Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? Well it’s a shaky area, with arguments to be made for both sides. There are some good scientific reasons why chocolate has come to be considered a “food of love”. And its romantic properties have been talked about for as long as it’s been consumed. But the validity of these claims, […]

We’ve just celebrated “Bonfire Night” in the UK, and so we are now officially in the run up to Christmas, with Black Friday as a commercial interlude. But fear not.  Our blog posts aren’t going to suddenly switch to hard selling you boxes of bars, bottles and beans for Christmas.  And, spoiler alert, we won’t […]

This week we’d like to congratulate a number of chocolate makers who have entered, and won, multiple awards at the Great Taste Awards — in particular Fjak and Tosier (ladies first), Standout, Firetree and Solkiki swept the boards. To celebrate we’ve pulled together an award winning box (see below) and highlighted a few other awesome […]

One of our mantras at Cocoa Runners is that “Craft Chocolate tastes better, is better for farmers, better for the planet and also better for you”. It is pretty easy to “show” people that Craft Chocolate tastes better.  They just need to try some There are also LOTS of studies showing how direct, transparent trade leads […]

From having been “the food of the goods” (Theobroma Cacao), chocolate has, sadly, often fallen to being a commoditised, mass market ingredient in confectionery. In some ways the “commoditisation” and “mass processing” of food, of which chocolate has been subsumed, has been great. For most of history the majority of humankind has been at risk of […]

Many of the world’s greatest foods and drinks involve fermentation – think wine, coffee, beer, yogurt, bread, cheese and, of course, chocolate.  Life would be a lot less fun without the miracles that yeasts and bacteria perform in transforming grapes into wine, hops into beer and cocoa seeds into chocolate. This week’s blog post aims to explain […]

As we were melting in the UK’s mini heatwave, it seemed like a great time to explore the importance of heat in chocolate crafting.   Before we delve into the intricacies of roasting, grinding, conching and tempering chocolate (all of which rely on heat to work their magic on cocoa beans), some good news: savouring Craft Chocolate […]

For most of its history we’ve “drunk” chocolate.  And hot chocolate remains a favourite “night cap” for many kids and adults. Yet many people fear that eating, or drinking, chocolate in the evening will keep them up at night.  And one of the most common questions at our Virtual Tastings remains “does chocolate contain caffeine”. […]

How chocolate “blisses” us out… This week is about bliss (or more accurately the “Bliss Point”).  And about Craft Chocolate.  And we’ll be discussing this on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch this Sunday morning. Towards the end of our Weekly Virtual Craft Chocolate Tastings we explain the Bliss Point as we finish with two great milk chocolate bars. […]

During our Virtual Tastings one of the most common questions is “what about organic chocolate?” It’s a great question.  But answering it is complicated and confusing.  Here’s why Craft chocolate is all about bars that taste better, are better for you, and better for farmers and for the planet.  Organic farming, fruit, vegetables, meats and […]