Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival Roundup & 2025 Craft Chocolat Challenge | #PodSaveChocolate Ep84
Episode 84 of #PodSaveChocolate features 1) a roundup of the recent inaugural Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival in Rushville, IN; 2) tastings of chocolate from exhibitors; and 3) announcing that entries are being accepted for the 2025 Craft Chocolat Challenge – 4th edition. [ Updated on 12/4. ]
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Clay Gordon
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Episode 84 Overview
From my opening remarks for the inaugural Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival:
Before Dustin moved here to Rushville he shared with me his ideas for this festival. Why Rushville, I thought? For a big city New York boy like me - a small town in the middle of nowhere in rural Indiana?
I have learned over the past two days that Rushville is not in the middle of nowhere - Rushville is the center of somewhere.
For two days in late November of 2024, Rushville, Indiana was the center of the craft chocolate world – with exhibitors from Canada, Colombia, Honduras, Liberia, and Norway, and others with roots in Ecuador, India, and the Philippines, and representing Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, and Ohio.
Bookmark and subscribe to stay informed about the 2025 festival.
Announcing the 2025 (Fourth Season) of the CCC –Entry form on this page
Festival Impressions
Dustin Cornett, founder of the Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival and the Craft Chocolat Challenge, and Leila Carvajal, founder of Cocoa Supply and festival and challenge sponsor will join me for the episode.
One key to this festival’s success is that Rushville and surrounding Rush County is heavily dependent on farming. Many festival attendees were farmers who understand many of the challenges that cocoa farmers face.
One of the several locations for the festival – the Rush County Courthouse.
During setup. [L] 201 Building. [R] Coutrhouse.
Exhibitors: [L] Cocoa Supply. [C] Dwaar. [R] Chocs ’N Boxes.
Exhibitors: [L] Embers. [C] Encore. [R] Maverick.
Exhibitors: [L] Fjorden. [C] Yellow Bird. [R] LOHcally.
Tastings
For the tasting section of the episode, Dustin and I will be joined by Tandy Peterson of Embers Chocolate (Phoenix), a MwCCF exhibitor and multi-award winner in previous CCC editions. These will be tasted in a different order.
All 2024 Exhibitors with links to their websites.
I got to the following chocolates in this episode. The others will be tasted in the Tuesday December 10th, episode.
In alphabetical order:
Vivian
Chocs ’N Boxes (Illinois) Ube White Chocolate bar
Dwaar (Michigan) Spicy Peanut Crunch (Kokoa Kamili)
Embers’ (Arizona) best-selling bar was their Elote White Chocolate – maybe because it contained corn?
Encore (Missouri) 70% Dark Chocolatenw/ Sea Salt
Fjorden (Norway) British Heritage Collection Rum and Raisin 42% (Kokoa Kamili) Milk (to be listed soon)
Mademoiselle Miel (Minnesota)
Yojoa (Honduras) 85% Dark. This is the link to the Honduran website – their products are available in the US, including at the DC Chocolate House. Inquire about availability.
These are the ones pushed to the 10th:
Cacaitos (Canada) Chigorodó (Colombia) 73% two-ingredient
MaverickChocolate
Maverick (Ohio) 80% Dark (Kokoa Kamili)
Askanya (Haiti) from Peace on Fifth (Ohio) 50% Dark
Chocolate Café (Rushville) 75% Dark w/ Bourbon
2024 Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival Title Sponsor
Dustin and I want to extend special thanks to Leila Carvajal and Cocoa Supply for their support of the inaugural edition of this festival – not just as the Title Sponsor but as an exhibitor, speaker, and champion for small chocolate makers around the globe and farmers.
Accommodations
The festival organizing committee, recognizing there weren’t many options when it came to hotels in Rushville (just one, actually), organized a network of homestay options for exhibitors and speakers. I was fortunate to have stayed in the Willkie House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. My host was the current owner, a direct descendant of Wendell Willkie and of the original owners. (The house was built in 1876 and is currently undergoing renovation.)
[L] Exterior on a post-snow Thursday morning. [C] Main stair and view into formal dining room. [R] Formal dining room.
[L] The main parlor. [C, R] Two of the bedrooms.
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
For more than a decade, the house has opened its doors to artists and more visiting Rushville. Plans for the future include making the home available to groups, artists, musicians, and others (including us chocolate folk) visiting Rushville. It will not be opened as a B and B or AirBnB’d out.
Questions?
If you have questions or want to comment, you can do so during the episode or, if you are a ChocolateLife member, you can add them in the Comments below at any time.
Episode Hashtags and Related Accounts to Follow
#MCCF
#cocoa #cacao #cacau
#chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate
#PodSaveChoc #PSC
#LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife
Instagram: Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival Cocoa Supply
FB: Midwest Craft Chocolate Festival
Website: Visit Rush County
Future Episodes
December News featuring a recorded interview with Marc Donaldson about the EUDR, CSDDD, CSRD, ESRS, and more! If there is time for AMA I will field questions.
The Holiday Gifting episode featuring a tasting of offerings from Alter Eco and other makers along with a hardware recommendation for hot chocolate lovers ... and more.
Looking Back at 2024; Looking Forward to 2025
#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives
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Clay Gordon
Clay Gordon
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