Food & Drink   

Class Overview

Are you a chocolate lover and want to become a chocolate maker? Dive into the fascinating and delicious world of craft chocolate! Enjoy a hands-on experience with every step in chocolate making.

Explore one of the most interesting, diverse, and popular foods that is consumed worldwide, starting with the cacao bean and ending with a delectable variety of sweets and chocolate products. Discover how to make many favorite chocolate crafts including bars, drinking chocolate, couverture (with higher fat content), and other items, starting with raw cacao beans. Try your hand at molding bars, concocting drinking chocolate, and creating other delicious products. Learn about tempering chocolate and the care of chocolate products. 

Explore environmental and social issues surrounding chocolate, what companies are doing to improve these issues, and how you can help. 

Get ready to do every part of the process yourself, or with a team, and enjoy tasting as you go. Try your hand making milk chocolate and dark chocolate, and learn about alternate sugars, infusions, and inclusions. Also learn about roasting profiles, cracking and winnowing, melanging, and conching. 

As a bonus, we will also explore chocolate's cousin, coffee. We will roast coffee beans and pull espresso shots in a mini coffee workshop.

Finally, explore the fascinating science at work in chocolate making and how to put it to work to get the best results in your delicious concoctions. 

This program is approved for 30 continuing education hours toward your application for certification by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), or recertification. See the other related class offered this quarter, also approved by the ACF: Food and Cooking Through Science.

** A $150 materials fee will be due to the instructor. 

Learning Objectives

• Understand how cacao beans are grown, harvested, fermented, and exported 
• Be familiar with the entire process of chocolate-making, including the two main methods of bean-to-bar
• Understand roasting profiles and how to evaluate cacao beans and roast for optimum and desired flavors 
• Be able to make your own bar chocolate, drinking chocolate, and other items starting with nibs and beans 
• Roast coffee beans 
• Appreciate craft chocolate and be able to evaluate flavor notes 

Who Might Enjoy This Class?

• Anyone interested in making chocolate for personal use, a small business, or to gain knowledge and experience for working in the industry. 
• Baking and culinary students interested in gaining a deeper understanding and hands-on experience making chocolate. 
• Anyone working in the food industry, regardless of your specialization.
• People interested in certification or re-certification by the  American Culinary Federation (ACF), seeking continuing education hours. 

Class Overview 

Gain a deeper insight into what’s going on when you cook and bake! Whether you are a home cook or a professional, you can become a better cook with a little knowledge about the science of food and cooking. You'll fall in love with cooking as well as the beauty of nature and the amazing world we live in.

Many techniques still taught in culinary schools are based on tradition rather than science, and both offer great benefits. In this class, you'll focus on understanding the fascinating field of food science in a fun, hands-on adventure. Learn to make better choices about cooking methods and techniques, and you can produce better-finished products more easily and consistently. Be able to create incredible dishes using modern techniques and scientific principles. Elevate your cooking and knowledge. 

This class will teach many fundamental concepts and apply them to real-world cooking and baking. Below are some of the areas that will be covered in this class. All of these topics will be taught in a way that is accessible to anyone, regardless of their science background.  

Topics covered include:

• basic chemistry (heat, molecules, bonds and attraction, chemical reactions, etc.) 
• food molecules and how they work (water, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates)
• colloids, pectins, gums, solutions and solubility, etc.
• gluten and other interesting substances
• pH, acids and bases
• fermentation
• reactions in cooking and baking
• colors in food
• flavors, aromas, and multi-sensory perception (all about how we taste things)
• all about salts
• pathogens and other icky things
• everything you always wanted to know about eggs* (*but were too afraid to ask) 

All supplies and materials are included.

This program is approved for 30 continuing education hours toward your application for certification by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), or recertification. See the other related class offered this quarter, also approved by the ACF: Chocolate Making: from Bean to Bar.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the basics of how foods work, interact, and change through cooking and other culinary techniques
• Learn best techniques for preparing different foods based on their chemistry and attributes 
• Gain more efficient and reliable cooking and baking techniques  
• Improve understanding about science through the lens of food 
• Be able to create incredible dishes using modern techniques and scientific principles 

Who Might Enjoy This Class?

• Home cooks and bakers interested in improving their skills and knowledge 
• People interested in science who would enjoy applying their knowledge to food, cooking and baking
• Anyone who is curious to learn more about science and how the world works
• Professional cooks and bakers who would like more technical understanding from a science perspective 
• People interested in certification or re-certification by the  American Culinary Federation (ACF), seeking continuing education hours.