1st timers note |
Embarking into craft chocolate
Welcome to the Virtual Tasting Room! If you were physically here, this is what I would say to introduce you to The Cocoa Forge! As a community based, artisan, bean-to-bar, stone-ground chocolate factory crafting heirloom and fine-flavor cacao, it may not be what you were expecting! (It ain't candy!)
First, I like to point out that my role here at The Cocoa Forge is as a chocolate maker. Different than a chocolatier. It gets confusing because many chocolatiers call themselves chocolate makers. (Amongst many other confusing words in the chocolate world such as cacao/cocoa). So, to define: while both work in the same industry, a chocolatier makes wonderful things out of chocolate (like truffles and other confections). A chocolate maker (and specifically one calling themselves a bean-to-bar chocolate maker) is sourcing the beans around the equator, and taking the beans through every single step (many, many) to becoming chocolate. Sometimes there is a little bit of crossover but not usually. Different equipment, different skill sets and often quite different personality types (which I find amusing). Also, some chocolate makers don't necessarily start with the bean. Some start with the nib or cocoa liquor aka cocoa mass. That doesn't mean they are cheating. It just means they don't have a role to play in flavor development in those beginning steps.
The varietals I seek out and work with are very special and rare. Heirlooms comprise less than 1% of all cacao grown in the world today. Fine-flavor cacao represents between 5 - 7 %. The rest are what are known as commodity beans and are not necessarily processed correctly (if at all) during the post-harvest steps to develop flavor and to allow the cocoa bean to shine to its full potential. Commodity beans have been hybridized to produce more fruit and to be more resilient to disease, which would be great except flavor is not usually part of that formula. Farmers are paid by weight, not by quality or flavor and this is one of the reasons why the old fine-flavor cacao varietals are disappearing. Why grow cacao that is finicky and fragile when you can grow one that is productive and hardy? It is the mission of The Cocoa Forge to raise the level of awareness that these Heirloom and Fine-flavor beans still exist. In so doing, we create a new and strong supply chain that goes full circle. Farmers and producers can/will/are realizing that with proper harvest and post harvest practices, are able to receive much more for their beans.
And then there is the big question; what were those Olmec, Mayan and Aztec royalty all a-flutter about with their chocolate? Why was it considered so precious? Chocolate nowadays purchased at the grocery store is nothing to get excited about. It makes no sense why wars were fought over it, how it came to be on altars, why it was present for every life ceremony, why it accompanied kings into the afterlife and was used as money, tax and tribute. Cacao was even found thousands of miles away from its growing lands at Pueblo Bonita in New Mexico. How did it get there? Only something incredibly precious would be carried/traded that far away. Holy smokes, it must have been really something back in the day. I want to know why. And so it is the self-imposed task of The Cocoa Forge to figure it out.
Also, I consider it my job to allow these beans to be "themselves". They each have such different flavors and personalities and I try to just guide them along and stay out of their way. All of them are stoneground and minimally processed, none of them have been alkalized or neutralized, minimal sugar is used - just enough to showcase the flavor notes and never, ever, are there extracts, oils or other fats used. The inclusion bars have the "real deals" in them (spices, teas, flowers) and, like drinking a cup of herbal tea, you may find tiny bits of flowers etc. And that goes for all the origin bars; you'll occasionally have a bit of unrefined cocoa bean. Just the way it is with this authentic artisanal stoneground chocolate.
It is my hope for you, that you will be open to experiencing these different cacao varietals, noting how unique they are and how different they are from each other. I used to have graphs and charts to measure every single little nuance. I would actually grade the chocolate I tasted. I even kept binders of every single wrapper with even more notes about the bar. I got over that phase. I was getting in my own way. It was like saying "you have blue eyes. I expected hazel eyes. whoops too bad, check the box next to eye color as FAULT". Goofy, right? There are over 750 chemical compounds in a cocoa bean (not all of them are pleasant or nice). Every single step in chocolate making can alter its flavor personality: from varietal to terroir to environmental and farm conditions to harvest to fermentation to drying to sorting to bagging and storage to shipping to roasting to cracking and winnowing to grinding to refining to conching to tempering to aging and to packaging, It's all just a big dance and the music is always changing. The beauty, the depth, the utterly amazing complexities of chocolate are what draw us in. I think unless a chocolate maker is only working with modern, flavorless and neutralized beans, then every single day, every single batch is new and different, often baffling, always humbling, sometimes troubling and completely engaging.
