Chocolate Uncovered: A Bitter-sweet Symphony
“The divine drink which builds up resistance & fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits man to walk for a whole day without food.”
Hernan Cortes (1485–1547)
Chocolate vs. Chocolate Flavored Candy
Chocolate! Today, this indulgent treat is a powerful uniting force that conjures images of opulent luxury and celebration. Unfortunately, its current state is far from its humble beginnings.
Producing chocolate relies on a coveted crop from tropical rainforests, as well as expensive equipment that one cannot find at a regular kitchen supply store. For this reason, the nature of, and the processes involved in producing real chocolate, it remains a mystery to most.
Currently, we are familiar with chocolate in its highly standardized, consistent tasting form- chocolate flavored candy. This understanding of candy bars as chocolate vastly undermines its original context and intricate process.
In the United States, a bar has to have at least 10% cacao to be called chocolate. Such a low benchmark allows commercial candy companies to rebrand their products as chocolate, and afford such their competitive price margins.
The process of creating real chocolate, however, is long and arduous, and often unfamiliar to most. For the most part, the common understanding of chocolate is similar to saying that all the wine in the world comes from a single grape, let’s say a Pinot Noir. Such a claim would be blasphemy in the food and beverage industry!
The nuances of Bean-to-Bar chocolate parallels the subtleties of fine wine but has remained an unexplored topic until recently. Since the industrial revolution, commercial chocolate companies have monopolized the market and limited public knowledge and understanding of ‘real’ chocolate. Bean-to-bar chocolate companies, with their passion for showcasing the inherent and subtle differences of cacao, are kindling a newfound awareness and enthusiasm surrounding chocolate.
As it is with fine wine, the quality of the chocolate depends on the ‘terroir.’ Chocolate connoisseur Megan Giller, in her book, Bean-to-Bar Chocolate, describes terroir as a combination of factors such as soil, landscape, and climate. These natural factors determine the final flavor of foods like wine, chocolate, and coffee and lend to its characteristic flavor. Our ability to define a good wine or finely crafted bar of chocolate as fruity, nutty, buttery, or smoky is dependent on the terroir.
The Imperial Origins of Chocolate
The ideal terroir for growing cacao is the cacao belt — 10 degrees North and south of the equator. All chocolate comes from a sacred tree, scientifically termed Theobroma Cacao, bearing colorful football-size cacao pods and almond-shaped cocoa beans. These beans were once used to create a highly prized drink that was integral to Mesoamerican ritual and culture.
In the 1500s, the Spanish Conquistador, Hernan Cortez, took a liking to this rare, and intriguing drink, and in classic imperial fashion, the once-revered cacao became an aristocratic staple. The once sacred theobroma Cacao was stripped of its value and culture and commodified into the indulgence that we today enjoy as “chocolate.”
Although popularized amongst the aristocracy, chocolate only gained its mass appeal when combined with the other coveted cash crop of imperial fancy; sugar. The trend of caught on and with modern inventions, cacao production, became highly efficient — chocolate became a product of mass consumption. The rate of agricultural production could not support the booming chocolate industry’s demands.
With such high demand, large scale cacao buyers infiltrated the Ivory Coast and other nations in West Africa. With increased consumption and competitive pricing, quantity became a priority while the quality and ethics of production slipped.
Why is that bar of chocolate $10?
The saccharine fantasies of an eccentric Willy Wonka might have informed our earlier understanding of the chocolate-making process, but, unfortunately, chocolate rivers and Oompa Loompas are far from real. Wonka’s candy wonderland has convinced us that all chocolate should taste similar — rich, creamy, and loaded with sugar.
We walk into supermarkets searching for these qualities and find ourselves overwhelmed by the plethora of candy bars lining the shelves. Overwhelmed by the paradox of choice, we settle for the cheapest bar or select the one we are most familiar to us. I hate to burst your bubble, but that is candy, and not ‘real chocolate.’
If you are familiar with bean-to-bar chocolate, you might be thinking to yourself, “why to pay $10 for a bar of chocolate when I can buy a Hershey’s bar for $1.” And to others, the question persists — what does bean-to-bar chocolate even mean?
Myth: All Chocolate is the Same
Chocolate alchemy is a highly nuanced and complicated art. With the rise of the bean-to-bar revolution, chocolate enthusiasts and connoisseurs have divided the chocolate landscape into three categories. These categories shatter common misconceptions about chocolate based on quality, dedication, and labor ethics relating to these three prevalent forms of chocolate.
1. Bean-to-Bar/Craft Chocolate Makers:
Although all chocolate comes from the cacao bean, Bean-to-bar chocolate makers, also known as ‘craft,’ or ‘small-batch’ chocolate makers, transform raw cacao beans into luscious bars of chocolatey goodness.
Just as with wine, cacao beans differ in quality and flavor profile, depending on its terroir, and are incredibly delicate crops that require meticulous care.
Bean-to-Bar chocolate makers work with extremely delicate varieties of theobroma cacao. They roast the beans to the perfect level to bring out the innate epicurean qualities of a particular terroir.
The combination of Trinitario, Forestaro, Criolo and recently, Nacional cocoa varieties make up only 10% of the world’s chocolate. Craft chocolate makers ethically source these premium cacao varietals and carefully develop their flavor to celebrate the subtle nuances.
