Java Chocolate

WOULD YOU URGE YOUR CHILD TO BE A CHOCOLATIER OR A DOCTOR?

2009-01-16T08:15:00.011+07:00

Being a very practical person, wise to the ways of world, I would responsibly advice my children to be doctors. Because, from evidence evaluated today, it does not matter much whether you are a good doctor or a hopeless one. You will still make a lot of money and have a comfortable living.Unfortunately the same cannot be said of your patients. But if you are a mediocre chocolatier, you are surely headed down the rocky road of life.

The good thing is everybody has an inborn talent waiting to blossom out to be great chefs or chocolatiers.Everyone loves to eat. Of course the majority get distracted and go into absurdities like nuclear physics. However if you are like my son, who keeps wondering and experimenting on how to make a chocolate cookie better, or his noodles more exciting or what happens if you add balsamic vinegar to rice, then it is very likely that he may see greatness in the culinary arts.And at far less cost me me than a degree in medicine or law.

Lately I have been covertly(because my wife sees him one day as a powerfully rich unscrupulous lawyer)encouraging him to pursue his curiosity in the culinary arts. I told him about Ferran Adria who began his culinary life as a dishwasher. Then a army cook. Then joined El Bulli and 18 months(I keep stressing 18 months, because my son is terribly impatient)later became head chef of El Bulli.

I told his about Heston Blumenthol and how this great man who after high school spend a week with Raymond Blanc and a few months with Marco Pierre White then lept into fame. I told my son that Blumenthal's mentor, Marco Pierre White started as a dishwasher at a the Hotel Saint George(which nobody has heard of) and then went on to establishments like the Box Tree, Le Gauroche and La Tante Clair. My son was very impressed as I rolled out these names in my best French.

The point I was trying to make is that what he needed was passion not a fearfully expensive education which undoubtedly I would have to slog for till my dying days to pay.

To be fair and balanced, as a parent must be, I told him also of Ramon Morato, probably the most famous choclatier of all. He did go to formal confectionery and chocolate schools like the National High School of Pastry, Confectionary, Ice Cream and Chocolate at Yssingeaux. I emphasised of course that Morato had won a scholarship to go there.

To bring him back from France I quoted Ferran Adria who said, "Ideal customers dont come to El Bulli to eat, they come for the experience." And that the secret of great cooking was the contrasts in flavour, temperature and texture." The study of which, I pointed out, was ever present in the street foods of Jakarta, Indonesia. Hundreds of such excellent establishments exist minutes away from our home.

I told my son about Heston Blumenthol's philosophy on food which was to discover and exploit the diner's perception of his expectations of types of food and surprise him or her out of their minds. That too can be studied intensively in Indonesia. After all, I reminded him that Indonesia was home to all ingredients and spices and herbs know to man. As well as all the textures and flavours and indeed temperatures. You are, I told my son, in the finest cooking environment in the world. It was these 17000 island archipelago that the world was supplied with spices for a thousand years or more. Here his vision could be as broad as he makes it. Never as blinkered as French cuisine which is over-rated, over-priced and mostly arrogance.Chic yes, but predictable.

Coming back to my son becoming a chocolatier I told him of the passion of Charles Barry who in 1842 travelled to Africa to look for beans. Of course he should have come to Indonesia but it no good moan about it now. Besides Africa was closer. But my son can find great cocoa beans throughout our islands. Cocoa plantations existed on Sulewesi, Java, Sumetra, Papua, Maluku,West Timor, Bali, Kalimantan, Nias and Flores. His backyard was rich with exciting beans.Bernard Callebaut actually treated his father's brewery turned chocolate factory as his playroom. And eventually learned all the secrets of making chocolate. A bit of apprenticeship with chocolaterie Menunier and off to Calgary, Canada where, much against all advice from snooty Europeans, he started his own thriving chocolate factories.

In Indonesia my son would find in most communities at least one home industry engaged in baking or chocolate or both.And because these homes dream of sending off their children to universities the motivation to successfully compete and innovate, throbs relentlessly. The country, without exaggeration is an backyard university campus in the craft of chocolate.The best best thing about it was the chocolate created was unique to the country and relevant to consumer needs. This country being the third largest consumer market in Asia, its an opportunity and challenge not to be sneezed.

Summing up, I told my son, he may not make as much money as a lousy doctor or an unscrupulous lawyer, nor afford a divorce(which he thinks is mandatory on a route to fame), but he may well be able to afford the Honda he seamed to take a fancy for. Unless of course he can reach the heights of Ramon Morato or Ferran Adria. Here, to be fair, I told him that El Bulli actually operates at a loss. They make their money on their books.

CHOCOLATE FOR SLIMMING?

2009-01-15T16:09:00.005+07:00

It had to come from Japan. A friend gave me a pack of CHOCO LADY. At first I thought it was a cosmetic of some sort. It turned out to be slimming pellets. Made of chocolate they had baked biscuit centers. The pellets, I was informed were enriched with polysaccharide(mushroom citosan) that the manufacturers claim will prevent the absorption of fat. If you are enticed, it is recommended that you eat five pellets before a greasy meal. My pack contained a seven-day supply. However if you are particularly addicted to greasy meals a thirty-day convenient pack is also available.In spit of its name, it is claimed to be suitable for men as well.
The product is manufactured by Oacac, Japan.

YEAR OF COMPOUND CHOCOLATE?

2009-01-03T08:41:00.005+07:00

In some elite circles Compound Chocolate is rarely, if ever, mentioned.Among practical groups, it is chocolate. It is what they work with. During the holiday season we saw lots and lots of compound chocolate being used for confectionery, baking, snacks, beverages and innovations.

The reasons for using compounds are several. First it is easy and quick to prepare for use. It is great for meeting large volume orders. Second it is cheaper that couverture which means the price to the consumer can be kept, "reasonable." Thirdly we found that the average festive consumers enjoyed them their chocolate, joyously.

Though we found that compound lacked the shine of courverture we were able to give every product we made a rich and "chocolate intense" appearance. To vary tastes, we got different quality brands and mixed them in various proportions and developed some very interesting variances. We used it for toppings, fillings, rum balls, liqueur chocolates,and as thick spreads, which gave a crunchy bite, between chocolate cake layers. We tried wine infusions and though we had some experts advising, they didn't quite work out.

Under the category of innovations we found that compound chocolate readily accepted spices like cardamon, chili, cumin, peppers and salts. With grains of undissolved sugar and shavings of caramel they were very intriguing, delicious and delivered a great mouth experience.

It also turned out good with slightly over-roasted nuts, especially cashews, which we placed whole for better bite sensations. Walnuts were hard to get and expensive but sugared or salted or both they proved popular and were sell-outs. Marshmallows, very thinly coated worked well. The artists among us made snowflakes, stars and snowballs that glittered.

Under the present economic condition, home industries will work more with compounds. New comers will also find compound chocolate a good and profitable beginning.

And I wonder if you noticed that chocolate boutiques and hotel outlets have raised their chocolate and chocolate dessert prices or reduced the portions appreciably?

Chinese New Year is around the corner. For us it will be more innovations with friendly compounds.It is the Year of the Ox. Recommendations are to be patient, pragmatic, sensible, methodical and generous.

10 NEW TRENDS IN CHOCOLATE,

2008-12-15T07:16:00.013+07:00

Life is tough out there for all of us. Some people consider it frivolous of me to keep on blogging about chocolate. Well for lots of us, both those who produce chocolate and those that eat chocolate, life is still has some joys. Christmas may not see turkey on our tables, but there will be chicken at least and chocolate pudding at the end.With glasses of home-made wine. It is going to be sustainable years for chocolatiers from 2009 on. Chocolate trends that have begun in a small way during the last decade are favourably gathering momentum.

