“A cacao farmer and a confectioner walk into a chocolate bar….”

Making fine-quality chocolate from the cacao bean requires a deep understanding of every step in a delicious process—from harvesting the pods to unwrapping the beautiful, finished bars. Until now, there’s never been a way to immerse yourself in the full cycle of production without traveling to the equatorial “cacao belt” and back.

That’s exactly what we’ll do here in Los Angeles. Our inaugural four-day workshop is a comprehensive, hands-on dive into the entire bean-to-bar process, offering professionals and serious amateurs an in-depth, interactive exploration into chocolate-making that you really can’t get anywhere else.

Guided by Passionate Industry Experts

Traveling from her farm in Bahia, Brazil, Juliana Aquino is a cacao farmer and award-winning chocolate maker. Ruth Kennison of The Chocolate Project is a Los Angeles chocolatier and chocolate educator known as "L.A.’s chocolate diva.” Together, they will be your passionate, expert guides on this intimate, extended weekend of learning.

With hands-on training, visuals, videos from the farm and factory, and countless tastings, you’ll follow chocolate’s path from source to exquisite final form, experiencing every transformative step firsthand.

Starting at Origin

Juliana’s family has been cultivating cacao in Brazil since the early 19th century. Grown under the canopy and shade of native trees in Bahia’s Atlantic forest, Baianí chocolate is produced with single-origin cacao from her family’s farm at Vale Potumuju. You’ll learn about what happens at the source—growing, harvesting, fermenting, and drying—and how each element impacts on flavor in chocolate bars.

The Art of Chocolate Production

Making craft chocolate is a full-sensory experience that begins with selecting quality beans and discovering the “poetry” in the roast. With decades of experience teaching bean-to-bar chocolate making, Juliana and Ruth will lead a hands-on production intensive, as you engage directly in the fine art of cracking, winnowing, grinding and tempering. 

You will make three batches of single-origin chocolate from fine cacao: dark, dark milk and white. Rest assured, each student will bring home plenty of hand-made chocolate.

Enhance Your Chocolate Palate

In chocolate making, a great palate means everything, and we’ll help you sharpen yours. Spend an afternoon in a lively chocolate tasting and sensory experience led by a genius in the field (Juliana is a certified Level III professional chocolate taster at the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting). In addition, we will feature Dandelion Chocolate bars in a custom tasting and conduct a cacao bean quality analysis with beans from around the cacao belt. The sessions are designed to refine your tasting skills and enhance your understanding of chocolate profiles.

The Business of Chocolate

Explore the intricacies of the chocolate industry, including packaging, marketing, and the differences between retail and wholesale operations. Understand the dynamics of craft versus couverture chocolate and learn what it takes to open a small factory or chocolate shop.

Sweet Delights

We’ll also set you up on a self-guided chocolate tour around Los Angeles and ensure that you are very well-fed and swimming in outstanding chocolate throughout our time together. Lifelong friends with chocolate benefits? You’ll get that, too.

Detailed Workshop Schedule:

Day 1 – Friday, Oct 18

HANDS-ON:

• Prepare first batch of chocolate and learn the art of the melanger.

INSIGHT SESSION:

“Cacao and Chocolate History” and “On the Farm”

• History

• Importance of origins

• Terroir, varieties, cultivation

• Harvest

• Post-harvest: fermentation and drying

• Cacao selection

• Cacao processing – roasting, peeling, pre-refining

• Production of cocoa by-products

TASTING:

• Nibs, beans, pulp, cacao by-products

Day 2 – Saturday, Oct 19

HANDS-ON:

• Check the refining progress and add other ingredients

• Sort and roast beans

• Winnow beans

• Refine and conch three types of chocolate: dark, milk and white

INSIGHT SESSION:

“Business of Chocolate”

• The Bean to Bar movement

• Market studies and consumer education

• Marketing strategies

• Brand purpose, business plan, concept and identity

• Importance of packaging

• The importance of origin and ESG (environment, social and governance) values

TASTING:

• Custom Dandelion Chocolate Tasting

Day 3 – Sunday, Oct 20

HANDS ON:

• The alchemy of sugar, cocoa butter and milk powder

INSIGHT SESSION:

“Master Class in Tasting”

• Curating ingredients

• Bean quality control

• The importance of taste

• Inclusions and infusions

• How to taste

• Palate tuning

TASTING:

• Industrial vs. craft vs. couverture

• Variety of bean origins

• Craft chocolate tasting

Day 4 – Monday, Oct 21

HANDS-ON:

• Tempering (slab and silk methods)

• Unmolding

• Wrapping and packaging

INSIGHT SESSION:

• Tempering skills-building

• What is cocoa silk?

• Understanding room temperature and humidity

• Molds and more

TASTING:

• Our finished chocolate!

Tuesday, Oct 22: Optional Self-guided tour (more details to come)

Tour Chocolate Factories and shops:

• Car Artisanal Chocolate

• Bar au Chocolat

• Letterpress

• Milla Chocolate

• The Chocolate Dispensary

• Monsieur Marcel

• Farmshop

• Wally’s

What’s Included in the Workshop?

• Lunches, all materials, and extensive tastings

• We will have vegetarian lunch options. Any special dietary needs, please let us know and we will try our best to accommodate.

  Travel and lodging are not included; students will need to make their own arrangements.

   

Class Size and Eligibility

• Maximum 12 students. Must be 16 or older to attend.

Workshop Details:

• Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

  (location provided with registration information)

• Dates: Friday, October 18 through Monday, October 21

• Class is from 10am until 5pm Friday-Monday, with a one-hour lunch that is included.  

• Cost: $1800

• Instructors: Ruth Kennison (The Chocolate Project) and Juliana Aquino (Baiani Chocolate)

Questions? Contact Ruth Kennison at ruthkennison@gmail.com or 310-383-6050.