Archive | bean sourcing

Venezuela 3 of 4: Cumboto, A Charmed Cacao Farm

June 27, 2013 by Caitlin

This is part 3 of 4 documenting Greg and Caitlin’s trip to Venezuela. Here’s part one and here’s part two.

Cumboto, Venezuela

We got out of the car, dusty and car sick from the road that never did seem to straighten out and a bad encounter with some spiced caiman at the previous day’s lunch.

On second thought, maybe it was the salsa…(yes, that’s fire ant salsa)

The day was already alive with bugs and the sounds of birds welcoming us. To get to the farm itself we had to cross a small stream which everyone in boots could wade through. I kicked my shoes off and felt the sandy soil slip under my feet sliding down into the river. We splashed across, following Lugo like a bunch of ducklings. I didn’t want to leave the perfectly refreshing water, but there was no time to dawdle.

Up the next bank and into the forest we hopped along the path avoiding the spiny plants, low tree limbs, and ants that bite. Small cacao farms don’t feel much like farms at all. Covered in a canopy of shade trees and the ground carpeted with plants, you simply feel like you are in the forest. Patrick, our fearless Venezuelan host, relived how the last time he was at this clearing, he had been barefoot. He had accidentally stepped into a fire ant nest and while he was trying to brush them off, he felt a mosquito biting his neck. He reached up to slap at the mosquito and suddenly there were ants on his neck. He hurriedly brushed them off and then while attempting to get the last of them off his neck he leaned up against the nearest tree, only to find out the hard way that it was covered in half inch thorns.

We picked our way carefully along the small foot-worn path until we came to a clearing. Jose Lugo proudly announced that the giant cacao tree standing before us was his favorite tree. It was around 150 years old, which made a stark comparison to the 20 year old trees we had seenat the Piaroan farms. It was hung with light pink pods and taller than any cacao tree I had seen. Lugo stood, holding onto the trunk like a proud father, while he told us all about the tree. Older cacao trees are less practical because they grow more of their fruit in their canopy which makes it difficult to harvest. It was so quiet and cool among the trees and the smile on Lugo’s face showed us how proud he was of his farm.

We stopped at another farmer’s grove further down the road so Lugo could show us some grafted trees. Grafting is a process where you can splice the varietal you want to grow onto already established root stock (commonly used in apple orchards). It is helpful with cacao because farmers can grow cacao with more desirable genetics and the trees produce cacao pods faster (because the roots are already established so they can provide more nutrients and water).

Lugo knows so much about cacao farming and it was such an honor to get to travel around with him and see all the knowledge he shares with others along the way.

Venezuela 2 of 4: Guaniamo, A Piaroan Experience

May 8, 2013 by Caitlin

Guaniamo, A Piaroan Experience.

Photo credit: Diego Mata Martinez

Everyone sprung to action, looking for a tree limb or log big enough to leverage the 4×4 up. Patrick, our host, and Jose Lugo, a farmer from the Ocumare region, moved quickly — donning rubber boots and looking in the river for a log big enough. They found one and hoisted it up. After trying a few leverage points and only falling in the river once, they managed to pry the truck up just enough so the driver could throw it into reverse and skid backwards up the river bank. The second attempt was much more successful and we were soon all back in the 4×4 and bumping along, the sides of our vehicle brushing vegetation on both sides. Suddenly, something loomed in our headlights. It was a man! With a rifle! In the middle of the night. With no light. In the jungle. Was this the part where we were getting kidnapped? But then I heard someone in the back seat whisper, “cazador” (hunter in Spanish) and I breathed a sigh of relief. But as we passed him, he waved and I thought, “you my friend have got cojones.”

We arrived at the village around 11:30 at night and set up our hammocks in a thatched mud building while some bleary eyed Piaroans looked on curiously at all the hubbub of guests. The next day dawned early and I got to breakfast on a guanabana. Little did I know, this would be the last food I would be getting for awhile. Due to some mix ups or things lost in translation, the plan to cook up the supplies and eat together with the villagers was not happening. Thank goodness for protein bars!

The whole village gathered and we trekked into the forest to see the cacao trees. Jose Lugo and Patrick led a workshop on pruning. Like many fruit trees, cacao trees do better when the branches that grow downward or don’t produce much fruit are trimmed off. It also allows more air to circulate, which keeps pests down.

