From Bud to Bar...and beyond

Location: Shandia, Ecuador

Cacao grows within 20 degrees of the equator. Most of the places where it grows are developing countries. Traditionally, it is then shipped to Western Countries where it is made into chocolate. When we receive the cacao it is in a bean form and we make chocolate from bean to bar.

 

 

The challenge in making chocolate where it grows is that it's very hot and humid and many people don't have the infrastructure such as electricity and air conditioning to take it to the next step. Henry, in working with Tsatsayaku, is not only growing the cacao, but making the chocolate as well. Thus they are a full "bud to bar shop." This is really unique! When we visited Belize a few years ago Juan and Abelina Cho were the only Mayans in Belize that were making chocolate from cacao they grew. Thus, they too were a bud to bar family operation. What makes Henry's project so unique is that this "bud to bar" operation will positively impact 140 families!

Today we attended a chocolate truffle making workshop with Henry and some of his associates. It was put on by local government agencies. Ecuador is making a push to "Take Back Ecuador." In other words, they don't want only the United States and Europe to be making products from their raw materials. The reason this is so important is not only for national pride, but also for increasing the standard of living for many of their below poverty level residents. For example, the majority members of Tsatsayaku make less than $150 per month. By making chocolate and then selling their chocolate to this new crop of chocolatiers will increase everyone's income, both the chocolate maker and the artisan chocolatiers.

Today's truffle workshop was led by Chef Daniel Wilca, a chocolatier from Quito. Yes, it was entirely in Spanish, but between Henry's translation, Ned's high school spanish and our knowledge of chocolate we got a lot out of it!

Tsatsayaku provided some of the chocolate for the workshop. Nice coup Henry! The 20 attendees were from restaurants and catering companies from Tena, one of the larger cities in this Amazon region. A great audience for Tsatsayaku's product.

This workshop was amazing. Ned and I specialize in solely the bean to bar operation. The making of truffles and bon-bons and other premium confections are new to us. I think Ned enjoyed seeing how Chef Daniel tackled the challenge of tempering chocolate in a 80 degree, humid, open air space. I enjoyed the chocolate.

And because this is Ecuador, one of the truffles was made with 186 proof distilled cacao liquor. (And made by an associate in the Tsatsayaku group!)

 

We did our fair share of sampling! We made truffles from fruit, coffee, cacao liquor, candied orange peels and other Amazonian ingredients.

This area of Ecuador, the Oriente, is really remote and often is overlooked. By creating products not only from Ecuador, but specific to the Amazon they are hoping to set themselves apart and offer something unique.

 

As a side note, getting to this workshop was an event in itself. As is typical around here, everyone bums rides whenever they can. Juan, from one of the Gov't Associations putting on the workshop, picked up Henry, Ned and me and drove us to Shandia. Rather than take the main road, he crossed over the river on what looked to us like a pedestrian suspension bridge. We criss-crossed several times over the river on these type of bridges.

 

I really enjoyed driving the backroad thru the Amazon passing tiny villages and seeing their "fincas" or small farms.

 

 

 

 

 

After the workshop, while waiting for another ride, Henry took us on a "walkabout" thru the Village of Shandia. We crossed over a pedestrian thatched roof bridge to a beach along the river and Henry pointed out all the bizarre jungle fruit growing wild.

One of the weirder ones was what they locally refer to as "guava." It isn't our type of guava, but instead a 3 ft. long wiggly pod that looks like a giant okra. It has furry seeds inside that you suck on then spit out.

 

If that wasn't enough excitement for the day, when we eventually returned to our village of Arosemena Tola via bus, Jorge Luis was waiting for us. We left the very humble hostel we had been staying in and were brought to Oro y Luna, an incredibly beautiful and upscale "bed and breakfast" hostel. We are blessed with beautiful grounds of lush tropical plants, night blooming flowers releasing the most magnificent aroma, monkeys nearby, a quaint bungalow and internet to boot. I'm not so bold to expect hot water, this is more than enough.

 

 

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