1) Chocolate is being less regarded as a snack. It is now being respected as a food. There is no need to elaborate of the nutritional and health benefits of chocolate, they are already well known. Large companies like Nestle and Mars have very responsibly begun to move with these trends. In time manufacturers will make demands on suppliers to provide types of chocolate that are aimed at the "chocolate-food" market.

2)Artisans are becoming a major force in chocolate. Artisans with "there are more horizons" atitude are leading the trend rather than those who are mired down by traditional and dour thinking. Artisans in the US are taking the lead. The grouping of Art Pollard, Shawn Askinosie, Alex Whitmore(Taza)DeVries, Alan McClure(Patric) will undoubtly grow in numbers and in setting some exciting trends. Surely Tim Childs, Pierre Marcolini, Ramon Morato(Chocovic),Michael Cluize among others will soon join the ranks. I hope they let Clothilde Dusoulier join too for being, if not a pure artisan, the best looking chocolatier in the world.

Here in Indonesia there are a small group of artisans producing some great chocolate too. We have vast potential to grow in numbers and skills using our own resources.

3)The focus of the cocoa BEAN will shift from the Americas and Africa to South East Asia. And I hope to even parts of north Australia.From Vietnam to the Northern Territory of Australia to Vanuatu,lies vast unexplored resources for great cocoa. There are no less than half a million plantations within this area. The soils and climate of this region undoubtly produce some of the best flavours and sensations waiting to be discovered. The adventure of discovery of cocoa is endless. I hope the artisans from the United States, and Europe, with pack their rucksacks and come here. Let me assure you that in this area there are no adverse issues on Fair Trade nor Child Labour. You can go searching with a clear conscience.

4)Premium Chocolate segment is growing. Though now only 10 percent of the total chocolate market and about $12.9billion in value, Nestle estimates that it will soon grow to $14 billion. Growth of premium chocolate in 2007 over 2006 was 18%. Premium chocolate is steadily encroaching on and influencing the mainstream. In effect this means that mainstream will have to seeks news ways to convert chocolate from a snack, often frivolous, to a god healthy food. The Food Services industry will also be demanding not just great taste, but also great goodness and suitable credentials.

5)That Belgian chocolate is the best in the world will be relegated to the book of myths. The widely held belief, particularly among the Swiss, that Swiss chocolate is inimitable will be of no consequence. European chocolate with have to revent itself with a promise of "adventure" in every bite.Verona is sitting too contentedly on its laurels and Lindt has caught the "drift" and making some tentative forays.Spain is the exception and continues to show flair and passion.Having brought chocolate to Europe in the 16th century they have the responsibility to revent chocolate for the rest of Europe.

New Tree says it's Belgian Chocolate. Thought it has broken away from the dour traditions of Belgium Chocolate and have launched a very innovative range that may point the way to the future of marketing and even pricing chocolate.

6)The next artisans will be adventurers. They may be Asian or others. For Asians the good beans, exciting beans, are in their own backyard. The experienced and adventurous Americans, must expand their horizons. Some merely have scratched the surface in Asia-Pacific.But pottering around is not real adventure and often results in inaccuracies or simply with convenient stories.But at least it has been a tentative poke into the unknown.

7) Innovation, some of which was seen at the recent HIE show in Paris, is the next big word in chocolate after Adventure. Natra, of Spain has made some early entry inby adding Omega-3 and fibre. Conveniently Natra owns 50% stake in the Natraceutical Group. There is a promise of more to come, not just in health aspects but also in tastes and flavour surprises, or all three.

8)Should cocoa continue to be classified as Criollo, Forestero and Trinitano? Or should we start classifying cocoa,rationally, according to origin? Is Criollo still to be consdered as the superior bean? The debate will begin and my guess is that we go will go the wine way.

9)Mainstream chocolate will become smaller, chunkier,milk rich or cocoa rich, healthy of course, nutritious and need-occassion targeted(as opposed to youth-occassion targeted).Natra-Natraceutical type alliances may help. Appeal not just to the mouth but also to the intellect.

10)It will all begin at the farm.With happy,coco-wise, chocolate-wise,farmers. Farmers admit to being somewhat intimidated by the "big guys".So this is precisely i where farmers,artisans, the small bakers, horeca,home industries,smaller processors and manufacturers and others can all work towards interesting, involved and personalised relationships.

11)There is one more. Start a trend. Get your children interested in becoming professional chocolatiers rather than lawyers and bankers.There could be money in it as well as the immense possibility of them growing up to be good people too.

CHOCOLATE 2008

2008-12-03T10:14:00.009+07:00

This year was really a year of outstanding Chocolate events. New artisans joined the community. New innovations appeared on the shelves. New beans were discovered.New plantations, in new territories, began their first yields. New findings on how good chocolate is for you were tentatively revealed. Athletes at the Olympic Games, Beijing, were fuelled by chocolate. Chocolate Boutiques opened in the thousands. Experts claimed that chocolate would remain immune to the global crisis.These Blogs have been recording the progress since June 2008.

It seemed as if a lot of territory had been covered since the beginning of the year. But more arrived. Vosages launched NAGA which incredibly combined, believe it or not, Indian Curry, coconut and mik chocolate. It wasn't the only bar Vosages launched. There was also among others Mo Bacon Bar, Enchanted Mushroom,Habana.They were I was told, received with great enthusasism by chocolate aficionados.A 120 gm bar sold for around $8.00.Pity the CEO of Ford, GM and Chrysler wont not be able to afford it.

Here in Indonesia, we experimented, successfully, with chocolate banana and cassava crisps, chocolate tempe wafers, chocolate tofu, with ingredients added on like salt, cardamon,green hot chilli,pepper,palm sugar,fragrant cloves and so on. We also tried chocolate with asparagus and mushroom. And during a school function served anchovie paste on disks of white chocolate(served ice cold). Our strategy has been two fold: first,chocolate is not for flavouring, it is the main ingredient. Second, use or fond the best ingredients available locally.

Dommique Persoone, who owns one of the three chocolate shops, to be awarded Michelin Stars,calls himself a shock-o-latier. I will leave it at just that.

In Tawau, a little town on the island of Borneo(Malaysia) has experimented chocolate powder with Chinese cooking: chocolate noodles, chocolate fried prawns, vegetable stir fry with chocolate and so on.I have been invited to sample more and readers of this Blog can read about my adventures in Tawau after the New Year.

Actually none of this should come as a surprise. Chocolate composed of the five "precious tastes", Sweet, Bitter, Astringent, Umami and Sweet would logically be able to combine universally. The Chinese, a thousand years or more developed the Five Spices powder. The magical powder that would render the blandest of dishes into a treat for the palate.The Punjabis, in India, have their own version. On the other side of the world, 3000 years ago, the The Olmecs discovered chocolate.

Another movement recognised in 2008,was change in the classifying of the chocolate "target market." It has been a tradition is assume that the main consumers of chocolate were teenagers or "youth". Many advertising agencies cling to this belief because it is easy to pander to.Times are changing. Chocolate eaters cannot be classified by demographics or psychographics. They are merely chocolate lovers enthralled by the adventure, taste and experience of chocolate.

Those loosely termed as "youth" has moved away from "chocolate". They are different from the simpler youth of say, 15 years ago. You don't find the youth of today stalking up and down the confectionery aisles of hypermarkets. In fact you hardly find "youth" in hypermarkets or supermarkets. These are not the places they hang out.

The chocolate consumer may ten years old or a hundred and ten.They take great pleasure in the discovery and enjoyment of chocolate and occasionally sharing it. They are not enticed by swirling, streams of chocolate on television. Nor do they connect with gambolling about the countryside or occupy themselves in pretty and inane pursuits that advertising agencies think are "youth fun." Chocolate has become an intellectual adventure through the medium of taste.Many are mysterious journeys to be indulged in.

WHAT ON EARTH IS FRUIT TASTE STONE CHOCOLATE?

