The Oakland Chocolate Company - Caramel Bar - March 5, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

The Oakland Chocolate Company
Caramel Bar
Good ++ - +++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.35 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $3.50 for 1 bar + shipping
Purchased from: The Oakland Chocolate Company, Oakland, CA

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Jamaica Theme Week.

Today's Caramel Bar was made by Nancy Nadel owner and chief chocolate maker at The Oakland Chocolate Company (Oakland, CA). Nadel makes reasonably priced, high-end craft chocolate bars and confections, from scratch, using cacao grown in Jamaica.

This snack-sized, filled, dark chocolate Caramel Bar was a very satisfying take on a traditional dark chocolate and caramel filled confection. A thick covering of flavorful, rich dark chocolate elevated this bar to the next level. 

When I started Chocolate Banquet in 2006, most chocolate covered caramels had fragile, bland and sweet chocolate shells that collapsed (into a sweet, sticky mess) if not handled very carefully. The emphasis was on the sugar and not on the chocolate. 

This Oakland Chocolate Co. bar was an artful melding of single origin (Bachelors Hall Estate (farm), Jamaica) dark chocolate (with fudge brownie aroma and flavor notes) and soft, rich, buttery caramel--made with real cream and butter.*

The addition of the coconut palm sugar used to make the caramel filling increased flavor depth and helped reduce the sugar buzz** a little (thank you Nancy!). Yet, there was enough sweetness to be appealing to caramel fans as well.

Today's Caramel Bar was a satisfying and enjoyable high-end take on a confectionery classic.

*Ingredients: "Cocoa mass (direct source from farmer Desmond Jadusingh, Bachelors Hall, Jamaica), organic cane sugar, cocoa butter, cream (milk), butter, organic coconut palm sugar, rice syrup, vanilla, sea salt." 

** Coconut palm sugar is lower on the glycemic index than processed cane sugar. I noticed I wasn't experiencing as rapid a rise in blood sugar, i.e. a "hard" sugar buzz, with this sweetener many years ago when I started sampling chocolates made with coconut palm sugar. And as long as a sweetener (of any sort) doesn't interfere with tasting the chocolate, I am all for that. The stimulants in cacao (primarily theobromine, and a bit of caffeine) in chocolate are enough for me. 

Coconut palm sugar starts with people climbing high up in palm trees to gather coconut flower sap/nectar that is then made into the sugar we see in stores and in chocolates. After watching people collect this nectar in SE Asia, I have a great deal of respect for those engaged in this work.

Chocolate Sneak Peak - CocoTerra - July 14, 2019

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

CocoTerra
(Chocolate Samples)
Dark - 70% (different origins)
Dark Milk - hint of salt
Ruby* chocolate
White chocolate
Coffee (round)

Have you ever wanted to make your own chocolate, but were discouraged by all the steps involved?

What if you could just pour some cocoa nibs and sugar into one machine and let a magic, personal chocolate-making machine do all the work, including grinding the nibs and sugar into chocolate, and tempering and molding?

Well, this might become a reality sooner than you'd think. I spoke to CocoTerra (Palo Alto, CA) Chief Operating Officer, Karen Alter, recently about a new chocolate making machine they've been developing. (Photo of machine at right from CocoTerra website.)

CocoTerra is not a traditional chocolate maker. A small team of Silicon Valley engineers, designers, and others have come up with a promising design for a countertop machine that will make bean-to-bar chocolate in a few hours.

In the true Silicon Valley inventor spirit, influences on this patent-pending design may have included coffee machines/appliances, multi-function culinary devices, and beekeeping.

Sounds almost too good to be true, right?

I was given two small bags of chocolate samples to try. I did not see the CocoTerra machine, or how these samples were made. However, they were better than expected. The pieces were in different shapes (likely made with different molds).

The different single origin dark chocolate pieces tasted like they might have been Ecuador or Peru or DR grown cacao-based chocolates. The dark milk had a slightly savory (salt) aroma and flavor and a thick texture, as did the white chocolate. The white chocolate also contained vanilla, and was better than most commercial white chocolates.

CocoTerra's take on ruby* chocolate was a pretty pink color, and had cacao fermentation and light red berry notes. It was not overly sweet (thank you).

I was also given a small, jumbo pearl-shaped coffee-flavored "ball" to taste (they're experimenting with different molds, forms and shapes), that was a very pleasing sweet coffee confection.

I asked if this machine could make 100% cacao chocolate (1 or 2 ingredient bars). The answer was yes, although initially they'll be providing supply kits and supplies, and providing customers "recipes" to help ensure correct proportions and optimal results.

