The specialty chocolate industry has grown exponentially but is still in the process of defining itself. We will explore this evolving industry and some of the leaders who are helping shape it. Guests include: Clay Gordon, author of Discover Chocolate, and creator and moderator of TheChocolateLife.com. Karen Bryant, executive director of the Fine Chocolate Industry Association. Greg D’Alesandre, chocolate sourcerer at Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco, CA. Sunita de Tourreil, founder of...

Disease, climate change and low wages are just a few of the reasons we are losing some of the most diverse, delicious varieties of cocoa. In this episode, we will explore some of the efforts to save the crop we love. (Hint: This includes eating even more chocolate.) Guests include: Sam Maruta, chocolate maker and co-founder of Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat, in Vietnam, on efforts to identify and preserve native varieties of cacao with farmer Pham Thanh Cong and the Heirloom Cacao Preservation...

Disease, climate change and low wages are just a few of the reasons we are losing some of the most diverse, delicious varieties of cocoa. In this episode, we will explore some of the efforts to save the crop we love. (Hint: This includes eating even more chocolate.) Guests include: Sam Maruta, chocolate maker and co-founder of Marou, Faiseurs de Chocolat, in Vietnam, on efforts to identify and preserve native varieties of cacao with farmer Pham Thanh Cong and the Heirloom Cacao Preservation...

Most of our experience of chocolate comes from smell and taste but also touch, sight and sound. In this episode, we’ll explore the sense people think of most when it comes to eating chocolate—and the one they think of the least. This show was previewed on Los Angeles NPR affiliate KCRW. Guests include: Lisa Schroeder, sensory technologist and professional chocolate taster at Mars, on what it means to be the taster for iconic confections such as M&M’s, Snickers and Twix. Russell Jones, the...

Most of our experience of chocolate comes from smell and taste but also touch, sight and sound. In this episode, we’ll explore the sense people think of most when it comes to eating chocolate—and the one they think of the least. This show was previewed on Los Angeles NPR affiliate KCRW. Guests include: Lisa Schroeder, sensory technologist and professional chocolate taster at Mars, on what it means to be the taster for iconic confections such as M&M’s, Snickers and Twix. Russell Jones,...

Over 40 percent of cocoa comes from Ivory Coast and one-fourth of the population—about 6 million people—earn their living through the crop. In the past year, the price of cocoa has dropped by 30 percent, hitting record lows just after Valentine’s Day. In this episode, we’ll learn how this affects farmers on the ground and what consumers can do to have an impact. Guests include: Laurent Pipitone, director of the economics and statistics division at the International Cocoa Organization, on the...

Over 40 percent of cocoa comes from Ivory Coast and one-fourth of the population—about 6 million people—earn their living through the crop. In the past year, the price of cocoa has dropped by 30 percent, hitting record lows just after Valentine’s Day. In this episode, we’ll learn how this affects farmers on the ground and what consumers can do to have an impact. Guests include: Laurent Pipitone, director of the economics and statistics division at the International Cocoa Organization, on the...

Many of us have been eating chocolate since childhood, but few can recognize it in nature. In this episode, we start at the farm with the pod-shaped fruit and its bitter seeds. Those seeds start off bitter, but ultimately become sweet, gooey chocolate. In this show, we’ll explore what gives chocolate its flavor and how one of the top craft chocolate makers in the U.S. transformed that love of flavor into a career. Guests include: Emily Stone, CEO of specialty cacao supplier Uncommon Cacao,...

Many of us have been eating chocolate since childhood, but few can recognize it in nature. In this episode, we start at the farm with the pod-shaped fruit and its bitter seeds. Those seeds start off bitter, but ultimately become sweet, gooey chocolate. In this show, we’ll explore what gives chocolate its flavor and how one of the top craft chocolate makers in the U.S. transformed that love of flavor into a career. Guests include: Emily Stone, CEO of specialty cacao supplier Uncommon Cacao, on...

Chocolate: food of the gods, balm of our hearts, and, at one point in time, a symbol of sacrifice and stand-in for human blood. In this episode, we explore what makes chocolate sexy and how to decipher labels on the nearly $400 million of chocolate sold in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day. Guests include: Gillian Goddard, farmer, educator and founder of Sun Eaters Organics, on how chocolate forges intimacy and what it means to empower farmers in the places where cacao is grown. Aubrey...

Chocolate, like love and truth, is multiple. This pilot episode gives an overview of the different people, places and processes involved in creating chocolate—and the steps involved in savoring it. Guests include: Brigitte Laliberté, coordinator of the Global Network for Cacao Genetic Resources (CacaoNet) and the Cocoa of Excellence initiative designed to award farmers for growing quality cocoa, on the diversity of people, places and processes in chocolate. Peter Schieberle, food chemist at...

Welcome to The Slow Melt—the first podcast to cover the continuum of chocolate. Hosted by Simran Sethi, The Slow Melt uses chocolate as the thick, delicious lens through which to explore the world—from flavor and physiology to chemistry and conservation, from global markets and gender to climate change, social justice and beyond—highlighting the people, places and processes behind this $100 billion industry. Learn more at theslowmelt.com. This show is brought to you by Audible. Get a free...