• Course: Bean to bar basics. 3.5 days in Belco’s HQ @ Merignac, France
• Language: English, possibility of French translation.
• Maximum of 6 participants
• Next dates: 15th - 18th July - 18th -21st August
• Full price for 3.5 days (including breakfast and lunch): €2000 excluding VAT
  (Training is subject to a 20% VAT rate - i.e., price: €2,400 including VAT)

BOOK YOUR SEAT : i.delgado@belco.fr ou training@belco.fr

Your trainer : Iza Delgado

Iza Delgado, a Communications graduate from Universidad de Lima in Peru, has been living in Europe for 17 years, gaining experience in the culinary scenes of Barcelona and Berlin. In the latter, she began her career as a chocolate maker, developing the Bean-to-Bar line for the renowned organic ice cream company Rosa Canina. A few months ago, she left Berlin to join our team at Belco and develop the cacao training center.

1. Hands on chocolate making, this course offers the full experience of developing a recipe of dark chocolate going thoroughly through every step of the process. With a fully equipped lab, participants will be divided into two groups and have the possibility of choosing different roasting methods and grinding approaches to achieve a final product. Towards the end of the sessions participants will have the opportunity to compare results.

2. In addition, participants will leave the course having enough knowledge to make a conscious decision regarding the approach they want to choose for their own projects, given the fact that we will be analyzing through critical thinking different parts of the production chain such as: origin and history, sourcing, quality control, active chocolate making all the way through packaging and distribution.

Day ONE:

• Introduction to Belco. 
• Introduction of the group, getting to know potential projects or ideas. Creation of working teams for the rest of the sessions.
• First approach to cacao beans: defining physical appearance and quality.
• Roasting seminar with our Roaster trainer and Quality Grader Denis Mialocq.
• Understanding the differences between oven and roaster and defining a roasting profile for each team.
• Hands-on roasting.
• Cracking and winnowing. Options.
• Starting up the grinders.
• Defining a recipe: sugar percentage and grinding protocol for the team project. 

Day TWO:

• Choosing and sourcing other ingredients besides cacao. Types of sugar. 
• Adding sugar. 
• Monitoring Space: Humidity and Temperature how it influences the recipe. Designing work space. Basic tools.
• General history of cacao and modern chocolaterie.
• Understanding the production chain through history analysis and origin information.
• Sourcing seminar with our Head of Cacao and sourcing Cesar Magaña.
• Agroforestry practices.
• Talking about viscosity. 
• Cacao butter extraction hands-on. Uses.

Day THREE:

• Recommendations for sanitary measures in a chocolate factory, including ensuring the legality of operations. Understanding  EUDR deforestation regulation.
• Building a brand. Understanding the market. New trends. Seminar with our head of sales Alexis de Boisset. 
• Nutritional and medicinal properties of cacao.
• End of grinding: Sieving and microns
• Theory on tempering. Different methods. Practice.
• Finalizing chocolate bars.

Day FOUR (only the morning):

• Packaging: different materials. Distribution.
• Tasting of different brands and styles.
• Tasting of final products and comparing results.