The Chocolate Life

Discover Chocolate and Live La Vida Cocoa!

Samantha Madell
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  • Australia
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Hi Dirke, Regarding "bloom" on chocolate - there are two different types: fat bloom, and sugar bloom. Fat bloom happens in untempered chocolate when cocoa butter crystals (or polymorphs) with low melting temperatures transition over time to the ...
November 21
Randy, I've taken a look at your website, and I'm sorry to say that it doesn't provide "more info" on xocai - it simply regurgitates the same old information that we've been hearing from every xocai seller that comes along. For example, do you kn...
November 11
Hi Kenneth, The link that Clay provided earlier points to a thread titled "How is cocoa butter produced?". You can find the same page by typing "broma process" into the search tool at the top right-hand corner of this page. However, in your earl...
November 11
Thank you Mike! Mystery solved - a canna lily seed pod - I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years.
November 10
well, i'll solve the mystery since it looks like its still ongoing.....those aren't really even flowers! they are the seed pods from the canna lily. grew up crushing these for fun, much to my grandparent's chagrin :) here's a pic: http://farm3.st...
November 10
Hi Lana, I think eggs are a bit of a special case because they come from chickens' rear ends, and the shells are very often contaminated with unpleasant things like Salmonella, which you don't want anywhere near your chocolate. A quick Google se...
November 9
Thanks for your response and for the links. Lots of useful info and thoughts.
November 9
Hi David - thanks for the feedback. In answer to your question: I spent a lot of time researching the subject of antioxidants in cacao for an earlier blog post. As far as I can gather from my research, nobody has ever specifically studied the eff...
November 8

Profile Information

Dark, Milk, White?
Dark, Milk, White
Most memorable chocolate experience:
My first cocoa pod: Sri Lanka, 2004
My favorite chocolate is:
Tava, of course!

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Samantha Madell's Blog

Samantha Madell

Introduction to Enzymes in Cacao

I frequently receive inquiries from raw foodies who are seeking enzyme-rich, cold-processed cacao - so I decided to educate myself on this subject.

It is extremely frustrating to me that many of the raw foodies I've encountered simply don't know what they're talking about. Rather, they tend to believe (and repeat) the dubious marketing "information" that they hear from businesses which are trying to sell them over-priced raw food products.

Following is what I've learned about enzymes and cacao… Continue

Posted on October 2, 2009 at 12:37am — 3 Comments

Samantha Madell

Rainforest Alliance certification: worse than useless?

Over the years, many journalists and bloggers have portrayed Rainforest Alliance certification as being equivalent to (or even better than) organic and Fairtrade certification. Unfortunately, this simply isn't the case.

In truth, the Rainforest Alliance certification standards contain none of the best aspects of either organic or Fairtrade certification. (And, as has been discussed quite extensively in… Continue

Posted on August 16, 2009 at 9:27pm — 7 Comments

Samantha Madell

Pesticide usage in the cocoa industry

I am a vocal advocate of organic agriculture, so I was more than a little bit surprised to receive an email recently from Gatewick, inviting me to submit a competitive tender for the procurement of insecticides for the Ghana Cocoa Board.

According to the document I was sent (attached below), the Ghana Cocoa Board has allocated a budget this year for 1,000 drums, plus 2,000 cartons, plus 165,000 litres of insecticide:… Continue

Posted on July 7, 2009 at 12:52am — 4 Comments

Samantha Madell

Ancient humans + Theobroma cacao + wild yeasts = alcohol!

(This blog post follows on from my earlier post, Fermentation 101).

In 2007, a team of archaeologists unearthed strong evidence that "humans began exploiting cacao beans for alcohol before they started using them to make chocolate" [1].

In the Ulua Valley in Honduras, these archaeologists discovered traces of theobromine in pottery vessels used for alcoholic drinks. The vessels date back to at least 1,100BC, pu… Continue

Posted on May 14, 2009 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment

Samantha Madell

Antioxidants, flavonoids, flavanols, tannins, and ORAC units ... what does it all mean?

In this blog post, I'm attempting to untangle the fairly complex terminology relating to the subject of chocolate and health. To this end, I've put together a diagram, which is part flowchart, part glossary (scroll down to view).

But here's some basic information and terminology to get started with:

Free radicals
When it comes to maintaining good health, free radicals are bad news. A free radical is an unstable and highly reactive molecule that contains an unpaired electron. Free radica… Continue

Posted on April 21, 2009 at 4:00am — 7 Comments

Comment Wall (4 comments)

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At 12:42am on September 28, 2009, Samantha Madell said…
Hi Travis,
I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my questions, but I seem to be no closer to obtaining clear answers.
Information pertaining to patents isn't kept secret. In fact, that information must be made public, in order for people to know if and when they might be infringing on an existing patent.
So my original questions remain: what is this patent, and who owns it?
I'm now more curious than ever.
At 6:41pm on September 27, 2009, Samantha Madell said…
Hi Travis,
Regarding the "patented cold pressed system" you mention: I've been asking about this patent for quite a while - for example, what is the name and number of this patent, and who owns it? So far, nobody has responded to my questions, which makes me wonder whether this patent really exists. I'd be grateful if you could provide the relevant details.
Thanks.
At 6:07am on November 2, 2008, Zev said…
Hi,
We are currently working out how to set up our factory and really liked the design of your winnower. Would you mind to please post photos from some other views of your setup, i.e. top and side views. thanks so much.

Zev
At 8:37am on August 12, 2008, Clay Gordon said…
Sam:

Welcome to TheChocolateLife all the way from Oz. I am looking forward to hearing how the business (TAVA) has grown since we last saw each other in Ecuador in 2005. Please say Hi to Langdon.
 
 

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