Our ten day spring trip to Trinidad & Tobago (T&T), which is in the West Indies, five miles from the coast of Venezuala, was an education in the world's finest flavor cacao. After spending four days on the beach watching massive leatherback turtles hoist themselves up the shore to lay their eggs, we headed into cacao country. With one excellent connection, we were catapulted into a whirlwind introduction to cacao on T&T.

On the island of Trinidad, we were lucky enough to meet a group of fifty farmers at a meeting of the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board. One thing is for sure, Trinbagonian cacao farmers are few but proud of their fine flavor cacao. In the 1970s the agriculture industry was practically replaced by the oil industry after a devastating hurricane and discovery of large oil gas resources. Fortunately, there is currently an active movement to revitalize the agricultural sector on the islands. T&T cacao beans are the most sought after in their world, for their unique varietals and fine flavor. After a quick visit to a beautiful cacao estate on Trinidad, we took the high speed ferry to Tobago with our new friend, businessman, cacao farmer and soon to be sole maker of chocolate on the island of Tobago, Clement Bobb. Clement generously guided us around the island to nearly every cacao estate and amazing vista. The excellent food, great people and ridiculous beauty was overwhelming. I still have a craving for Carib and Roti. I am talking about the island as whole, not just the cacao. The cacao is just another fruit of a rich land.

While we are not able to purchase cacao beans from T&T at this time, we feel like we made some great friends down there and are hopeful that their cacao industry will move towards producing some organic cacao and boom back to production levels the days of old. Either way, there is not doubt that we will return to T&T again, to visit Clement and Leon, see baby leather back turtles hatch from their eggs, and have a cold Carib on the beach!

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

2 cups sifted organic powdered sugar
3/4 cup organic unsalted creamy peanut butter
4 tbsp organic soy margarine, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz Bar Taza 60% Chocolate
3 oz Bar Taza 80% Chocolate
1/2 tsp vegetable shortening

1 Put sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt into a mixing bowl and beat well with a wooden spoon. Roll peanut butter mixture into 1” balls and transfer to a wax paper-lined cookie sheet in a single layer. Freeze until firm, 15-20 minutes.

2. Melt chocolate and shortening in a small heatproof bowl set over a small pot of simmering water, stirring often. Remove pot and bowl together from heat.

3. Working with about 6 peanut butter balls at a time, insert a toothpick into the center of a ball and dip about three-quarters of the ball into the melted chocolate, leaving about 3/4” circle of peanut butter visible at the top. Twirl toothpick between your finger and thumb to swirl off excess chocolate, then transfer to another wax paper-lined cookie sheet, chocolate side down. Slide out toothpick and repeat dipping process with remaining peanut butter balls and chocolate, reheating chocolate if necessary.

4. Freeze buckeyes until firm. Smooth out toothpick holes left in peanut butter. Buckeyes will keep well sealed in a cool place for up to 1 week and up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Lately there appears to be a cinnamon bun trend, it seems that these little nuggets of deliciousness are on their way to becoming the next big thing a la cupcakes in the past few years. So I wanted to challenge myself to create an unforgettable cinnamon bun and to up the ante I set out to make it vegan! What is the Triple Threat you ask? Well, it’s the sweetest and spiciest cinnamon, freshly ground cardamom, and dark stone ground chocolate.

With ingredients like the triple threat, these buns have the potential to be legendary…

The Dough:
¼ oz. package of Active Dry Yeast
3 TBS. Organic Sugar
½ cup Organic Vanilla Soy Milk
2 TBS. 100% Vegan Non-Hydrogenated Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread
1 tsp. Salt
3 ½ - 4 cups All Natural Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1 TBS. (heaping) Cornstarch + 2 TBS Water (combined)

The Filling:
1/3 cup Light Brown Sugar
2 tsp. Chinese Cassia Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp. freshly ground Cardamom
1.5 oz. Taza 60% Dark Stone Ground Chocolate
½ cup roasted and salted Pecans (chopped)
2 TBS. 100% Vegan Non-Hydrogenated Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread

The Icing:
1 ½ cups Confectioner’s Sugar
3 TBS. Organic Vanilla Soy Milk
1 tsp. Pure Double Strength Vanilla Extract

Dough Directions:
Dissolve the yeast and 1 TBS. sugar in ½ cup of lukewarm water. Set aside for approx. 5 minutes until foamy. While you’re waiting warm the soy milk in a small saucepan, then add 2 TBS Earth Balance, remaining sugar and salt, stir until dissolved and remove from heat.