With the unprecedented rise of the bean-to-bar movement and the increasingly discerning chocolate consumer base, connoisseurs are demanding transparency in the supply chain. The craft chocolate landscape operates using two sourcing strategies:
a. Transparent Trade Partnerships:
Established players in the bean-to-bar movement, such as Dandelion Chocolate and Fruition, source some of their premium single-origin beans from innovative cacao traders like Uncommon Cacao. This industry disruptor is the first Transparent Trade cacao supply chain that aims at reversing commercial degradation of cacao quality and ethics.
Uncommon cacao paved the way for Meridian Cacao and other transparent trade corporations. The Portland-based trade corporation provides ethics and conservation-focused farming cooperatives with direct market access to key players in the craft chocolate industry.
Moka Origins, and other emerging craft chocolate makers, source some of their premium beans through Meridian Cacao’s partnerships with alliances such as Sierra Leone’sLeone’s Goleagorby Cocoa Producers Organization (GCPO). Chocolate expert 70andabove chocolate recently highlighted Moka Origin’s 85% Gola rainforest bar for its nuanced flavors of toasted nut and honey.
b. Direct to Farm:
Rakka, Dandelion, Moka Origins and other dedicated craft chocolate makers, work directly with farmers to develop the perfectly fermented cacao bean at the farming stage. Working with Zorzal Cacao estate, Dominican Republics first private reserve Cacao Cooperative, these craft companies help promote Cacao research to benchmark new fermentation standard. With proper fermentation and agroforestry training, Zorzal’s efforts allow Moka Origins to develop the bright cherry-like chocolatey finish in its limited-edition Dominican Republic bar.
These collaborative efforts ensure that the final product celebrates the unique flavor profile of different cacao varieties and promote humanitarian good that goes beyond a batch of premium quality beans.
2 . Industrial Chocolate:
The second and most prevalent form of chocolate is industrial or commercial chocolate. Unlike bean to bar chocolate makers, who prioritize ethics and premium quality beans, commercial chocolate makers utilize low quality cash crops.
They bulk source cacao beans from various farming corporations, paying little heed to the ethics behind the production.
With such tremendous demand for industrial chocolate, large scale cacao buyers infiltrate the Ivory Coast and other nations in West Africa. Quantity becomes a priority, while the quality and ethics of production slip away.
With little regard for human welfare, major chocolate companies have slowly caused degradation in cacao quality. They rely on poor quality commercial cacao hybrids, primarily CCN 51 variety, which are highly productive and disease-resistant cash crops. Although hardy, these varietals are deficient in a nuanced flavor profile, industrial chocolate makers are unable to develop pleasant-tasting flavors from such varieties. Using copious amounts of sugar, emulsifiers, and chemical ingredients, Industrial chocolate makers mask its natural flavor. This sweet cacao liquor creates the consistent candy-like chocolate flavor with which we are familiar.
It’s only in such industrial chocolate making facilities that Wonka’s eccentric fantasies could become a reality. If Wonka knew about the ethics behind procuring such copious amounts of cacao, he might pivot to making more premium bean-to bar-chocolate. Maybe my wild dream, but companies like Moka Origins, with a focus on transparency and human empowerment, might produce your next, eccentric Wonka like creation — guilt-free.
3. Chocolatiers:
Defining an entire group of artisans under ‘chocolatiers’ makes things a little tricky. I learned of the subtle differences between chocolatiers during my recent visit to Christopher Elbow with my friend James in San Francisco.
Indulging in their four-piece chocolate bonbon collection, the tangy lemon, and the caramel fleur de sal hooked me on Elbow’s chocolatey genius. While James paid up, I curiously scanned their various offerings and chanced upon their “bean-to-bar” collection. What seemed like an insignificant semantic variation to James, shattered my perception of fine chocolatiers.
Having supposed that all fine quality chocolatiers use bean to bar chocolate, my visit to Christopher Elbow’s taught me otherwise. The chocolate-tender told me that most of their chocolate use premium couverture. These premium chocolate chips contain a higher cacao percentage and are easier to work with for their confections. They primarily use their premium couverture, melt them down to produce their exquisite range of bonbons, truffles, ganaches. Their ‘Craft chocolate’ collection was simply a showcase of their recent experiments with single origin bean to bar chocolates.
The four-piece indulgence left me satisfied, knowing that even major chocolatiers are entering the bean-to-bar revolution. Hopefully, with a rise in such ethical sourcing, and companies such as Moka Origins empowering the bottom of chocolate supply chain, we become conscious chocolate consumers.
Conscious Chocolate Consumption:
The destitution of African cacao farmers is deeply rooted in a commercialized, multi-layered global supply chain. With mutual support and appropriate education, we can finally provide a voice to those who have been silently supporting the worlds copious chocolate consumption.
As newly informed consumers, let us be more mindful of and collectively abate the malpractices created by centuries of mass commercialization of chocolate. By supporting transparent, humanitarian focused, small-batch craft chocolate companies such as Moka Origins, we can slowly chip away this reality.
Let us revel in craft chocolate, with a newfound appreciation for its bittersweet history, and support a shift towards ethical and transparent chocolate consumption.
