Scientists find ants, an old musket and bats in a remote corner of Madagascar.

Go here to see the original:
Scientist at Work: Signs of a Long-Ago Visitor

Chocolate to melt away the woes of the U.S.’s biggest shopping day of the year While Black Friday refers to the day that often finally puts retailers in the black for the first time in the year, other phrases—black tie, black label, black book, black diamond—imply the class of spoils that such a cash infusion might afford. Playing on the concept, Compartes Chocolate’s Black Collection , launched today, makes a fitting gift for a CEO with a sweet tooth. Impossible to resist, the collection uses premium ingredients—black sesame and wasabi, Macallan single-malt scotch, black truffles, and Guinness Stout—paired with sumptuous patterns in edible ink and organic single-origin dark chocolate (all fair-trade certified from Madagascar, Venezuela and Ecuador) to make each a little handmade jewel of chocolate decadence. L.A. chocolatier Jonathan Grahm, Compartes founder with over 200 seasonal flavors under his belt, created the flavors and explained the process of matching flavors, “I brought in these amazing black truffles and I started to play around with different chocolates to blend them with and came up with something incredible. The Macallan 15-year single-malt scotch is another great ingredient on its own, blending it with luscious dark chocolate compliments its flavor.” Going on to describe a bit of the philosophy behind the blends, as well as his approach to packaging them, Grahm said, “I wanted to create a unique and different chocolate experience where I can blend these interesting flavors together and let them also stand out on their own. Each box is composed of just these four new black collection truffles allowing you to really get a taste of this interesting and special chocolate combinations.” Compartes Black Collection premieres Black Friday—26 November 2011—and is available as a twenty piece for $55 and ten piece for $30.

View post:
Compartes Limited Edition Black Collection

Demand for high-value woods in China is driving rampant illegal logging in Madagascar, an international study has concluded.

Continued here:
China’s rich fuel illegal timber

Scientists discover a new species of carnivore in Madagascar, which they say could be one of the world’s most threatened mammals.

See the rest here:
New carnivore found in Madagascar

Somali pirates hijack a Taiwanese-flagged ship off Madagascar in their most southerly attack yet, the EU force says.

See the original post here:
Pirates seize ship off Madagascar

South Africa strongly criticises Madagascar over the life sentence passed on exiled President Marc Ravalomanana.

Read the original post:
SA condemns Madagascar jail term

One man bean-to-bar chocolate making in Minneapolis At a mere 24-years-old, Colin Gasko is fervently bringing the fine art of bean-to-bar chocolate making to the Midwest. Over the past few years, the Minneapolis-based Rogue Chocolatier has experimented with techniques and flavors for a well-crafted assortment of small batch, single origin chocolate bars. Gasko sources his own cocoa and oversees the entire three-day-long production process—from cleaning and roasting the cocoa beans to molding and packaging the chocolates in letterpress-printed paper. Gasko offers four different flavors of chocolate created from beans around the world, as well as the occasional limited edition. Nearly every recipe is a simple combination of chocolate and sugar, with nothing else added. We recently put two bars to the test—the Hispaniola and Rio Caribe. The Hispaniola, sourced from the Dominican Republic, is a smooth chocolate with the right balance of acidity and fruity notes. The intensely flavored Rio Caribe adds even more intrigue, comprised of fully fermented Trinitario cacao sourced from Venezuela’s Paria Peninsula. According to Gasko, Rogue Chocolatier is the first company stateside to produce a single origin bar from Rio Caribe and possibly one of the only two in the world, with Domori the other. Other flavors include Piura from Peru—a distinct floral aroma with a buttery flavor of nuts, cocoa and raspberries—and the Sambriano from Madagascar—a bar packing plum, citrus, berry and cedar tones. Rogue Chocolatier bars sell for $7-$9 a bar from his online shop or at select stores around Minneapolis, such as Rustica (a CH favorite offering delicious coffees and sandwiches).

Read more from the original source:
Rogue Chocolatier