Photo credit: Diego Mata Martinez

Photo credit: Diego Mata Martinez

The farmers seemed very receptive and tried their hand at pruning some limbs. If they can implement what they learned in the workshop, it will increase their yields and health of the pods.

We trekked back to the village, our bellies grumbling thinking we were heading back to lunch, but we were sadly mistaken. It was time for the presentation part of the workshop.

After lunch, we learned that there were not one, but two communities from the same indigenous group who grew cacao. They used to be all one community and had split due to religious differences several years ago. We came to understand that they were expecting us to visit as well and that they were “just down the road.” I broke the number one rule of traveling: sensible shoes and slipped on some sandals since we were going “just down the road.”

Over an hour later, we were told to get out of the 4×4 and get into a wooden dugout canoe that really didn’t seem to have a back. At the moment we arrived it was piloted by two eight-year-olds, who were soon rescued by their dad who was waiting on our side of the river. We made it across without anyone getting too soaked and then got on the back of a motorbike with a Piaroan teenager to be driven down a bumpy dirt single-track lined path with rather abundant and sharp bushes/low hanging branches. I was about a head taller than my Piaroan driver and he didn’t really take this into account in his driving route, but thankfully, I made it through unscathed.

The second community was overjoyed that we were there and we quickly fell in love with them as they brought forth woven baskets filled with bananas, pineapple, and sugar cane. It was the best banana I have ever eaten.

We were shown to the school building where Patrick and Lugo would lead the fermentation and drying workshop. It was fenced in, like many schools, but there, the school is fenced to be able to lock the children in rather than keep strangers out. Apparently, many of the children would rather run and play in the forest than attend classes (and who can really blame them, they live in tropical paradise!). The workshop went smoothly and again the whole village turned out. Their fermentation rates were much better than the previous village, but they were very interested in how to improve more. We also got to talk to them about how we make chocolate and how we want to make the best chocolate possible from the best beans possible, which is why they, as farmers, are so important.

Jose Lugo looking at the quality of the beans

After the lecture some of us took a swim. I was busy taking photos and when I gestured to the elderly Piaroan man to ask if he was going swimming where the others were, he looked at me horrified. I shrugged it off, but didn’t rush to join my comrades in the beautiful stream. We later learned this “swimming hole” was where the whole town did their dishes.

The sun was getting low, but there was one last surprise. DINNER. Rice, guinea fowl, mortadella, and fried plantains were served up and I was beside myself, I was so happy.

Then, it was back to the first village for one more abbreviated night in the hammocks as we left before dawn to head back to Caracas.

Driving back out over the crazy trail-road made me appreciate these villages’ cacao that much more because they export 40 metric tons per year and to transport it, they take it out one metric ton at a time. That’s 40 trips of about twelve hours each. And all those trips have to happen in the season when it is not flooding, which is only about four months out of the year. It’s pretty amazing that these beans make it to market at all. Juana, a farmer in Sucre who was with us on the trip, told us the first time they tried to sell their beans, she told them to come meet her so they could talk about it and they showed up at her house in Sucre (which is the complete opposite end of the country) with their whole harvest of 40 metric tons.

Thanks to Patrick, he was able to help Juana find a market for these beans, which brought them to us and ultimately, to you. And I appreciate them so much more knowing just how far they came and the wonderful farmers they came from.

Also, a big thank you to Diego, who is a professional photographer, for letting us use his photos!

Venezuela 1 of 4: It’s bean a long time coming! (Journey to the Jungle)

May 2, 2013 by Caitlin

A little over a month ago, Greg and I were lucky enough to venture into the depths of Venezuela to meet some of our farmers. Our goal was to make direct connections with farmers, complete the feedback loop, ensure the quality of the farm/workers, and give them some chocolate made from their beans for them to taste. With Patrick Pineda of Tisano as our guide, we visited 6 farms in five days, drove for over 48 hours, met amazing farmers, and didn’t get kidnapped.

And so the adventure begins…

Upon our arrival in Caracas, we had been informed that our adventure was starting immediately as a mini bus was coming at 1:30am and we would be driving 10+ hours south through the night to catch a ferry across the orinoco river to reach an indigenous group of Piaroans who grow cacao.

But not to worry, we had pillows!

