admin's blog

Hello,

Here's a sneak peek at a new machine in development for the Cacao Cucina line. Though designed for the removal of chocolate from grinding media, the Chocolate Sifter can be used in a variety of sifting applications. Stay tuned to CacaoCucina.com for more updates.

Stop by YouTube and check out our latest video!

After receiving a cocoa pod from our friends at the Festival of Chocolate in West Palm Beach, we decided to try a germination experiment with the seeds. As you know, Florida is a little too far north to grow productive cacao trees, but with a little TLC, we're hoping to get a few decent-sized plants. Our first step was to open the pod and place each seed inside of a Jiffy pellet. As you can see in the slideshow, we're starting to get our first sprouts.

Cacao Cucina gave an educational presentation as part of the 2011 West Palm Beach Festival of Chocolate, to give festival-goers an overview of the chocolate making process. If you are an educator, and would like an outline of this presentation, please Email addam@cacaocucina.com

Hello there, here are a couple short videos on our latest TM-10 Tempering Unit. The TM-10 is a self-contained batch tempering machine with removable agitator blades for enhanced clean-ability. For further info, please drop me a line at addam@cacaocucina.com. Thanks!

Here's a quick video of a baffle we made for our lab roaster. This blocks off a portion of the basket, making it possible to roast smaller quantities of beans. If you have an RO-15 and would like a drawing of this part to fabricate your own baffle, drop me a line at addam@cacaocucina.com.

Here's a brief stock footage compilation that shows various stages of the cocoa bean in transformation from raw bean to press cake and cocoa butter. Being new to the chocolate making process, I've found this to be particularly interesting. Each stage evokes a very distinct set of sensory transactions. Obviously the two most important are taste and smell, which due to technical limitations of the media, cannot be conveyed in this video.

Addam

Hello,

My name is Addam. I’ll be working here at Cacao Cucina primarily on website updates, social media, videos from around the shop, etc. I’ll also be assisting with visits, tests, samples, events, plus manuals and demos for the equipment line.

In my spare time, I enjoy listening to rock and blues music and plunking around on the guitar. I’m also looking forward to taking advantage of the weather here in Florida to do more bike riding.

If you need any information regarding Cacao Cucina, feel free to drop me a line at addam@cacaocucina.com.

We're excited to be a part of the Festival of Chocolate at MOSI in Tampa, FL, January 15 - 17, 2011. Taking some of our equipment and showing festival-goers the bean-to-bar process. Look for photos and videos on our Facebook page following the event! www.festivalofchocolate.com