Sift 3 cups of flour into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the yeast, warm soymilk and cornstarch and water combination to the bowl and mix on a slow speed using the bread hook attachment. Continue mixing until the dough forms a ball and all of the flour is incorporated. Removed dough and place on a floured board, form into a ball and place into a large bowl that has been coated with Earth Balance. Turn and coat the dough ball in the Earth Balance so that it is completely coated in the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a dishtowel and let rise 2 hours. The dough should double in size following 2 hours.

When risen punch the dough down in the bowl and let sit 10 minutes.

Filling Directions:
Place cinnamon, brown sugar, cardamom and chocolate in a food processor and pulse the mixture until chocolate is ground and mixture is combined. Remove from food processor and place in a small bowl.

Bun Building Directions:
Coat a cookie sheet with Earth Balance and set aside. Remove dough from bowl and place on a large floured work surface, using a floured rolling pin; roll the dough out to a rectangle approx. 9 x 12 inches. Spread Earth Balance over the entire rectangle, then sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough (leaving a ½ inch border around the edges), then sprinkle pecans over the first layer of filling, and finish with another healthy sprinkling of the filling mixture. Then begin rolling the dough like a log starting at the bottom edge closest to you. Once you have your dough log completed, use a sharp knife and cut 12 slices across the log. Arrange the rolls cut side up, on the prepared cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel and allow them to rise for 40 minutes, they should double in size.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes (or until golden brown and well risen). While the buns are baking prepare the icing by whisking together the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and soymilk in a small bowl. Remove buns from oven, let cool 1-2 minutes, transfer them to a baking rack, place rack back into cookie sheet and drizzle the icing over the rolls using the whisk you mixed the icing with. Let the icing set for approx 5 minutes, then enjoy!

Yield: 12 buns

Best Pairing: a steaming hot cup of freshly ground and brewed Organic Coffee

We are proud to announce a new Taza product, due to launch in 3 weeks - the Almond Mexicano! It is as delicious as the Cinnamon Mexicano, but for nutty fans. Equally as simple, we combine three organic ingredients: cacao, sugar and almonds.

Equallly as exciting is that you no longer need an ice pick to chomp down on some Cinnamon or Almond Mexicano. Instead of one thick disk, the new Mexicano will consist of TWO thinner disks, stacked on top of each other in the same packaging. (This brilliant idea is thanks to Mike and Tasha). Same chocolate goodness, just easier to enjoy!

Alex knew Pedja from his year at the Craigie Street Bistro, when he really started to come down with foodie-ism. Pedja spends enough time at Craigie Street that Iggy himself called it "Pedga's cafeteria." Pedga being the good guy that he is offered to give us a personalized tour of the Iggy's factory, which is in North Cambridge in the old King Arthur Flour building. So the whole crew - Alex, Mike, Sarah, Tasha & Kellie headed there for an Iggy's bakery field trip.

This is what we saw: 4 silos of flour, each holding 50,000 lb of the white stuff. Large bowls of living, breathing, beautiful dough. All organic ingredients, save the flour, which has tripled in price as it is (wake up people! the low cost days of food are OVER! and that is okay, because you actually put it in your body, unlike gas, which well.....you don't want to put that in your body, or spray it all over a rental car, because you so rarely fill a gas tank that you forgot how to and embarrass yourself in front of a colleague.) We saw loaves and loaves of hand shaped bread proofing before they found their way to the oven.

Freshly baked bread cooling & crackling on racks. Photo credit Tasha Boltukhova

Despite the factory's fancy machines, Iggy's is still very much an artisan baker. Pedja explained that they've automated where doing it by hand has little value, doesn't affect the quality of the bread & is not fun for his bakers!

