A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

Did you know that the Taza chocolate factory is located right in Somerville? You can take a tour for $5!

Tours are educational and last 45 minutes. Groups are kept small, capping at around 18.

Taza Chocolate Mexicano Rustic, round dark stone ground chocolate discs with a distinctively gritty texture, some sweet, some savory, some spicy. I love the salt and pepper and the cinnamon flavors.

There are samples all around the store!

Chocolate discs retail at $5.

In addition to their extensive selection of bars and discs, they also have chocolate covered treats like chocolate covered nibs and chocolate covered cashews.

We start the tour learning about where the cacao comes from. Cacao trees are found in Central and South America. The seeds of the fruit are used to make chocolate. The pods grow on the trees and they can be all different colors: red, orange or yellow. There are anywhere from 20-60 seeds in each pod. The seeds are moved to a box where they are left to ferment.

Taza has Direct Trade sourcing relationships with growers in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Belize.  What is Direct Trade? It means they have direct relationships with cacao producers and visit them at least once a year; they pay at least 500 dollars per ton above the NY ICE price for cacao beans; and they source only the highest quality beans.

They used to do this machine’s work by hand…something about a hairdryer….back to the machine – they bought it second hand and they  had to cut in into pieces to bring it back to the US. The machine separates the beans and the shells.

They roast their beans slowly with this enormous roaster.

Founder Alex Whitmore apprenticed for a molinero in Oaxaca to learn how to hand carve these granite stone mills.

It is here where the chocolate takes a liquid form and then is piped into the signature circular molds (or bars). Then it is off to packaging. The round discs are still wrapped by hand!

They don’t waste – you can buy this as mulch for your gardens…good news is that when it rains…it smells like chocolate!

Check out the website for tour information or to buy chocolate online: http://www.tazachocolate.com/

Tags: chocolate, level up, somerville, tour