No formal launch date (or pricing) have been announced yet, but CocoTerra does have a website, where you can go to check out intriguing details.

Who Might Use a Personal Chocolate Making Machine?

This might be particularly interesting for those who want to run smaller test batches of craft chocolate (to validate a certain origin, or fermentation or roast profile), or for chocolatiers wanting to broaden their offerings to customers.

Last but not least, this may be popular (depending on price point) for home hobby chocolate makers.

Thank you to Karen Alter for providing these chocolate samples and for answering questions about how their machine might work. Look forward to hearing more details about their machine soon.

*Ruby chocolate was introduced in 2017 by Belgian-Swiss chocolate company, Barry Callebaut as a new type of chocolate. An attractive deep pink color, the details of how this "new" chocolate type was created were not revealed by Callebaut.

Cacao Bisiesto - Nicaragua - March/April 2016

Cacao Bisiesto - From Tree to Bean
A Tour of Nicaragua Cacao Farms with Gifford Laube and Jose Enrique Herrera
March - April 2016

What's better than eating chocolate? OK, that's hard to beat.

But a close second might be a chocolate field trip to Central America, to see how cacao seedlings transform themselves into ripe cacao pods, full of tasty fruit pulp and seeds (cacao beans). The beans are harvested, fermented and eventually turned into chocolate.

Last month, I was part of a guided tour* to a handful of cacao farms outside Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

Our guides were Jose Enrique Herrera and Gifford (Giff) Laube, of Cacao Bisiesto. This knowledgable duo has been working directly with cacao farmers to produce premium cacao from independent farms in the highlands of Nicaragua. Both founders bring valuable experience to the partnership.

Giff was originally from the U.S., and worked for a chocolate company previously. Jose Enrique had in-depth experience with the local area and was trained as an agronomist.

Together they advise farmers on how to prune and cultivate cacao trees for the best output, and help shepherd beans through a careful (and customized) fermentation and drying process—necessary before beans are sold to chocolate makers—such as French Broad Chocolates in Asheville, NC, who was profiled yesterday.

Farming Cacao in Nicaragua

Our first stop on the farm tour was a coffee farm (Finca Mil Flores, Cafe Organico), where cacao trees were also grown; and here we had our first taste of fresh cacao fruit (pulp around the seeds). A few quick expert machete chops and the open pod was passed around for inspection and tasting.**

Also, most farmers in the area were growing cacao as a secondary (or tertiary) crop—after, e.g. coffee, bananas, sugar cane, and/or cattle ranching, Giff explained to us.


Why is proper pruning important? In part to keep diseases in check, which affects output as well. We also stopped at a farm with mature cacao trees that were slightly larger, that had not been so tightly manicured. Walking under the cacao tree canopy was beautiful; but the pod health and harvest apparently was less robust.

Our next to last stop was an operation known as Henry's Farm, that was also a good-sized cattle ranch that lay at the end of a long dirt road.

In addition to diseases there are some natural crop predators. We saw no traces of the "dreaded" native gray and white squirrels (ardillas). Squirrels are known to chew through pods (as are woodpeckers and various rodents). But we did spot other more benign wildlife.

We hiked up a packed dirt track to take a look at their cacao trees and seedlings, being careful not to tread on a line of leaf-cutter ants. The ants were almost too small to see, but we could see a slow-moving tiny parade of green leaf pieces moving underfoot, seemingly under their own steam, across the forest floor. And cicadas sang in the trees in the hot, summer weather.

Trees were in bloom with purple-pink flowers across a mountain valley.

Another cacao pod was picked, opened, and passed around. The pulp was sweet, fruity and wonderful, and the flavor(s) were slightly different at each farm we visited. (What did it taste like? Citrus, floral, watermelon...all of the above.)

We had lunch in a spacious old white barn, and sampled several craft chocolate bars made from Nicaraguan cacao.

Our last stop of the day was Cacao Bisiesto.

Fermenting and Drying Cacao 

Cacao Bisieto takes in beans from farmers and operates fermentation and drying facilities where beans go through initial stages of processing and developing flavor before being shipped to chocolate makers in the U.S. and elsewhere.

We stopped at the fermentation and drying areas. Here is where additional expertise was came into play.

Each batch of farmer's beans were checked and assessed for fermentation profiles. Fermenting beans were carefully monitored and moved from box to box during the process over a period of days. Cut tests were done on selected beans. Near these "vats," the aroma was similar to a winery.

