Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I was reading a post on a Weber fans website that lead me to an outfit that makes rotisserie units for roasting coffee on gas BBQ's. Fine, but that led me to a website that sold green coffee beans. Okay, no big deal, but that lead me to a website about roasting green cacao beans. And that led me to here...

http://www.chocolatealchemy.com/index.php

Where, with patience you can learn your own chocolate from scratch. From grinding to tempering, a ton of information for the chocolate obsessive in you!

Steve,

You laugh now, but when civilization collapses we'll be glad someone knows how to make chocolate from pods.

That way we can eat our "rat on a stick" with mole sauce.

Heck, I thought civilization had collapsed a couple of times already. I suppose I find the idea more tempting because really good chocolate is neither easy to find nor particularly affordable here. Why I think dropping a grand or so on equipment to make it at home is reasonable probably says something about a certain air of impracticality that permeates my approach to life. And the "make your own if you have the right gear" also scratches the gadget guy itch in me. Not that I am doing it, but I like the idea.

When making your own chocolate was initially proposed on a different website, a Cadbury tech wrote a lengthy reply explaining why it was utterly impractical (maybe correct) and generally impossible (likely incorrect) for private individuals to produce quality chocolate at home. Chocolate Alchemy is a sort of that "yes we can" attitude I admire.

So while they generally don't eat rat here (though I've heard in a neighboring province it is considered a delicacy), dog is often found on the New Year's menu for some locals. Sadly, no mole sauce so no "aso con mole". I find that puzzling since the Philippines was administered by Nueva Espana (aka Mexico) for a couple hundred years. All that travel back and forth between Manila and Acapulco and no mole. Go figure. History is full of anomalies and this is just another one.