We are pleased to announce a brand new product “Indonesian Black” to our shop

Sourced from the Island of Java, these bars are made from a highly prized strain of cacao. The beans are visually striking as they are exceptionally light in colour and they have a slightly higher cacao butter content than usual. This makes them highly prized by chocolate manufacturers, particularly in the use of milk chocolate. The beans produce a bar with light caramel notes.

“Sourced near Surabaya in East Java, Indonesia, this single bean cacao has been carefully roasted in our factory in Devon using traditional methods to capture the bean’s light caramel notes. Its characteristics change with each harvest – like fine wine.”

With 572,000 metric tons of cocoa beans produced, Indonesia is the third world biggest producer of cocoa after Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Indonesian Cocoa export are currently valued at approximately $600-700 million per year and provide the main source of income and livelihood for over 400,000 smallholder farmers and their families.

We have added the Recipe of a Traditional Indonesian Desert for you to try with the new Cocao here !

Look Out Folks . The Paper Back Version of  Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook is coming to store on the 4th March!

Pre Order yours here now

Willie Harcourt-Cooze was born in London on April 29, 1964 to an Irish mother and a Burmese father. He was the third of five children, surrounded by four sisters.While on holiday in Ireland, his father, William, fell in love with and bought the deserted Horse Island on a wild stretch of Ireland’s south west coast. The family moved to live there when Willie was four. In a farmhouse between Ballydehob and Schull Willie spent his childhood making cheese, smoking fish, milling flour, growing vegetables and pickling fruit.

Willie was reeling in sea trout almost before he could walk, so it is not surprising that his passion for food survived and thrived into adulthood. Willie returned to London at 15 and at 18 left home for a series of swashbuckling adventures and tastes; from the feral meats of the Australian outback to the native dishes of Peru, via a feast of exotic delicacies throughout the Far East. He charmed his way onto fishing boats and into local kitchens and devoured a multitude of culinary secrets. While in Venezuela on holiday in 1993 with his wife, Tania, Willie met a traveler who told him of a place “where the mountain meets the sea”. They headed for this remote coastal area near Choroni.

Having fallen for the area, one day a beach umbrella seller told them of a hacienda in the cloud forest for sale. They went to investigate in the Henri Pittier National Park, where 1800 metre mountains steep into the Caribbean Sea. That was Willie’s first introduction to the cacao tree. The owner changed his mind, but three years later, after returning to London and almost giving up hope, Willie was able buy Hacienda El Tesoro in 1996. He quickly discovered his passion for chocolate and began experimenting with making cacao bars. Ten years later he had carved himself into the land, which is renowned for having some of the finest beans in the world.

Willie and Tania’s first two children, Sophia and William were born in Venezuela.Their third Eve arrived when the family had moved to Devon as Willie sought to set up a chocolate factory. He began collecting original chocolate making machinery from around the world. Willie started producing his first single origin 100% cylinders in the factory in Devon in 2007. They were an instant hit and a year later Willie added to them with his first single origin chocolate bars.

Willie is the only small cacao grower and producer in the UK. He was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory, in 2008 which was followed by a second series; Willie’s Chocolate Revolution: Raising the Bar. His book Willie’s Chocolate Factory Cookbook was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2009.”

# Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
# Published: 04 March 2010
# Format: Paperback 226 pages
# See: Full bibliographic data
# Categories: Cooking With Chocolate
# ISBN 13: 9780340980408 ISBN 10: 0340980400

A Christmas Special has been announced on Wednesday December 17, 9pm, Channel 4

Eccentric chocolatier Willie Harcourt-Cooze hits our screens with a Christmas special, packed with chocolaty goodness

Having successfully set up their ‘wonky’ chocolate factory in Devon, Willie, Tania and their three children return for a festive foodie extravaganza. The show celebrates the perfect family Christmas from the family’s Devon home.

Willie will be taking care of the menu for the holiday season, preparing a series of mouth watering chocolate-themed recipes, both sweet and savoury.
On the (chocolate) menu

Expect boozy chocolate mince pies, a classic chocolate tart and an entire lamb cooked rather adventurously underground. He also demonstrates some perfect party treats for entertaining friends including a quince chocolate cheese and a chocolate and clementine cheesecake.

