Chocolate, it may be delicious and even good for you, but is it good for the environment and for those who grow the cacao crop? Shawn Tracey will, on this almost-St. Valentine's Day, fill us in on the processes involved in growing, refining, manufacturing and marketing this most desired and most elegant--what? Treat? Food? Necessity?

What does it mean to the consumer's pocketbook and tastes when chocolate is traded as a commodity? What does "fair trade" means in the cacao and cocoa businesses? Finally, he will give us a brief history of chocolate and describe its many varieties and uses.

Shane's preparation for his career as chocolatier is an interesting story (working in a German candy store in Tucson?!?), but after serving as an assistant to Jean-Pierre Wybauw, the Belgian "godfather of chocolate," he was ready to try it on his own. In 2005, right here in River City, he and his wife Tiffany opened KeKau, a producer of handmade, very fine and sometimes very unusual chocolates. Chocolate complemented by such unexpected accents as star-anise, sea salt, bleu cheese or black cardamom, as well as the more expected vanilla, almond or lime, are now part of the palette which informs his palate. Come and find out about this most intriguing and popular of confections.

P.S. There will be samples. (Aha, now it is certain that you will be there!)

Program coordinator: J. Thibeau

Our first question will be asked by Natalie Reitman-White, Sustain-ability Coordinater for Organically Grown Company, Inc.