2008-11-30T13:44:00.007+07:00

It exists and is produced, I am told by a reliable source in Guangdong, China, in Hainan Island. It was not clearly described to me, so I cant really enlighten myself and the reader any further. The same company I am told also produces another confection, chocolate coated sunflower seeds. And the chocolate comes from plantations in Hainan. Which again was a surprise, because I had no idea that there were cocoa plantations in China.

Hainan is off Guangdong, is southern China. The Hainan province is really over 200 islands in the South China Sea. The largest, some 34,000 sq kilometers(about the size of Belgium) is the one that produces a whole range of tropical crops:rubber, coconut, coffee, pepper, cashews, pineapple, bananas, vanilla, longans, lichees, jack fruit, caramblas, lemon grass, lots and lots of rice and of course cocoa. About 20 to 30 tons a year, I am told.

The soil is volcanic, well watered by four long rivers and rainfall is around 1500 to 2000mm a year.The center of the island is mountainous. The highest Mount Wuzhi rises nearly 2000 meters. Temperatures and humidity in Hainan is a little low for truly luscious chocolate, I suspect. But no doubt the soil will make it interesting. I am trying to find out more.But it is good to know there are still surprises waiting to be discovered.

Incidentally I am told that the world famous Hainan Chicken Rice is unknown in the island.I am devasted!

THE NEW COCOA BEAN! FROM AUSTRALIA?

2008-11-26T21:20:00.019+07:00

The great thing about chocolate is the adventure you can taste. As it melts in your mouth the mysteries of Madagascar, Java, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Venezuela fill the recesses of your mind. What pictures you see, what sensations you experience and what thrills stimulate you. It is not the taste of chocolate that makes us addicted to it, it is the journey it takes on. During the personal chocolate experience we get high with a touch of the Indiana Jones or Laura Croft fever.

It will be exciting indeed one day if we can venture through a chocolate vision into the monsoon jungles of Cape York, Australia or hack our way through the northern edges of Australia"s Northern Territory.Australia is a perfect place for a new cocoa bean to emerge from. In fact not far from Port Douglas, near Mossman, are the first ever cocoa plantations of Australia. These plantations are on the edge of the Daintree Rainforests.

Daintree Rainforests should not be spoken in the same breath as other rainforests. Daintree is the oldest in the world. It celebrated its 135 millionth birthday recently. It was forged out of volcanic explosions, fires, cyclones, climatic changes and everything Nature could think of.

Daintree is about 1200 square miles. Size of 5 Singapores. Cape York is just a little smaller than Sulawesi(the largest cocoa region in Indonesia with about 400,000 small farms). At one time historians say, there was probably a land-bridge between Sulawesi and Australia.Which probably explains why Sulawesi and Maluku(lots of good beans here too) share some the flora and fauna with Australia. The Wallace Line runs through Maluku.

This is a perfect place for a new breed of bean to emerge from.The country has from Cape York in the north-eastern edge. westwards along the tip of the continent's northern coast the hot and humid conditions that cocoa trees thrive on.Tropical cyclones and monsoons bring rain to this region. The soil is ancient and mystical--ask any of the Aboriginal people that live there. The area bristles with excitement.

Daintree is home of the viscous Cassowaries and the tree kangaroo. There are also many patiently waiting crocodiles. It was close here that Captain Cook"s Endeavour struck a coral reef. So he called the place Cape Tribulation.

Cape York, is on the same latitude as Madagascar where some intriguing beans come from. It is also within the belt of the primary cocoa growing regions of the world.

Cape York is a World Heritage site. So is the great Barrier Reef across the road, as it were. Coco plantations can help create forests and propagate them. It can grow with harmony with the fruits already being cultivated in the area. It will not encroach into ecological balance of that environment.

Down south are the incredible resources that Australia has that perhaps no other cocoa rich country possess. First its severely applied laws make it very unlikely that flora or fauna diseases can sneak into the country. Second the country has extremely innovative scientific and intellectual resources to support the science of cocoa breeding. Thirdly it has the food technologists and world class culinary stars that can surely take chocolate to great new heights, especially when they are inspired by their own beans. Already Australian chocolate artisans like Cocoa Farm are inventing some delightfully new cocoa experiences.

Fourth, Australia will have no problems with issues like Fair Trade or Child Labour.You can buy beans here without feeling any guilt. Lastly, and I think it is important, Kevin Rudd is Prime Minister. The man undoubtedly has courage, vision, the intellect and is innovative.A man with a face, where a chocolate smear will not be out of place. It is bound to trickle down, or up, to chocolate and cocoa. I am sure he will be around through many, many yields of cocoa pods.

Perhaps what Australia lacks currently is the expertise to process the bean to chocolate ingredients. We have that long experience and expertise, which are indeed excellent, in Indonesia.What are neighbours for?

Frankly there's only one thing about Australia that bothers me. In spite of their atrocious accent they are actually a very civilised people. The problem is that they may civilise the cocoa bean. One must not forget the beans comes the depths of jungles. The bean part of the Olmec, Aztec and Mayan civilisations. The bean was Cortes' passion(when it was money). The bean it is said was at the root of Casanovas and Don Juan's wicked philandering, the bean was nearly the victim of the Inquisition.

It is a history of blood, sweat and tears. It's roots are savage, sensuous, dark and brooding. It needs to be sought after and conquered.

The Australians may civilise the bean. Have landscaped plantations, with little plagues with neat descriptions, a quaint little factory at the end and a cafe where you can sample and buy chocolates made from the cocoa grown on plantation, enjoy buttered scones and great wine even. It would be wrong! It would rob the mystic and of the bean mysterious depths and subsequently the flavour and the luscious romance of the chocolate.

One way out would be to totally handover the cocoa project in Cape Youk to the Kuku Yalariji Aboriginal tribal. They have lived in the these rainforests for over 10,000 years. They lived with what the forests provided. I am sure they would be delighted to give the forests a return gift of chocolate without disturbing the spirits that dwell therein.

If cocoa beans take their characteristics from the soil, climate and environment what would Cape York(Or Daintree beans) taste like? It makes the hair at the back of my neck to bristle. For it must be awesome.

THE MYTH OF BELGIAN CHOCOLATES.

2008-11-23T20:09:00.014+07:00

In some of our slick and expensive shopping malls Belgian chocolate boutiques are popping up.At this time of economic woes. At this time when imports are beginning to be very expensive as our currency seems rather smitten.At one outlet, at a very new mall, strangely called Creole, 50gm can set you back $5."Why?" you gasp, and the Sales person replies , "Because it is Belgian Chocolate." Now that really got my bristles up.

Of course I ate the three pralines I bought and it tasted just pretty expensive.Just that. New Tree is the only Belgium chocolate( now located in the US) I would cross the road for. The rest are boring. They are riding a reputation that was perhaps at it height in the 1960s. Since then there magnificent chocolatiers from the United States, Italy, one in the French Alps, Spain and one or two boastful ones from Venezuela. Surprising Australia's Cocoa Tree is coming up fast with some great chocolate. And here in Indonesia I know at least three housewives that make superb chocolate. I make some pretty good stuff too and at least they are good value for money.

The fact that Belgian chocolates are the best, is a myth. They are OK. But too expensive like all things in Belgium, including taxi fares, three star hotels(One shudders to think what the five starred charge), lunch, dinner, European Union and NATO headquarters.

Chocolates are all made through a particular process. It needs a careful selection of beans. It needs loving care and passion thoughout the process. Indeed it does not help one bit if you happen to be a Belgian. It helps if you are Spanish which means you invented the Tango and can probably dance the Fandango. That's the kind of vitality you need to make great chocolate. Have you ever seen a Belgian with vitality?Or one that can dance? Or for that matter a Belgian chocolate with a dash of verve? Remember this is the country where the Manneken-Pis is the national treasure.

Here in Indonesia we have the greatest collect on of cocoa beans in the world. There are at least 400,000 small holding cocoa plantations. Spread over 17,000 islands that revel in conditions that cocoa beans thrive on. The finest coffee also comes from these islands. And all the world's known spices. Plus our history in cocoa goes back at least 300 years. Here are also some of the best cocoa processors and manufacturers in the world.

But the Belgian Chocolate myth is so strong that we still have among us incredibly naive people who suscrible to belief in this myth. Break away today and take that Delicious adventurous journey to the real world of chocolate.

TIME TO TAKE A RIGHT ABOUT TURN WITH CHOCOLATE?

2008-11-16T18:42:00.010+07:00

(from which chocolate is derived from)Since 3000 years, chocolate has come an incredible long way. Imagine an Olmec, holding a cocoa pod, scratching his head and saying to his wife, "Can we eat this?" As it turns out his wife, like most wives, was right when she answered, "Honey what you have there, in 3000 years, is destined to be better than sex." It was likely that the wife was subsequently sacrificed to a ferocious Deity. The grieving husband got drunk from the alcohol made from the white mucus that covered the beans inside the pod and was buried with the remains of the drink.

The Aztecs learned to crack the bean, extract the nibs, crush them to paste and make a bitter drink which they believed kept them in excellent vigor.In time the learned to mix it with maize gruel and honey. Montezuma, the great Emperor of the Aztecs, drank it dyed red.And beaten to a froth. In fact, whatever the experts may say, the word "choicolat" means "beaten drink."

Later they experimented with extracts of vanilla, chili and annatto.

The Dominican Friars introduced it to Spain.The ancestors of El Bulli and Chocovic then took over and Chocolate began the first step towards an incredibly wonderful future.

But the chocolate of today bears little resemblance to its origins. It is being sissified so that we, who don't quite measure up in spunk to the Aztecs, Mayans an Olmecs can find it palatable. And pleasureable. Are we missing out in the real pleasure of chocolate?

French pastries are concoctions with chocolate. They do not offer the unique pleasure that chocolate is meant to offer. They use chocolate for sensational gimmickry.The mass manufactured chocolates,rich with alpine milks and cane sugar, laden with nuts, are say what you may are not the stuff that braced up the Aztecs. In some of the mass produced chocolate, you can still taste a trace of palm oil. These manufacturers, would have promptly beheaded by Montezuma. Justly so.

The chocolate revolution led by the Artisans, Amano, De Vries, Tim Childs, Bonnat, Cocoa Farm of Australia(though this one is a bit too civilised) to name a few, that restored some of the mystic and adventure of chocolate. They have brought back the passion and romance and their chocolate can justly be gifts of love on Valentine's Day. Then there are others who have come up with a "new idea" chocolate revolution.

The chocolate experience I took immense pleasure from was a moist,rich velvety, utterly sinful "cake" from "awfully chocolate".It's really not a cake, but a gloriously round of superb chocolate.There a bit of fudginess in it somewhere. This one you dream about.It is not a return to the origins but it has reinvented the chocolate experience.

The company "awfully chocolate" is, I am told was founded by Singapore lawyers. Which explains the exactitude of the definition of chocolate, in 2008, or what it legally should be. The "awfully chocolate" shop in Jakarta, is almost sterile.It's bare. There is no display nor evidence of chocolate at all. You walk up to the counter and ask for the chocolate. There is one ONE kind. Customers keep coming back!I must say, lawyers are far smarter than we usually credit them for.

It is the right time to go back a 1000 years or so and look at recipes that seemed to have worked well with chocolate,and ingredients like honey, vanilla, cinnamon. annatto and chili. And giving it a good beating in-between.Bring back the boldness and the savage romance!

BEING ENTERPRISING WITH CHOCOLATE.

2008-11-14T08:03:00.013+07:00

Our neighbourhood consisting of 274 homes and approximately 1196 persons answered a questionnaire recently on their chocolate habits, Mind you this is a mere middle-class neighboured in Tangerang, Indonesia. A place most of my blog readers have never heard of.

These are our findings: 60% of all homes buy at least 100gm of chocolate(bars or wafers) a month.They spend approximately a $1 for this purchase.20% 200-400gm(Spending up to $3 a month). The rest, 20% purchase up to 800gm ($8) a month.We found that total expenditure of chocolate from this neighbourhood per month was a staggering $657 a month, devouring 65kg a month.To put it in perspective, $657 is at today exchange rates is the monthly income of the upper-income group. It amounts to about 19 doctors visits and nearly a year of fees for a slightly above average private school.

Our little community's annual per capita consumption is 650gms.Interestingly close to the national per capita of chocolate consumption. Obviously lot of room for expansion!

On the other hand the 28 home-industries in this area purchase between 30kg to 120kg per month for making chocolate, chocolate confectionery, cakes, browning, donut and other dipping. But take into consideration that this is a particularly industrious area. Our average monthly turnover on chocolate is $8000. Highest monthly sales have hit $14,000.

Our chocolate are sold to to retail outlets like convenience stores, bakeries,bazaars, theatres, corporate sales, schools and one-to-one customers and packs to events like birthday parties. Our products include chocolate snacks, drinking chocolate,tarts, chocolate crispies, fruit covered chocolate and chocolate wafers and biscuits.

We don't produce bars, round or square pralines or anything you can get in the local supermarkets or mini-marts. Our chocolate snacks are little irregular rocks, some bursting with whole nuts, raisins, candied fruits bits and caramel,twisted shapes, triangles, crumbs and whatever irregular shape we can make. We flavour with cardamon, chili, cinnamon and other spices, wherever inspiration takes us.The group tries to come up with a surprise each production run.

Our community works with pots and pans and usual household equipment.Loose cooperative movement has evolved into an efficient "production line", home kitchens, linked together.

Chocolate from this community kitchens cost approximately $1 to $5 per hundred grams.
Occasional specialities are sold for close to $7 per hundred grams. Under trial are "health Chocolate" with beet or carrot sugar.

The community group now plans to hold a Chocolate, Food Fare at the local school hall with special invitations to retailers, corporations, mini marts and supermarkets with a view to contract sales.

We would rate ourselves are being moderately successful. The community itself has a very buoyant entrepreneurial stirrings. Other business from households include, baking, catering,packed-lunches, hair salons, school-bus(my wife), health foods, vegetable and fruit juices made to requested recipes as well as little known and well know healthy recipes,two boutiques,purified water, cooking gas agency, tuition in English and Mathematics, phone-cards and a photo-copy centre. The security guards in the area also run a very efficient real-estate business.

Perhaps there is a good chance we will ride out the global financial crisis without much help from the IMF.

JEMBRANA CHOCOLATE?

2008-11-08T13:57:00.003+07:00

Art Pollard of AMANO Chocolate announced the launch of Jembrana Chocolate recently. Naturally it got us very excited. Jembrana is in Bali, Indonesia. The district is at the very tip of Bali and at the narrowest point only 60 meters from the tip of Java island.

AMANO announced that their 70% chocolate was made from cocoa beans from Jembrana, It has a fine rich flavour, with fruit notes and with nutty overtones.It has left us puzzled. Jembrana is indeed very fertile. Soil is volcanic. Cloves are grown but the main crop is coconut, Plantations of coconut blend into the jungles and rises over 1000 meters into the highlands.

In the lowlands are rice fields.Rice harvests are celebrated enthusiastically with buffalo races.

Overland travellers from Java Cities take a ferry from the southern tip of Jave and travel through this district to Denpasar, capital of Bali. The problem is we could find no cocoa plantations.Balinese in the area were doubtful of cocoa plantations in that area. If they did exist, they would have merely produced unfermented beans.

