Albino cacao produces white beans (top), as compared with more commonly grown varieties of cacao (bottom). Photo courtesy of Utah State University.
LOGAN – The Aggie Chocolate Factory at Utah State University, in its fifth year, is the world’s only chocolate factory operated by a university.
Manager Steve Bernet said the factory came about because of student requests.
“There’s a class on campus…called Chocolate Science, History and Society. It has about a 150 students in it,” Bernet explained. “Initially, the course was lectures and the professor, Dr. Silvana Martini, would bring in guest lecturers from Hershey, Pennsylvania, and Illinois and California.”
Bernet said at the end of the semester, students would always ask if they could also have hands-on experiences with chocolate. A proposal was written, the Dean of Agriculture and Applied Sciences Ken White approved the idea, and in November 2018 USU’s chocolate factory was created.
The factory’s commitment to outreach has led to popular chocolate tasting sessions and in the last year over 6,000 people came through the factory on tours which accommodate groups of all sizes.
Recently, the Aggie Chocolate Factory became one of the first chocolate factories in the U.S. to process the Catongo cocoa bean, visually striking white beans that turn light brown during the fermentation process.
Bernet said these unusual beans were brought to USU by Fulbright Visiting Scholar Luciana Monterio.
“The Fulbright program is an exchange of people between the United States going to other countries,” Bernet added. “People from other countries coming here, exchanging their skills and ideas and thoughts, and so on. Luciana is actually an expert in the cocoa industry in Brazil.”
The first batch of bulk chocolate from the Catongo cocoa beans should be available at the chocolate factory soon.