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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Making Chocolate at El Centro de Acopio de Cacao

Location: Arosemena Tola, Ecuador

The people here are incredibly sweet, almost ridiculously nice. It's not uncommon for a stranger to see us and extend their hand for a greeting or acknowledge us with huge smiles. This morning the plan was to walk about 15 min. from our hostel into town for breakfast. As is typical of most mornings in the Amazon, it was raining. We were appropriately suited up and ready to do the walk when a pick-up truck pulled up and Jorge Luis greeted us. He came to pick us up and take us to his hostel called Oro y Luna for breakfast. Last night Jorge Luis told us that he currently had about 27 French people staying at his place and wasn't able to accomodate us. So imagine our surprise to see that he took time from his busy morning at his hotel to come for us.

His place is amazing! It's situated near the Rio Anzu and the grounds are lush with flowering tropical plants and birds. We no sooner entered the outside dining area and we were greeted with hot coffee, fresh squeezed juice, sweetened porridge, croissants with fresh jam, scrambled eggs, slices of cheese and plates of fresh fruit. Wowza, this is certainly not the roughing it in the Amazon experience I had envisioned. If anyone ever has the opportunity to travel to this area I can heartily recommend this little piece of paradise, Oro y Luna. It would make a great home base for exploring nearby areas in the Amazon.

After that delicious breakfast, Jorge Luis drove us to the El Centro de Acopio de Cacao, the cocoa processing facility that we had visited the day before. We met up with Henry and his crew (David, the Director, Saul who will be making a lot of the chocolate, and Marilena who assists with tours, making chocolate and other needs). We then proceeded to make chocolate from the cacao grown by the local farmers.

 

 

 

Here's Ned testing the temperature of the roaster. Here they refer to this piece of equipment as the "Toastadora de Cacao."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next process was cooling the beans. They are put on a rolling rack and have cool air blown on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the beans are roasted and cooled, you need to separate out the beans (or nibs) from the shells. This process is called winnowing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The nibs are then put thru a grinder. It crushes them and turns it into a liquid paste also called chocolate liquor. Normally, this is when Tsatsayaku (the chocolate association or facility where we are) ends their process. They pour the chocolate liquor into 1 lb. molds and then sell them for about $4.

 

 

 

 

 

With the addition of the melanger that we brought with us, we took some of the chocolate liquor and showed them how to make sweetened chocolate. At the end of this week there is going to be a big Chocolate Feria (chocolate fair). Henry thought it would be fun to not only showcase their chocolate liquor, but also have some sweetened bars to share.

 

 

 

Remember the French people that I referenced earlier staying at the local hostel? Well, it turns out that they stopped by the chocolate plant for a tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the middle of the chocolate making, Henry and I took a break to brainstorm some sales and marketing ideas. Henry shared with me some great spreadsheets and data he has collected over the last 18 months.

 

 

 

 

 

After this very productive day, we grabbed a ride with someone into Tena, about 30 minutes away. We tagged along with Henry as he sold the day's production of chocolate liquor to several restaurants in town. Talk about just in time inventory!

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the evening having fish tacos and Amazonian cocktails at the Guyausa Lounge. Yum. The buses run all night so it's pretty easy catching a ride back to the village. It's very weird to be heading off to a pretty remote location on these fancy buses. The one we caught tonight had disco lighting on the ceiling and showed some boxing movie on a large flat screen tv. Pretty wild. We assured Henry that he didn't need to babysit us any longer and we'd be able to find our way home. Mmmm. The village sure looks different at night! We couldn't find the taxi stand, walked thru the whole village and just ended up walking to the hostel which is located on a remote dirt road. We were kept company by the myriad of wild dogs that roam the streets of Ecuador. Even though they were serenading quite loudly in reality they were pretty harmless...says me was clinging to Ned with a rock in my hand. Oh..and thank you iphone for having that handy flashlight!

 

 

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Over the Andes and into the Amazon

Well the good news is that Ned successfully gave birth to a melanger and safely delivered it to Henry. (Reference previous blog photo of Ned looking rather pregnant with his 25 lb. bundle of chocolate joy.) The bad news is that Henry's jars of peanut butter and nutella, lovingly packed by his mom with a promise by us to hand deliver it to Henry, did not make the TSA cut. Sorry Henry.

 

 

The drive over the Andes Mountains at 6ish on Tues. morning was spectacular. We drove into the clouds and went from an arid desert landscape to a lush tropical environment. This picture was taken as we left Quito. In the distance is a snow-covered active volcano.

It was jaw dropping beautiful to see the steep and narrow mountains with many, many waterfalls pouring from them and houses perched on the edges of cliffs.

 

The main roads in Ecuador are in great shape. The current president has put a lot of money into the infrastructure. Despite this, the harsh rains of the last season washed out many parts of the mountain roads. It made for some interesting transitions zipping along pristine asphalt to creeping along bumpy gravel roads. It was also one of the windiest road we've ever been on, like Highway One on steroids.

When we finally reached Tena it was a joy to see Henry waiting for us. (Note Henry's t-shirt! Nevada City Highway 49). This part of Ecuador, referred to as the Oriente, is wedged between the Andes Mountain Range on the Western side and the Amazon jungle on the East. It's one of the most remote parts of Ecuador. The population here is 80% Kichwan.

