chocolate Alchemist too. Sincerely, C-L
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Post by Alchemist on Feb 8, 2006 11:57:23 GMT -5
Just so it is here, for those that have not read it, this was my very first "post" on Chocolate Alchemy, and how it all started.
"In the beginning...there was Homemade Chocolate
This desire to make chocolate at home all started through a rather circuitous route. I roast my own coffee at home. I got into it because of a gift from my partner a couple of years ago (Yule 2001). It was a coffee roaster called a Fresh Roast, plus a sample pack of 8 different beans from the best green coffee bean supplier, Sweet Maria's. In addition to selling meticulously cupped and rated beans of top quality, they also have a e-mail list for those who want to really get into roasting coffee and want to talk to other people of like mind. It is really a great list in that it is a real think tank. Anyway, one thing led to another and we on the list set up to meet up for a day of roasting, talking, showing off of roasters and some really fabulous food and drink at what we dubbed the Pacific Northwest Gathering (PNWG). In the drink category was of course coffee (a choice of some dozen coffees, vacuum sealed and luscious) and what one list member called the only "real chocolate you will ever have". This fellow, Oaxaca Charlie as we know him, told us about his stash of authentic hand-prepared cocoa, used for making hot cocoa, that he acquired the last time he was in Oaxaca lining up his own sources of coffee beans. It was made by a wonderful old woman, Marina, down there who said this was her last year making it. (She had been making it for something like 60 years). Charlie received some 10 pounds of it, which his shared with us at the PNWG (he came all the way from Canada). As he promised, it was out of this world. He softened some, whipped it up with hot water and we drank. It had already been sweetened and was this great, fresh, heady drink. He said it was made by fermenting the cocoa beans, roasting them, peeling them and then working them on a warm, fire-heated stone metate (think a flat mortar and pestle), with sugar and cinnamon until it was a gooey, chocolatey mess. That was portioned out and set up. That was what he brought.
Anyway, that is what started me on this quest. I figured if this could be made by hand in Mexico, I could do the same. So I started looking for cocoa beans, and learning A LOT along the way. First off, I found there are not cocoa beans available (well I will sell them now, but more of that later). Second, I hit numerous "brick" walls in the industry.
The basic message was you can not make chocolate at home. It takes sophisticated, expensive equipment and is just too difficult for the average person. Well, I have heard this before in two industries. The first was beer making. I recall wanting to make and sell small batches of good ale about (wow) 20 years ago. I was hit squarely with "are you crazy, no one would want to buy your homebrew". Five or so years later, these microbreweries starting popping up -- and what do you know, people liked this "homebrew". Ah well, one missed opportunity. When I got into coffee roasting in 2001, I did some research and found that the big professional roasters said "what"!, you can't roast coffee at home, it is too technical, and expensive, and there are no green beans and...? and now I roast at home every couple of days, have built two of my own roasters and the industry is about to come out with another roaster targeted right at the desires of the home roasting community (although they have again missed the mark again, IMO). So "they" say you can't make chocolate at home, well I say just watch me!
Well, I was finally able to track down and purchase some cocoa nibs. They are the roasted, cracked and winnowed cocoa beans.
They were pretty pricey at around $15/pound (ha, now I sell them for this "pricey" price) , but it let me start experimenting. All the while, I was searching out sources of raw cocoa beans. Through various leads and leads of leads, I was able to purchase a single 135 lb bag of cocoa beans from Ghana. The gentleman who I was able to get them for me was joked with as having made the smallest purchase on record. Most sales are at a minimum 2000 lb, and more often 40,000 lb. Well, finding these took me nearly a year, but now I have a source of general-grade Forestaro beans. For those who want to join me on this quest, I will happily sell you some. Next I want to get some of the Criollo "flavor" beans that are the cream of the cocoa crop, but these work for my needs at the time being"
That's it. We have come along way, eh?
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Post by Alan on Feb 9, 2006 23:01:25 GMT -5
Dear all,
And the rest of you? How did you all become chocolate alchemists? What got you interested in making chocolate? What type of chocolate do you like? What has your experience with making chocolate been so far?
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 13, 2006 9:04:07 GMT -5
What got us interested? It's CHOCOLATE for crying out loud, how can you NOT be interested Now, if I could just combine my job with making wine, fishing, and blowing things up, I'd REALLY have the perfect job...
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Post by Alan on Feb 13, 2006 19:33:51 GMT -5
Now, if I could just combine my job with making wine, fishing, and blowing things up, I'd REALLY have the perfect job... my my, I only know of a job that covers 3 out of 4 of the above. Our loss.
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Post by krzysiastevens on Feb 28, 2006 3:42:42 GMT -5
I have a job similar to Sebastian's ideal job, though I'm not sure it's quite what he had in mind... I have three children under 4 so I need to drink wine, I am constantly fishing small toys out of sinks and drains and my house looks like a bomb's hit it...does that count?