In all likelihood the beans secured by AMANO probably came from across the straits from the Java, where indeed there are large cocoa plantations which process high quality beans. These beans are Java and as chocolatiers know, regarded very highly, in the chocolate world.

There is geographical evidence that these areas were connected. The soils tend to be similar. Crops of cloves, rice, rubber and quality coffee besides cocoa is grown on the Java side.Java cocoa besides being fruity has a leathery hints Bonnat of France has produced bars made of Java.

HAS YOUR CHOCOLATE GOT PERSONALITY?

2008-11-06T21:48:00.005+07:00

The trouble is that people, yes even top chefs, make chocolate because they like making chocolate. Well that's great. But it is better if they make chocolate with a personality suited for the occasion.

A night time, watching TV, snack is best with a chocolate thin, dark and sexy. It stays on your tongue, melting gently, soothingly, preparing you for good dreams. A chocolate to read with is a totally different person. It also depends on the book you are reading. If the book promises no great excitement, you might as well get from your chocolate--a chunky, nutty, milk chocolate that kind of gets you hooked.
If you are reading King or Clancy, I recommend something exciting to keep in pace with the excitement each page unravels.

You might try Chocolate Chilli Excites. It easy and quick to make and you can soon settle down with your book.What you need:

150gm salted butter
200 gm dark chocolate
150 gm sugar
5 eggs
A tablespoon of flour
Pinch of salt
Half a teaspoon of chilli flakes. Some may suggest ground chilli. But I feel that chilli flakes give you just the right thrill to go with King's latest best-seller.

1)First melt the butter and chocolate together carefully in a saucepan.
2)Pour into a mixing bowl and blend in the sugar.
3)Add the eggs one-by-one stirring it in well. It is mysterious but it turns out better when you add the eggs one-by-one than all in one go.
4)Add the flour and mix it in.
5)Add the chilli flakes
6)Throw the salt in. Don't mix.

Now put it little bake bins and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. They should be firm on the outside and soft inside. Cool, place in plastic container, refrigerate.So I lied, it far nicer if you wait till the next day.

Enjoy your exciting book with the equally exciting Chocolate, Chilli Excites.

10 REASONS WHY CHOCOLATE SHOULD BE DECLARED A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE.

2008-11-02T14:26:00.010+07:00

A group of us Chocolatiers noted with alarm that there was some discussion among some French culinary practitioners, in Paris, to declare French cuisine a part of UNESCO World Heritage.Of course that is quite absurd.The only thing quite international about French food is probably French Fries. But that was invented by the Belgians. Indonesian cuisine is much older, more sophisticated, more complex and more varied.But we put that aside for a while.

However we felt that if any food should be declared as part of the UNESCO World Heritage it should be chocolate or cocoa.Here are our reasons. UNESCO please take note.

1)Chocolate has been a thrilling, multi-dimensional, monument to man's ingenuity for 3000 years.

2)Chocolate is "exceptional in its universal application.It now belongs to all the peoples of the world." Not to Switzerland nor to Belgium.

3) Chocolate begins with the humblest and most needed segment of mankind--the smallholder farmer. Fifty million of them located along the equator, around the world.

4)Chocolate is the world's biggest "monument" in the world, stretching from Mexico to
the South Pacific islands.

5) Cocoa and Chocolate continuously challenges and excites the creativity of a community of millions of artisans, hobbyists, home industries, manufacturers and scientists and technologists.

6) Chocolate is the world most loved and respected flavour.

7)A potential exists for Chocolate as an universal food solution: nutritious, satisfying and uplifting.

8)Today it has acquired and has been absorbed into the cultural characteristics of the hundreds countries in which is enjoyed.

9)Chocolate and Cocoa have enhanced more foods round the world than any other flavour or food.

10)There is always a chocolate for every person. From a mini bar or wafer costing 5 cents to $250 per praline.

There is obviously no other food that deserves to be declared a world treasure and part of UNESCO World Heritage.

A CHOCOLATE RECIPE IS A FRIEND.

2008-10-29T14:53:00.003+07:00

Most people tend to treat recipes formally. "Hello Recipe. Nice to meet you. Lets get together," they seem to say nervously as if meeting a slightly senior manager at the office. Chocolate Recipes are friends. Or friends of friends.You say, "Hi. Great to see you! Wow you are cool!" Now together you unravel stories, exchange confidences,tell a funny story or two and agree to have some great moments of real fun.

Before you start ask the Recipe who is actually going to eat the finished goodie. Discuss the person who both of you know intimately. Discuss the flavours and textures and types of food that person likes most to eat. Decide you are both going to give that person a great treat.

The Recipe will whisper to you, "Hey dude, chocolate is both a flavour and a food. How about us trying to combine both this time!" You say, "Is that possible?" The Recipe replies, "Sure, no sweat! Lets try the chocolatiest brownie ever made in history of this country." So you get started. The Recipe reads out a list of ingredients.

"OK we need:50gm of salted butter. Salt give things a bit of ping! 90gm of real smooth brown palm sugar.
"Palm sugar?" you say."Yeah, I'm bored stiff with refined sugar. Besides it will taste a bit creamy without getting creamy." says Recipe.
".. 75gm of dark chocolate. One egg! Pinch of salt,40grams of cassava flour.."

"You must be kidding" you tell Recipe. "Nope, Cassava flour gives has a bit of quirky taste. You said the people we are going to feed are expecting a bit of a surprise?" So right, you shut up.

"...25gm of cocoa. 90 gm of halved, slightly over -roasted cashews. You got that? Slightly over-roasted. 100 grams of dark chocolate squares. OK that it. Any contributions from you?"

So you take over:
1) Melt butter over a low heat, add sugar, dissolve, remove from heat.
2)Add dark chocolate. It will melt with residual heat. Stir signing an aria.
3)Blend cocoa and flour nicely dancing briskly.
4)Whisk in egg, singing a soft and gentle song.
5) Add in the butter mix and a pinch of salt all in any animated way.
6)Add the chocolate squares and mix to combine.

Recipe says,"Don't worry if it is a chunky kind of mix. I did tell you that this brownie is going to treat chocolate as a flavour and food!"You say "gotcha!"

7) Add the cashew nuts and stir it in.
8)Scoop into a brownie tin and bake in a 170C oven for 20 minutes.
9)After cooling remove from tin and cut into chunky rectangles.

IT looks good. It feels good. It tastes incredibly good.

Do a little jig with the Recipe and take a bow to a grand invisible audience.

7 HABITS FOR AN ARTISAN CHOCOLATIER.

2008-10-28T16:13:00.009+07:00

Artisan Chocolatiers are a special breed of people. They differ from manufacturers in that they don't depend on machines. They rely on imagination. They don't aim for profit. They aim at surprising customers.Their "habits" differ from those of the big time manufacturers. Below are 7 Habits an artisan must develop.

1)The best artisans I know all habitually think as if they were plotting a MIND MAP.The core of the map is "customer". From here they thoroughly analyse the characteristics of the customer. Demographically, psychographically. They they get very personal. Culture,food and beverage preferences, tastes, textures, shopping habits,physical characteristics,attitudes, education,travel,employment, family, home type... and anything else relevant or irrelevant. From this one page map they get a good look at their customer's profile by location.These profiles will lead you to higher levels of creativity.

2)With customer information you can start to build a "laboratory" and always be on thelook out for to build a collection of possible ingredients: sweeteners,sugars(palm,beet,cane),spices,salts, milks(dairy milk, coconut, soy,yogurt, creams),varieties of fruit, jellies, dough types, nutrition ingredients(Flax seeds,blueberry extracts,vitamin,natural flavorings..)nuts,favourite, local snacks, natural colourings, olive oil, liqueurs, wines,and other spirits. If your imagination gets stuck use a Mind Map.

3)Be on the constant lookout of new recipes not just of chocolate, also confectionery and snacks. There are often great surprising relationships that can be nurtured.You can go beyond these categories and consider local savouries snacks and hors d'oeurves.