Greg and I folded up into our tiny bench seat in the van and tried to catch a few winks. This wasn’t really in the cards. Between slowing down for the numerous speedbumps that herald the entrance and exit of every small town and a flash of the dome light every time we went over said speed bumps, our night of sleep was rather abbreviated or some might even say, nonexistent.

No matter. We arrived in Caicara safely, and quickly stocked up on provisions (coffee, sugar, tuna, and bullets). Yes, in Venezuela, one can never be too prepared. The highlight of Caicara was a visit to the Piaroan’s representative. He spoke both Spanish and Piaroan and was the one who organized the planting of their cacao trees twenty years ago believing it could be a good source of income for the village.

We met the representative at his home and the whole family turned out to greet us and look at the binder full of information about growing, harvesting, and processing cacao. He was overjoyed that his long ago investment was finally paying off.

Next, we piled into a Toyota Landcruiser that we were assured could fit 16 people. Greg and I looked skeptically in the back and began to realize that maybe they didn’t take into account that Americans are a bit bigger than even the tallest Piaroans (clocking in at about 5’2’’). I scored the front middle seat (nice and cozy with the gearshift) while Greg climbed in back with our 5 traveling companions plus an indigenous woman, her two-year-old daughter, and her twelve-day-old infant.

I was instructed to try to nap as the road was only paved for an hour and then it would be rough going. And off we went into the jungle!

The “road” quickly turned into a dirt trail filled with craters and with vegetation crowding in on either side. We drove through a river and began the first of our many stream crossings. We drove over 26 wooden “bridges” which consisted of two planks exactly the width of the tires on our vehicle. At each crossing, one of our indigenous hosts would jump out of the truck and direct the driver so that the tires would line up exactly with each log. As soon as we were aligned, the driver would gingerly drive forward until we were about half way and then he would gun the engine the rest of the way…as if the bridge might collapse underneath us. I could almost hear the Indiana Jones’ theme song…

Around bridge number 13, our luck ran out. The bridge was looking pretty sketchy and at every crossing our indigenous guide had regaled us with stories of how Uncle X went off this bridge on his moto, and Cousin Z broke through this bridge last year. So some of us decided to walk across, while others of us (*cough* *cough* Greg) remained in the vehicle. It looked like it was going to be an okay crossing. The tires were lined up, the headlights were on, the driver inched forward. And then disaster struck. The front wheel slipped off the log and all of the sudden, the 4×4 was balancing precariously on its axle.

Stay tuned for the next blog post to find out what happens to our fearless cocoa bean sourcers!

The challenges of bean sourcing

March 5, 2013 by Alice

A large part of chocolate making is deciding where and how to source your cacao. Recently, we’ve partnered with Sarah Krupp to source beans from Colombia. The beans come from a village that uprooted their coca plants to grow cacao. The villagers removed the coca crops themselves, hoping to end continued violence that affected their community. Greg’s working closely with Sarah to bring in beans from this village, but there are recent obstacles. Two of the village’s most influential leaders have been threatened by a FARC commander and have been forced to leave the community.

Many of the regions that grow cacao have substantial economic and political turmoil. Sarah wrote this piece on the current political state of Colombia and its effect on the village growing our beans. We thought you would be interested in hearing more about where some of our cacao comes from.

Introducing Rio Caribe: The Trials and Tribulations of a First Time Batch Maker

September 10, 2012 by Caitlin

It’s official, my first batch is complete and making its way into people’s mouths all over the country!

I could not be more excited as it was a long time coming. This road began several months ago when I was in the process of becoming a full-fledged chocolate maker (I had been an apprentice chocolate maker until that point). The last hurdle, after showing that I could complete all the steps of our process correctly and efficiently and passing a “background” chocolate knowledge exam, was to design a batch of my own.

Now I had been making chocolate for several months at this point, but I had followed prescribed processes that had been developed for each of our three origins at the time (Madagascar, Colombia, and Ocumare, Venezuela). So I was given the option of ordering beans from a broker or using some of the beans that were already in storage. I looked around at the beans on the market (and we already had samples many of them), but the pragmatist in me won out and I chose to use some organic Bolivian beans we already had on hand.

