A chocolate bar

The process went well.
The product delicious.
I learned a few things that I hope to bring to the next batch.

The first roasted cacao beans

These are my first roast. I used a heat gun and roasted for about 20 minutes. After a while a few beans began to "pop" and I reduced heat and roasted for about 5 minutes more. Admittedly I had no real plan.

The beans were peeled by hand. Tonight or tomorrow they will be broken into nibs and placed into the melanguer.

Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'

Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'--this tree is my first successful graft (winter 06/07) and it made the trip north to Iowa City with me. These are annual spring pictures 2016-2020

Bean to bar chocolate

I have intermittently thought about making chocolate from beans. COVID-19 has been interesting in that it has provided some opportunity to explore things in more depth than I have in a long time.

I took the plunge and ordered a melanger and beans and molds and hope to be able to produce some dark chocolate bars for family members for the holidays

Grown from seed. I do not recall when I germinated this seedling but it has stood out for a long time
It was one of the few maples I tranplanted in my "big move" in 2013.
2020 has been the best year for it for fall colors. The oranges and yellows were discovered on the back of the tree

Acer Shirasawanum 'Aureum'

Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' is a special cultivar
I have had mine since 2007
It has survived ice off the roof twice in Keokuk, IA and survived a November 2013 move to Iowa City.
It usually does not have much fall color for me.
This year a few leaves colored up so I collected them for a "best of" group photo