4)Live a creative life. Read, listen to music,movies, drama,blog interactively, look, hear, taste, smell, touch, use your instincts, go on imagination sprees.

5)Cultivate the habit of being a inquisitive tourist in your own neighbourhood. You
will be amazed at what you will find, see, hear, taste, touch and enjoy.You will find a wealth of creative resources that you never noticed before.Give priority in using ingredients from your neighbourhood.

6)Make it a habit to always search for different kinds of cooking chocolate. Blend different brands and discover potentials. Combine with ingredients and discover a variety of flavours and textures. Increase or decrease the percentage of cocoa blends.Try beans from various sources. Try beans closer to home. By ignoring what's under your nose, you might be missing out on some great discoveries.

7) Try anything for the heck of it. We dipped asparagus spears into white chocolate. Believe me it was a great new experience. We tried it with dark, it wasn't as good. With a dash of salt it improved.Try new things habitually.Examine all the possibilities. Then cross the boundaries and go for the impossible.

A professional Artisan Chocolatier is recognised by his furious energetic and unquenchable curiosity.If that's not you go into muffins.

OUR EXPECTIONS FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

2008-10-24T07:07:00.021+07:00

Everyone knows someone living in the United States of America. My neighbour has a sister in New York. The guy down the street has a brother in San Francisco. In Central Java I know a carpenter who has a cousin somewhere in America. An illegal( Don't come after me FBI I am not talking!). I too have literally hundreds of friends and a sprinkling of distant relatives all over the United States.

Perhaps that is why whenever I am in the United States, I feel on very familiar grounds. Everyone around looks like someone I know. Asians, Europeans, Africans. Everybody seems to be here.

It seems to me that the best and the worst of the world are well represented in America.The Nobel scientists right down to the tireless dish-washers.The country is the only real union or association of nations in existence. Everyone on earth seems to have a representative in the United States of America.

We the chocolatiers of the world, probably have several thousand or a million or two
representatives rooting for us in the US. There are 50,000 people engaged in the cocoa industry. Add this to those engaged in the chocolate industry, the artisans, the household chocolatiers, and the number perhaps doubles.We are citizens of chocolate. Together we form a population with a bond of common interest that makes us the 11Th largest "country" in the world. Bigger than some of the US's best allies.
Everyone can but agree that we are a very nice bunch of guys.If there were a rating for the top ten "nice people", we probably would hit the top of the list.

We live along a swatch of 10 degrees north and south of the equator. Although the Australians,recently began some cocoa plantations, they don't really belong to our"country". They are too cool and chances are we may feel a bit intimidated by them.

We don't have too many lobbyists like the guys in tobacco. These guys need the most devious of lobbyists. But the time has come when we too need to be heard on the world arena in a political sense. The international Cocoa Organisation does a great job to keep us healthy. So when BBC asked what other countries expect from the new President, I thought I should squeak(not a spelling mistake) up a bit.

The new President of the United States should note that we produced nearly 3.7million tonnes of beans this year. Which at today's cocoa prices amount to $7.5billion. When this is made to chocolate the estimated value is $74billion. Every US citizen consumes 4.8kg a year. We contribute quite significantly to the health and happiness of the United States. We have no doubt that chocolate will be a favourite dessert and snack in the White House.

Under these circumstances we expected the President is ensure that our swatch across the world "country" enjoys peace, stability and the ability to generate prosperity.Countries within this swatch are relatively harmless countries with no threat to the United States. Indeed from this swatch has emerged many of the citizens of the United States. From Mexico,Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Madagascar, Malaysia,Vietnam, Indonesia and New Guinea.

We are heartened that the new President is going to talk to anyone, anywhere without preconditions. That in itself harbors well for peace. Preconditions to talks, any child knows, is already a set of obstacles that the talks will have to overcome before proceeding to crucial issues.We realise it maybe a trifle difficult to chat with Chavez, but that is why our cousins, brothers, sisters now living in the States are going to vote for the wiser person to be President.

We in Indonesia are good friends of the United States. It makes it awkward for us if one or two of us with the chocolate swatch of countries have strained relationships with the US. I mean does become a bit embarrassing at say, at pre-dinner cocktails, if they should catch us sharing Irish jokes with Condezeela Rice.It would lead to sinister whispers in the gents lavatory. We need a harmony in our swatch.

Past Presidents have traditionally looked to Europe for friendship.But they have not quite so spontaneously reciprocated(except for Tony Blair all on his own). Let them grumble, grouch,bicker and worry as they have been doing for centuries. The more they worry the more chocolate they eat and the more beans they buy from us.Instead of trying to please the Europeans(Europeans can never be pleased)be friends equally with the whole world.

Raul is keen to talk(but wisely he has stayed away from Bush and Cheney), Ahmadinejad is keen sell the new President, carpets.Even God has often found the Israelites a problem. How many times has He had to admonish them?They never did listen, did they? The new President will have to take up where He has left off. We expect the new President to bring peace wherever he can. And try his best to undo the mess left behind.Perhaps he should send Bush and Cheney around to apologise and mop up. If they fail its, Guantanomo!

We hope that the new President's priority will be to establish peace and peace of mind to be as far reaching as possible.The new President may well ask,"Why me?" Because you have the widest possible reach and the biggest audience in the world. You always get prime time on electronic media and "best position" in print.

We cocoa people are, 90% of us, small holders. We own cocoa farms from one hectare to perhaps three. For years we have industriously being supplying the raw materials to the world for chocolate.In Indonesia there are 400,000 of us smallholders. Probably more in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. We have never needed to be bailed out though we have had our own problems. We have not yet been crushed by any economic crisis. We have never wasted our profits at luxury spas. We have never gambled on commodity prices. We have kept the world happy for the being the source of delights from 40cents to $250 per piece.

The new President must turn his attention to smallholders. He has been accused,yesterday, of being a socialist. For promising equi-distribution of wealth.What we small business need is an equi-distribution of opportunities. The wealth, we will then, make for ourselves. We hope he will have the courage to set an example in his own country that others can build models from. Models for all smallholders, small, medium and home industries.After all as I said earlier, the US is a model of the whole world.Remember nearly everyone has a friend or cousin or a sister living in the United States!

We wish the new President-to-be, a successful and happy eight years.

BELGIUM STOPS BEING BORING.

2008-10-21T15:52:00.009+07:00

I have always found Belgium boring. After my first visit there I had to stop over at Sri Lanka to revive myself. There was so much chocolate, I began to wonder if the Belgians could come up with nothing else. They can, the came up with the Manneken Pis. Good heavens!In Brussels the EU debated for decade to arrive at the definition of chocolate.NATO is headquartered there. They make you pay for phone calls you didn't make. The list grows. But suddenly there are fantastic chocolate ideas from Belgium.Visitors to the now running SIAL Food Exhibition in Paris were unanimous in praise of the creations from New Tree.

Under the brand name "Alpha" New Tree combines pleasure, surprise, elegance, health and innovation.In the midst of many offerings of dark, organic, fair trade, sustainable farming chocolates New tree was truly way above the competition.

"Alpha" combines omega-3 by adding flax seeds.Three flavours were offered chili, dark and thyme. With crisped rice.The judges praised the chocolate for a healthy promise associated with a pleasure promise through the originality of the flavours.

A New Tree artisan said that the challenge was to create a "good balance between taste, flavor and texture."

New Tree range is quite eclectic. Their elegant range is named, REJOICE, PLEASURE, REVIVE, FORGIVENESS, VIGOR, COMFORT, SEXY and BLUSH. Each was simply and elegantly wrapped.A few months ago Ophera Winfrey endorsed New Tree chocolate in her magazine
O.If she ever becomes President, wow New Tree will really go places. Their problem will be to keep on repeating their success.

