The Chocolate Life

Discover Chocolate and Live La Vida Cocoa!

The on-line community for chocophiles, and aspiring chocophiles, to explore, learn, and share.

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Clarah Manuhwa shared a profile on Twitter
3 minutes ago
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Clarah Manuhwa updated their profile
22 minutes ago
Brad Churchill replied to Evan Langendorf's discussion Emerging Chocolatier with questions.
"Clay; Your first paragraph implies that I failed to credit the content of this site. That's not true.  I credited this site equally.  by referring to ".....THIS AND Chocolate Alchemy's site."   Cheers. Brad"
56 minutes ago
Anna Lovelight posted a status
"Finally made the time to join the Chocolate Life! Yeahhhh. Choco Hugs to your sunday!"
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Profile Iconnancy galvez, Harleen Jao, Larry Bassetto and 2 more joined The Chocolate Life
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Heidi Walter posted a status
"Reformatting my chocolate recipes e-book and getting set to promote it through another site."
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Vickie White liked Alessandra's group Chocolate related stuff
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Matías Carzalo liked Clay Gordon's group The Science of Chocolate
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Vickie White liked Clay Gordon's group The Science of Chocolate
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International Chocolate Awards

The International Chocolate Awards aims to highlight the best in fine chocolate to consumers by judging bars and filled chocolates (bonbons, pralines, ganaches) in national and regional rounds with a Grand Final judging the best of the best. The first year, 2012 included rounds in Italy, the UK, the USA with the first year’s Grand Final in the UK in October, coinciding with Chocolate Week. 2013 added an Israeli national competition and other country rounds are in development.Entries to the…See More
2 hours ago
Clay Gordon replied to Evan Langendorf's discussion Emerging Chocolatier with questions.
"While Brad is right that many if not all of your questions will be answered on Chocolate Alchemy as the owner of this site I like to think that members of TheChocolateLife so have something to add that could be unique. Question Set 1) If you…"
2 hours ago
Michelle Moseley joined Clay Gordon's group
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Classifieds - For Sale or Wanted

This is the group where ChocolateLife members can A) Advertise USED equipment for sale to other ChocolateLife members.B) Let other ChocolateLife members know that they are looking for equipment (new or used).See More
3 hours ago
Michelle Moseley updated their profile
3 hours ago
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The DiscoverChoc Daily is out! http://t.co/d8uSs7g19K ▸ Top stories today via @autkast @zingermans @fine_chocolates
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Peter Kring replied to Sarah Ariella Shapiro's discussion Working on a cocoa farm
"October is the main cacao harvest time in Costa Rica. It is NOT the wettest time in the cacao growing areas. It is wet in October in areas that have the longest dry seasons and thus not that great for growing cacao. The weather should be good all…"
21 hours ago
ramya replied to Evan Langendorf's discussion Emerging Chocolatier with questions.
"seconded Brad."
yesterday
 

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Forum

Emerging Chocolatier with questions.

Started by Evan Langendorf in Opinion. Last reply by Brad Churchill 56 minutes ago. 6 Replies

Hello everyone! First of all I would like to give thanks to all who contribute to such a wonderful site, the information has been hugely helpful for me so far. I have a few questions that havent been exactly covered or at least I havent found them.…Continue

Working on a cocoa farm

Started by Sarah Ariella Shapiro in Travels & Adventures. Last reply by Peter Kring 21 hours ago. 6 Replies

Hi All,I'm traveling down to Costa Rica this October, and was wondering if anyone knew of any working cocoa plantations, farms or coops I could possibly work on for a few weeks.Thank you for your help,SarahContinue

Tempering Machine VS Melter

Started by Lawrence danielka in Opinion. Last reply by Daniel Herskovic yesterday. 4 Replies

Good day to EveryoneI have been thinking about expanding my hobby chocolate making into a small business. I have been tempering by hand and melting on a double boiler for 1.5-2 lbs batch at a time, but I think it might be time to upgrade. I only…Continue

Tags: temper, machine, tempering, melter

Where to buy transfer sheets (USA)

Started by Veronique in Tips, Tricks, and Techniques. Last reply by Daniel Herskovic yesterday. 4 Replies

I just started my explorations into making my own chocolates and I have been looking around for companies that sell transfer sheets and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions.Any help is welcome.Continue

melanger necessary?

