Chocolate & Slavery Sources

Hi everyone!

Here is the Slavery Footprint exercise we did in class the other day.

Here is the list of chocolates that are known to be cultivated in a humane way. 

Today, the main focus of the class was Olive Oil. We began the class with a discussion about the reading from the previous night, which explained what Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) was, and different the different factors that effect the flavor of different olive oils (region, handpicking, seasonal considerations, pressing, varietal differences, etc.) With a broader knowledge of olive oil, we examined and tasted four different types of olive oil: Roi, Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value, Colavita, and California Olive Ranch. Some tasted the oil with bread, and other in the professional way.

 

Following our oil tasting, we did a mini research project that exposed us to different types of food labels and their meanings. We found that nearly all of them were deceiving and didn’t live up to their labels. Many producers found loopholes and therefore didn’t fulfill all that they guaranteed. We learned that we would have to dig a little deeper than labels in order to find truly organic, natural, good quality food products. We went to Stop ‘n Shop and put our new knowledge to work by browsing through the store and taking a thorough look at the labels. We took pictures of food products that we did and didn’t trust.

We took our oil tasting to another level in Ms. Stuart’s kitchen. Instead of eating the oil plain, we combined the Whole Foods oil with Barilla pasta and cheap Parmesan cheese. In another bowl, we put a $9 box of pasta from Formaggio, the California Olive Ranch oil, and Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese. There was no doubt about which pasta was better. Even though good quality food is more expensive, it can be well worth the extra money for a better taste.

           Today, in our winter term class we had a late morning start after a long and educational two days of baking at the King Arthur Flour Company.  We had more of a low-key class, as no new material was introduced, but we reexamined some of the field trips as well as shows, documentaries, and articles we have studied.  A lot of our discussion today centered on bad practices in the chocolate industry.  We had all picked articles to read about the chocolate industry and today we shared our articles with the class.  The amount of child labor and slavery in the chocolate industry, specifically in cacao farms on the western coast of Africa is atrocious.  While on the topic of child labor and slavery we learned about a site called Slavery Footprint, which is a survey to measure how many of the items you own were made somehow by slaves.  We also discussed our favorite parts of the King Arthur trip, which seemed to be making cinnamon rolls and baguettes both awesome experiences.  We also touched back on our trip to Formaggio and our new found love for cheese.  Finally, we rapped class up with a discussion about the brutally intense MOF competition and how different it is from American culture and our past readings from the Zingermans book about the difference in good/bad breads and pastas.  Overall, it was a good day to review some of the material we have covered and have a meaningful conversation about our experiences so far in the course. 

King Arthur's flour

Welcome to the second week of Winter term! For this week's Monday and Tuesday, we will be spending our time in King Arthur's Bakery in New Hampshire. For Monday the 12th, we learned to make gnocchi and french baguette with three amazing staff members in the KAB.

Departing at seven am from Brooks, we arrived at the KAB around nine with accompanied by a nice snow fall. After enjoying our breakfast at the Cafe, we started our first class of learning how to make the spinach Gnocchi and the Tomato Gnocchi.

First, we started with the per-made spinach gnocchi. We learned how to make the nice oval shape of the gnocchi with two spoon compressing the gnocchi. After that, we placed those perfectly made cheesy gnocchi on to the plate.

Second, with the pre-prepared hot potato, we stared learning how to make the potato gnocchi. We peel the hot potato in front of us, and then we rice it with the rice tool. After that, we make a well shape with the riced tomato and put two egg yolk and cheese in the center of it. Next step we mix it with the flour to make a prefect dough for the gnocchi which we savor for lunch.

In the afternoon, we learned how to make the french baguette. With a different, wetter type of dough, we started our journey of making the legendary french bread. We learned to put it in the oven with steam, and we learned how to taste the amazing crisp bread itself. In the end, we were all very happy, especially Steven, for taking home a amazing amount of freshly hand-made baguette to share with our friends and families. (Mr. Olrich's son thought those are from Europe)

Day 2, learning four kinds of amazing deserts.

First, the cream puff and the eclair. With the help of machines, we made the dough that we need for those two amazing( personal favorite) pastries. After some hard work include fulling the dough and the making of the rich creamy filling, our class dipped those fine pieces of pastries into those heavenly chocolate and designed them with almond pieces.

