At the time of publishing, Myanmar has one cacao farming group, one cacao processor, and one chocolate maker: Ananda Cocoa & Coffee. Based in the capital city of Yangon, the company has been around since the late 1990's— and cacao hasn't been in …
Chocolate Writing
Chocolate On The Road: Myanmar
"The first reaction of Myanmar people— now it's changing, very slowly, but it's changing— their first reaction [to his chocolate] is 'it's made in Myanmar; it's not good.'"-Jean-Yves Branchard, Founder of Ananda ChocolateMyanmar is much more …
Thailand Chocolate: Chiang Mai Cafe Guide
Compared to the more-visited city of Bangkok, chocolate in Chiang Mai is rather scarce. But it's not impossible to find. There are three chocolate makers in Chiang Mai, and a few makers transitioning onto the scene, set to debut sometime in 2020. For …
Thailand’s Homegrown Craft Chocolate Culture
Thailand is hot. Even in the dead of winter, the south is sticky, melty hot. It's not the kind of hot you normally associate with chocolate, but Thailand has actually been growing cacao— the raw material for chocolate— for over a century. Over the …
Chocolate On The Road: Thailand
"Squirrels will eat all your cacao pods and leave [them] like a bat, you know, hanging on the cacao trees. And the uncle will say 'Oh, I cannot fight with it anymore.'"-Paniti Junhasavasdikul, Co-founder of Kad Kokoa ChocolateThailand is the …
Chocolate Dream: The Only Bean to Bar Maker in Laos
"I was the first person that came to East Timor and asked about East Timor cacao... one of the guys there had somehow gotten a hold of some information on how to ferment and dry, so he had done just a little bit with a few trees, and they sold me …
Chocolate On The Road: Craft Sugar Free Chocolate
"Sugar is demonized."-Ayano Kimura, Co-founder of Böhnchen & Co. ChocolateWhen I was a kid, discovering my Mom's chocolate stash in the pantry was always exciting— until I realized it was made up of only sugar-free chocolate. For as long as I …
Cambodian Cacao & Chocolate Culture
Cambodia is curry, dusting clay, ancient temples and even older souls, each backdropped by endless green trees. Until it wasn't, anymore. During the decades since the country opened up to visitors, there have been starts and stops in development, …
Interview: David Castellan, Co-founder of SoMA Chocolate
"When we first started trying to purchase beans, when we called up the bean broker... we said, you know, we just want to buy one bag, two bags [of cocoa beans], and they kinda laughed and said 'no one ever orders two bags of cocoa... I only have 11 …
What is WholeFruit Chocolate? (Made With Cacao Sugar)
Almost exactly two years after the company's release of ruby chocolate, Zurich-based Barry Callebaut has released a new product: WholeFruit Chocolate. Some statistics dropped about the product line include 70%, which is how much of the cacao pod is …
