I just read this in an article in the New York Times about the founder
of Dagoba chocolates. Apparently you can use a juicer in lieu of a
conch?

Has anyone heard of this? Comments from the chocolate mavens please!


It's late September and Schilling is showing an
appreciative crowd at Portland's Forest Discovery
Center how to make chocolate. After roasting
whole cacao beans in a toaster oven, Schilling
separates the edible parts, or nibs, from the
husklike hulls by running the beans through a hand
mill made by an outfit called Crankenstein. He
then passes the nibs through a sturdy juicer several
times, each cycle making the mixture smoother.
He uses a mixer to beat in sugar, and the chocolate
is ready.

The audience is transfixed by the enticing aroma
of the roasting beans and the alchemy of the
process, and packs of people converge on the
demo table to try the chocolate, still gritty but
definitely the real thing. Schilling, whose title at
Dagoba is "founding alchemist," is in his element,
answering question after question from the audience,
his hands covered with chocolate.