Who is the Cacao Researcher

Simply, I am a person who loves chocolate. The love affair began with a chocolate bunny. Not the entire bunny, but the tips of the ears, which my father and mother broke off in turn and placed in my mouth so that I, a rambunctious child, would not run around the house to decorate the walls and furniture with chocolate covered hands. The most enduring memory is the feeling of delight as the flavor of sweet milk chocolate melted in my mouth. I wanted more and pulled a tantrum when after the second piece, my parents would not accede to my demands for more chocolate.

Here I am, years later, still in love with the taste and aroma of chocolate. The little tantrum thrower over sugary chocolate has matured into a woman with a preference for high cacao content and bittersweet to the bitter flavor of cacao nibs and non-Dutch processed cacao powder. Chocolate is a passion which demands more of my time and attention, hence the desire to research, discuss and archive. But with my first visit to a cacao plantation I learned an important lesson that informs all of my thoughts, conversations and research on this subject: chocolate begins with cacao.