After fermentation, batches of beans were dried on screens in elevated wooden frames, that allowed for just the right amount of air to circulate. Plastic sheeting around the area helped prevent contamination or moisture from wind or rain.

As the sun was setting, our group made our way through carefully planted and tended rows of cacao trees; and Giff explained to us techniques they were using on their own farm. Although it was hard to hear what Giff was saying, as a symphony of cicadas were broadcasting at full blast around us. (The sign of a healthy ecosystem one might say.)

It was a full and educational day, and great to see and hear first-hand the how a few organizations and individuals can add lots of value in the supply chain, as cacao moves from tree to bar.

Thank you to both Giff and Jose Enrique for their time and patience during the tour, when they were peppered with questions from myself and others.

*The group tour was organized by The Chocolate Garage (Palo Alto, CA).

**Yes the seeds/beans are a bit bitter and astringent in their raw state, but you can suck the pulp off them and they're just fine that way. 

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

French Broad Chocolates Interview -- From Tree to Bar - Apr. 9, 2016

Interview - French Broad Chocolates
Tree to Bar: From Nicaragua to North Carolina
April 2016

This past week I visited Asheville, North Carolina. The days were full of spring. Trees were bursting with blossoms and tiny clumps of new green leaves. And, there was, of course, chocolate.


A stiff, cool breeze blew as I walked across Pack Square to investigate French Broad Chocolates' Chocolate Lounge, and the company's boutique called Chocolate + Milk (the "+" is silent) next door.

I was a block away when I saw a long line extending from the Chocolate Lounge entrance. This was obviously a very popular community gathering place in downtown Asheville. And the cold wind wasn't deterring eager customers waiting to sip drinking chocolate and coffee, and to order desserts.

Because of the long line at the Lounge, I ducked next door into Chocolate + Milk to sample a cashew caramel (from the company's caramel collection box) and two different ice creams (neither with chocolate). However, the Nibby Road ice cream—a version of Rocky Road, with cacao nibs, home-made marshmallow fluff and toasted almonds—did beckon.

There was also an impressive wall of craft chocolate bars from a variety of craft chocolate makers (including French Broad). I bought a few different bars, including a French Broad Chocolates Cacao Bisiesto Nicaragua dark bar. More on that collaboration below.

Interview with Dan Rattigan at the Factory

I met with co-founder Dan Rattigan at the French Broad Chocolates Factory and Tasting Room—about half a mile south of the company's Chocolate Lounge and Chocolate + Milk locations.

But, before delving into the tour and interview I should mention a few weeks ago I was in Nicaragua, coincidentally talking with the founders of Cacao Bisiesto—a source of cacao beans for French Broad Chocolates.

Cacao Bisiesto - Nicaragua

Two weeks before landing in Asheville, I was with a group* outside of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, bouncing along on dirt roads, visiting cacao farms. Here the group was able to commune with cacao trees laden with pods (fruits that contain the cacao beans (seeds)) and learn some of the secrets to great cacao.

Farmers cultivate cacao fruit (pods), which grow on trees. Cacao pod colors include green, red, magenta-purple, pink, yellow and orange. Small white flowers (like the tiny one shown at right next to a green pod) turn into much larger pods than you'd imagine. And the white, pulpy fruit (inside the thick outer layer), is delicious.

This farm tour was led by Gifford (Giff) Laube and Jose Enrique Herrera, of Cacao Bisiesto (La Dalia, Nicaragua). Giff and Jose Enrique work with local Nicaraguan cacao farmers (and their own cacao) to produce high-quality fermented beans to send to chocolate makers (primarily in the U.S.).

Their combined advice on everything from how to grow and trim cacao trees to how long to ferment cacao has been beneficial to farmers and makers alike. I'll be running a separate story on them this week.


Cacao Bisiesto supplies cacao beans to French Broad Chocolates. And yesterday's Chocolate of the Day was a Cacao Bisiesto Nicaragua bar, made and sold by French Broad Chocolates. It's a good example of collaboration across a great distance.

French Broad Chocolates - Chocolate Factory Tour 

Now, back to my interview with Dan Rattigan at French Broad Chocolates' compact and well-organized factory.

Dan gave me a quick factory tour. First, you start with great beans, and then, after opening bags of beans, you do a final sort. Then you roast, crack, winnow the beans...and then you take pieces of the roasted beans and you grind/conch and temper the chocolate—one small batch at a time.

That's how you make craft chocolate from fermented and dried cacao beans. There is a lot more to it than that; and plenty of opportunity for mishaps if you're not careful.