Started by beth campbell in Tech Help. Last reply by Clay Gordon yesterday. 11 Replies

Wondering if anyone knows if a conching or melanger is necessary to mix cacao powder, butter and sugar, or does it have to be liqeur?Continue

Choosing the right chocolate?

Started by Mike Mills in Opinion. Last reply by Nick Henderson on Wednesday. 2 Replies

Really exciting time as we're shortly due to open our first chocolate factory shop in the UK. Now that the reall leg work has started, we are currently looking at suppliers of raw materials and I was absoluteley astounded by the sheer number of…Continue

Tags: types, choosing, choice, chocolate

chocolate is not as liquid as it should be.

Started by Aishwarya darshan in Tech Help on Wednesday. 0 Replies

    I made my first batch of dark chocolate (40%). i added 30% of cocoa liquor 10% cocoa butter 60% sugar and 0.5% soya lecithin. I did the conching it for 18 hours in my stone wet grinder. at around 150 F. my end product do taste good but its not…Continue

Washing Strawberries

Started by Karen Blueberry in Tips, Tricks, and Techniques. Last reply by Jeffray D. Gardner on Tuesday. 4 Replies

Can anyone give me advise on the best way to wash & prepare strawberries before dipping them?Many Thanks,KarenContinue

Opening a retail chocolate shop

Started by Karen Neugebauer in Opinion. Last reply by Mim on Tuesday. 22 Replies

Hi Everyone.  This is a question for all of you that have started your own chocolate shop.I am the owner of Forte Chocolates in WA. Currently, we do about 50/50 wholesale to retail and make 200-250k a year. Retail comes from various shows and…Continue

Tags: artisan, new, revenue, store, Chocolate

losing temper w/tempering

Started by Maggie Prittie in Tips, Tricks, and Techniques. Last reply by Andrea Bauer on Tuesday. 11 Replies

Just starting out and am having a Very Challenging experience trying to temper properly!I bring the dark chocolate to 89 and it still does not have the beautiful glistening lookWhat on earth am I doing wrong?????Please HELPContinue

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Blog Posts

small winnower may not perfect but functional :)

Posted by Thomas Kesselring on May 16, 2013 at 6:30pm 0 Comments

i found an good winnower that is less than 4.000 USD :) here is an link:

http://chocolatealchemy2.myshopify.com/collections/equipment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMPt1SiNSKE&feature=player_embedded

i love this guy. he is an genius. :)

Sincerely

Thomas

addicted to chocolate song

Posted by teddy on May 13, 2013 at 10:00am 0 Comments

 Hello Guys. I just wanted to let everybody know about a new song called "Addicted to Chocolate" by a London girl band. I think its exactly how us chocolate lovers feel. At least that how I feel.  enjoy.  ( cut and paste youtube link)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unQF4Ri_zKc

Suggestions of the Best Commercial Recipe for Spanish Thick Chocolate for Churros Dipping

Posted by Neville on April 25, 2013 at 7:56pm 0 Comments

Any ideas for doing this in bulk for festivals etc

Anatomy of a Tasting Menu

Posted by Clay Gordon on April 21, 2013 at 12:00pm 0 Comments

I am often asked ... about how I approach my pairings, where I get my inspirations, and what my thought processes are. I recently had the opportunity to conceive and prepare a five–course prix fixe tasting dinner at Jimmy's #43, a craft beer bar and restaurant in New York's East Village. The occasion was April, which at Jimmy's is the inspiration for April Sours month - a celebration of sours, Lambics, and wild ferments. As I was working on the menu I…

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Starting slowly - Picked up a free granite slab this morning!

Posted by Kaydee Kreitlow on March 30, 2013 at 1:30pm 0 Comments

I am interested in starting my own chocolate company. While I am getting the finances together and researching business requirements etc. I am teaching myself how to make chocolates more precisely (and more important, to get excellent results every time!)

I was looking online at marble slabs and I found one for about $50 with no guarantees for the piece arriving whole to my doorstep. Then I checked my local Home Depot and Lowe's and i couldn't buy a single tile 18" x 18" but I…

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3D Chocolate Easter Egg Art

Posted by redman on March 28, 2013 at 10:41am 0 Comments

As a new member and in the spirit of the Easter Bunny, since I cant share real chocolate with you, I did the next best thing, and created a series of 3D Model Eggs and applied real chocolate textures to them . I also created 3D individual gold egg holders to place them in and then created a realistic rendering of the models into this picture…

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