He’ll be suggesting a rather unusual stuffing for the turkey on the big day, made from chestnuts, pancetta and of course Willie’s favourite ingredient: chocolate.
And Willie’s wife….

While Willie’s busy in the kitchen, Tania will transform their Devon home into a winter wonderland, handcrafting everything from wreaths to Christmas tree decorations and advent calendars. Plus, there’s a chance for viewers to catch up on Willie’s progress as he continues his dream to produce the UK’s finest chocolate and to convert viewers to eating better quality confectionery.

Watch Willie’s Perfect Chocolate Christmas, Wednesday December 17, 9pm, Channel 4

Can I take this opportunity to Wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year from the team at venezuelan-black.co.uk

Due to the Re Run of the series on Living-TV and high demand , the shop is now back open!

Enjoy!

For Willie Harcourt-Cooze, chocolate is a lifetime passion. Having spent 11 years growing cacao on his Venezuelan plantation he’s back in Britain and he’s determined to get us cooking with chocolate

Willie Harcourt-Cooze is on a mission to be the first chocolate producer to grow and make 100 per cent cacao from bean to bar. From his work on the Venezuelan plantation to his humble Devonshire factory Willie is determined to elevate chocolate from delicious dessert to an essential cooking ingredient. Hannah Williams caught up with the chocolate crusader to find out just what’s fuelling this cacao passion

So you’ve finished filming your tv series. How has it all gone?

We launched at Selfridges last week and I think we sold something like £700 worth of our products. I made three different types of truffles and people were walking out with all three. They all totally got the concept.

You’re obviously a very accomplished cook. Where does that come from? Is it something you learnt from your family?

My sister is also a really good cook. I guess we both got it from Southern Ireland where we grew up when we were young. We went to live in Ireland when I was two and lived on a small farm.

We were the original brown bread nutters in the 60s. My earliest memory is being in Streatham in a health food shop above a railway line. I remember it because I must have been scared when the trains rattled by underneath.

In Ireland we grew everything; wheat, grain. I remember catching amazing fish and milling grain on the back of the tractor. We had bees for honey. It taught me the value of everything.

Then I travelled around a lot in my early twenties, in South America and later in Asia and I always found myself in the kitchen, if I’d been out catching fish or something. You end up picking up little titbits; how to make curry paste in Thailand, or how to cook guinea pigs in Peru. It’s always been something I’ve just picked up.

Restaurant food was not as great 20 years ago as it is now so I didn’t eat out much. And when I was a student, not having much money, and cooking for friends, someone had to do the cooking and it always happened to be me.

Sadly the farm in Ireland was sold and I guess I’ve always been looking for a new Ireland with the same abundance that there was then. I suppose I’ve been trying to follow in my father’s footsteps.

So where does the chocolate come in? Do you remember where the obsession was first sparked?

Cacao is great because you can use it so many different dishes. I started experimenting and it just mushroomed. Cooking with chocolate is not necessarily new, they use it in Mexico and the Aztec countries but it’s not a very common cookery ingredient in this country.

If you’re interested in cooking using chocolate is very exciting. It’s like someone coming out and saying ‘this is salt’ for the first time. I would liken it to that.

How does your chocolate differ to what we’re used to with standard chocolate?

It’s a lot more full bodied than normal chocolate. It has a real lingering flavour.

Chocolate is often placed in the ‘naughty but nice’ box. Is eating it with such frequency good for you?

Chocolate should be in the ‘nice’ box. The misconception about chocolate being bad for you is because of the sugar. Some chocolate spreads are 40 per cent sugar. The great thing about what I’m doing is, with my chocolate, you won’t have that high sugar content. Chocolate can be good for you.

I’m not a doctor but I’ve read a lot about chocolate. They say chocolate that hasn’t been processed is full of anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals. If that’s true, my chocolate has got to be the healthiest chocolate in the world.

The program mentions that you’ve had some orders from top chefs, can we hear anymore about that?

Well I’ve been selling it to Marco (Pierre-White) for months. I know Neil, the head chef at the Yew Tree (Marco Pierre-White’s restaurant) has been using it. I think they’ve been making a chocolate jus.

And the reaction from people at the launch who previously knew nothing about it was brilliant.

In the future I might make money from it. If I commercialise it. But I’m not doing this to become a millionaire. It’s a passion.