Because of the skills required, I never tire of seeing chocolate being made.

A rich chocolate aroma filled the area where beans were being ground into a dark viscous and fragrant mass.

Across the room, carefully labeled blocks of untempered chocolate were neatly stacked awaiting future use. Additional stores lay in the "Chocolate Vault" (a much nicer, more spacious walk-in version of my home office-based Chocolate Vault).

Machines - The move to more stainless steel

I enjoyed seeing machines that Dan had designed and built himself early on—next to a row of gleaming stainless steel machines running in full production mode—and hearing about ongoing updates being made to accommodate growing demand.

We also talked about the company's award-winning green business status—and their use of solar energy (a favorite topic of mine). Dan designed a solar system capable of collecting/producing and piping hot air to a production area, to aid in the roasting process.

Making chocolate from scratch (bean-to-bar) requires great beans as well as precise equipment and processes. It also takes the right people to make craft chocolate and to run a successful, multi-faceted business.

Fortunately, Dan and Jael Rattigan seem to make a great pair; and they've worked hard to assemble a great team.

The Man Behind the Chocolate

Dan Rattigan had the intent listening skills of a successful executive; and the natural ability to convey a compelling narrative.

Dan and Jael Rattigan (husband and wife team) fell in love, and co-founded French Broad Chocolates after living in Costa Rica, where they purchased an abandoned cacao farm, and operated a restaurant called Bread and Chocolate.

This experience contributed to a decade's worth of accumulated knowledge about sourcing great cacao (from Cacao Bisiesto in Nicaragua and organizations in other cacao-growing countries).

Dan clearly understands the value of in-country relationships to obtain high-quality beans, and of paying employees competitive wages to achieve positive results. An example of their progressive management philosophy: the company was in the process of implementing an "open books" system to foster transparency and better understanding.

Dan also possessed a keen understanding of sustainability, continuous improvement and lifetime learning to meet their goals. On the business side, I asked Dan whether they'd thought about expanding partnerships (both at the supplier end and with other businesses that might be open to co-branded products that incorporate French Broad Chocolates).

Right now, their successful chocolate-related business(es) are gobbling up almost all the cacao that Dan can produce. However, more collaborations or partnerships in the future might be possible. In the meantime, congratulations to the Rattigans for building successful community and product.

Before I left I sampled a chocolate from the tasting case in the front. It was a fresh-tasting, Maple Smoked Salt chocolate. I highly recommend it.

If you're visiting Asheville, tours at the factory are held on Saturdays. Check the company's website for more information.

*The Nicaragua cacao tour was arranged by The Chocolate Garage (Palo Alto, CA).

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Chocolates of Asheville, NC - April 4, 2016

Chocolates in Asheville, North Carolina

Chocolate Field Trip - April 2016

Below is a summary of findings from a recent chocolate field trip to Asheville, North Carolina.

Asheville's downtown area has an active street life. I'd been told it was a great food and art city, and that seemed true. There were healthy cafes and restaurants, as well as breweries and pubs that reminded me of a mix of Portland, OR, Austin, TX, and Santa Cruz, CA—but with a relaxed, Southern college town spin.

Below is a partial list of places I visited:

French Broad Chocolates
I visited the French Broad Chocolates Chocolate Lounge and Chocolate + Milk retail location (where they sell a variety of their bars including their own). I was also able to pick up a dark bar from Videri (Raleigh, NC), and a Toasted Sesame bar from Woodblock Chocolate (Portland, OR), as well as chocolate covered caramels, ice cream, and a single origin Nicaragua bar made by French Broad Chocolates.

Later this week, I'll be featuring interviews with co-founder, Dan Rattigan, as well as one of their cacao suppliers (Cacao Bisiesto) in Nicaragua.

Chocolate Fetish
Chocolate Fetish offered a variety of truffles, confections and some holiday-themed and other novelty chocolate sculptures. I picked up several, including a Cashew Turtle that I'll be featuring later today as part of Cashew Theme Week. Thank you to Anna for her help.

Unique flavor combinations included the company's "Blossom" chocolate (flavored with saffron, lemon and ginger).

Also, I saw what looked to be a chocolate cake (really a hollow chocolate shell) filled with small treats. Each "cake" comes with a hammer so you can put it on a plate and break it open to enjoy the treats inside—pinata style. And the store had a whole shelf dedicated to high-heeled shoes, rendered in chocolate.

Chocolate Gems
Another interesting downtown Asheville chocolatier was Chocolate Gems. I sampled a Juniper Berry truffle that was fresh, balanced and flavorful, and brought home a few other items to try. Thanks to Isabel for her help.

