For thousands of years, cacao has been considered a sacred food.

Kakaw for The Maya people was a gift from The Gods. A creature called The Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya, so their mythic scriptures say. An annual spring festival celebration was dedicated to honor their cacao god, Ek Chuah, with gifts, sacrifices and what you might call today ‘cacao face painting’ – ear lobes in particular.

Depiction of the Cacao myths, from a Mayan painted ceramic vessel, Guatemala City Museum

Another version of the cacao creation story was offered by The Aztec civilization:

God Quetzalcoatl discovered cacao (cacahuatl: “bitter water”) in a mountain.

The Aztecs had cacao priests taking care of rituals, including some awful ones we won’t mention here… As long as there is constant supply of cacao, sure… By the way, the cacao beverage used for their ritual was only allowed for men, as it was believed to be toxic for women and children. This meant there was more cacao for the men, then.

The Spanish explorer Cortés and his entourage were curious to see the vast quantities of the cacao beverage the Aztec emperor consumed, when they arrived in the Aztec capital Moctezuma in 1519. They brought back to Europe some samples of cacao beans, along with other agricultural products, but it seems that the use of cacao in Spain started only in 1544, thanks to a visit of some senior Kekchi Maya nobles.

This introduction was the beginning of our own addiction.

These poor souls were brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip; Later on, their native people would be humbled and exploited.

Being so good (as you well know), chocolate had spread to France, and to other countries in Europe. Demand for chocolate had to be satisfied.

The desire for chocolate led to establishing cacao plantations in the Caribbean colonies (by the French), while Spain developed cacao plantations in the Venezuelan and Philippine colonies.

Let’s stop here to look at why things happened that way, and the consequences of supplying huge amounts of cacao globally:

Six key fact to know about cacao trees:

1. Theobroma Cacao, which is the cacao tree’s botanical name, means “Food of The Gods” in Greek.
2. Theobromine is the ‘cacao’s caffeine’ – the name given to an organic compound that is found in cacao, affecting us humans for the better (yes!).
3. A cacao tree can grow only in a narrow band 20 degrees either side of the equator; it needs high humidity lots of rain to thrive.
4. Cacao tree will start to bear fruit at the age of 5, and usually live to age 100. The average cacao tree will retire from fruit growing when it’s about 60-70 years old.
5. The cacao tree needs the shade so it is often grown beneath other trees such as papaya, rubber, and mango trees.
6. Typically, a cacao tree produces about 1 – 1.5 lbs (~ 0.5 kg) of dried cacao beans annually, over two harvesting periods.

A Colombian farmer picking cacao fruit

Sticking with (and for) the trees, and moving in closer, to cacao trees,
can become a life changing experience,
and it has happened to Ika ten years ago.

Bathing in a rainforest is good for you

If you haven’t yet heard about “Shinrin-yoku”, the latest Japanese wellness trend, here is the gist of it:

Shinrin-yoku means ‘taking in the forest atmosphere’, or Forest Bathing. It is about the therapeutic effect of forests and trees in general. According to Wikipedia, there are over 60 Forest Therapy Camps in Japan today.

Some lovely books about Forest Therapy and Nature Healing came out recently, following the popularity of a positive new data: studies suggest that visiting nature parks has therapeutic effect. Spending time with trees seems to raise levels of white blood cells, which equals to a better immune system. Scientists found that “being among plants produced lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, and lower blood pressure.”

Just like the compound in chocolate being good for your health (releasing the “happy hormones” serotonin and dopamine), so are the phytoncides that trees emit into the air.

So let us suggest a visit to a cacao plantation!
This would be a most invigorating trip for the senses, surely.

If you are up for a once-in-a-lifetime journey, search for a meditation retreat, or a mindful exploration of cacao tree forests, to see how they are grown and harvested. Busk in the shade together with them.

Go to one of the “Cacao Belt” counties, such as Mexico, or Indonesia.

These special retreats offer unique ways to research the bean-to-bar chocolate trend, explore nature, and yourself, if you wish.

Maybe a place where the programme also offers chocolate tasting, making, cacao growing tours, and of course, meditation sessions under the trees. Perhaps even where an ancient cacao ritual is performed.

Until you go there, why not take some good quality chocolate to the nearest park, and sit under a big old tree? Perhaps bring a book, too.

Have a relaxing summer,

Ika

Interestingly, the most important chocolate terms start with the letter C!

Here are the 7 most useful terms you need to know in order to speak like a chocolate expert:

1. Conching

Chocolate’s smooth texture and refined flavours, are achieved thanks to the conching machine, where the chocolate paste is heated, stirred, and sort of kneaded, for as much as four days!

