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"It is dark as the AlChemist walks along the corridor, rough stone under his feet, air warmed from well smoldering hearth fires stirring his cowl. He opens a hewn timber door, worn smooth at the threshold over years of use. He breaths deeply the comforting smells of this laboratory. Hints of wood and smoke linger in the air from the last time he roasted raw materials for his elixirs. Another smell, heady and almost intoxicating, brings a smile to his face as he remembers the smell wafting up as he was last grinding his pastes and powders. He looks about. Everything is in place. The roasting drum is cool in the hearth. The mortars and pestles are laid out neat and tidy, only a small amount of deep brown paste marring their finish. The cracking mill is sitting ready, waiting for the next batch to be crushed fresh out of the roaster. It is time to begin his magic, his devotion, his passion, his Alchemy, yet again. He prepares himself for the work ahead. The roasting, the cracking, the winnowing, the grinding, the mixing. The transformation of base materials into something more than they were. The transformation of cocoa beans to chocolate, the work of Chocolate Alchemy."
867970 visits and counting.
Hello, and welcome to the new year. I hope it is going well for you. We are through the holidays, and made it in one piece and getting ready for new things.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances at Santha (they are temporarily closed for a trip to India) we are effectively out of stock of the […]
Filed under: Products, Cocoa Beans, What's new & Updates, Alchemist's Mussings | No Comments »
OK, I actually don’t have anything to say about Simplicity, but the new dvd’s and Digital Thermometer (perfect for tempering) are in Products . Briefly, it measures in both Celsius or Fahrenheit. The temperature range on this thing is amazing: -58 f to +1382 f ! It comes ready to go with a K-type […]
Filed under: Products, What's new & Updates, Alchemist's Mussings | No Comments »
The new organic and fair trade cocoa beans are now in the shopping system and available with full Reviews. I really hope you enjoy them.
In addition, we have two different cocoa butters in. The “natural” cocoa butter is from the Dominican Republic, and is both Fair Trade Certified and Organic. It has the most […]
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You may have noticed there has not been much apparent activity here lately. I have to tell you it does not reflect what has been going on behind the scenes. I am very pleased to announce that we are now offering four new choices of cocoa beans, all of them Organic and most of them […]
Filed under: Products, Cocoa Beans, What's new & Updates | No Comments »
Hopefully you know me well enough by now that you know I don’t put a lot of stock into names and labels. That said, I have been trying to get some of this particular stock for some time. First off, I have tasted the chocolate from it, and it is a rather nice […]
Filed under: Products, Cocoa Beans | No Comments »
One of the stages in chocolate making is peeling or separating the husk from the cocoa bean. This can either be done before or after roasting and is usually dependant on what kind of roasting equipment you have and whether you want to roast whole beans or nibs. For doing it at home, I did […]
Filed under: Products, Cracking & Winnowing | 4 Comments »