They also offered some sculpted chocolate novelty items, such as a beautifully rendered cacao pod. The kitchen set caught my eye (that included a chocolate saucepan with lid).

Black Mountain Chocolate
Black Mountain Chocolate (formerly just outside of Asheville) moved to Winston Salem, NC. Although quite a few places in downtown Asheville seemed to carry their bars. I bought one of their Sea Salt bars at Green Sage Cafe (downtown Asheville location).

The content and images in this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

Goss Milk Chocolate bar - May 1, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Goss Chocolate
Milk Chocolate bar
Good +
Weight: 2 oz. (56 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 300 calories (estimate) in 1 bar
Cost: $6.00 (BZ $) ($3.00 U.S.D.)
Purchased from: Advanced Tees (shop), in Belize airport (BZE), Belize

Today's Milk Chocolate bar from Goss Chocolate (Placentia, Belize) was full of rich, chocolatey, fudge brownie flavor, and was much better than the average milk chocolate I am used to tasting in this category.

After buying this shiny gold bar from a refrigerated case in a shop at the Belize airport and carting it around for a week (in and out of refrigeration), I was expecting the worst (a white haze of fat bloom, melted corners, an off-taste). However, I was delighted to find when I unwrapped this bar today that it had survived all these ups and downs, and still tasted great.

The fine flavor in this milk chocolate bar speaks well of the cacao beans Goss Chocolate obtained (ingredient #2, after cane sugar) and the skills of the chocolate maker(s) at Goss. The company is located on the seashore (Caribbean) in Southern Belize. This location has access to high quality beans from cacao growers and farms nearby, but it still takes talent and patience to coax the best from the beans. It was great to taste another bar that was made from Belize beans, and made in Belize as well.

Cacao has been enjoyed for thousands of years in this area. The Mayans and peoples who have settled in Belize since then are fortunate indeed to enjoy this national treasure. I was not able to visit Goss Chocolate this past week, while in Belize. I might have flown over it on the way back (from Punta Gorda to Belize City). The picture at right shows a snippet of the Belize coastline and beautiful reefs in this area from several thousand feet up.

Maya Mountain Cacao Visit - Belize

Maya Mountain Cacao
April 2013 Visit

While in Belize this past week, I took a trip to Maya Mountain Cacao, adjacent to the Cotton Tree Lodge, with Belcampo Lodge (Punta Gorda) staff.

Several highly regarded craft chocolate makers in North America and Europe have made bars with cacao from this area (the Toledo District of Southern Belize). Maya Mountain Cacao sources premium beans from local cacao farmers and focuses on quality fermentation and drying of cacao beans. These beans are then sent to chocolate makers.

During our visit, we saw different shades of brown beans (all purple in the middle when cut in half) that had been fermented carefully in horizontal wooden boxes for the required number of days, then sun-dried on a tarp on the ground and under covered, solar drying areas. Beans were segregated in groups/batches as they dried. The fermentation area smelled a bit like a winery (a pleasant yeasty, wine aromas).

Two Maya women were hard at work helping to sort and grade the beans. Once beans were dried and sorted, they were packed in bags (large plastic and burlap sacks) and sent to (or picked up by) chocolate makers, who will roast, winnow and grind them into dark, rich paste -- that will eventually be made into chocolate bars.

Seneca Klassen, a cacao grower and chocolate maker from Hawaii, observed that Maya Mountain Cacao staff seemed to be taking extra steps to sort, grade and ensure that undesirable particles, broken pieces and twig bits were being removed -- steps that may or may not happen to this degree in different countries, especially if farmers are paid by the pound for their harvest.

Thank you to everyone at Maya Mountain Cacao and Belcampo for the tour. Sorry to have missed meeting you Emily (Stone); maybe next time!

Toledo Cacao Growers Association
There are a few different options for cacao farmers to get their beans to market in Southern Belize. Maya Mountain Cacao is one. I also made a very quick stop at the Toledo Cacao Growers Association (TCGA) in Punta Gorda.

According to the man I spoke to at TCGA -- who was very kind to show me their holding and weighing area for cacao beans when I dropped by -- almost 500 farmers regularly bring cacao beans to sell to this non-profit organization. Beans are weighed and inspected as part of this process. Local Belize chocolate makers that buy beans from TCGA include Cotton Tree Chocolate (Punta Gorda), Goss Chocolate (Placencia), Kakaw Chocolate (San Pedro), and Wangla Chocolate.