Our favourite topics of 2023
We had no shortage of fascinating topics to cover in 2023; so in case you're new to our newsletter, or if you'd just like to refresh your memory, here is our 'best of' list for articles from each month this year...
Print / PDFThrough Craft Chocolate Matters, every week we’re able to stitch together the threads of flavour, history, science, ethics, and more.
Cocoa and chocolate bisect almost every aspect of life we can think of, and ruminating on chocolate is an excellent way to tap into all sorts of topics.
We’ve had no shortage of fascinating topics to cover in 2023; so in case you’re new to our newsletter, or if you’d just like to refresh your memory, here is our ‘best of’ list for articles from each month this year:
JANUARY
🤘A lot of talk about heavy metal this year, and not all of it rocks when it comes to cocoa.
🍺Ancient Mesoamericans didn't do 'dry-January', and their beer ultimately led to our chocolate!
FEBRUARY
😘The frothiness of ancient cacao drinks leads to insights about why chocolate is special for Valentine's Day.
🌈Can we paint a picture of flavour? There are lessons to be learned for chocolate from the language of colour.
MARCH
🩸Human sacrifice! Cannibalism! Just some light springtime reading about cocoa history.
💡How many lightbulbs does it take to change an Easter egg? The truth is an interesting Easter story.
APRIL
👄The complex textures inside your mouth make chocolate as diverse as they are delicious.
🐶Our furry friends can't enjoy chocolate like we do; a beautiful bar could be a terrible toxin.
MAY
🍞Brilliant bakes in beautiful bars; there's a whole world of flavours where baking meets chocolate making.
🐁Mouse droppings!? The story of chocolate spreads and sprinkles is certainly curious...
JUNE
🧑⚕️What the doctor eats. The history of biscuits is all about digestive health, but they've become much s'more...
🇩🇪A mysterious absence of German craft chocolate makers is somehow related to a medieval disease.
JULY
🐚All hail the magic conch. 'Conching' is the chocolate process through which flavours are magically conjured.
🧠Is chocolate a cure or cause for headaches? It's complicated, but delicious.
AUGUST
🥳What makes a great party? Chocolate, of course. But there were other lessons from Eurobean 2023.
☕Coffee and chocolate; a perfect pairing but with poignant parallels too. What can speciality coffee teach us?
SEPTEMBER
👮If we remember correctly, 'verbal overshadowing' is the idea that language interferes with memory.
🤖It turns out robots aren't quite ready to take over the world of chocolate just yet. AI has more to learn.
OCTOBER
🎃Trick or treat!? Both actually; there's a lot of interesting history for Halloween chocolate.
🎁Did we really start talking about Christmas during an unseasonably warm October?
NOVEMBER
🤝Sometimes a romance, sometimes a tragedy. What pairs (or doesn't) with craft chocolate.
🦃We don't think craft chocolate and Black Friday mix. Let's think about the real value of cocoa.
DECEMBER
🎅Santa must have a heavy wallet! Why is he giving coins every year? At least some are made of chocolate.
🇬🇧A bit of investigation revealed that the cocoa press was actually a British invention.
We hope you had a great 2023, and learned a lot just like we did. And we wish you an even better 2024, with craft chocolate being a wonderful part of it!
If you want articles like these, along with the latest news, offers and insights, delivered straight to your inbox, join our Craft Chocolate Matters newsletter now:
