Tastes of the Tropics - Cacao in the Jungle

07/20/17 • 23 min

Tree-to-Bar Chocolate in South Florida

In his small suburban Miami shop, artisan Ricardo “Cao” Trillos handcrafts chocolate bars using cacao beans from fair-trade certified plantations in the Dominican Republic, Tanzania and Costa Rica,

countries within 10 degrees south and 10 degrees north of the equator. Within this band are the countries that provide the best growing conditions for the cacao trees – hot temperatures, abundant rainfall, high humidity – in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa, Indonesia and Hawai’i.

Now, Trillos is making chocolate from cacao beans he harvests from a lush, tropical grove 15 miles southwest of his shop in the part of South Florida called the Redland. The latitude is 25 degrees, but in recent years, the hot, steamy conditions have been ideal for growing cacao and turning it into chocolate bars – a first in the continental United States.

Find out more:

Visit Cao Chocolates’ monthly chocolate tours and tastings at Patch of Heaven Gardens (http://www.patchofheavengardens.com/about/). Find out more: http://www.caochocolates.com/index.php/cao-chocolates-miami-chocolate-tasting

Tree-to-Bar Chocolate in South Florida

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Tastes of the Tropics - Norman Van Aken

Tastes of the Tropics: Norman Van Aken

To many, Norman Van Aken – chef, author, pioneer of New World Cuisine, storyteller, James Beard award winner – is not just the face of Florida cooking, but the heart and soul. From working in kitchens in Key West in the 1970s, he was the driving force behind a diverse collection of memorable restaurants in the state, including A Mano in South Beach, Norman’s in Coral Gables and Norman’s at The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, still going strong. His body of work includes cookbooks – including Norman’s New World Cuisine, My Key West Kitchen, Feast of Sunlight, to name a few – that pay loving homage to the history, geography, culture, spirit and cuisine of food and drink.

And he’s far from finished. Van Aken has more on his plate: a charming new restaurant called 1921 in Mount Dora, the quaint Victorian town north of Orlando; a soon-to-open restaurant, lounge and cooking school called Three in Wynwood, Miami’s urban arts district; and My Florida Kitchen, coming out this fall from University Press of Florida. He joined us for a chat with Erica Guzman at her cookware boutique, Aragon 101 in Coral Gables:

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Tastes of the Tropics - Hungry Harvest

Fighting Food Waste One Produce Box at a Time

Tons of fresh, nutritious, delicious fruits and vegetables are wasted every day because they never even make it to the grocery store.

Maybe they’re too big, too small, blemished or otherwise imperfect, at least in the eyes of the grocer. Or perhaps the farmer grew too much to sell. Whatever the reason, Now, this “rescued” produce is available to consumers through Hungry Harvest, a service that gathers freshly harvested food and sells it online via subscription.

The Baltimore-based business, which delivers in Maryland, Washington, DC, northern Virginia, Philly and South Florida, has expanded to South Florida.

We spoke with Evan Lutz, whose belief that no food should go to waste led him to co-found Hungry Harvest. And we unbox one of their organic mini-harvest boxes to find out what’s inside, and why it’s there. (Spoiler alert: It’s all fresh and delicious).