I hope you will be able to sit in the thought-provoking observers chair and not so much in the judgment chair and open yourself to enjoying the diversity. It is a special opportunity and it is my pleasure to be able to provide it. And, ask questions chocolate thrill seekers! Let's shed some light on the subject!
With that said and you are still here and still curious; try out a virtual tasting to-go or build your own flight. The virtual tasting room kits have four samples and you can choose your own or have me choose for you. Four is a lot to taste at one time so pace yourself. A little bit goes a long ways. And you'll want some water to refresh your palate between tastes. If possible, warm your chocolate (that's my favorite way to taste because the flavor notes are unlocked and immediately available). The hallmark of craft chocolate is that the flavors move and groove, change and progress, and go on and on sometimes lasting an hour or more. Those commercial/commodity chocolates that we are all used to, give themselves away by having a single short flavor note that then drops off a cliff never to return. Which leads to putting another piece in your mouth because your brain is thinking "what was that? is there anything there to get excited about? is this even worthwhile?" and while your brain grapples to find some reasonable explanation you keep putting more nothingness into your mouth. That's how we can mindlessly eat an entire bag of m&m's and still feel unsatisfied. Then ashamed that we did that because we weren't paying attention. But there wasn't anything to pay attention to! That absolutely is not the case with true, pure, craft chocolate made with heirloom and fine-flavor cacao. Often intense and always unique and flavorful, it makes you pay attention and you are satisfied with one small piece.
As you taste your flight of craft Cocoa Forge chocolate, you can find more information and read about each chocolate in the store and on the Origin and Farm page. Let me know if you have any further questions. Have fun tasting!
Susan
First, I like to point out that my role here at The Cocoa Forge is as a chocolate maker. Different than a chocolatier. It gets confusing because many chocolatiers call themselves chocolate makers. (Amongst many other confusing words in the chocolate world such as cacao/cocoa). So, to define: while both work in the same industry, a chocolatier makes wonderful things out of chocolate (like truffles and other confections). A chocolate maker (and specifically one calling themselves a bean-to-bar chocolate maker) is sourcing the beans around the equator, and taking the beans through every single step (many, many) to becoming chocolate. Sometimes there is a little bit of crossover but not usually. Different equipment, different skill sets and often quite different personality types (which I find amusing). Also, some chocolate makers don't necessarily start with the bean. Some start with the nib or cocoa liquor aka cocoa mass. That doesn't mean they are cheating. It just means they don't have a role to play in flavor development in those beginning steps.
The varietals I seek out and work with are very special and rare. Heirlooms comprise less than 1% of all cacao grown in the world today. Fine-flavor cacao represents between 5 - 7 %. The rest are what are known as commodity beans and are not necessarily processed correctly (if at all) during the post-harvest steps to develop flavor and to allow the cocoa bean to shine to its full potential. Commodity beans have been hybridized to produce more fruit and to be more resilient to disease, which would be great except flavor is not usually part of that formula. Farmers are paid by weight, not by quality or flavor and this is one of the reasons why the old fine-flavor cacao varietals are disappearing. Why grow cacao that is finicky and fragile when you can grow one that is productive and hardy? It is the mission of The Cocoa Forge to raise the level of awareness that these Heirloom and Fine-flavor beans still exist. In so doing, we create a new and strong supply chain that goes full circle. Farmers and producers can/will/are realizing that with proper harvest and post harvest practices, are able to receive much more for their beans.
