The Chocolate Conservatory
The Chocolate Conservatory is a podcast from the Institute for Cacao and Chocolate Research and the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund. Hosts Carla D. Martin and Jose Lopez Ganem lead conversations with researchers and industry professionals on pressing issues in cacao and chocolate. The show covers topics from social sciences to hard sciences, arts and humanities to business and finance. Listeners are invited to engage by sending voice recordings and emails with suggestions.
Episodes
Getting to Know the U.S. Specialty Chocolate Consumer
What do we actually know about the US specialty chocolate consumer? Estelle Tracy, Barb Genuario, and Geneviève Leloup, colleagues who work daily at the intersection of chocolate makers and the people who enjoy their bars, join our hosts to dig into the findings of the recently published 2026 US Specialty Chocolate Consumer Survey and Market Study from the Institute for Cacao and Chocolate Researc
Historical Archeology in the Chocolate Bar
What can a potsherd tell us about a chocolate bar? Three leading archaeologists that have focused part of their work in cacao—Patricia L. Crown, PhD, whose discovery of cacao residues in Chaco Canyon pottery rewrote the story of chocolate in North America; Cameron McNeil, PhD, an archaeobotanist whose work traces cacao through ancient Mesoamerica; and Kathryn Sampeck, PhD, a historical archaeologi
Alternatives and substitutes: a (nascent) industry perspective
What happens to chocolate when it no longer begins with the cacao bean? Ahrum Pak, founder of Win-Win, acompany to bring cocoa-free chocolate to market using fermented ingredients like barley and carob, and Luciano Bueno, founder and CEO of GALY, a Boston-based biotech growing cotton and cacao directly from plant cells, join our hosts to discuss the promise and growing pains of a nascent alternati
Farmer healthcare in West Africa and beyond
Dr. Shadrack Osei Frimpong, founder of Cocoa 360, and recent Harvard graduate and ICCR Research Fellow Dara Adamolekun join our hosts to discuss pressing sustainability questions related to traceability and transparency and farmer health. Connect with our guests via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sfrimpong/https://www.linkedin.com/in/daraadamolekun/ and learn more about Cocoa 360 here: http
Bean to confection in Mexico
Most modern chocolate doesn’t end in a solid bar, and it is through the craft of Mexican chocolatier Luis Robledo—using chocolate couverture made from cacao beans produced by Hugo Francisco Chávez and his team at Agrofloresta Mesoamericana—that we can tell a different story. An unusual conversation between a chocolatier and a cacao producer, hailing from the same country, discusses the future of s
Professional Education with a University Accent
Discussing education for chocolate professionals, Penn State Emeritus Professor Greg Ziegler and CacaoLab Executive Director Claudia Delbaere share lessons learned from teaching generations of students in established institutions, as well as the constraints that the ever-changing supply chain imposes on chocolate manufacturing and the mastery of confectionery formulation.Learn more about education
Labor in sugar cane
Cornell University Professor Alex M. Nading, a medical anthropologist, joins host Carla Martin to discuss the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of nontraditional causes (CKDnt) among Nicaragua's sugarcane plantation workers.Find Dr. Nading's book via Duke University Press: https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-kidney-and-the-cane ; or in a library near you: https://search.worldcat.org/
USA Cacao: A New Origin?
Hawai'i meets Puerto Rico in this discussion of cacao production in the United States! Dr. Viviana Medina of V.M.R. Consulting and Dave Elliott of O'ahu Resource Conservation and Development Council join host Jose Lopez Ganem.Connect with our guests via LinkedIn: Vivana Medinahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/vivianamedina/Tickets for the HCCA Conference in Hawaii July 10-12, 2026:https://www.tickettail
Numbers, Networks, and Narratives in Specialty Coffee
Emory University Professor Peter Roberts, an economic sociologist, joins Carla to discuss the commodification of specialty coffee producers and the industry's obsession with a narrative of supply and demand.Connect with Dr. Robert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-roberts-51105374/Order Dr. Robert's book from Oxford University Press: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/from-supply
Research and Innovation in the Chocolate Lands
Zurich University of Applied Sciences Professor Tilo Hühn describes his lengthy career in food technology innovation and the ways in which Switzerland remains a center of leadership in education and entrepreneurship in chocolate.Connect with Dr. Huhn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilohuehnprocessdesign/?locale=enLearn more about ZHAW's course, "The Science and Art of Chocolate": https:/
Cocoa Price Crisis: Ghana
Harvard historian Emmanuel Akyeampong and Fuad Mohammed Abubakar of Ghana's Cocoa Marketing Company join Carla to discuss how Ghana's cocoa pricing developed and the challenges and pitfalls of navigating farmgate pricing in a volatile futures market.Google Drive Folder to Fuad Mohammed Abubakar charts mentioned during the episode: https://tinyurl.com/uzxfetfb More Resources about our Guests:Read P
Welcome to the Chocolate Conservatory!
In this trailer, our hosts Carla D. Martin and Jose Lopez Ganem introduce themselves, and the premise of the podcast! Listen in to learn more about why it is important to discuss the pressing issues related to cacao and chocolate.
