Australian social entrepreneur and responsible and sustainable chocolate farming advocateAlyssa Jade “Lyss” McDonald-Bärtl will be fying in to Manila to conduct special lectures at the Philippines’ top culinary school, the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA), Manila.
The founder of BLYSS Chocolate, which sells single bean virgin chocolate that food critics and chocolatiers define as the “purest chocolate in the world,” Lyss comes armed with the advocacy of responsible agriculture or agro-ecology that she learned from her family. BLYSS Chocolate harvests pure arriba nacionale cacao from 450 farmer families in Ecuador.
Chocolate and cacao bean lovers have the opportunity to become chocolate experts and start their own chocolate business through the special lectures on cacao beans mastery with McDonald-Bärtl, with CCA’s top patissier-masters, Chefs Christine Paredes and Anne Atanacio, accompanying her in preparing dishes and desserts using locally-sourced cacao and chocolate.
On November 30 and December 1, Lyss will be conducting “How to Put up a Profitable Chocolate Business” where she will lecture on the possibilities of a chocolate-based enterprise coming from her very own experiences with BLYSS Chocolate (which she started and which currently produces the highly valued single bean virgin chocolate), with Wicked’s top patissier Chef Christine Paredes conducting the demo.
On December 1 and 2, Lyss will be at the helm on the topic of “Use of Local Cacao” where she will discuss the exploration and use of locally grown cacao beans in the preparation of innovative dishes and desserts, and earning top profits in the process. Lyss will partner with CCA’s desserts expert and seasoned instructor Anne Atanacio who will conduct the accompanying demo.
Classes will be conducted from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the CCA, Manila campus at 287 Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. The fee for the two-day class is P10,000. For inquiries, call (02) 218-5266 or email [email protected].