Theo Chocolate

Recipes and sweet secrets

Chocolate in our culture equates to love (of someone, of it, of food, of beverage), yet in the past and, sadly still today, the industry has had a very negative impact on cocoa growers and the land. Thankfully, there are idealistic people in the world who don't turn away from the ugly, but find a way back to beauty.

Changes have occurred since we wrote our story about Theo in 2008 (click here), but not how it all came about. To add detail, Joe Whinney was a world traveler who isn't a tourist. He loves to become part of where he is. Some 23 years ago in southern Belize, he worked in a cocoa forest, starting his journey to Theo. He eventually brought the first container of organic cocoa into North America from Costa Rica with the help of others. He started a business, paid farmers well for their crops, and supplied chocolate and cocoa products to organic food brands in North America. When he got to West Africa, he realized how much damage was done by the chocolate industry, and how extreme the poverty was. He felt his starting point for change had to be a business that both made and sold a great product from raw materials at a fair price, helping everyone from growers to the consumers.

Joe Whinney and Debra Music

Debra Music met Joe in his early traveling days and they corresponded before re-connecting in person. They married, lived in Boston, had a child, and divorced by 1996. Being good parents, they worked through their issues for their son, Henry. When Joe had the opportunity to start the business he'd dreamed of in Seattle, he wouldn't leave without Henry and, therefore, Debra. So the divorced couple and their son moved to Seattle in 2004. Debra worked in marketing and continued with her job while Joe started the company. Debra met her now husband, Brad, almost immediately. When it was time to start marketing the product, Joe asked Debra to come aboard. She knew everything about the company and Joe, and he trusted her implicitly.

Knowing that change comes from how people spend their money, their Fremont location was an intentional choice. They wanted to do educational tours from the beginning, and needed to be in a walking district. More than 50,000 visitors a year take these factory tours. You'd have to work hard to ignore the harsh realities you learn about and buy any other product than Theo. Plus it's interesting, fun, and tasty. Now they are sharing their journey and recipes in a new book Theo Chocolate, Recipes & Sweet Secrets from Seattle's Favorite Chocolate Maker. Along with the book, they are launching a line of organic, soy-free baking bars for use with the recipes.

The book takes you from harvesting and fermentation to drying and sorting, transporting, and product creation. There's enough information that you feel you understand what it's all about, but aren't overwhelmed by minutia. They share the background of the name (Theo is short for Theobroma cacao, the Latin genus and species of the cocoa tree), the difference between usage of cacao and cocoa, how they define organic, fair trade, non-gmo, and a short history of chocolate.

In detail, they go into how they make chocolate at Theo, with mouth-watering photos by Charity Burggraaf, and talk about their sourcing practices. One of the interesting facts they share is that some farmers have never tasted chocolate, and don't really know what happens to the beans once they've been sold. There's education going on at every level with this company!

As they get into recipes, they supply information that will help you use it better-how to taste, types and percentages, how to store it, how to melt it, how to temper, etc. Recipes include breakfast and dinner items, savory small plates, cookies and bars, cakes, tarts, pies, puddings, frozen concoctions and sauces, confections, and drinking chocolate. There's even a conversion table in back to help you out.

It's a beautiful book, written well, and very interesting. Recipes range from simple to complex, so pick a comfortable level and create something delicious!

Click here to see the recipe for Honey- and Saffron-Braised Chicken with Cocoa Nib Couscous (photo above)

Theo Chocolate
3400 Phinney Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
206-632-5100

Tour information and booking

www.theochocolate.com

Photos courtesy of Theo Chocolate

Connie Adams/December 2015