Journey Shannon's Blog (6)

Good day Chocolate Life,

I'm heading to Australia for a couple of months and would love to connect with some chocolatiers. I'll be in Brisbane. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Journey

Raw cacao nibs just arrived and how lovely the scent of roasting them fills the air.  I smell chocolat brownies and yummy goodness.  Roasting Nib Time: 250'F - 30 minutes

I am learning to appreciate the taste of the cacao nib.  When they arrived they were sharp, violently bitter, aggressive, abusive.  My kind oven tamed them and now, they're delicate, soft, obedient, pleasing and ready to be made into chocolat.  Batch #7 will be made with roasted nibs and batch #8 raw nibs.…

Continue

Batch # 5 is under my belt and I am feeling like a proud momma. I’ve made a 70%, 55% and a milk chocolat 45% all with a Peruvian bean. After much making and tasting I have decided the Peruvian bean is not for me. Yes it makes Chocolat. The Chocolat is not bad but the Chocolat it makes is tart and fruity. Maybe it’s great Chocolat and I’ve just eaten too much. My audience has been pleased. I’ve ordered beans today from Ghana, Venezula, Madagascar and Ecuador. I joyfully await there arrival as I… Continue

I designed these 4 wrapper yesterday evening with the goal of using them on my bean to bar chocolat.  The two artist of the images are Bolivian and African   You are only seeing the front view.  The back view entails the ingredient listing, weight and a paragraph about making the chocolat from bean to bar in studio.  I would love any feedback, criticism or suggestions.  We are all consumers, what do these images inspire?…

Continue

I'm now on batch six to making Bean to Bar Chocolat. I'm pleased and the process hasn't been to difficult.  It took me to batch six to realize I must have at least 2 pounds of nibs in the machine with the cocoa butter for the cocoa town to run properly.  Anything less and the wheels spin slowly and often stop.  The first batch was the worst.  Not necessarily bad but I didn't have a formula yet to provide me with guidance of ratios of nibs, to beans to sugar and so forth.  Batch #2 was better…

Continue