In the afternoon, we reached our last step in our journey at KAP, learning the cinnamon rolls and the sticky buns. After steps including making the "sticky" dough, caramels with butters, and rolling the dough into rolls, we each made our awesome cinnamon rolls and sticky buns! Putting the rich dreamy frosting on top of those officially makes the end of amazing two day learning experience at the King Arthur's Flour.

Today marks the end of our first week of our Winter Term! In class today we focused mainly on tasting chocolates and watching half of a documentary of the MOF in France.
While tasting chocolates, we found that there is more than just taste. Just like with cheese, it is important to know where the chocolate comes from, the ingredients, its smells and tastes. For me personally, I found some dark chocolates actually tasting good, which I never liked before. I noticed that the more natural flavours can actually taste better than the artificial flavours and ingredients that are very popular here in the U.S.
One of my favorite chocolates was the Marou- Bentre which is a chocolate (#10) and it has a coco butter smell.Even though it had the highest percentage of natural coco powder, it seemed to be the sweetest compared to the other two of the same brand.
The wheel below shows several ways to classify tastes of chocolates, which is slightly similar to the chart that classified the tastes of cheeses.

As a class, we also began watching the documentary of the MOF in France, and we definetly had our fair share of laughs. Personally it opened my eyes to the stress and amount of time and preparation that these chefs need to go through in order to possibly win and get the blue, red and white collar. Im excited to see the rest of it and learn more about the process of which the chefs have to go through in order to make things like; sugar sculptures, wedding cakes, lollipops, and a chocolate piece as well. 

The cheese caves were dope

 
  Today we headed off campus on a school bus with the Walking in Boston winter term class to Cambridge. It was a long ride, but finally we arrived had arrived at our destination, Formaggio Kitchen. Upon walking inside the first thing i notice was the famed Parmesano Regiano cheese, which obviously we had to try. After walking around the store and sampling some cheese, we heded below the store in seperate groups to check out the cheese caves. They were small, damp, humid, and smelled of cheese. It was unreal. Then we split and headed to Hi-Rise for a snack while waiting for the bus. Kids bought some sandwiches and coffee, then we headed back to Formaggio to catch the bus. Next, we ventured to Iggy's, a small store that is renown for its bread. Once there we bought a few slices of their unique pizza. I had the Spicy Salami, which was basically pepperoni pizza on steroids. We admired the Francese bread the looked like a turtle shell while getting to know a little more about Iggy's from the owner. We then changed venues again and went to Union Square Donuts. They were famous for their maple and bacon donut according to Josh, the founder of the joint. Last but not least, we took a tour of the Taza chocolate factory. We learned the ins and outs of their business, and just about everything there is to know about cocoa. We repped some stylish hairnets and filled up on dark chocolate. Finally, it was time to go home. We hopped on the bus, picked up the Walking in Boston kids, and headed back to Brooks. It was a stellar day.

Brie and Fondue

For the second day of our winter term course, we went hands-on to make two styles of Brie and some cheese fondue. After we met at Mrs. Clater’s house, where we talked about the different techniques and styles of blue cheese we learned about for homework, we headed for the kitchen where we discussed the cheeses we were going to make for the day, which was Brie, Appenzeller, and Gruyere.

The first style of Brie we made was wrapped in a Pillsbury crescent dough spread with a fine layer of apricot jam. The second iteration was Brie in a bowl topped with fresh garlic and local Boston honey. Each student was able to contribute a helping hand to the making of the Bries, whether it was spreading the dough to topping the Brie with honey. After waiting 20 minutes for the Bries to warm up in the oven, we prepared the ingredients for the fondue. When our cheese finished warming up, we ate each kind on some crackers and each had a sweet distinct flavor. There were many opinions on which was the favorite of the class, (my personal favorite was the garlic and honey) but we ate it all up and had a good time.

For our fondue we decided to try a Swiss style acceptable for Brooks students. Steven, Jack, and Ellie grated two types of cheese, Appenzeller and Gruyere, and measured 14 ounces to prepare on the stove. 

We tasted the two cheeses and the favorite among the majority was the Appenzeller since it had a nice, smooth finish. Aron and I also covered the fondue pot in a thin layer of garlic rubbed on the sides to maximize flavor. After we each took turns stirring on the stove, we finished that process at gathered around the pot.

The fondue turned out tasting like gravy, but it was an enriching experience. With the leftover bread, Bianca graciously made croutons for us to enjoy and they were delicious.

Brie or Camembert (link)