We had a long breakfast chat with Henry that lasted until about 1 pm! It was so enlightening to get the background on Henry's project and experience with the Peace Corp over the last 18 months.

We finally boarded a bus and headed for the village of Arosemena Tola. Henry gave us a tour of the "Centro de Acopio de Cacao Tsatsayacu" chocolate making facility. This is an association made up of 140 familes that grow cacao.

 

 

Thru several grants from the Europian Union and the National Government a physical plant was constructed. Tsatsayacu will now buy cacoa from the families, ferment it, dry it and make it into chocolate liquor (unsweetened chocolate). Tsatsayacu is already selling their chocolate liquor to several customers, mainly local bakers and caterers. They still have quite a few challenges...

such as getting certified, but, it's quite impressive to see what Henry and the association have accomplished in this time frame.

We spent the afternoon doing some experiments with the melanger. I think that Henry and David, the director, were impressed with the capabilities of this machine. In just two hours the liquor sample we tested was much smoother than the smoothest liquor they are able to produce on their present mill. Tomorrow we plan to view their whole process from bean roasting to liquor milling, and make an additional chocolate sample or two for later in the week.

Tonight we had a delicious dinner at a local restaurant and brainstormed about other projects we're hoping to work on with Henry.

Henry put us up at a small charming hostel. Ned and I have a little bungalow complete with our own bathroom! There's a creek running past and lots of yummy fruit hanging from nearby trees. As I write this we're listening to all the sounds of the Amazon. Two days on the road and we're exhausted, but I know we'll be dreaming of chocolate and waterfalls and tropical forests.

 

 

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It Takes a Village (or two) to Make Chocolate

Last Victorian Christmas, while selling our chocolate, a local family from Nevada City purchased some of our bars. They were particularly interested in our Ecuador bar since their son, Henry Harrison, was working as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Ecuador. After receiving the chocolate bar, Henry reached out to us via email with some questions about selecting machinery and learning more about the chocolate making process.

Henry, who has an Economics degree, is working in the village of Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola which is about three hours from Quito. This village grows their own cacao and has started making unsweetened chocolate from their own beans. Most cacao growers only grow the beans and don't process them into a finished product, which is a much more profitable enterprise. Kudos to Henry for taking the cacao growing process one step further!

 

Over the past year, we have continued our on-line discussion with Henry. We ultimately decided that the best way to teach someone and share with them best practices is via hands-on. So, we are now on our way to Ecuador to spend a week or so with Henry and the people of Arosemena Tola.

While there, Ned will be leading a workshop on making "sweet" chocolate as opposed to the unsweetened chocolate liquor that this village now makes. Unfortunately, they don't have the one piece of equipment needed to do this. As a result, Ned and I offered to hand carry a 25 lb. melanger to them.

 

 

 

 

Our plan is to travel "light". Okay as light as one possibly can with 4 backpacks.

Here's Ned with the melanger in the front backpack. We'll keep you posted how that goes via TSA and immigration. Should be quite interesting..

Yes, I got away with the lighter load.

Our plan is to arrive in Quito, stay in a youth hostel the first night, and then take a 5 a.m., 3 hour bus/shuttle to Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola.

Next posting hopefully we will have met up with Henry! See you near the equator.

 

 

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Visiting our Dominican Suppliers of Cacao - The Conacado Connection

Location: El Seibo, Dominican Republic

Making chocolate is a labor of love. Once we receive the cocoa beans from our suppliers we need to roast, winnow, grind, melange, temper, mould, and package the chocolate. But that is only part of the process. Growing the cacao, harvesting and cracking the pods, fermenting and drying the beans must happen first. We have a tremendous amount of appreciation for our suppliers for all this hard work that occurs in a very hot and humid climate. Most of the farmers live in very modest conditions and struggle to eek out a living. They rarely get a chance to taste the end chocolate product. It's our personal goal to meet each of our cocoa suppliers, thank them for their hard work and present them with a bar of chocolate.

Today we traveled to the Conacado Co-op in El Sebo. It was a special treat to have my sister and brother-in-law with us on this adventure. It was their first trip to the cacao source.

Also working on the farm was Blake, a Peace Corp worker. She's been there for 14 months helping them with their business and marketing.

 

 

Ned in front of the fermentation area.

Ned and Debi in the drying shed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doing the cut test to see if the beans have been fermented long enough.

One of the "cocoa dancers" flipping the beans to help the drying process. To fully appreciate this, the temperature was extremely hot and humid and he's in the baking sun fully dressed.

 

Ned and I giving some more of the workers a Cello Chocolate bar made with their beans.

In the field seeing the cacao growing on the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had an opportunity to see how they prepare "cocoa balls." This is coarseley ground cocoa nibs rolled into ball form to be grated and sweetened for hot chocolate.

 

Of course Linda and I had to taste them.

 

 

 

 

 

They prepared a beautiful, typical Dominican lunch for us.

 

 

We had rice with peas, chicken, a type of spaghetti and a vegetable salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ned especially enjoyed the cacao wine, which tasted like port.

 

They've invited Ned and I back to help them make chocolate. We are thinking of coming back next January. If we do, this will be our living quarters. We can't wait!!

 

 

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