We ended our tour, as all tours should end, behind the counter of the bakery store. Pedja's proceeded to clear trays of pizza and sandwiches to serve us lunch. As if that was not generous (& completely unexpected) enough, he refused our insistence to buy bread and filled up five huge bags of anything and everything that is Iggy's, pullman loaves, croissants, bagels, baguettes. I actually did not know it was possible to make a three foot long loaf of bread until we headed home with two of them!

It was unanimously, hands down, incredible. The Taza team was returned to the factory in a carb coma, but nonetheless completely inspired and excited to see how a little bakery could grow and make so much goodness.

Before I knew I loved Iggy's because it takes butter like no other, but now buying a loaf of Iggy's will surely give me the warm and fuzzies.

Courses of charcuterie, Boston bibb salad, cusk fish, steak and a most delicious savory bread pudding were followed by a dessert course of cheese, chocolate and scotch. The Johnnie Walker Gold Label was provided by a Scotch expert who happens to be an Irishman and is the VP of Diaggio Brands, which represents Johnnie Walker, in the Northeast. He is happiest when he is talking about the peat terrior of scotch and is ever happy to offer detailed recommendations for how best to consume your scotch. In this case, the recommendation was to pair scotch and chocolate. This not for the dainty desserter, and is uber-trend in Spain, of all places. Trendy for good reason. It's damn good.

A loyal Taza man, Joel offered up 70 and 80 percent stone ground Taza Chocolate with perfectly chilled Johnnie Walker and ice cold water, which is a critical step in the tasting process according to the Irish Scotch expert. First you prep the pallette with a sip of cold water, which opens up your dear taste buds for a fair swig of the Walker and then you follow it up with an enlightened chomp of chocolate. Order schmorder, try it and make it your own.

Pardon the serious gap our last entry in June. We’ve just been biding our time drinking beers on the back of motorcycles in the DR, eating lavish meals at the MidWest Grill and sleeping in late – hence the lack of entries. I’m partially serious. We have been anything but lazy. We are almost always knee deep in cacao beans, hand-wrapping piles of bars for the holiday madness, dealing with ancient motors in disrepair and welcoming a new production manager from his former life as a professional sky diver. Time to do some catch up here…

Since June in addition to experiencing a serious spread into small markets across the country, thanks to our ever resourceful and wise Larry Slotnick, Taza has been busy growing internally. In November we welcomed one brave man, Mike Schechter, to join the Taza forces as our first ever production manager. Mike and Alex grew up together, doing what all good boys do, including high school drama, abusing Alex’s mom’s car on a road trip across country and nearly not being allowed to graduate from high school for reasons I still don’t understand. Mike has spent the past ten years working as a professional skydiver and following the warm seasons (and skillfully avoiding New England winters) between New Zealand and California. This might sound completely fabricated, but we’ve got footage to prove it – actually there is even a chance that they’ll be a lot of Mike out there on new reality show, called Drop Zone. Apparently drop zones are riddled with drama, which isn’t unlike Taza.

If anyone can go from jumping out of planes to making organic chocolate bars, it is Mike Schechter. Mike has mastered our stone ground chocolate manufacturing technique, which is anything but easy, and usually complicated by some minor malfunction resulting from Alex’s habit of acquiring used machines. Luckily Mike is forever ingenuous. I’ve seen Mike and Alex temporarily rig up a motor using a old heavy cast iron heater and some rubber belts. With Mike ensuring that nothing will stop the next batch of chocolate from being poured, Alex is just being freed up to do what he does best, and concoct the next bar – while he is equally talented at figuring out what bar to descend upon, I’m talking about the kind of bar that you eat.

There is lots more to tell of ’07, but I am starting to realize that blogging is not as easy as I thought and that no one’s attention span is this good. More updates later...in ’08.

Makes 1 dozen big cookies or 36 smaller ones.

1 cup Unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar AND
granulated sugar (to taste, but I'd go with half&half)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6oz of Taza Chocolate Covered NIBS

1 )Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy, add the eggs one at a time then add the vanilla.
2) On low speed, add the flour, spice, baking soda, and salt, mix to combine.
3) With a big spoon mix in the Nibs.
4) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, drop 1 tablespoons of dough on to the baking sheets, keeping them about 2 inches apart.
5) Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges have browned; cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Alex mills a batch of light roast organic Costa Rican nibs. Each batch is given a small handful of whole vanilla beans to coax out deep chocolate flavor (kind of like shaking salt on a juicy steak).

