Dear Foodie Friends,
As many of you know, I just got back from a 5-day road trip in New England where I traveled from Boston to Bar Harbor, stopping in Portland and other charming little towns along the way. I will provide a detailed description of my adventures in each, but first up is my visit to the Taza Chocolate Factory in Somerville (just outside of Boston).
I didn’t know what to expect as I pulled up in my Mini Clubman (courtesy of Mini of Peabody) at the front entrance of the Taza Chocolate Factory. Images of Willy Wonka ran rampant in my mind. I was meeting with Amanda Mallen, Retail Manager for Taza Chocolate and the person who I had been conversing with via phone and emails for the past several months in preparation for our upcoming culinary tours taking place inside the Boston Public Market where Taza has an outlet shop. It was so nice to finally meet Amanda in person. Our tour began in the lobby/retail area where Amanda began to take me through the Bean to Bar process with several visuals. I learned about the flavor development of the cacao beans and how it is a one week process to ferment the beans and another week to dry on the farms in which they acquire their beans before being shipped to Taza’s factory in Somerville. Currently, Taza is receiving their beans from farms located in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Belize & Bolivia.
Taza Chocolate company was founded in 2005 & their very first chocolate bar was sold on Valentine’s Day 2007. Amanda shared with me that the first beans were actually brought over to the factory in a station wagon from the airport; fast forward 10 years later, they are now being delivered via ship containers!
The beans are roasted at 230 degrees (farenheit) for about an hour-hour & a half which starts to loosen the shell. One batch of chocolate will yield 800 – 1300 lbs, depends on how dark the chocolate is. The next process after roasting is winnowing – that’s when they break the shells off and smash them down, to create the final product – cocoa nibs. The shells that remain after the winnowing process are then packed up and distributed to various organizations such as tea blenders and also used in local community gardens – to be used as organic fertilizer, the soil loves it, I am told.
Stone mills from Mexico are used to grind the nibs. These stones are hand carved & have unique patterns on them depending on what the product they are being used for. Another common use of these ancient stones is for milling corn into flour for the making of tortillas. “Chocolate liquor” is the result of the finely ground nibs that have passed through the stone mills. The chocolate liquor is then pumped into the chocolate plumbing where they will then add sugar and the quantity depends on how dark the chocolate will be. The finished chocolate is popped out & packaged. Check out this video to see the bean to bar process for yourself.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tcA51tUOxU[/embedyt]
Taza chocolate can be found in 3k retailers nationwide. (Store locator on their website). Here in Boca Raton, FL, the discs can be found at Whole Foods Market which happens to be a sponsor of Savor Our City Culinary Tours. Taza’s website has great recipes and other useful info.
The Taza Chocolate Factory is located at 561 Windsor Street in Somerville, MA 02143 617-284-2232
They are open: Monday- Friday 11am – 6pm & Saturday – Sunday 10am – 6pm.
Take a tour and learn how they make stone ground, organic chocolate and sample the results! Tours are available 7 days a week (although the factory is not in production on Saturdays & Sundays).
As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, Taza Chocolate is one of the tasting stops on our new “Boston Markets & Cultural Tour” currently available to private groups of 10 – 14 guests. If you are interested in booking a private tour for your company or group of friends, contact us for a quote at info@SavorOurCity.com or (954) 410-3177.
To continue reading on, click here for more about my adventures in Boston.
Until we eat again…
I send you delicious wishes, xo
Denise
