Chocolate Explorers Club

How cool is this?! 🤯

One of our club members, Karen, has an 8 year old son with an inquisitive palate. He had a list of rare fruits he wanted to try and on that list was cacao... "Fortunately there is an Asian market near us so we found one. We did an exotic fruit tasting with our friends and WOW the cacao was bright citrus and sweet."

After tasting the fresh fruit, they fermented the beans outside for 48hrs, roasted, peeled them and now they're onto the next steps of chocolate making... "We also learned that we have enough nibs for a Hershey Kiss lol."

Who knows, maybe this young man is destined to be a great craft chocolate maker! 

Thanks so much to Karen for sharing this experience with us. 🙏

Thanks to everyone who joined on Sunday when I shared the results of our Women in Cacao survey at the WOMEN OF CACAO Summit. 

While I was putting this talk together, I kept coming back to the same thought: women have always shaped this industry, even when the visible roster of craft chocolate makers didn't reflect it.

Emily Stone rewired how cacao gets bought and sold with Maya Mountain Cacao Cacao. Andal Balu at CocoaTown put small-batch equipment within reach of makers who could never have justified a $40,000 refiner. More recently, Julia Zotter became Managing Director of Zotter Schokolade , putting one of the most experimental bean-to-bar makers in the world in a woman's hands. These are just three examples of many. 

The women who answered our survey described an industry that looks very different now than it did when they started. Being one of the only women in the room was once the norm, but it's now far less common. 

What struck me most about the results wasn't just the growth, it was how differently women are building their place in this industry now – less asking for a seat, more setting the table.

Thank you to everyone who filled out the survey, and to the Women of Cacao team for the space to share it. 🙏

Meet Mateo Prophecy Chocolate live 🎙️

Next Thursday, September 24, join us live with Mateo, founder of Prophecy Chocolate, as he walks us through the genus Theobroma – the genetic differences between cacao and its lesser-known relatives, and how he used them to create the six treats in this month's subscription box.

Mateo's journey started on organic farms in Peru and Colombia, learning traditional methods from generations of campesinos, before apprenticing in European-style chocolate making. Don't miss this opportunity to hear the story straight from the source.

📅 Thursday, September 24

🕓 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET
🎟️ Members: find the link under Events & Expeditions on your member portal

Not a member yet? Digital memberships are just $10/month, available worldwide!

Sign up now and you'll be all set to join Mateo live, plus you'll get full access to all our live and recorded Meet the Maker events (past and future), our members-only community portal, curated travel content, member meet-up events, and more.

Sign up today 👉 https://chocolateexplorersclub.com/products/digital-membership

New on the blog: The Queen of Wild Chocolate 🌿🐆

Meet Luisa Abram Chocolates – a former medical student turned chocolate maker who now works exclusively with wild cacao harvested deep in the Brazilian Amazon.

After tasting five origin bars side by side and realizing how dramatically flavor can shift from river to river, Luisa was hooked on tracking down cacao from every corner of the Amazon she could reach.

Luisa sources cacao from communities along the Amazon's rivers, training locals – many of them women – in fermentation and drying to bring out the best in beans that would otherwise go to waste in the region's wet, unpredictable climate. It's work that supports both families and rainforest.

Last month, members explored four of Luisa's origin bars – Acará River, Purus River, Tocantins River, and a Tocantins River with Jambu Flower – each one named for the river where its wild cacao was harvested, and each with its own distinct character.

Our new blog post digs deeper into Luisa's story – from a life-changing recipe in a dessert cookbook, to trekking the Upper Amazon in search of cacao.

📖 Read the full story – https://chocolateexplorersclub.com/blogs/news/the-queen-of-wild-chocolate

Meet the Theobroma family 🌱

Quick genus lesson: Theobroma – "food of the gods" – isn't just cacao. There are other species in the family, and this month's box from Prophecy Chocolate puts three of them side by side.

🍈 Theobroma bicolor (aka pataxte, Macambo, Jaguar cacao) – tastes like raw peanuts, not chocolate at all. The pods have a winding, jaguar-pelt pattern, and traditionally the seeds are toasted with cacao and allspice for Mayan drinking chocolate. In your box: the Umami Macambo (roasted, tamari-seasoned, crunchy) and the White Jaguar bar, where Mateo refines it just as he would cacao.

🟤 Theobroma grandiflorum – better known as Cupuaçu. Widely used across Brazil and South America as a fruit flavoring, with a taste Mateo describes as somewhere near a margarita. In your box, the roasted seeds go into the Cupuaçu Spice medallion – chop it up and melt it into a hot drink, or just nibble it as is.

🍫 Theobroma cacao – the familiar one, but still full of surprises here: Origin 75% (Mexico with unrefined panela sugar), Classic Maple 75% (Peru origin with a nod to Vermont), and Fuego – cinnamon, cayenne, chipotle and mamey seed.

Mateo's spent years working these varietals and the results have picked up multiple wins at the International International Chocolate Awards - since 2012

Curious how it all connects? Join us live with Mateo on September 24 and hear all about it from the maker himself. 

📅 Sept 24 · 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET

🎟️ Members: find the link under Events & Expeditions on your member portal

Not a member yet? Digital memberships are just $10/month, available worldwide – sign up via the link in bio.

Meet Mateo of Prophecy Chocolate 🍫

This September we're stepping outside cacao's comfort zone. Our featured maker Mateo works with three species of Theobroma – cacao, bicolor and grandiflorum – turning them into everything from savory roasted seeds to spiced drinking chocolate.

Mateo learned his craft on organic farms in Peru and Colombia before apprenticing in traditional European-style chocolate making. Now based in Vermont, Prophecy has picked up multiple awards at the International International Chocolate Awards - since 2012 for his unique Theobroma creations.

Inside this month's box: six treats including the savory Umami Macambo, the White Jaguar bar, a Cupuaçu Spice medallion, and three cacao bars – Origin 75% (Mexico), Classic Maple 75%, and the chili-spiked Fuego.

JOIN US LIVE with Mateo on Thursday, September 24 – hear the story behind the genus Theobroma straight from the source, and learn how these varietals are used at origin.

📅 Sept 24 · 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET
🎟️ Members: find the link under Events & Expeditions on your member portal

Not a member yet? Digital memberships are just $10/month, available worldwide – sign up here... https://chocolateexplorersclub.com/products/digital-membership