Ancestral cacao-diving continues in our apartment. And look at these! I think, aesthetically, they are very beautiful, but the light brown marks are a commercial-chocolatier’s nightmare: bloom. It’s where the cacao butter hasn’t cooled down ‘just right’. . Traditionally, chocolate was only ever used in drinks and this bloom didn’t matter. . But when I eat these, instead of melting them into a drink, I can taste the effect. There’s more grain; it’s a bit drier. . I’m not sure exactly why it happened this time, and not the other dozen times I’ve gone through the process. But, just like teaching myself sourdough or kombucha, I carry on and I learn. . And, while I experiment, we’ve made it to the ‘mythology’ section of the 700-page ‘The Secret Life of Chocolate’. Who isn’t interested in why and how people believe what they believe? It’s fascinating! My son and hubby are very happy making it one of our family evening-reads. Perhaps that makes us weird, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!