In my previous post I told you about the fascinating experiences of Samuel’s private farm, and on the fourth day we were heading to a much more “official” location – The Cocoa Research Center subsidized by the Government of Ecuador and the United States.
The Cocoa Research Center studies cocoa species and enriches them. The knowledge accumulated is then passed on, at a reasonable cost, to farmers interested in it. Every person wishing to learn how to plant a high-quality plantation that would bear numerous good fruits can seek assistance from this center. This is what it is designed to do.
As we leave Quito, the capital, we already start to feel the beginning of the end of our journey.
On our way we see a waterfall streaming about one foot from the road. Yes, water here is found in abundance, and creative locals used this location to build a makeshift car wash.
We stop at a local shopping center. We go into the supermarket to try to learn a little more about local produce and consumption habits of the locals. To tell you the truth, a supermarket is one of the places I find most interesting when abroad. I can spend hours there if I’m not pushed out, or, alternatively, kicked out.
We go to the confectionery aisle and I am disappointed to learn that they don’t eat chocolate here. They simply don’t. Would you believe it? Ecuadorians, who grow the highest-quality cocoa in the world, don’t buy or eat (as shown on the supermarket shelves) the end-product made of it, chocolate.
Looking at the chocolate bars that I do manage to find, I realize that if Ecuadorians eat chocolate, they prefer it dark, plain and with a high percentage of cocoa solids. Milk chocolate is almost impossible to find here. White chocolate is nowhere to be seen.
I wonder what an Ecuadorian coming to Israel would say at the sight of the Cow milk chocolate with popping candies, dragees or puffed rice, and I smile to myself. I discover that some chocolate products on the shelf contain many local fruits: banana, pineapple, guava and berries. Cocoa beans and coffee beans also star in chocolate products.
The trip to the supermarket also helps us think outside the box and open our mind to different uses of chocolate. Chocolate becomes a raw material for all kinds of foods, and not necessarily sweet ones. I suddenly realize that beans and chocolate can be used as a spice, beverage, in pastries, stews and more. The possibilities are endless. It all depends on the processing of this raw material called cocoa beans, and on flavors that can be produced from it.
As usual, I leave the supermarket with full bags, that two days later will make my suitcase overweight at the airport, wasting more delay-time for Shay, Hila and myself at the check-in counter…
On the last day we visit a chocolate factory, like ours in Nazareth but much smaller. Here they produce chocolate “from bean to bar.” They control the process from the very beginning. They process the beans themselves and adjust process parameters for each product.
In this charming small factory, all processes are portion-based, whereas in our factory they are sequential. All materials here move from one machine to the next by the employees and not through conveyors like in our factory. Even the extras for the chocolate are spread manually, one tablet at a time.
And just before the end of the journey I remember to taste of “raw chocolate”. This applies to chocolate in its natural-as-possible form, with minimum processing. There are no rules for this chocolate, nor a standard. Every consumer has a different definition for natural chocolate and, consequently, so does every manufacturer. “Raw chocolate” in this factory is chocolate whose cocoa beans, from which it was produced, have not been roasted. So the beans don’t undergo high roasting temperature, and actually go through one less processing phase toward the end product.
I’m going over the entire processing process in my head, and together with Jeffrey realize that it doesn’t really have any logic. But you probably can’t and shouldn’t argue about such things- everyone chooses their chocolate according to their understanding of what is considered natural and what is not.
We taste raw chocolate made from 100% organic cocoa and contains 100% cocoa solids. This means no added sugar. I’m sorry, but natural or not, organic or not, with or without sugar – in my humble opinion, chocolate should be simple yet delicious. This is its essence. Chocolate, as I see it, is designed to indulge, and the chocolate I just tasted made me suffer for the most part. Too many minutes later, the sour taste still gives me burning sensation in the mouth that won’t go away…
But don’t worry, I’ll wait patiently for the raw chocolate bar that I do find tasty, it probably does exist out there somewhere, and if not – maybe I’ll create it myself.
Clearly, I returned to Israel with a lot of motivation for chocolate innovation, and I know that while our journey to Ecuador may have ended, the search for new flavors to provide to our loyal consumers is still at its peak…
We leave for the airport with heavy luggage, encouraging one another that going back always seems shorter, and not really believing one another. Each of us is already planning in his head where to sleep, how to sleep, what will go on the plane, what should be the best seat and how we should plan every minute in order to make our long flights easier.
I’m quite afraid that at some point I will prefer to break through the emergency exit on the plane, right into the Atlantic Ocean underneath, just to get off this confined plane.
At Guakil, just staring at the flights screen, we discover that our flight was delayed by four hours, but who’s counting when it comes to 24-hour flights. Shay and Hila have long given up on me and settled in their comfortable armchairs. They’re right.
The flights go relatively easily, and I feel relaxed knowing I’ll be home in a few hours. I will finally be able to drink Elite Instant Coffee that I missed so much – the taste of home.