Earth-to-Bar chocolate making workshop
Listening to the Forest, Protecting Its Future
Macaw Lodge again had the pleasure of hosting a group of 6 participants for a 5 day Earth-to-Bar chocolate making workshop. Students in this year’s workshop had a range f experience with chocolate, from people just beginning their craft-chocolate journey to true cacao experts.
Led by Obie and Michelle Pressman of Insight Chocolate, the immersive program was one of deep learning and joyful experimentation. The opportunity to participate in cacao harvesting and post-processing is a unique experience and a chance to develop a more hands-on understanding and appreciation for cacao. Best of all, when the class is done students walk away with their very own chocolate bars to share with family and friends and the know-how to make more.
Every class brings together different people and offers something new. This year, we were joined by Sarah Barath, an Agro-Ecologist and Cacao Specialist, and we dove deeply into cacao agriculture and fermentation. Sarah has been working with cacao more than 25 years, and is a wellspring of knowledge around the magic that transforms the cacao seed into a cocoa bean. Everyone in the class enjoyed listening and observing while Sarah shared her expertise and wisdom. With Sarah’s help, the agricultural and fermentation processes of Macaw’s cacao will be transformed.
We had the pleasure of hearing from several students after everyone had returned home, and loved the reports we received of the fun they had sharing their chocolate with friends and family over the Easter Holiday. The connection we feel with everyone who is part of our chocolate workshops is, for us, the heart of cacao. We hope that you can join us someday.
Interested in joining the next class? Email info@insightchocolate.com