After the nibs have been milled into liquor, they are refined using a series of stone roller mills and then mixed with organic cane sugar. The chocolate mass is then roll refined with the sugar in it to the final particle size. The finished chocolate is then pumped through our tempering and depositing system and moulded into 3 ounce bars. The entire moulding and wrapping process is done by hand. We gently roast to a maximum of 235˚F and we do not conche. This allows us to maintain almost all of the fruity flavor of the raw cocoa bean.

Depositing 3 ounce bars.

Order some from our online store or find us at one of our local retailers. Our bars are 100% organic and made with ethically traded ingredients. Once you've tried our bar, let us know what you think by sending us an email.

In the beginning, I worked with whole eggs, fresh heavy cream, whole milk, sugar and chocolate. I have sidestepped the use of cocoa powder, which almost all commercial chocolate ice creams use exclusively in the hopes that the cocoa butter in the finished chocolate will improve the texture of the ice cream. I also ended up using a very unique tasting dark chocolate that stands out with a little more acidity giving the richness a little hint of refreshing fruitiness.

6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups half & half
1 pound dark chocolate

I prefer using a fruity chocolate such as Felchlin's Madagascar 64%, or Pralus' Venezuelan. If you'd like, feel free to skip the sugar altogether, although I do think it helps bring out the flavor of the chocolate better when it is frozen.

1. Whisk egg yolks thoroughly and then whisk in the sugar. In the meantime, heat the half & half on medium heat whisking regularly. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat.

2. Wait about 5 minutes and stir the chocolate into the half & half until blended thoroughly. Try not to aerate the mixture.

3. Slowly whisk the chocolate mixture into the yolk mixture whisking constantly until blended.

4. Place this bowl over a pot of boiling water, or use a bain-marie. Whisk the mixture regularly until it seems slightly thickened and the mixture is hot. This process should take between 10 and 15 minutes.

5. As soon as it thickly coats the back of a spoon, the custard is ready. Remove from heat immediately, and set aside to cool. To prevent a skin from forming, lay some plastic wrap across the surface. Refrigerate until slightly cooled.

6. Freeze using your ice cream maker of choice according to manufacturers instructions.

Once the farmers have harvested the pods they either deliver the pods as a whole to a local fermentation facility, or they ferment and dry the beans themselves and sell them to a local buyer or broker (often called a coyote). The beans, once properly dried, will be sacked in 60kg jute bags and prepared for shipment.

Transporting the beans. (Corbett)

Specific regions are known for producing better quality beans than others and can fetch higher prices. These beans are usually snatched up by buyers from premier chocolate companies like Valrhona and Amedei. Lesser quality and very poor quality beans are used to manufacture low-grade cocoa powder and for pressing out cocoa butter. The very large manufacturers who make lower quality coating chocolates where the chocolate flavor is often drowned out by nougat, caramel and other flavorings and ingredients use these beans.

Sacks of beans ready for shipment. (Slotnick)

Once an agreement is reached between the buyer and seller on price and the terms of shipment have been set, the beans are delivered to the nearest shipping port. There the bean sacks are stacked in containers, or even in bulk right into the hold of a ship (with some larger African shipments). At the time of purchase, the buyer may also choose to hedge their purchase against the cocoa futures market. This is typically done only for large shipments at the very large companies like Mars, Callebaut and Hershey. This hedge is executed to minimize the effects of price fluctuations on the final cost of chocolate once it is finally manufactured.

Cacao Seedling (Corbett)

When the pods are harvested, great care must be taken to prevent damage to the tree or other pods. The harvested pods are collected in piles and broken open to reveal the pulpy seeds. The seed mass is extracted from each pod and collected into a large pile, usually in wooden bins, to ferment for up to 7 days.

Cacao Pod Bisection (Corbett)

The fermentation process is crucial to flavor development and to breaking down many of the bitter tasting compounds in the fresh bean. This process also kills the seed germ inside the bean. During the fermentation process the bean mass heats up, and the white flesh surrounding the seeds runs off as a liquid. Often, this liquid is collected and made into a very sustaining (sometimes alcoholic) drink.