These innovations by New Tree is certainly inspiring for us artisans far away here in Indonesia. In fact we did consider adding powdered flax seeds into our chocolate to boast about omega-3. Many of our face-to-face customers are well aware of the benefits of omega-3. In Europe, tracking studies show that in 2007, 723 omega-3 products were launched. In 2005 there were 291.

New Tree is a newcomer into the chocolate arena. The company was founded by Benoit de Bruyn a biochemist in 2001.The company is now actually located in the United States.

CHOCOLATE SNACK-THE FOURTH MEAL?

2008-10-18T20:45:00.002+07:00

A manager of a top hypermarket believes that there is potential that a snack, chocolate for instance, can be considered as the fourth meal. Alternatively it can be a meal replacement.

He quotes the following trends which are evidently showing through at checkout.
Snacking at home is seeing a increment. Morning snacking is showing a strong growth.Especially with local snacks. Some snack foods are replacing or adding on to breakfasts. Some snacks, like chocolate, is combined with meals as dessert. Or a snack to relax with.

He tells me that the highest incidence of snacking is among children from 6 to 12.But there is strong growth among young working women from 18 to 29 and this is most evident in the morning. The 30 to 40 people don't snack a lot. But the above 50s, it seems are gathering force as snackers. The latter are also include chocolate among their snack list. Chocolate is growing in strength amongst them.

Youth(13-19) are still the biggest purchasers of chocolate. But, explains the manager, they seem to be drifting away from supermarkets to mini marts and convenience stores, which are closer to their homes,schools and their hang-out areas.

Youth are too impatient to shop at hypermarkets. They prefer smaller and more elegant environments or just super convenience. He suggests that category management and planograms may need to be reconsidered to capitalise on these trends. This is already evident, of recent, in some supermarkets.

If a snack, like chocolate, is going to replace meal, or become the fourth meal, the health aspects of chocolate really need to be emphasised. Last week I received a letter from the head teacher of my son's school urging me to ensure that his snack box contained "healthy foods, like rice, vegetables, fruit. Chocolates, sweets... are discouraged." If she wasn't a great teacher I would have promptly yanked my son out of that school. I mean we surely don't want to bring up our children on wild, dangerous, erroneous perceptions, do we? My point is that the chocolate health message simply isn't being propagated. This could be of disadvantage in time.

I sent the teacher as much literature as I could gather on the nutritional and health values of chocolate. I also took to filling my homemade chocolate with fruit bits to include in my son's snack box. So far there has been a kind of a truce.

LIVE LONGER AND HAPPIER WITH CHOCOLATE.

2008-10-16T20:33:00.003+07:00

A few days ago the Editor of EATINGWELL Michelle Edelbaum shared with her readers her selection(of course well supported by nutritionists and research) of the top 7 anti-aging foods. Guess what was on top of the list? Chocolate of course.

As proof Michelle cites the Kuna people. Never heard of them? Well let me tell you. They live on a string of islands called the San Blas Archepelago, off the coast of Panama.There are 400 islands, most of them no bigger than football fields.Nearly all of them are covered with coconut palms and fringed with sparkling white beaches.

On these islands live the Kuna people. The are 40,000 Kuna people left and most of them live in Panama. The rest live on the islands making their own laws and managing their own economy.They live on coconuts, fishing and a trickle of tourists.They have not been affected by the Global economic crisis.

In the larger islands cocoa trees grow wild. The Kuna pluck the pods split them open, suck the tangy tasting white creamy fluid that covers the beans. The beans are extracted and dried in the lovely sunshine. After a few day the nibs are extracted and grandmothers crush them with pistle and motor, mix it with sugar cane juice and pass it around for all to drink.

This is the secret of their long, healthy, and happy life. So say researcher, NK Hollenberg with a team of MARS nutritionists. Kuna drink this concotion, which is really pure chocolate, twice a day. The Kuna are free from hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes,kidney diseases and dimentia. It is suspected that this drink of real chocolate, rich in flavanols helps preserve the healthy function of the blood vessels and keeps them youthful.Do you think Robert Mugabe is on this? And get some sympathiser to fly two cups a day to Zimbawe.Who can tell?

The rest of the super anti-aging foods are Blueberries. Actually Cadbury has have come up with Bluewberry chocolate.The other foods are Fish, Nuts,Red Wine, Olive Oil(olive oil has beenused as a filler in chocolate pralines in Italy by artisan chocolatiers),and Yogurt(obviously chocolate yogurt will make you live twice as long. But dont take my word for it and start make long term investments. I am not a nutritionist).

I find this list comforting. Everything I like.Usually good-for-you-stuff has to be taken in holding your nose and someone prising open yor mouth.Hwever all said and done I expect to live a long healthy life, having dutifully and pleasurably,enjoyed a chocolate a day.

CHOCOLATE AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS.

2008-10-15T14:42:00.003+07:00

Early this morning I delivered my weekly supply of cooking chocolate to home industries near Bogor.Six months ago I started with 2kg. Now I deliver 5 to 6kg a week. The families, three neighbouring houses, in small complex were busy. They will need the chocolate I deliver today for dawn tomorrow.

Everyone was buzzing around. Making chocolate filled buns, chocolate dipped donuts,chocolate tarts, pralines, peanut brittle squares and other fast snacks.By seven the snacks will be packed into plastic containers are quickly whisked off on motorcycles to be distributed to the mom and pop shops within a radius of ten kilometers.

Yes, they said business was good. People were buying.Customers were happily paying a 20 cents a bun to about 30 cents a donut.nd enjoying them.

It is a three-family combined effort. Each family's turnover is about $50 a day.Which gives them a turnover of Rp10,000,000 a month of which 40% to 60% is profit. This small industry and 11 others I work with, seem not to have heard of the Global financial crisis. When I told them they would'nt believe me.Five of them didnt have bank accounts. They needed to have cash around to keep paying for their supplies.

They laugh and play as usual. Immune from the worries that are weighing down, the"investors" who were making their money work instead with chic consultants at Citi, Standard Chartered and others.The money, it seems, simply ran away.Where to? Dick Cheney? Murdoch? McDonald's? Who can tell?

It seems that the "poor" are afloat. The secret seems,energy and hard work.They will stay afloat. Every morning they are pushing out carts of hot soups, fried rice, noodles, chocolate filled buns. Others are turning out children's toys, recycling tires,making bricks, wrought iron gates,selling chickens and goats, knocking out furniture, making door mats, mattresses, meat balls, hamburgers, hot dogs....the list is literally endless.If it is infectious and sweeps the country, wouldn't we have a healthy and jolly economy.

With the profits they continue to pay the school fees, daily needs and take the kids out to the zoo occasionally.A blessed enough life, it would seem, for anybody.
And since they buy nearly 80% of their ingredients from backyard and neighborhood sources, life seems to go on with a calm, contentment for at least all around for a radius of five kilometers.And they keep chocolatiers like me up enough for an occasional respite at Starbucks.What a pity not enough though for a plunge at the Spas like those lucky AIG bastards.

CHOCOLATE PROBLEMS?

2008-10-13T16:06:00.003+07:00

I am not a Chef. I just a silly old guy who tries to make good chocolate at home. It is good, I enjoy it and my neighbours are actually paying for them. So I cant answer all your questions. However I will give it a try.

GENERALLY SPEAKING.
If you chocolate making environment is too humid, the chocolate will develop a sugar bloom.Humidity can also cause dullness.
If the temperature is not stable,this can happen if you have a smallish kitchen without air conditioning, then you may get white streaks. Which is fat bloom.
If you get it in contact with water, all manner of problems can interfere with your chocolate making.

DULL PRALINES

This happens when the praline centers you choose, nuts, raisins, apricots, nibs are too cool(especially if you have just pulled it out of the frig) or cooler that the chocolate you are going to mold. Centers must be as warm as your chocolate.Cooler centers form a condensation on the outside.

