In this Bite Sized episode we hear from Arcelia Gallardo from Mission Chocolate in Sao Paulo, Brazil. When Arcelia first moved to Brazil and began making bean to bar chocolate, the quality of the Brazilian cacao that was available at the time was not great, but she was committed to working with it. She decided to set her chocolate apart by using the natural bounty Brazil, employing fruits and nuts that were unique to the new culture she found herself in. Here’s Arcelia to talk about the steps that led to working with ingredient like cupuacu and baru nut.

In this Bite Sized episode we hear from AJ Wentworth from Chocolate Conspiracy. AJ loves craft beer almost as much as he loves craft chocolate, and has collaborated with several breweries around the Salt Lake City area on beers and bars that blur the flavors lines between beer and chocolate, including bars made with Uinta Baba Black Lager, Level Crossing Soul Rex Doubla IPA, and Kiitos Coffee Cream Ale. We talk about his development process for those bars and working with the bold flavors of Double IPA.

Is chocolate really an aphrodisiac? In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Michele Hauf, author of Lust and Chocolate, a romance novel themed around craft and bean to bar chocolate. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, spend 5 minutes this morning with Michele as she talks about creating the world of her novel about a plucky food reporter tasked with tracking down and reviewing the world’s most coveted chocolate (and maybe, just maybe, falling in love along the way). She also talks about a thoughtful way in which chocolate really might be an aphrodisiac.

In this bonus episode of Bean to Barstool we talk with Manoa Chocolate founder Dylan Butterbaugh in Kailua, Hawaii, about Manoa’s relationship with rum, whiskey, wine, and beer. Manoa makes popular bars made with both rum and whiskey made locally, and they run a wine bar that offers both casual pairing guidance and structured pairings. They’re even working with a local brewery to make a beer made with cacao and then chocolate made with those nibs.

In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Chris Heier, co-founder and head brewer at Half Hitch Brewing in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. At the height of the pandemic when most people were learning to make sourdough bread, Chris was learning how to make bean to bar chocolate. He's one-fourth Trinidadian, and he sourced cacao from Trinidad & Tobago through Meridian Cacao and made chocolate from it. He also made a chocolate Porter with the same cacao, and in this quick episode, Chris tells us about developing that beer and what he learned along the way. Nicole is an artist who has created a variety of artwork using cacao and coffee.

In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we hear from Nicole Hewat, the creative mind behind World Tree Chocolate. Nicole is an artist who has created a variety of artwork using cacao and coffee. She published a children’s book about chocolate illustrated with cacao butter-based paintings on glass, and also sells landscape paintings made with paint made from cacao husks and coffee. Listen in as Nicole explains her process for each.

In this episode of Bean to Barstool Bite Sized we talk with Anna Seear of Ritual Chocolate in Utah. Ritual makes a line of bars inspired by the surrounding Utah wilderness, and one of these bars honors Utah's nickname as The Beehive State. Ritual uses wildflower honey from local Hollow Tree Honey for this delightful bar. Listen in as Anna talks about how honey gets used in this bar and the importance of preserving and supporting pollinators.