Visit to The Tropical Agriculture Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE)

We had the pleasure today of meeting with Dr Wilbert Phillips-Mora, head of the cacao improvement program at CATIE. CATIE established an international cocoa collection over 70 years ago. At present they have over 1000 varieties of cacao at the centre in Turrialba.
Dr Phillips-Mora guided us through the important work they are doing in breeding new cacao varieties in order to  improve growing stability for farmers.
Have you ever heard of frosty pod rot? I hear “rot” and get an ominous feeling.  Frosty pod rot, otherwise known as moniliasis began destroying cacao trees in Costa Rica in 1978. As an airborne fungus, it spreads easily from farm to farm and has resulted in many growers in the region abandoning cacao for more reliable crops. Moniliasis has had a devastating affect on cacao crops in many countries including: Mexico, Peru, Belize, Columbia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela.  Certainly, if this disease ever reached west Africa (where most of the world’s cacao is grown) it would have catastrophic consequences for chocolate consumers worldwide.
Frosty pod rot, along with black pod (which is found worldwide) have been the main concern of cacao researchers at CATIE for the past 30 years.  Through decades  of  careful and frequent evaluation of disease resistance and yield potential CATIE have now released 6 new varieties in Central America. The hope is that farmers will gain confidence in growing this crop and cacao will flourish once again in this region.
Hmmm….
Disease control and yield, but what about quality and flavour? I feel a sudden panic, thinking of the grocery store rows of bland fruits and vegetables, brought to us by agriculture improvement research. Is this the future of mesoamerican cacao? Will we forever only know cocoa as an ingredient in a sugary candy bar, and confine the exquisite “food of the gods” to a page in history?
Thankfully, I’m assured that quality has been an integral part of the breeding research. Dr Phillips-Mora believes in the importance of promoting the exceptional quality of Central American cacao. So, only varieties with fine flavour potential were considered. In fact, 2 of the 6 varieties selected were ranked among the 10 best varieties at the 2009 Salon du Chocolat competition in Paris.
At CATIE the research continues and better varieties will be released as time goes on. The superior quality of CATIE’s developed varieties coupled with the influence of unique terroir characteristics are hoped to provide chocolate makers with an impressive variety of cacao  and in turn improve the earning potential for producing families.

Thanks to Dr Wilbert Phillips-Mora and the cacao team at CATIE for taking the time to meet with this small chocolate maker from Canada. Muchas gracias!

Hola Costa Rica!

Chadwick and I are heading to Costa Rica for the next two weeks! Wifi pending, I will be posting updates of our cacao adventures here, so you can be a stowaway in our virtual suitcase 😉
Alas, I do hope you have stocked up on your favourite bean-to-bar chocolate, because the online store will be closed until we return. If you are feeling a bit peckish however, you can always stop by Greenhorn Espresso Bar in the west end for a gooey pecan or fleur de del caramel. 
Next market day for us will be May 9th - I'll be at Trout Lake and Chad will run the show at Stone Soup. Onwards to sunshine and happy adventures! 

Honey Bunnies are back!

Dark Chocolate with honey centres, dipped in dark or milk chocolate with sweet orange essence! Available only at the farmers markets until April 4th!

Summer Market Dates Are Up!

For those of you feeling inspired by all this warm weather to do some summer planning ahead - summer market dates are up! All of the markets we will be at this summer are listed on the side here. We won't be at any markets in July due to the anticipated hot weather, but you can still order on the website. As always, Metro Vancouver orders over $50 have free delivery. Don't forget to bring a cooler to the market on hot days, so your chocolate will make it home safely....um, unless you are planning on gobbling it up on the spot, which is also perfectly acceptable!

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

Free delivery in Metro Vancouver (orders over $50) Dec 22-24th. We will be closed online noon Dec 24th-Jan 2nd. We return to Nat Bailey Farmers Market January 24th. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and many happy adventures in 2015!

Maple & Maple Pecan Bars - Alternate Sugar Bar Series #1

Occasionally, I get requests for chocolate sweetened with something other than the fair trade organic cane sugar that we typically use. This is the first in a series of bars I will be making available that do not contain cane sugar, but use an alternate sugar instead. In this case, the alternate sugar is pure maple, from our fellow farmers market vendor Maples Sugar Shack. I couldn't resist making a second bar with maple glazed pecans and maple candy. The Maple Bar has a subtle maple flavour, while the Maple Pecan bar is sweeter.

Maple Bar ingredients: Fair trade organic cocoa nibs, pure maple sugar, fair trade organic cocoa butter

Maple Pecan Bar ingredients: Fair trade organic cocoa nibs, pure maple sugar, fair trade organic cocoa butter, organic pecans, fleur de sel

A second alternate sugar bar will be released in early 2015....check back soon for details...

Free Summer Delivery and the Best Society in the World!

Tomorrow we are at the Kitsilano Farmers Market, but after that we will only be at the markets sporadically until late August. But, never fear! This summer we are offering free delivery in Burnaby and Vancouver for orders over $15 (so, you live in New West? Well...email and try to convince me). There will be a weekly delivery day listed on the blog and also on the "where to buy" section of the website www.takeafancy.ca, so you can still devour gooey pecans etc. to your hearts delight!

I'd like to thank everyone for their interest in the weekly featured chocolates that have been running for the past few months. It has been fun for everyone (myself included) and will continue. I'll be sure to repeat the popular ones like the Earl Grey Fancies Lavender and the Mojito Caramels more often! We are having so much fun with this, that I have decided to offer a Chocolate of the Week Society Membership. Fancy that! You can look on the website for more info, but basically you can buy a month or 3 months subscription, so you'll be sure to get all of the weekly features, or if your feeling generous you could buy it for a friend. OR you can tell me that you're buying it for a "friend", so you can look generous, even though we both know it's really for you...cheeky!