And then there is the big question; what were those Olmec, Mayan and Aztec royalty all a-flutter about with their chocolate? Why was it considered so precious? Chocolate nowadays purchased at the grocery store is nothing to get excited about. It makes no sense why wars were fought over it, how it came to be on altars, why it was present for every life ceremony, why it accompanied kings into the afterlife and was used as money, tax and tribute. Cacao was even found thousands of miles away from its growing lands at Pueblo Bonita in New Mexico. How did it get there? Only something incredibly precious would be carried/traded that far away. Holy smokes, it must have been really something back in the day. I want to know why. And so it is the self-imposed task of The Cocoa Forge to figure it out.
Also, I consider it my job to allow these beans to be "themselves". They each have such different flavors and personalities and I try to just guide them along and stay out of their way. All of them are stoneground and minimally processed, none of them have been alkalized or neutralized, minimal sugar is used - just enough to showcase the flavor notes and never, ever, are there extracts, oils or other fats used. The inclusion bars have the "real deals" in them (spices, teas, flowers) and, like drinking a cup of herbal tea, you may find tiny bits of flowers etc. And that goes for all the origin bars; you'll occasionally have a bit of unrefined cocoa bean. Just the way it is with this authentic artisanal stoneground chocolate.
It is my hope for you, that you will be open to experiencing these different cacao varietals, noting how unique they are and how different they are from each other. I used to have graphs and charts to measure every single little nuance. I would actually grade the chocolate I tasted. I even kept binders of every single wrapper with even more notes about the bar. I got over that phase. I was getting in my own way. It was like saying "you have blue eyes. I expected hazel eyes. whoops too bad, check the box next to eye color as FAULT". Goofy, right? There are over 750 chemical compounds in a cocoa bean (not all of them are pleasant or nice). Every single step in chocolate making can alter its flavor personality: from varietal to terroir to environmental and farm conditions to harvest to fermentation to drying to sorting to bagging and storage to shipping to roasting to cracking and winnowing to grinding to refining to conching to tempering to aging and to packaging, It's all just a big dance and the music is always changing. The beauty, the depth, the utterly amazing complexities of chocolate are what draw us in. I think unless a chocolate maker is only working with modern, flavorless and neutralized beans, then every single day, every single batch is new and different, often baffling, always humbling, sometimes troubling and completely engaging.
I hope you will be able to sit in the thought-provoking observers chair and not so much in the judgment chair and open yourself to enjoying the diversity. It is a special opportunity and it is my pleasure to be able to provide it. And, ask questions chocolate thrill seekers! Let's shed some light on the subject!
With that said and you are still here and still curious; try out a virtual tasting to-go or build your own flight. The virtual tasting room kits have four samples and you can choose your own or have me choose for you. Four is a lot to taste at one time so pace yourself. A little bit goes a long ways. And you'll want some water to refresh your palate between tastes. If possible, warm your chocolate (that's my favorite way to taste because the flavor notes are unlocked and immediately available). The hallmark of craft chocolate is that the flavors move and groove, change and progress, and go on and on sometimes lasting an hour or more. Those commercial/commodity chocolates that we are all used to, give themselves away by having a single short flavor note that then drops off a cliff never to return. Which leads to putting another piece in your mouth because your brain is thinking "what was that? is there anything there to get excited about? is this even worthwhile?" and while your brain grapples to find some reasonable explanation you keep putting more nothingness into your mouth. That's how we can mindlessly eat an entire bag of m&m's and still feel unsatisfied. Then ashamed that we did that because we weren't paying attention. But there wasn't anything to pay attention to! That absolutely is not the case with true, pure, craft chocolate made with heirloom and fine-flavor cacao. Often intense and always unique and flavorful, it makes you pay attention and you are satisfied with one small piece.
As you taste your flight of craft Cocoa Forge chocolate, you can find more information and read about each chocolate in the store and on the Origin and Farm page. Let me know if you have any further questions. Have fun tasting!
Susan
