NW Chocolate Festival 2024

Public interest in specialty chocolate, its origins, and its impacts really started to emerge about 20 years ago as the craft bean-to-bar movement launched in the United States. At that time, few accessible resources existed for either consumers or budding chocolate professionals to learn about all things cacao and chocolate. Since then, the educational landscape has started to shift, paving opportunities for people to bolster their knowledge about the world of chocolate. In this talk, professional educator Dr. Romi Burks shares strategies and resources on how to be “in the know” about this dynamic industry and how being educated by chocolate changed her own life.

We will speak on growing Cacao, organizing a community around biodiversity while connecting national parks with a solid vegetative pathway.

Join Erin Andrews, founder of indi chocolate and the chocolate maker of Pike Place Market, to discuss unique products that go beyond the bar, bonbon, and beverage. Erin kicked off indi chocolate at the Northwest Chocolate Festival back in 2010 not with chocolate (or beans) but with body care made with cocoa butter. That innovative spirit (and lots of positive responses to the body care!) inspired Erin to continue beyond sourcing cacao around the world and making chocolate, to create new lines for indi chocolate that include teas, spice rubs, mixology and more with the cacao she sources for indi chocolate.

We will offer a pictorial presentation of production of chocolate starting with the trees and pods, harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting, grinding, conching molding and eating. We will split open and give samples of fresh cacao at the end so all can taste cacao fruit.

Uncover the extraordinary world of Heirloom cacao with Paul Joachim, Vice President of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation (HCP) Fund to discover what makes Heirloom cacao unique, its importance for biodiversity preservation, and its role in supporting farmers and preserving rich cacao flavors. 
Enjoy interactive activities, including trivia with exciting prizes and a scavenger hunt to find heirloom chocolates throughout the festival. And, learn how your support can make a tangible difference for environmental sustainability and the prosperity of local farming.

In Japan, competition for  bean to bar  brands is fierce with increasing numbers of new brands in the market. Adachi san will present you the key elements of the marketing strategy  behind his brand success, with numerous examples and tastings to illustrate his initiatives.

KESSHŌ is known for its Asian-inspired bean-to-bar chocolate. We would like to share:

1. **How to Select Inclusions and Origin Pairings by Respecting Cacao Beans’ Flavor Profiles**: - Understanding the unique flavor profiles of different cacao origins is crucial. We select inclusions that complement or enhance these profiles. For instance, fruity cacao beans might pair well with dried berries or citrus zest, while nutty beans could be enhanced with spices like cinnamon or cardamom.

2. **How Inclusions Can Be Introduced in Chocolate During the Bean-to-Bar Process**: - There are several methods to introduce inclusions into chocolate: - **Aging Cacao Nibs with Other Ingredients**: Infusing nibs with flavors from spices or dried fruits before processing. - **Soaking Nibs in Liquid**: Soaking nibs in flavored liquids (such as alcohol or coffee) to imbue them with unique flavors. - **Melanging with Powders**: Adding powders (like matcha or coffee) during the melanging process for even distribution. - **Adding Inclusions During Tempering**: Incorporating inclusions (like nuts or dried fruits) during tempering to ensure consistent distribution. - **Incorporating Inclusions During Molding**: Sprinkling or mixing inclusions into the chocolate molds before the chocolate sets.

3. **How to Use Mental Flavor Associations to Create Innovative Chocolate Bars**: - By leveraging mental flavor associations, we can create unique and unexpected flavor experiences. This involves understanding how certain flavors can evoke memories or sensations that go beyond the actual ingredients. For example, a chocolate bar might evoke the taste of a favorite dessert or a seasonal treat by using flavors that trigger those memories, even if the exact ingredients are not present in the bar. This allows us to craft innovative chocolate bars that offer a multi-dimensional tasting experience.

Amazonian cocoa, known for its unique flavor and distinct characteristics, goes beyond being a premium ingredient for fine chocolates. Its production has the potential to play a significant role in environmental preservation and combating climate change.

Join a lively discussion to learn how a new collaboration among Seattle Chocolate Company, Three Mountains Cocoa, and Rikolto International is supporting women cocoa farmers in Ghana.  Seattle Chocolate’s “women-powered” ethos and support for women and girls locally and globally was the driving force behind the collaboration.  The partnership which is called "Women for Chocolate" has already provided increased access to water through well construction in two Ghanaian cocoa communities. The initiative is now setting up Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) and tree nurseries to benefit local farmers.

The panelists will discuss how the partnership was formed, how it is currently managed and how they plan to measure success and continue the collaboration, even beyond the life of the project.