I launched into the first round of taste tests, excited at the prospect of my first batch. I sat by the roaster eagerly awaiting the first crack, a common point of reference we use to start taste tests (when the first bean pops away from its husk). The trick is to wait for the first crack (or two) and then push the button on the roaster to start cooling the beans. I pulled up my chair so my face was directly in front of the roaster, straining to hear over our roaster that elusive first crack. I waited and waited and then I heard it, I got so excited I pressed the button starting the cooling cycle and then realized…I hadn’t looked at the time so the whole exercise of finding a reference point was lost. So once I stopped blushing and feeling silly, I quickly prepped another kilo of beans and was at it again. This time, it was a success. To cover my bases I did a roast two minutes longer and another two minutes shorter.

In no time, all three 1 kilo batches were cracked, sorted, winnowed, ground and into the cocoatown (what we now call…mini) melangers. A day later, they were ready to be cooled and tasted. I excitedly brought them out at lunchtime for a group taste test. We all tasted our pieces, prepared to be delighted by our newest taste test and it was AWFUL. Poor Elaine, who was used to taste tests being fairly palatable, had a rather large chunk and I took one look at her face and told her it would be okay if she spit it out. Really, it was terrible.

I kept at it. Trying different roast profiles…a temperature spike at the beginning, a longer slower roast, and my colleagues were great sports and continued to taste the different test batches in all their glory. Nothing was working.

Then, a giant order came in and my immediate production duties shelved batch development. About a month went by and we were running out of Colombian beans, so all of the sudden, getting a new origin online was an urgent matter to avoid a bean crisis. I was not feeling optimistic about the Bolivian beans filling the Colombian void, and then thankfully we had some newly arrived Venezuelan beans from the Rio Caribe region by way of the Franceschi family. I repeated the taste tests process and got excited when I was first cracking the beans and this amazing aroma was released. The first round of taste tests were ALL delicious. It was glorious compared to my previous attempts, and felt like such a luxury to pick the best from the really good.

We all agreed on a roast profile we liked and I got the go ahead to make a thirty kilo batch. The batch tasted great and I was so excited to temper it. But that wasn’t the end of the story, I put the chocolate in our temperamental temperer and it wouldn’t get anywhere close to the correct temperature to come out tempered before seizing (this is when cooled chocolate builds up in the pipes of the machines and simply stops coming out of the nozzle). I tried for about 4 hours and only had 6 streaky bars to show for it. I couldn’t stop thinking, what are we going to do as our supply of Colombian bars quickly dwindled.

I was bailed out by a new motor for the temperer. It arrived just in the nick of time and was strong enough to pump that thick Rio Caribe through the pipes and into the molds at the correct temperature. Thank goodness!

The Rio Caribe is just lovely–full of deep, dark chocolately richness and it just begs to be squished between graham crackers and a roasted marshmallow or smother a perfectly ripe strawberry. It’s been well received at the Noe and Mission community farmers markets as well as around the factory. One of our newest additions to the production crew, Joey, let it slip that this is his favorite origin yet. Not to mention it got the stamp of approval from my Grammy. So I could not be happier to share it will you all and hope you like it just as much as we do!

Cynthia giving me a chocolate high five!

Venezuelan Container

September 5, 2012 by Cam

We were pretty nervous when we ordered our first container of beans (from Madagascar). Fortunately, the beans arrived safely and we’ve been loving them. The whole process went so smoothly that we’ve been working on another container of beans, this time from Venezuela. As we’re not experts in Venezuelan cacao, we’ve been working with our good friend Patrick Pineda. Patrick, aside from being from Venezuela, knows a ton about Venezuelan cacao and how to jump through all of the hoops to actually import it (he imported the first organically certified Venezuelan cacao to the US). Patrick and his farmer friend, Jose Lugo, have been instrumental in actually making the container happen, especially since we haven’t had a chance to visit… yet. Fortunately, all of the hard work is paying off and the beans were loaded into the container two weeks ago:

The container has a combination of beans from several different regions in Venezuela and it should be here at the end of month. That’ll be just in time as we’re about out of our beans from Ocumare, VE. Also, we’re bringing in more beans than we can use and will be selling the rest through Chocolate Alchemy. If you’re interested in some great beans, contact John Nanci.

July Update

July 27, 2012 by Todd

It’s been busy around here at the chocolate factory! We’ve been a bit behind on posting updates to the blog, so here’s a quick catch up on everything that’s happened in the last few weeks.