A minimum of 12 hours is standard in the chocolate industry.

The Swiss manufacturer Rodolphe Lindt invented this technique in 1879 (In French: Lissage).

The ground beans are stirred and blended together with sugar and other ingredients, until a smooth, homogeneous paste is ready to be poured into molds.

Conching combines all the ingredients into a unified mass, and eliminates volatile flavours, unpleasant odors, and bitterness.

Tasting the paste straight right out of the conching machine, at a chocolate factory, is an unforgettable experience, that we very much recommend trying if you get the chance.

Photo: Simon Pearson via Flickr

2. Cacao Belt

Cacao trees can only grow within 20° north and south of the Equator.

This geographical area can be imagined as a belt circling our planet.

Within this area are the original cacao growing countries like Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela; and thanks to globalization cacao now grows also in Africa and Asia – mainly in Ghana, the Cote D’Ivoire, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka.

3. Criollo

Criollo is a type of cacao tree that grows mainly in Venezuela. Most chocolate experts consider it to produce the best quality beans, with the most delicate flavour.

Criollo trees are quite rare, also because they are very vulnerable to disease.

Therefore, Criollo beans are more expensive, but we believe it is worth the investment when making top quality chocolate.

Photo: 3 types of cacao pods (=trees): Criollo, Trinitario & Forastero. Source: Wikipedia

4. Couverture

For dipping and coating pralines and other confectioneries, like candied fruit, it’s best to use chocolate with a higher minimum fat content, of around 35% cocoa butter.

This thin glossy mass is called Couvertour.

When your teeth encounter a thinly-covered praline, made by hand, you immediately feel the difference, and can better enjoy the right balance of flavours in your mouth.

5. Tempering

There is something magical about tempering – like watching a science experiment – seeing how cacao butter is transformed into a stable crystal form.

The process happens through alternate heating and cooling in very specific timing, to a point where cacao butter sets at its most stable point.

Tempering helps make the chocolate look smooth and glossy, and brings the chocolate to the exact stability, so it would break by your teeth in the most pleasurable way.

6. Gianduja

A paste made of chocolate blended with finely ground hazelnuts, it was said to be invented by 19th-century producers to cut cost of chocolate candy.

But no one can deny that cocoa and hazelnuts are a match made in heaven; Gianduja pralines tend to be best sellers.

7. Cru

The word Cru comes from the wine world, close in meaning to the word Terroir = the environment in which the plant is grown.

When talking about cacao, Cru is used to indicate beans from trees from specific areas. For example, Valrhona uses “Cru” with Caraïbe (Caribbean), Manjari (Madagascar), and Jivara (South America), to tell consumers where the beans were grown.

Expert tasters can learn and feel the characteristics of different Cru’s, and identify acidity, ripeness, and traces of charcoal and fruit, just like wine connoisseurs.

Photo: Papua New Guinea Praline by IKA Chocolate, made out of single origin Papuan cocoa beans.

So many factors influence the piece of chocolate you taste:

The type of trees from which the beans came, and their level of ripeness, the harvest, fermentation technique, drying, roasting, refining, conching and tempering, and then, the recipe and skills of the chocolatier.

Understanding how truly fabulous chocolate is made is a journey, one that is never too late to embark on.

Feeling all set to join a chocolate tasting club? Or want to start sharing fine chocolate reviews?

How about visiting an international chocolate industry event? Choose out of dozens of 2018 chocolate events listed here.

1. Terroir isn’t just about wine making

In some ways, chocolate is like wine.

The aroma, texture and taste of both pleasurable products depend much on the Terroir. Like wine, chocolate may be impacted by how it’s been grown: Location, geology and climate of the place.

In fact it’s among the few products with a broader flavour profile than wine.

Like grapes, cocoa beans are a fruit that goes through a series of various processes in production, all of which also affect its flavour; Fermentation and drying are extremely important for a quality chocolate. Fermentation is done on or near the farm, so the farmers’ skill has a large influence on flavour.

Conclusion: Chocolate lovers should pay more attention to cocoa farmers. Getting to know them will help us all treat them better, and in turn get better quality chocolate every day.

Did you know that cocoa trees can only flourish in tropical environments, within 15-20 degrees north and south of the equator? This is why cocoa is grown in very few countries around the world – among them are Brazil and Cote d’Ivoire. The origins of chocolate beans has an enormous impact on the flavour of a finished chocolate bar. Bars from Madagascar beans, for instance, are characteristically fruity while Ecuadorian bars are far more earthy.

