“The true appreciation of chocolate quality begins with a link between the different spheres of effort.”—Maricel E. Presilla
I haven’t spent enough time with chocolate to fully understand what I tasted, let alone attribute it to terroir. But, at the Pacific Northwest Chocolate Festival, I was able to spend the day with people who can taste the differences, and who are dedicating their lives to the creation of chocolate. I’ll admit, during the day of chocolate tasting and chocolate drinking I was a bit overstimulated. Nevertheless, I wanted to taste and absorb everything on the two floors of Bell Harbor Pier that were dedicated to sampling and talking to chocolate producers.
I immediately headed to Charm School’s table after hearing about them from Saturday morning’s speaker. Charm school’s beans are from Belize, but they’re located in Baltimore. They like to speak to their Baltimore terroir by creating vegan chocolates, adding ingredients local to Baltimore and creating vegan bars. Their bars don’t necessarily taste of Baltimore or Belize, but their identity is their own. The packaging is playful, as are the additions, and everyone behind the table wore ties and charming smiles. The delightful man behind the counter recommended the peanut butter bar; the coconut milk along with the salty peanut butter gave it a super rich mouthfeel.
The Grenada Chocolate Company tells a completely different story. The GCC is a co-operative in Grenada. They are one of the few companies that make chocolate where it is grown. Their factory utilizes solar power and they seem to really care about each one of their employees. As I was tasting the 100% chocolate (ingredients: their cacao beans and butter) I was hearing information from one of the men who had just sailed that very bar to North America . . . by sailboat . . . powered only by wind. The GCC transports cargo in the most pollution-free way possible. Is that why chocolate free of sugar tasted so good?
Next, I headed to Raaka. At Raaka, they believe leaving the beans unroasted is the answer to terroir. The Brooklyn based chocolatier believes that unroasted beans make a bar that highlights each region’s “wild flavors” and different growing seasons. The man behind the table talked about the differences he tastes in cacao grown in Belize versus Bolivia. I purchased their last Ghost Pepper Bar.
At Dandelion Chocolate, their terroir is all about being small in the Mission District. They bemoan Hershey’s purchasing Scharffenberger. The owners, Todd and Cam, assert that most chocolate is produced industrially and big companies want inexpensive, consistent chocolate. According to them, chocolate has more nuances than wine, but big industry has stifled chocolate’s potential. Dandelion chocolate, began making chocolate in a garage in SF to fight this reality.
The most meaningful talk I went to created the most enjoyable chocolate experience. The talk was given by Gillian Goddard of Sun Eaters Organics (finally a woman passing out chocolate). The terroir of her chocolate meant more than what I was physically tasting because I felt that the place it was coming from (their terroir!) was good and kindhearted. GIllian Goddard is an activist and environmentalist who is channeling her energy into creating chocolate in Trinidad. Through her work, she is hoping to change the mindsets of the people in Trinidad who believe “foreign is better.” She uses locally grown sugar and local ingredients (dried bananas instead of cranberries) and focuses on collaboration and relationships. In an industry rife with exploitation, Gillian is excelling under the ideals of permaculture—unequivocally why her bars tasted the best.