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Post by krzysiastevens on Feb 28, 2006 3:54:10 GMT -5
Are you all professional chocolatiers?Is it a hobby? How much of your time does it take up?What do you partners think of it? I make chocolates as a very expensive hobby. I have to give most of my creations away or I would be the size of a house! Ha! My husband plays and buys expensive guitars so I get away with my hobby scott free!
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Post by Brad on Mar 2, 2006 6:22:28 GMT -5
I can't speak for the others, but I'm not a professional chocolatier. If anyone saw my creations they would vehemently agree! Most of us share a love of chocolate and the enthusiasm of being able to create a product that the general population (including most chocolatiers) think can only be created late at night by Oompa Loompas in a secret Willie Wonka factory, using secret formulas, and equipment worth obscene amounts of money.
I know that sounds far fetched, but I assure you: Make a good quality batch of dark chocolate, then walk into a chocolate shop and let the head chocolatier taste it. Then tell him you made it in your kitchen and watch his jaw drop! It's pretty funny.
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Post by krzysiastevens on Mar 2, 2006 7:17:37 GMT -5
I love the look on friends' faces when I tell them I made the chocolate but I hate how many of them ask for white chocolate and how many ask if it's like cadbury's (dunno if you have cadbury's in the Us, it's bloody fowl and shouldn't really be called chocolate but vegelate!).
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Mar 21, 2006 18:57:17 GMT -5
I am definately no professional chocolatier but would describe myself as an enthusiastic amateur. I don't try to make the chocolate from scratch but rather use chocolate to make pralines/bon bons/truffles and other chocolate coated goodies. It is interesting for me to learn how chocolate itself is made, however, so that I understand how flavour can be influenced in the final products I use (various couvertures). Chocolate making is a hobby for me that I find very relaxing. Its also a good hobby because people are always happy to eat chocolate - even when the creation is a terrible mistake!
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Post by angioplasty on Aug 6, 2006 8:20:05 GMT -5
Hello everyone. I came across this forum last night, and all I can say is wow. I am in SOOooo much trouble now. I thought coffee roasting was bad 'nuff, but this is going to set me back bigtime too.
I have not made any chocolate yet, im still in the reading and learning phase and will be getting my equipment here hopefully very soon when I learn what all I need.
I would like to try roasting my own but need a hot top first, which I was contemplating getting anyways, or I can try the oven method some others mentioned.
I have always liked chocolate, and now that I see that I can do my own, umm I see expensive trouble in my future.
Take care everyone.
Aaron.
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Post by chanticolate on Aug 6, 2006 19:43:34 GMT -5
And the rest of you? How did you all become chocolate alchemists? What got you interested in making chocolate? What type of chocolate do you like? What has your experience with making chocolate been so far?
In my childhood days, hot chocolate drink was prepared by grandma (in the Philippines) when my family visited the farm. That special taste remains... until I got the opportunity to live in Bruges, Belgium for 4 years.
The smell of chocolates, the different creations of pralines and the chocolatier's fantasy creating the artistic chocolate sculptures are so amazing that I decided to learn from their school the chocolate making.
Creating pralines is much fun. I like the chocolates with 70% cocoa content but it is not so easy to make it into pralines.
I haven't made cocoa beans into chocolate yet but I start to gather the informations from fermentation, roasting, grinding and conching. This web helps me a lot to go further with my interests.
Sharing the passion in chocolate making is wonderful that's why I am here!
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Post by jeffpzena on Sept 26, 2006 23:41:38 GMT -5
I got into making chocolate after buying some cocoa beans at a farmers market in Punta Gorda, Belize, Central America. The funny thing is I thought I was buying almonds and just hadn't looked carefully. I was camping at the time so took them and roasted them in a frying pan over a campfire and then peeled off the shell, ground them (or tried to) with a glass bottle into the bottom of my coffee mug and put them back in the frying pan with milk and sugar. I made some great hot chocolate but was dying to figure out how you can actually refine this stuff for real at home. A year later Chocolate Alchemy showed me the way. Now I have some land in Belize with a couple dozen cacao trees and am planting 2 acres (another 700 trees) this year.
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Post by aguynamedrobert on Oct 18, 2006 13:43:38 GMT -5
Hey Jeffpzena, Just wondering.....what kind of tree's are you growing in Belize? and do you have any experience or you are learning as you go? I am very interested also in the growth of cacao and would love to be able to hear some things from you? how old are your tree's(the new crop and old)? If you could....e-mail me at the website below under "contact" thanks and have a good one. -Robert Noel www.chocolateguild.com
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Post by angioplasty on Oct 18, 2006 18:56:03 GMT -5
Just out of curiosity, how old does a tree have to be before it can start producing beans that are useable?
Aaron
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