I was lucky to receive a phone call from a friend saying that she had found some fresh cocoa pods for sale and would I like one? For those of you who know me, you’ll understand how excited this made me. The pods (I have 2) are about 30cm in length, are dark red in colour and come from Ecuador. So today, I decided to cut one of the pods in half as I wanted to taste the fleshy pulp that surrounds the cocoa beans. It actually tasted really nice. A little bit like lychee in texture but also in...

One of the easiest things for people to start making at home is truffles. These can be made using very simple equipment that you will probably already have in your kitchen.

Two of Britain’a classic chocolate bars; Penguin and Club have had their cocoa mass (the chocolate bean) reduced to a level that doesn’t allow them to be called chocolate. In the UK, the cocoa content has to be a minimum of 20% to allow it to be called ‘chocolate’. The minimum level on the WU is 25% and in the USA it is 10%. So that catchy slogan: “If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our Club”, has now changed to: “If you like a lot of biscuit in your break, join our Club”....