ENDERUN got a sweet treat on Sept. 25 with the launch of Belcolade Origins Noir Philippines 68% Cacao-Trace.
The beans are from Mindanao (specifically from Calinan, San Isidro, and Mati) but the beans are processed Belgian-style, ensuring the union of two disciplines in one bag. This is one of the first Belgian chocolates in the world to feature Philippine-grown cacao beans.
For the launch, the Belgian brand (from Belgian baking raw materials company Puratos) got chocolatier Christian Valdes of CMV Txokolat (related story: https://tinyurl.com/y86rsew7) to make truffles onstage. Mr. Valdes also concocted samplers — not his usual fare of pralines and bonbons, but savories and desserts, all using the 68% Belcolade Origins Noir Philippines 68% Cacao-Trace.
For the bites, Mr. Valdes made a Chocolate Beef Pares Tart (a beef stew with star anise), taking advantage of some of the spicier notes of the chocolate. This was followed by an Olive Tapenade layered with a dark chocolate ganache, then a Chocolate Tapa Taco (our favorite; reminiscent of Mexican mole sauce).
He also made a Lumpiang Champorado (a spring roll cum fritter filled this time with chocolate porridge with a fish floss) — we told him after the program that he should launch this as a product on its own. “We really wanted to really find these contrasting flavors that work well together,” he told BusinessWorld, though he admitted that in the past, he’d made some mistakes in executing savory chocolate dishes. He did mention a tablea adobo he once made, with the aid of a cacao vinegar. “There aren’t any boundaries. Chocolate can be sweet. It can be sour, spicy, savory. But you have to experiment.”
Bernard Poplimont, president and managing director for Puratos Philippines, described the terroir imparted by the Philippines to their chocolate: “It is a bit more floral than most of the cacao that you find in the area,” he told BusinessWorld. “A bit more hearty also, so through fermentation, we try to get those flavor notes more pronounced.”
Belcolade sources cacao from all over the world, from Latin America, to Africa, and Asia.
Speaking of breaking boundaries, he said that day in a speech, “We believe that chocolate should not only taste good, it should do good.”
On every bag of Belcolade Origins Noir Philippines 68% Cacao-Trace is the promise of the company’s Cacao-Trace program, which ensures that their cacao farmers receive fair compensation, as well as giving back a “chocolate bonus” through 10 euro cents given to the farmers for every bag sold. Moreover, they have training and support programs for the farmers, and Puratos also has a baking school for the underprivileged.
“Without cacao farmers, we don’t have chocolate. As simple as that,” Mr. Poplimont told BusinessWorld.
He is aware of a video circulating from several years ago, where cacao farmers in the Ivory Coast tasted chocolate for the first time, despite being part of its supply chain for years. Mr. Poplimont doesn’t believe that should happen. Every two years they hold a Cacao Fiesta, where their farmers can partake of the fruits of their work, in the form of chocolate in snacks and drinks. “It doesn’t make sense to us: for farmers to produce cacao and then they don’t know what this product is going into, and why it’s so important for them to make cacao.” — Joseph L. Garcia