The session will explore how 100% chocolate is made, how cocoa is selected and roasted and what to expect from artisan 100% chocolate. We will sample several 100% single origin chocolates and explore the differences in chocolate origins.

Are you Flavor Curious? Trouble finding the right words for what you are tasting? To voice and identify the flavors in our mouths and the aromas around us, our head goes on an olfactory journey through our past experiences. Come learn tips and tricks that help train your brain to better identify the things we eat and smell everyday. In this session we will use herbs, citrus, flowers, wood, nuts, fruits, spices and sugars as you jog your sensory memories (even blindfolded!) and leave with an inspired and confident palate.

Semilla EScuela de Cacao y Chocolate (@semillaescuelacacao) has been operating for 4 years in Nicaragua and Central America, offering field schools of good practices for the maintenance and harvest of cocoa and also training in quality and organoleptic evaluation of cocoa to producers and cooperatives.

Our growth has been very interesting, since we now have our headquarters in Managua where we offer professional bean to bar chocolate making workshops with a group of teachers and international collaborators who, together with our staff, contribute to the training of our students.

In this presentation we will talk about education, collaboration, teamwork and empowerment in the field to guarantee improvement in the quality of the transformed product in Central America. We wil present our methodology and way of working, which has been very positive for the producers. In this activity, cocoa paste and chocolates made with cocoa from the cooperatives and producers where the Escuela Semilla Laboratories are installed will be sampled.

Join us for a chocolate tasting and learning experience. We will explore the tools that professionals use to evaluate the quality of artisan chocolate. Through tasting and discussion we will build new skills and taste great chocolate. 

Through the eyes of Masterclass Ghana, multiple actors in the value chain understand and explore the intricacies and challenges in the cocoa value chain of Ghana.  First hand experiences will be shared by each participant to help the audience understand the global issues facing cocoa and how they appear on the farm.  

They say that cacao can only grow on Equatorial farms.  Nate Saal, an avid gardener and chocolate-tech entrepreneur, wanted to see if he could grow cacao in northern California and successfully get it to fruit.  Learn about the challenges and successes of growing cacao trees in cold weather climates.  From germinating cacao seeds to hand pollinating cacao flowers, learn what it takes to grow your own single-origin chocolate.

This presentation highlights a community-engaged research project investigating how soil properties impact cacao crop productivity in Belize. Conducted at the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE), the study was a collaboration between researchers and the local community to understand how healthy soils contribute to sustainable cacao farming. Sarah will share insights from her fieldwork, explain the relevance of soil health for farmers, and discuss her approach to community-engaged soil research.

Planning to have 8 different chocolates from Africa and the Caribbean to taste, and to talk about developing a global organization supporting and teaching chocolate production in the Global South.  We're located in Cameroon, Dominica, Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Trinidad and Tobago, Malawi, Uganda, Jamaica, Grenada, Nigeria, St Lucia, Tanzania and we'll be bringing chocolate from multiple countries and talking about our two and a half year old initiatives.  

Juliana is a cacao farmer in Bahia Brazil, chocolate maker at Baianí Chocolates, a professional taster at IICCT (International Institute of Cocoa and Chocolate Tasting) - Level 3, and a Brazilian Graduated Chef. She brought some Brazilian chocolates for a tasting session to show how to TASTE chocolate instead of EAT them..

The origin of Baianí’s chocolate is the specialty cacao produced at our farm Vale Potumuju located in the municipality of Arataca in the state of Bahia. Good quality cacao beans can guarantee 65% of positive flavor results in chocolate bars. As we control the production of almonds, the quality of the chocolates is guaranteed.

Our cacao is cultivated in the middle of Bahia’s Atlantic Forest, using the Agroforestry system called “Cabruca”. The region holds one of the richest biomes and diversity of Fauna and Flora in the world. We are guardians of this natural wealth that needs to be preserved.

We carry this history in our soul. The cocoa seed that united families, sowed a passion and brought people together around a cause: to show the personality of Brazilian chocolate. Prepared by us, from the bean to the bar. From Bahia to the world.

I will offer a pictorial presentation of the production of chocolate starting with the trees and pods, harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting, grinding, conching molding and eating. Will split open and give samples of fresh cacao at end so all can taste cacao fruit.

In this session we explore how changing the cocoa roast level will dramatically affect the flavor of the finished chocolate. The presentation includes several samples of chocolate from different origins with changes to the cocoa roast level. We will discover how some origins of cocoa are best suited to a specific roast level.

The presentation will include discussion on origins through past scientific research, the theories on how cacao spread throughout (from Amazon Basin to Caribbean and Africa/Asia).
The newly discovered and documented genetics  (through the 3000+ genetic samples studied by Dr. Evert Thomas), and the great importance of preserving genetic diversity.