Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival 2024
by David Nilsen
The inaugural Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival will take place Friday-Saturday, November 22-23, in the small town of Rushville, Indiana. Most of our festivals are in big cities on the coasts—New York, Seattle, San Francisco—but craft chocolate is all about cacao, the farms where it’s grown, and the farmers and farm workers who grow it, so where better to hold a celebration of chocolate than a farming community in America’s heartland?
Rushville is a small town about an hour southeast of Indianapolis, and the town leaders are eager to introduce their downtown to the world and vice versa. During their annual Christmas on Main event on the weekend before Thanksgiving, the town will welcome a craft chocolate festival that will bring bean to bar makers, chocolatiers, cacao farmers, and educators together to celebrate all things craft chocolate.
This festival is the brainchild of Dustin Cornett, the chocolate maker who owns Chocolat Cafe. He’s also the creator of the Craft Chocolat Challenge, an internationally-recognized competition for bean to bar chocolate makers. The event is being hosted and supported by the great folks at Heart of Rushville.
Chocolate writer and educator Barb Genuario, one of the organizers of the festival, says education is one of the major focuses on the Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival, and organizers hope to highlights the points of connection between cacao farmers and this Indiana farming community.
“Indiana is the heart of the agricultural area of the U.S., and they have this perspective that parallels what cacao farmers are seeing,” says Barb. “We think that will resonate. A farmer is at the whims of mother nature and other forces out of their control. You have to have a healthy cynicism, but also be an optimist.”
”I think it’s a perfect opportunity for interaction between two different worlds,” says Leila Carvajal Erker, CEO of title sponsor Cocoa Supply. Her company will be setting up an education display with cacao farming equipment so attendees can get a more hands-on understanding of how cacao farming is similar to and different from the U.S. farming they are likely to be more familiar with.
Below are the confirmed vendors and talks at the festival. More details can be found on the festival website. Tickets can be purchased here.
Vendors:
Cacaitos—Colombian farmer & chocolate maker
Chocolat Café—Chocolate maker & chocolatier
Chocs ‘N Boxes—Philippine farmer, chocolate maker, & chocolatier
CocoaSupply—Educational booth/hands-on, sponsor
Cocoatown—Educational/demo
Chocolate Thunder—Chocolate maker
Dwaar—Chocolate maker
Encore—Chocolate maker
Fusion Epicure—Healthy snacks made with bean-to-bar chocolate
Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund—Educational
Fjorden Sjokolade—Chocolate maker
Lohcally Aristan Chocolates—Chocolatier
Lumineux Chocolate—Chocolate maker
Mademoiselle Miel—Beekeeper, honey chocolate & bon-bons maker
Maverick—Chocolate maker & chocolatier
Mayan Harvest—Honduran chocolate maker
Otis—Liberian Farmer
Peace on Fifth—Educational
Sweet Bean—Chocolatier, bean to bar chocolate
Yellow Bird—Chocolate maker & chocolatier
Yojoa—Honduran farm to bar chocolate maker
Embers Chocolate—Chocolate maker
Bean to Barstool (David Nilsen)—Educational, books
Small Batch Education (Nettie Attkison)—Children's books & education
Speakers:
Clay Gordon, The Chocolate Life
—Opening Ceremony
—Chocolate 101 – Ask An Expert Anything
David Nilsen, Bean to Barstool
—From Bean to Barstool and Back: Collaboration and Commonality Between Chocolate, Beer, and Spirits
Craft chocolate has much in common with artisan beverage segments like craft beer and small batch spirits, and we're seeing more and more collaborations between the two. Chocolate makers, brewers, distillers and other beverage alcohol producers are all looking for ways to court new customers and explore new flavors, and collaboration provides a way to use unique ingredients while reaching a new group of fans.
David will explore what craft chocolate makers have in common with craft brewers and other beverage makers, and how these artisans are working together in exciting (and delicious) ways. While David will be available to answer in-depth questions about many of these collaborations and processes, the tone of the talk will be fun and conversational, helping chocolate fans of all knowledge levels find new bars to get excited about.
—Beer and Chocolate Pairing
Join writer and educator David Nilsen for a guided pairing of 4 excellent courses of beer and chocolate. David will talk about the ingredients and processes behind each beer and chocolate, and walk attendees through a full sensory tasting of each pairing. You'll have the chance to ask questions about the beers, chocolate, and pairing principles involved during this fun and educational event.
London Coe, Peace on Fifth
—Why You Should Fall in Love with Chocolate
Gerry Dean, Chocs 'N Boxes
—Naturally Crafted: From Organic Cacao Farming in the Philippines to Award-Winning Chocolate in Chicago
Micheal King, Encore Coffee & Chocolate
—TBD
César Aguilar, Cacaitos
—Farm to You, Taste Fine Cacao from Colombia
Bassman Paulus, Fusion Epicure
—Building a Healthier Bite: A Midwest Entrepreneur's Path to Award-Winning Snacks
Denise Steele, Lohcally Artisan Chocolates
—Edible Masterpieces: Creating Hand-painted Truffle Art
Anne Zaczek, Heirloom Cacao Preservation
—Indiana’s Farmers and Heirloom Cacao: Navigating Global Challenges and Local Solutions
Join Anne Zaczek, Executive Director of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund to explore their global efforts to preserve Heirloom cacao varieties and draw connections to the farming community in Indiana. It will highlight the unique challenges faced by Heirloom cacao farmers around the world, such as climate change, market access, and sustainability, while emphasizing the opportunities for preservation and quality enhancement. Heirloom cacao farmers across the tropics are challenged with similar trials and barriers to entry that we experience here in the U.S.
Susan Brown, Mademoiselle Miel
—Food Wisdom: Honey Bees, Ancestors and Art
Elmer Pineada, Yojoa Chocolates
—TBD
Leila Carvajal Erker, CocoaSupply
—From Soil to Soul: Bridging Midwest Farmers with Cocoa Communities Worldwide
Connor Tierney, Chocolate Thunder
—Taste the World with Chocolate Thunder
Nettie Attkison, Small Batch Education
—A Brief and Edible History of Chocolate
—Nettie will also be doing several book readings throughout the day in the Children's Activity Center.
Tandy Peterson, Embers Chocolate
—TBD