Episode 51 Overview

The recent run-up in cocoa prices and ongoing volatility are causing many craft chocolate makers and confectioners to look more closely at business fundamentals.

A recent AskTCL question from a member focused my attention on the counsel I would give to someone looking to start a craft chocolate business now ...

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Episode 50 Overview

2024 has been a roller-coaster kind of year so far, and the roiled cocoa market does not look like it’s going to settle down very soon.

But there is more to cocoa and chocolate than the market, and that’s what we’re here to discuss in this episode of #PodSaveChocolate. ...

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Episode 49 Overview

This is the monthly News and AMA episode. I will be discussing news about cocoa and chocolate that has shown up in my news feed in the past month. ...

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Episode 48 Overview

In this episode, I will be joined by Joan Coukos, founder of Chocolat Moderne (NYC). As I’ve written in other posts, one of my favorite episode formats is to interview a chocolate maker and taste and respond to their work. This is a special treat for me.

I first crossed paths with Joan around 20 years ago and my recollection is that I visited her first workshop around the time she started her business back in 2003. Our paths crossed pretty regularly over the decades, both of us witnessing the changes in the chocolate scene in NYC and around the country.

Today, Joan’s workshop ...

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Episode 47 Overview

tories like this one excite, infuriate, and depress me at the same time.

Stories like this excite me because they mention some potentially very interesting technology.

Stories like this infuriate me because of how loose they are in their use of language. The standards of identity for cacao products in CFR 21.163 are pretty clear about what can, and cannot, be in chocolate for it to be labeled as chocolate. So, for the editors at CN to use terms like “chocolate” and “cocoa butter” so cavalierly makes me angry. As professionals in this industry, they should know better. ...

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Episode 46 Overview

In this episode, I will be joined by Nataly Nicholls, founder of Magno Chocolates, located in Medellin, Colombia. As I’ve written in other posts, one of my favorite episode formats is to interview a chocolate maker – especially when they’re checking in from a producing country – and taste and respond to their work, live. ...

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Episode 45 Overview

It’s no secret that the cocoa markets have been extremely volatile over the past eighteen months. At the time of this writing, the May cash price is down about 40% from its high of just a few short weeks ago. No one knows what the future holds and what a new normal price – whatever that means – might be.

I‘ve long been an advocate for small chocolate makers to think past the bar and explore producing a wider range of products to attract a broader customer base. With the increased price of cocoa and derivatives, especially cocoa butter, many makers I have talked with are taking a hard look at whether they can remain in business, and if one way to do that is to change their product mix. ...

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Episode 44 Overview

In this episode, ChocolateLife Contributor Keith Ayoob will join me to discuss his experiences attending the recent 2024 Craft Chocolate Experience held at the Palace of Fine Arts (shown in the featured image), which is located in the Marina District of San Francisco.

Keith just happened to be in San Francisco the weekend of the CCE – the only chocolate show I know of accompanied by a Prop 65 warning – and only had one day – Friday, an industry-only trade expo day – to case the show floor and chat with exhibitors.

Keith is a seasoned veteran when it comes to attending food chocolate trade shows and so I am looking forward to his thoughts.

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Episode 43 Overview

In this episode, I will be joined by Pashmina De Shon, co-founder of Bar & Cocoa (Denver, CO).

Founded in 2015, Bar & Cocoa currently offers products – bars, bonbons, and more – from over 50 chocolate makers representing more than 30 countries.

While I have been aware of Bar & Cocoa from their earliest days, I met up with Pashmina and members of the team at the recent Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest in Albuquerque. It was a sort of walk-by meeting in the last hours of the Fest, and I learned (among other things) that B&C was going to be exhibiting at the Craft Chocolate Experience in San Francisco shortly afterward ...

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Episode 42 Overview

This is the monthly News Roundup and AMA episode of #PodSaveChocolate. This month’s episode will feature discussion of recent price volatility in the cocoa futures market, a follow-up to my High Cost of Expensive Cocoa episodes ...

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