In the first of a two part series on fine chocolate, season publisher Simon Tooth reflects on his recent week long tour to Ecuador studying chocolate production from farm to factory.
Ecuador grows just 3% of the world's cocoa crop, but one estimate suggests it grows the beans for half the world's fine chocolate. The UK market for quality dark chocolate, high in cocoa solids and low in just about everything else, is booming. Brands like Green & Black and Montezuma - and even some of the supermarkets (the Coop's good own-brand and Fair Trade dark chocolate for example) - have helped re-establish chocolate as more than an over-sweet confection.
And for chocolate, like so much else that we eat, the quality and provenance of the raw ingredients have a real influence on the flavour of the end-product.
Ecuador, the South American country that astrides the equator, was identified as the cradle of the cocoa bean when three scientists established
in 1832 that the plant originated in the Amazon basin. The national variety - Arriba - is still widely grown although the crop was ravaged by disease in the early 20th century and a hybrid was developed. The high-yielding CCN51 has been widely planted since the 1950s, but although yield can be four times that of Arriba and disease-resistance is much greater, it lacks some of the flavour and subtlety of the old variety.
So while the hybrid is well-suited to big-scale farming where the crop is destined for mass-market confectionery (or cosmetics), it's Arriba that will provide the raw ingredient in chocolate for connoisseurs. And government-backed research is developing new strains of Arriba which will show some of the characteristics of the hybrid with no compromise on flavour.
The agricultural landscape of Ecuador was redrawn in the 1960s when the military dictatorship in power at the time confiscated the large haciendas, broke them up into small parcels (typically 1-2 hectares) and gave them to the workers. The move created thousands of small-scale producers, now second or third generation, who exist on low incomes. A typical grower, probably supplementing his main crop income with fruit production, can expect to earn about $US200 a month (the US dollar is Ecuador's currency).
But the policies of the recently elected socialist government are supporting the country's growers through a package of aid directed at the
rural economy. Financial help is being made available through tax breaks and greater access
to low-cost credit while support in kind is offered through training, through the establishment of supply chains more favourable to growers (many now market their crop through cooperatives) and through developing strains of Arriba with better yields and greater disease-resistance.
Ecuador also has in place a highly effective export agency - CORPEI - and cocoa and
cocoa products are recognised as key export commodities.
In late spring we will be showcasing the artisan creations of East Anglian chefs and chocolatiers using Ecuadorian couverture.