First, we got a giant order for a conference. This is what 2,000 bars of chocolate (and a tiny box of extras) looks like stacked next to Cynthia.

It took us about 2 years of experimenting to make our first 10,000 bars, so it was a pretty big accomplishment for us to make 2,000 bars in about 10 days of long nights and weekends. This also forced us to streamline our process and now we are solidly making 1,000 bars a week. Even at this rate, though, we are still behind on our backlog but have some more ideas on how to scale up.

Next, we have two new machines in our chocolate-making line-up. First, a much larger Selmi tempering machine:

Unfortunately, because our chocolate has no added cocoa butter or emulsifiers, the machine does not work well with our chocolate and continually seizes up. Right now we are using it as a chocolate melter, but we’ve ordered an oversized motor which should be here in a few weeks. We’re hoping this will fix our tempering woes — right now this is the longest and hardest part of our process and we are looking forward to fixing it.

We also got a wrapping machine. I won’t say much here as this deserves a blog post (or series of blog posts) of it’s own. We had a lot of drama since it would not fit through our door. Here’s a photo of it all wrapped up while we figured out how to get it into the space:

Also, our container of beans from Madagascar arrived. These were the beans from Bertil’s farm that Cam and Alice visited last fall. The full container was 198 bags — half of which we shared with our friends Charley and Nicole. Most of the beans are in cold storage, but we have a small bean mountain in our space as we work through our bags:

And finally, our space on Valencia is starting to look more like a chocolate factory:

PS — you can find some new locations on our locations page: http://www.dandelionchocolate.com/locations/

MSC Francesca

May 10, 2012 by Cam

Our container is finally in the country! It’s on board the MSC Francesca, which is currently in LA, so it has one more short journey before it arrives in Oakland. We just heard from our customs agent that the beans have been cleared by the FDA, but they still need to be inspected by customs because we’re a new importer (gotta make sure we didn’t slip any guns in with our beans). Assuming smooth sailing (har har), we could have access to the beans in just a week or two.

I’m on a Boat!

March 12, 2012 by Cam

We just ordered our first container of beans, which is both really exciting and a little scary. A full container is 12.5 metric tons which is still a little too big for us so we’ll be sharing some of the beans with our fellow chocolate makers at Woodblock Chocolate and Bar Au Chocolat.

To actually make the container happen, we’ve been working with our good friend, Bertil Åkesson, to get them from the SOMIA farm in Madagascar. We’ve always loved the flavor of Madagascar cacao and after Alice and I visited the farm last year, we knew we wanted to get a lot more of it and get it as direct as possible. We had to figure out a bunch of things in short order, fortunately Alice made quick work of ISF forms, customs brokers, shipping, warehousing, and marine cargo insurance. Everything looks like it’s on track and the container was loaded onto the Kiara at Antsiranana, MG on last week. The Kiara makes a loop around Madagascar so once the container reaches Port Louis, it’ll transfer to another ship before continuing its journey towards the Port of Oakland:

It should take about 2 months for the whole trip and we’ll be sure to post any updates.

Back to Madagascar

January 19, 2012 by Alice

Things move quickly around here. So quickly, that it’s been a few months since Cam and I went to Madagascar and he first posted about getting there. I made it a day or two behind Cam, after missing my first flight. Taking the trip on my own kept things interesting! I found myself texting Cam from the tiny port of Ankify, desperately hoping that he’d find me. I haven’t had many happier reunions.

Here are a few different clips from our trip. I’m starting with my favorite. It showcases my pro pod-opening skills.

Cam was not a pro.

Truthfully, neither of us was really that good.

After the pods are opened, the workers pull the beans from the pods.

At SOMIA, we watched a worker move the beans between fermentation boxes.

After fermentation, the beans are raked into an even layer and dried in the sun.

At Millot, workers hand sort the broken beans and junk from the good beans.

We also saw beans being washed. This gives them a cleaner appearance for later enrobing.

This video shows the beans emptying from the washer. It also shows how our stomachs felt at the time…

Millot’s distillery smelled amazing. They distill lemongrass, ylang ylang, and a few other essential oils. I wish we had smell-o-vision.

That’s just a taste of my stories from Madagascar. The lemur pictures are still to come.