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Description

Description

I sit down with Alan Perlstein, founder and CEO of California Cultured, to discuss how they are reinventing the chocolate supply chain from the ground up. Using breakthroughs in plant cell culture and biomanufacturing, Alan and his team are creating real cocoa butter, flavor, and antioxidants directly from cells. Their vision is to build modular “cocoa breweries,” where they bypass cocoa farms altogether. We dive into how this approach could decentralize cocoa production, stabilize pricing, and reshape a $100B+ global industry.

We break down:

+ Problems with the current chocolate supply chains

+ How, "tricking the cocoa cell" skips the farm entirely

+ Alan's strategy for cost parity

+ Biggest challenges with biomanufacturing

+ How California Cultured protects its IP from large corporate partners

+ Why the future of food production will be highly decentralized

+ If you're interested in decentralized production, the future of food, and/or industrial biotech, this conversation is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:25 Chocolate 101: How It’s Made

06:26 Cocoa Shortage

09:00 Plant Cell Culture Explained

11:08 How Cell-based Chocolate Is Made

13:07 Secret Language of Plants

16:00 California Cultured Distribution Strategy

19:14 Roadmap to Cost Parity

22:29 Understanding Cocoa Flavonoids

25:07 Protecting IP From Large Corporate Partners

29:01 5 Reasons Why Corporations Partner with Startups

32:24 Biggest Challenges At California Cultured

37:53 Alan’s Vision For California Cultured

41:40 Version 6 Of Their Chocolate

44:39 California Cultured’s Current Status

46:52 Alan's Journey In Cell Cultured Foods

50:56 Analytics Tools Are Changing The Game For Scientists

52:56 Building Consumer Trust In Cell-Based Products

55:34 Production Timelines

59:31 Rapid Fire

Follow Jordan on X:

https://x.com/jrwolfe

Links to Alan's Work:

California Cultured Website – https://www.californiacultured.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-perlstein/



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