Tom's Podcast Tom Neuhaus

In this podcast, we start by considering the current environmentally caused crisis in the chocolate industry. If the cocoa farmer is to survive this crisis, the need for participating in more of the value chain has never been more critical. To do this, the farmer needs to focus more on quality rather than just quantity. That is, the farmer needs to apply scientific principles to make flavor beans rather than bulk beans. Three steps lead to optimum quality: ferment...

Today's podcast begins with a history of how the cocoa tree made its way to West Africa, which now produces over 65% of the world's cocoa beans. We then consider the primary barrier that keeps the West African cocoa farmer poor--the division between city and country which inhibits the farmer from making a decent living. Finally, I finish with some of the progress we're making in developing an international market for village-made chocolate. As always, we are look...

In today's podcast, I compare music and food. I start with Chopin's Prelude #8, in F# Minor and we learn a little about complexity. I talk about how vibrations are processed via the eardrum, cochlea, auditory nerve, and auditory cortex. We then transition to food, whose enjoyment is a function of partly flavors, tastes, and. texture. We learn about perinasal and retronasal flavors, about the four types of papillae on the tongue, and about texture. We also t...

On December 12th, Dr. Peggy Papathakis and I, Tom Neuhaus, did an interview at a local radio station, KVEC, here in San Luis Obispo, California. The host of the show was Dave Congalton, one of the most popular interviewers on the Central Coast.The interview was entitled, “Learn the Bittersweet Truth About Chocolate.” This was my third or fourth time on the Dave Congalton Show and Peggy and I did the interview to promote our mini-fundraiser which is taking place tomorrow, Friday, D...

In preparation for this podcast I spent 6 days in the CocoaTown booth at the 2023 Salon du Chocolat in Paris talking chocolate, literally to thousands of people. I sold our Village Chocolates bars, I sold chocolates from my store in Cordes sur Ciel, and for this podcast I interviewed six leaders in the bean-to-bar business. These include: Mrs. Andal Balu of CocoaTown, a pioneer in adapting the Indian wet grinder to small volume chocolate making; Mr. Maxime Elegbede, a ...

In this podcast, we learn about the history of our relationship with a town of 2,000 inhabitants, Pezoan. I interview Evariste, who introduced me to the village back in 2005. I interview Bob Peak, who has an amusing anecdote on our relationship with the Pezoan’s chief. I talk with Anna and Katie Nakayama. Anna, a former student of mine, raised over $2,000 in her church to help us purchase dryness meters for four villages; Pezoan got one of them. I fi...