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Geeks Are ­sing Science to Make the Best Chocolate Ever


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Raaka Chocolate interior

"In the tech world, you grow up with the idea that you can do anything you want in this life. You just have to learn how," says Art Pollard or Amano Chocolate.

Credit: William Mullan / Raaka Chocolate

Rob Anderson is a geek. So he makes chocolate for other geeks.

 

Fresco Chocolate, his company, roasts beans four different ways and conches (aka aerates and stirs) chocolate four different ways to create totally unique bars that bring the eater into the factory with him to be part of the process.

Oh, and by the way, he built most of the machines he uses himself.

Anderson isn't alone. He's part of a new movement called bean-to-bar chocolate that is revolutionizing chocolate by making it from scratch with a strong focus on flavor. This distinctly American phenomenon has expanded in the past 12 years from five bean-to-bar chocolate makers to around 200 as of this writing. Almost all of these folks construct some of their machines themselves, and a large portion of them come from the tech and engineering world. Why? It all comes back to good old geekery.

From Engadget
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