There's a new interview by Victoria Cooksey where Alchemist John opines on all things bean to bar. Check it out. 

When I winnow my roasted beans, I find I end up with broadly three groups of material. Obviously a) The nib and B) The husks.

We're asking for help from the chocolate community. Please take a few minutes to read this and if you can help spread the word, and help our cause we'd be eternally grateful. 

In the picture attached, I have arranged cacao beans: large, medium, and small.

I have been going over your Excel spreadsheet formulator, and the formulator depends on using cocoa liqueur, not nibs. Also, I would also like to use Allulose instead of granulated sugar. Is there a way to "tweak" the formulator to:

I have some of Criollo beans that have the most intense apple smell but no matter how light I roast it I can’t keep it in the chocolate.  How do I keep that flavor in my chocolate?

And the winner is.....

  I've been reluctant to grind for a long time because I thought most volatiles were driven off in first 12 hrs and

I’m getting confused on rations between cocoa mass, sugar and cocoa butte.  Is there a go to formula in percentages? 

I’ve read all your posts about profile roasting but I’m still not sure where to start.  Can you give me just a basic profile that will work for all beans?

In many of the ORAC scales I've seen, I've noticed that cocoa powder scores roughly 49,000/100g while baking chocolate is ~ 60,000/100g.

Do you think that there is any danger of the metals in the husk of brewing cocoa? 

I make a 75% dark chocolate using cocoa nibs, cocoa butter and coconut sugar. It's very nice but I would like to make a lower % chocolate for my customers who prefer a less intense chocolate experience

Our 2017 Holiday Schedule

This week I want to review and put in one place how time relates to chocolate making.  What you are going to see again is that there is a range, and there is no cut and dry X length of time it takes to make chocolate from the bean.

How long does it take to make semi-sweet chocolate and what is the recipe?

What do you think of beans from Cameroon?

It is getting more and more of a rare day that I can offer a new origin.  Today I get to.