As the fermentation process progresses the beans need to be stirred, at least once a day to provide even fermentation and to prevent bean spoilage. When the beans reach optimal fermentation, they are removed from the bins, washed, and dried.

Harvested beans on their way to fermentation. (Sacco)

To ensure healthy shipment and storage, and to prevent rot and mold growth, the beans must be thoroughly dried immediately following fermentation. This is often accomplished by laying the beans out in the sun, or in a plantation setting, by spreading the beans out over propane heated drying tables. The beans must be dried to a maximum of 10% moisture content, and ideally down to 8% moisture for proper shipment and storage stability.

Fermented beans spread out to dry in the sun. (Sacco)

Once the drying is complete, the beans can finally be bagged and sold. For some perspective, it takes about 200 beans (5 or so pods) to make 1 pound of cocoa paste that is mixed with sugar and other ingredients to make a chocolate bar.

So, next time you bite into your favorite chocolate bar you'll know what kind of human energy went into each one before it even leaves the farm.

Coming soon:
From farm to factory - a look at the cocoa trade

A Trinitario cacao tree with a small amount of unripe pods. Each pod contains between 25 and 45 beans.

Compared with countries like Brazil and the Ivory Coast, the cocoa production in Costa Rica is tiny. Also, over the last couple decades, there have been issues with fungus and disease on the trees. But recently, according to several local growers, production has increased as demand for unique, quality cocoa has grown, and farmers plant more trees that are less prone to disease.

Cacao beans on drying/cooling racks after coming off the heated drying tables.

Growing cacao is very tricky for a variety of reasons, and the post-harvest requirements are complex. After a pod had been removed from a tree, it is split open to reveal the seeds, which are piled into large bins and fermented for 4-7 days, depending on the bean type. During the fermentation process, the bitterness of the seed subsides and the chocolate flavor develops. After this process is complete, the beans are dried, either in the sun or on heated drying tables. Only after the moisture content of the bean drops below 8% can they be bagged and sold. Since every farmer does this differently, it is difficult to obtain consistent quality beans.

As a quality control measure, a "cut test" is done to examine the inside of the beans. With this simple test, a buyer can evaluate how well the beans are fermented and dried. They can also see if any beans are diseased or moldy from poor harvesting practices.

More to come...

What a great way to start the Costa Rican chocolate mission-with a literal chocolate mission-to find the makers of the Chocorart product I tasted in Puerto Uva along the palm speckled coast of the Caribbean- to learn how they kept diversified and organic fields to survive the all too common Caribbean fungal outbursts, and to see if we could work with them at Taza Chocolate!

While I did not get to see cacao in Puerto Viejo (and I was unwilling to wander onto other people’s land uninvited), I did hear stories, and I head two particularly interesting stories about the recent outbreaks of fungi. To learn about the effects and causes of fungi on Cacao read this: http://www.apsnet.org/online/feature/cacao/

One verbal legend I heard was from the descendents of the few indigenous people that survived the mass massacres of the coast’s Spanish and Peruvian inquisitions.

Once there was an angry god living along the Costa Rican coastline of the Caribbean. The god declared to the people that if they did not take care of the land, he would kill off all of the cacao trees. Cacao trees were revered and respected then, and to some extent, they still are today. Now, because people started growing the cacao in monoculture and have let foreigners own and wreck their lands, the prophesized fungus came. Now, this fungus represents the demise of everything and is causing great worry to some of the local people who depend on cacao for tradition, family structure and livelihood.

Another story is from a member of the Jamaican, Algerian and Canadian refugee community that has taken refuge in Puerto Viejo for the last thirty years. This community had created for themselves a very profitable and happy community growing and selling cacao that they grew together by the side of the road. The story is, that the white man, to eliminate the competition of their small cacao plantations with their mono-cultured nearby cacao plantations, obliterate their cultures, spread their modern inventions like electricity, and obliterate the new happiness of the refugee community, deposited this fungus in the jungle that killed their trees, their livelihoods, and their small piece of peace. They believe that the first sign that fungi destruction was coming was electricity, the ultimate sign of modernity.