Well Tempered

Hello Well Tempered podcast listeners and readers! If you're catching this on iTunes or my website you know it's been a while since I've broadcasted via this medium. After the start of the pandemic, I found it much more intimate to engage with guests through video conferencing -- the informality and honest connection that ensued, and yet equally as effective at conveying information, not to mention, much less editing on my part -- meant I spoke to more people than ever (more 50 interviews in 2020). So if you've been holding out here for more content, the interviews continue, but the majority are now scattered about my Well Tempered Media Facebook and Instagram accounts. Latest episodes are non-gendered, featuring people from all walks of cacao and chocolate. TLDR; Enjoy this throwback to an in-person conference! These 3 interviews were recorded last February 2020 at Chocoa held inside the Beurs van Berlage (former stock exchange), in Amsterdam. Chocoa 2021 - the 9th of its kind - held this February 24-26th,

Description: An interview as part of the Well Tempered Podcast’s ‘Scholar Series’ (recorded February 2020)Guest: Allison Brown, PhD candidate at Penn State Area of study: Food Science and International Agriculture and DevelopmentAllison Brown is a PhD candidate and USDA NIFA (United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture) predoctoral fellow studying a dual-title degree in Food Science and International Agriculture and Development at The Pennsylvania State University. She studies cocoa and chocolate using chemical and sensory analysis to fingerprint the flavor, taste, and mouthfeel of varieties of Theobroma cacao. In addition, she led a consumer research project to understand the importance of chocolate flavor to premium chocolate consumers. For the international agriculture and development portion of her PhD, she studies the impact of an in-country national cocoa sensory panel on cocoa quality, using Honduras as a case study. She draws on professional experience in

Podcast episode description: Dr Sarah E J Arnold is a Senior Lecturer in Insect Behavior and Ecology at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich, UK, primarily focusing on pest behavior, chemical ecology, and ecosystem services.After completing her PhD in sensory ecology in the Chittka Lab at Queen Mary, University of London, Dr. Arnold joined the University of Greenwich in 2010. Since joining NRI (a specialist research, development and education organization of the University of Greenwich), she has continued to develop her interest in pollinators, studying different aspects of how their environment may influence their behavior and health. She has published in areas including the role of pollen composition and nectar chemistry in pollinator performance, the importance of environmental characteristics of farms in affecting pollinator populations, and different aspects of their foraging and flower-finding behavior. She is particularly interested in how farms and other

Description: Well Tempered Live; a compilation of #womeninchocolate interviews recorded live during the 2019 edition - and 25th anniversary - of the Salon du Chocolat, at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France. This special episode of the Well Tempered chocolate podcast features three distinct perspectives, from three very unique countries: Grenada, Honduras, and Russia — all with specialty cacao and bean-to-bar or tree-to-bar concepts at the core of their businesses. Whether through agritourism, direct trade, international export, local distribution, and so on, the leaders of these chocolate companies reveal quick facts about their experience in the cocoa sector. Meet the guests below, and listen to the complementing podcast on Apple Podcasts or download directly here. Podcast RSSFeaturing interviews with: Shadel Nyack Compton third generation proprietor of Belmont Estate in Grenada Instagram: Belmont Estate Mark your calendars (i.e. The Chocolate Notebook) with the dates of the ::Grenada

Description: Carla D. Martin, PhD, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute (FCCI), a Lecturer in the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. She leads the course: ‘Chocolate, Culture, and the Politics of Food’, known to many in the chocolate industry as ‘Chocolate Class’. Her work at the FCCI focuses on identifying, developing, and promoting fine cacao and chocolate, primarily by addressing ethics and quality issues in the supply chain. A social anthropologist with interdisciplinary interests that include history, agronomy, ethnomusicology, and linguistics, her current research focuses on the politics of fine cacao and chocolate in a global perspective, for which she has conducted fieldwork in West Africa, Latin America, North America, and Europe. From 2011-2015, she maintained a scholarly blog on chocolate, culture, and the politics of food at Bittersweet Notes. Her previous academic research examined the longstanding problem of

Dr. Kristy Leissle, Doctor Chocolate, is a cocoa and chocolate scholar based in Accra, Ghana. In this (chocolate) podcast episode, she shares current realities of rural life of cocoa farmers in West Africa, ideas from her book ‘Cocoa’, and desires for change in the industry.

Guittard Chocolate is America’s longest family-run chocolate manufacturing company. Amy Guittard, fifth generation, and Director of Marketing, discusses ‘growing up chocolate’ on this Well Tempered chocolate podcast episode.

In this chocolate podcast episode, Deanna Dick of Dick Taylor Chocolate talks about how a humble Humboldt County chocolate brand became an internationally known leader in craft chocolate in under a decade.

This episode features Co-director of the film/documentary ‘Chocolate of Peace’ (2016). Gwen Burnyeat is a British anthropologist and writer who splits time between Colombia and the UK.

Lawren Askinosie CMO and co-author of ‘Meaningful Work’ knows growing up bean-to-bar. Askinosie Chocolate based in Springfield, Missouri is dedicated to making fine chocolate and enhancing communities - both locally and abroad.

Julia Zotter speaks frankly about the evolution and contribution of Zotter Chocolate to the international and Austrian chocolate market. Their 12 million Euro facility houses a factory, zoo, farm-to-table restaurant, and more.

York Cocoa Works is rooted in the chocolate history of York, England. Owner Sophie Jewett discusses efforts to raise over a half million pounds to make her chocolate dreams for the city come true.

Joanna Brennan this episode shows that from milling flour for artisan breads, to grinding cocoa beans for chocolate making, Pump Street Bakery and Pump Street Chocolate in Orford, England is leading the way in their dual-artisan approach.

Susan Brown a seasoned beekeeper and chocolatier, shares on this chocolate podcast episode the life-cycle of the honeybee and honey bonbons, and how these two precious culinary and natural worlds collide.

Kim Wilson has applied her expertise and marketing years spent in the wine industry towards offering the cacao industry an alternative to processing and exporting cocoa beans. Find out what that is in this chocolate podcast episode.

Rabbi Deborah Prinz dedicates her research and work to chocolate history. In particular in this episode she unlocks the mysteries related to chocolate traditions surrounding Passover and Easter.

Bringing Haitian cacao to the fine chocolate industry has proven fascinating and important work for this Wharton graduate. You’ll hear the story of trials and errors - and hope, direct from Askanya co-founder Corinne Joachim-Sanon-Symietz.

Jael & Dan Rattigan fell further for each other and cacao while living in Costa Rica, where they launched the cafe space Bread & Chocolate. Soon followed - the now pride of Asheville - French Broad Chocolate Lounge, and in 2019 they opened their largest chocolate factory to date, to continue bringing more ethical chocolate to the world.

Emily Stone speaks to the origins of her company and supply-chain-distrupting business Uncommon Cacao, and how the craft chocolate market is interpreted from an intermediaries perspective.

Reverend Dr. RM Peluso author of chocolate tasting books, has ventured into the world of whiskeys. In this episode she offers insight into how craft chocolate can be a perfect match for this spirit.