From Rocket Science to the Language of Love: Chocolate at Cacao Prieto
By Jade Doskow from the Huffington Post
Photographer and educator in New York.
The large brick building near Coffey Street in Red Hook had always caught my eye—-especially when it was renovated to create double-height 30+ foot ceilings and a correspondingly gigantic set of doors. There was always a bustle of people in and out, and it seemed that some sort of wonderful and top-secret operation was going on at all times.
It turns out that I was right in my suspicions. Behind those huge doors were bags and bags of cacao beans, and some magnificent machinery specially invented to create artisanal chocolates and correspondingly sweet rum. And seeing as Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, what better time to turn my lens to such a subject?
Unique Chocolate Liquor May Be Recession-Proof
“Unique Chocolate liquor may be recession proof” – from International Business Times – Featuring our Red Hook chocolate factory.
By Sally Turner | Jan 30, 2012 12:14pm EST | Video length: 5min:43sec
Cacao Prieto, the artisan chocolate factory, was founded by inventor and former aerospace engineer Daniel Preston. Following a skydiving injury, Preston decided that he could design a better, safer parachute, one that would correct the design flaw that led to his own accident. The design was a major financial success and when Preston sold his controlling shares of the company he decided to go into the chocolate industry. He built his factory here in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood.
Aerospace Engineer Turns to Artisanal Chocolate
From bloomberg.com
Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Cali Carlin reports on Dan Preston, a former aeronautical engineer who now makes artisanal chocolate and rum in Brooklyn. In 2009, Preston sold Atair Aerospace, his $22 million business that designed parachutes for the military. He then founded Cacao Holdings and began selling cacao-based rum through a company called Cacao Prieto. Carlin reports on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)
An Aeronautical Engineer Turned Willy Wonka
From businessweek.com. By Jonathan Keehner
In 2009 aeronautical engineer Dan Preston sold Atair Aerospace, a $22 million business that designed parachutes for the military. Largely barred from the defense industry by a noncompete clause, Preston, who holds more than 100 patents, sought a new direction. He found one while surveying his family’s property in the Dominican Republic, which contained a few small cacao farms. Contemplating the multicolored fruit, he saw untapped potential.
Made in Brooklyn: Cacao Prieto Chocolate by Alva French from CUNY J-School Video Storytelling on Vimeo.
Made in Brooklyn: Cacao Prieto Chocolate
From isnapny.com. October 21, 2011 by Jonathan Vit
Cacao Prieto, is probably Red Hook’s best kept secret. The chocolate factory in the heart of industrial Brooklyn, has quietly been making chocolate bonbons for private parties and to the public in its pop-up shop in DUMBO. Although, the pop-up shop closed at the end of the Spring season, the Red Hook factory is poised to open it’s doors to the public this summer. Visit Site…
Chocolate, down to a science
From thedaily.com. By Joe Ray. Thursday, June 30, 2011
The mysterious voicemail from a well-informed friend arrived at the last minute. “Dude, we’re meeting in Red Hook in an hour and going to this bar that’s never open to taste homemade chocolate and drink homemade hootch. Wanna come?”
Chocolate Maker is Sweet on Red Hook
Cacao Prieto may be Red Hook’s sweetest secret. The chocolate factory has been quietly making bonbons for private parties and for the public, via a pop-up shop in DUMBO. While pop-up shop closed at the end of the spring, the Red Hook factory is poised to soon open its doors to the public.
Sugar Rush: Cacao Prieto
From seriouseats.com by Kathy YL Chan, January 20, 2011 at 1:45 PM
Bon bons and chocolate bars are the call at the Cacao Prieto pop-up inside the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory, but you can’t leave without a few chocolate letters, made with 66 percent couvertures. They make excellent little gifts, $.50 apiece; spell out what you desire, but call ahead because they often run out of popular letters!
Cacao Prieto to Debut with Pop-Up Store
From nytimes.com December 7, 2010, 8:45 am By BAO ONG
The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory in Dumbo gets an infusion of chocolate this winter.
Cacao Prieto,which is opening a chocolate company and distillery in Red Hook, Brooklyn, will open a pop-up store in the ice cream shop on Saturday. The store-within-a-store, which will share the same hours as the ice cream business, will sell everything from dark chocolate hazelnut bars and almond pop rock bonbons to jasmine ganache and hot chocolate. It’s the first time Cacao Prieto, which gets all of its beans from the Dominican Republic, is selling to the public.
The Whiskey Rebellion
From ediblebrooklyn.com
First published in the Summer 2010 edition of Edible Brooklyn
June 14, 2010 | By St. John Frizell
Good things are cooking in the stills of the night.
It’s Sunday morning in Williamsburg and Colin Spoelman is making whiskey. On the second floor of a warehouse, in a room crowded with induction burners, sacks of organic grain and whiskey barrels awaiting destiny, Spoelman takes the lid off of a fivegallon bucket, reaches into the brown liquid within and pulls out a netted sack of wet grain the size of a basketball. When he squeezes it, the smell is something between bread dough and kibble.