Have you ever considered dividing Vietnam into individual regions, like we are so used to do to French wine growing regions?

2. Single origin chocolate tourism – the new global trend

The Chocolate Tourism trend is still mainly about a chauffeur driving you to shops around Paris.

But a new more exotic way to make chocolate the theme of your trip is to hop on a plain and then on a van, to visit cocoa farms around the planet’s equator.

More and more chocolate fans go to places such as Belize, Madagascar, where first-rate quality cocoa is sourced.

Traveling to Australia was actually what put Ika on her chocolate career path.

Travel is Ika’s second best thing to do after chocolate. When she was 35, with 12 years of experience as a radio sound engineer, she went to Australia, in search of a new vocation.

“I went to Australia to study for a master’s degree in marine science, but there I realized that what I wanted to do was chocolate. How did I realize that? When I saw that I was spending hundreds of dollars in chocolate boutiques. I was also constantly recommending to fellow travelers to ‘Go eat this macaroon, go eat those pralines.’ I realized I love it. Chocolate became a motivation for more cultural exploration.”

Returning from Australia, she became an apprentice to the leading Israeli dessert chef Claude Ben Simon. In 2011, after many more trips and much training – mainly in Paris and Brussels, she opened her own artisanal chocolaterie.

3. Original Middle Eastern flavored pralines – now a worldwide sensation

“Travel inspires my work, but I wish also for Israeli flavors and chocolate to travel. I want people in Europe and anywhere else, also in those far away places where farmers grow chocolate, to know our land. I want people all over the world to get to know the Middle Eastern Terroir. Lovely food and flavors grow here, too.”

One such special flavour is the Za’atar – a Middle Eastern herb.

This is now the 2nd year that Ika’s Za’atar praline made her a silver medalist of The International Chocolate Awards.

This innovation, combined with her professionalism, ranked her #22 International Chocolatiers of the prestigious Le Club des Croqueurs de Chocolat

In Papua New Guinea, Ika sourced a uniquely flavoured cocoa that won her a second ICA silver medal this year. The story behind the Papua New Guinea praline inspiration is just below – read our To Sin and Be Forgiven post.

Its creation was inspired by a legendary princess.  A woman who was loved by many men, some of them to (their) death.

“Queen Emma” they called her. The Samoan / American Emma was considered the most beautiful woman in Papua New Guinea around the turn of the last centuries. Her mother’s bloodline was related to the Moli tribe and Emma was recognized by the Malietoa as a princess.

Born Emma Eliza Coe (1850, died 1913) she was a business woman and plantation owner.

They say her motto was – to sin and be forgiven.

She was a lover “to die for”; passionate, powerful. And four of her lovers did indeed die, tragically. She might have had something to do with their deaths, according to highly circulated rumours.

Famously, her second husband, the German Paul Kolbe, 20 years her younger, died shortly after she found out he was cheating on her in Monte Carlo. She died two days later.

Emma was as beautiful as her homeland still is.

She lived in the town of Kokopo, strung along the edge of Blanche Bay, surrounded by five towering volcanoes. The crusty dark earth is highly fertile, rich in minerals. One of those volcanos is still active, erupting every few years, perhaps with what once thought of the locals as the wrath of the gods.

Emma was said to be prone to angry eruptions as well. She was, in her day to day, a shrewd administrator, “Queen of Commerce”, a clever businesswoman who helped her family and community flourish. She was known as a heady woman, a celebrated socialite who knew how to throw a good party. A passionate woman, loud and energetic, never afraid of what people might say about her and her choices.

Ika was immediately drawn to Queen Emma’s story, while researching notable lovers’ stories, whose lives are intertwined with chocolate.

Emma was a lover of life. Her strong character was the inspiration for the new limited edition of exceptional single origin chocolate that Ika has created.

The dark praline contains cacao from the fields of Papua. The beans were dried over open fire, and you can feel a touch of smoke in the creamy rich chocolate filling.

Thin, almost unnoticed slivers of coal lay on top of the praline, enhancing its flavor. The coal embellishment gives away a visual clue for the smoky note. The deep aroma adds to the sensory experience of tasting this superior single origin chocolate. It is a unique expression of passionate love for chocolate, love of life, and giving.

Pictures: [clockwise] Emma Forsayth | Tavurvur volcano & Sunset in Papua New Guinea – the romantic vibe is helped by the unique crimson colours of the sky at sunset – photos by Raz Sherbelis | Ika’s praline, photo by Shiran Carmel