Interesting article about how Peru could become the leading global producer of fine flavour cocoa by 2020. (Source: Confectionery News)

Interessanter Artikel in der NZZ über die erste Schokoladenfabrik in der Elfenbeinküste.

I'm quite excited about these bars of chocolate. I worked with exclusive criollo beans from Costa Rica, slightly roasted and carefully processed. 

The Food & Wine Magazine features an article that picks up an interesting chocolate study of researchers in Ghana that shows how small adaptions in the fermentation and roasting process can influence the polyphenol content and the flavour

Consumption of chocolate with a high cocoa content can significantly increase the success of weight-loss diets. The higher the cocoa content, the better. Check out the study of Institute of Diet and Health in Mainz.

I have a feeling this is going to be a particularly fine chocolate. I just finished producing the Costa Rica batch. It just needs to be tempered. But that is going to happen after holidays.

Hey, I'm not the only one.....interesting article in the NY Times about the obsession of producing your own chocolate at home from bean to bar.

I'm pretty excited to work with this sample of criollo cocoa from Costa Rica, that I got by chance recently. Obviously, the beans are organic, not yet certified though. I intend to produce my regular 70% line and also some milk chocolate 49%.

The bean-to-bar chocolate movement is spreading around the world. But what does bean-to-bar actually mean? To make it short: The bean-to-bar producer takes the cocoa beans direct from the people who grew them and produces a bar containing one kind of bean alone.  For me it's all about the passionate artisans who are pushing that movement, turning the chocolate making process into a craft.

A few picks of bean-to-bar chocolate makers in Europe:

- Duffy's Chocolate UK
- Edelmond DE
- Hotel Chocolat UK
- Wilkie's Chocolate Ireland