an experimental chocolate bar to be sure. But no one can refute that it is bar-shaped. Read about the process and know that there is progress... the time is soon approaching when Champaign will finally have high-quality chocolate commensurate with its high-yield corn.

www.danielhschreiber.com/blog

chocolate maker
--dan

Hi folks,
Just wanted to let you know that I have set up a blog for this project, it is at:
http://www.danielhschreiber.com/blog/
And I just posted a... post, detailing my first roast. Hope you enjoy! I think most people who donated live in Champaign, and I have these nibs, if anyone wants to try some, send me a message! Depending on how things go, I may try to have a bar by this Friday, but it would be very experimental, then I'll be gone for a week while my sister is getting married, but I hope to have something I want people to try as soon as possible after that!

Thanks!
--dan

Finally, I have something to show you. Over the past three days I've received three new and exciting shipments. On Wednesday I got the chocolate melangeur. This thing weighs about 40 lbs due to its two 7.5 pound granite rollers and 10 (?) pound granite slab. It is featured in the 2nd photo.

Thursday came and I got the cocoa mill in the mail. The actual mill comes from a company, 'Crankandstein' that makes mills for homebrewers, but this one has been adapted for cacao beans. I screwed in some screws to assemble the hopper, mill and base to what you see in the 3rd picture.

Today, Friday, not but 1 hour ago I came home excitedly to see that yes, UPS had come, and awaiting me, in addition to some miscellany: chocolate molds and infrared thermometer, were 10 lbs of cacao! 5 lbs from Panama and 5 from Peru, both Fair Trade and Organic. I opened the bags, plunged my hands and pulled out two handfuls of Peruvian Cacao to give it a good whiff. I noticed... a little bit of a fermenty smell, a faint vinegar. This makes sense because cacao is fermented before it is dried, but I was quite surprised that the first thing popping into my mind was ... sauerkraut. The Peruvian cacao has a more robust chocolate odor, I think, whereas the Panama is a fresher smell, more clean. In color, the Peruvian is a beautiful reddish brown, reminds me a little of an almond. Panama is a grayer shade.

I am extremely tempted to presently start my first roast, but unfortunately I have to run to a math meeting... I'll be smelling my hands and contemplating tomorrow or this evenings first roast!

I am in the process of setting up a blog (its got to look good, you know!). I'll begin to document the process and post more photos and video soon, I'll send a link when that is up. In the meantime enjoy these photos, and thank you everybody for your support!

Chocolate Alchemist
--Dan