Chocolate can be dull if you molds are not clean.Use clean polycarbonate molds.Not cheap plastics.

Your chocolate can also get a dull look if over-tempered or under-tempered.
Chocolate can also get dull if you warm it too quickly after you take it out of the frig. In this case wrap it in towels and allow it to warm gradually.

Chocolate cooled in much too cold temperatures can turn out dull and even crack.

SHINY CHOCOLATE.

It is a result of proper tempering This comes from experience especially if you are doing it by sloshing your chocolate up and down, with a neat wood length, on a cool marble surface.If it is not tempered well it can get pockmarked, streaky and have sugar dust on the surface.

BUBBLES IN YOUR CHOCOLATE.
This is caused by too much viscosity. Probably due to too much emulsifier. You can add more cocoa butter or lecithin. Too much agitation during tempering can also cause bubbles.

If you have more questions be as specific as you can. I will try to give you reliable answers.

COMING SOON! MORE TO LOVE.

2008-10-10T21:50:00.005+07:00

The bright spot in an otherwise day of bleak news is that scientists have discovered 10 genetic types of the cocoa plant. Until now we had only three to love, the Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario. The last is a hybrid of the first two.

A genetic analysis by scientists from the US Department of Agriculture's National Germaplasm Repository working with lead scientists of cocoa genetics at Mars, showed the origins of the 10 genetic types very clearly.

This discovery strongly suggests that the species can actually be traced to regions near Ecuador and Colombia. Until now we all believed that cocoa originated in Central America, mainly around Mexico.

Scientist Juan Carlos Motamayor said(reported by LiveScience) that there was potential that the new types could be commercialised. We could experience more taste pleasures. Additionally, a cocoa tree more resistant to the diseases that are plaguing the current three know types.

Elsewhere genetic researchers today claimed the Senator Barack Obama was distant cousin of Dick Cheney(This is true and I am not making it up. Ask Lynne Cheney).
Senator I am now hesitant to give you my vote for fear that some Cheney genes may be cruising through your veins and could cause catastrophic political irritations worldwide if provoked.Lucky for you Senator, I am not an American citizen and cant vote.But I do hope that you will find a way to overcome or suppress this malignancy and get elected.I must confess, that to help you out a bit, I sort of toyed around with the idea of spreading a rumor among readers of my blogs that John McCain was twenty times removed cousin of King Jong-II. My wife said that it wasn't cricket.

Then there is this guy in London who said that the mother of all bad days was on 20 October 1929 and fervently hoped that on 20 October 2008, the son would not strike so devastatingly.

INFUSIONS AND CHOCOLATE

2008-10-08T21:15:00.006+07:00

Today, everyone at work, was talking about infusions. Money infusions by Government into banks.I am pretty stupid about the monetary systems that hold the world together. But I keep puzzling about, if the banks and stocks lost money, who gained the money? Silvio Berlusconi, Starbucks,Campbell's Soup(their stocks have stayed up and that's why I am suspicious)?Or is there bottomless pit into which money mysteriously vanishes.Well lets talk about chocolatey infusions.

I have always admired the Australians, with the single exception of the previous Prime Minister John Howard, for their ingenuity.I wonder if it is because they are so far far away from contaminating influences.A consortium of biotechnology scientists and food wizards have come together to found Horizon Science. They set up a subsidiary called Cocoa Australia. Which is very brazen of them considering Australia's experience in cocoa farming is non-existant. So is their know-how in fermenting and processing. It was brazen of them some decades ago to enter the wine world. Now they are on top of it.

Cocoa Australia runs a plantation up at Mossman. A very pretty place with a enormous tropical forest national park, tropical fruit farms, coffee and sugar plantations. Ideal sort of place for cocoa to thrive in.The 20 hectare plantation has about 1200 trees which have begun to bear pods. Reports are that these beans are better than those of West Africa. Beans from here will go to Farm by Nature, a chocolate factory located at Scoresby near Melbourne.Incidentially, if you are interested, Scoresby was named after British Artic Explorer, of all things. Scoresby, if you are still interested, is the brussel sprouts capital of Victoria.

The Scoresby factory has already come up with excellent wine-infused bars ,sexily packaged and sold under the Cocoa Farm label, aimed at the prestige end of the market. They were exported to Germany and Britain. Some bars reached us here in Indonesia. And quickly vanished from the shelves.

Though wine-infused chocolates have already been tried in the United States, the Cocoa Farm is particularly good because as the Chief Executive of Farm by Nature, Janice Falzon says Cocoa Farm uses a patented process that is unique, "a world first that was difficult to perfect."

Two years ago J. Emanuel Chocolatier came up with a line of truffles flavored with Cabernet, Chardonnay, Shiraz and varieties. Appropriately called the Bacchus range.

Mary's Chocolate, Tokyo have champagne and kahlua-laced ganaches which are made more appealing with silver glitter sprinkles.

Cielo, which translates to "heaven" in Italian, are infused with local ingredients like olive oil, salt and decanted balsamic vinegar.

Meanwhile a Japanese Company, Fruit Functional Food Composite(FFFC) is Infusing white chocolate into strawberries and currents. FFFC is also trying infusing food with vitamins and nutrients. Sounds a bit like a bail-out, don't you think?

SENIOR CITIZEN'S DILEMMA ON CHOLOLATE.

2008-10-06T14:03:00.004+07:00

Marketing people are those young, fabulous people that are ensconced in those lovely towers in Sudirman or Kuningan. From these heights they formulate their strategies to capture as much of the market as possible for their bosses, Nearly all of the products target the equally young and vibrant 25 to 45 age group. Or possibly even on occasions include those under who can watch television commercials and understand them.

THE DECISION MAKERS

They are right of course. In Indonesia these are where the numbers are. Thirty -seven percent of the population is under 15, Forty-six percent are under 45.A recent study in Munich noted that many of the decisions made around the world and particularly in Asia are made by Senior Citizens. It is the Senior Citizens that more often make the decisions on what we use, eat and drink.They play key roles in new product development. They decide on everything from concept to packaging to distribution channels.They make good decisions and awfully bad ones.But they are so respected that we give give them a whacking big bonus especially for bad ones.Probably to soothe their feelings.

WEALTH AND POWER

In the same study in Munich, it was noted that in 2030 consumption by Senior citizens in Europe will be almost 60%. While those under 50 will consume about 42%.
Today in Indonesia we have almost 40million Senior Citizens. Including me. Nearly two million live in Jakarta.If you look around casually, you will see 240,000 at least who are wealthy as well as powerful.Some are close to the top in Forbes list.

Yet marketing people, researchers and particularly advertising people(who loathe us because we screw up their ads)largely tend to ignore the economic driving power of Senior Citizens.Now come on, be reasonable, if your were a young marketing-advertising buck in Milan would you ignore Silvio Berlusconi? I am counting on him to single-handed bail out Europe,before breakfast sometime this week.

The numbers are too small for the marketing department and except for a few on top, too poor.Remember in 23 year the Indonesian economy will grow by 199% and so will the numbers of Senior Citizens. So you better start planning.

THE RETAIL VIEW

The up-market Supermarkets are beginning to see the potential of the over-fifty shopper.These are some of the conclusions of a supermarket group in Jakarta:

1)The Upper Income Senior Citizens visit supermarkets less often. When they do they visit the upmarket ones that have more imported products.
2)The buy the stuff they like, not the price.
3)They dont care much for slick packaging or slogans. The go for the quiet and sleek.ONe that make good sense. Marketing is going to be baffled by this!
4)The contribute significantly to higher margins.
5)Contrary to popular belief they love chocolate.

CATEGORY MANAGEMENT

Sogo's Food Hall seems to have caught on rather smartly to this niche. The category management and the planogram seems to have been developed for the senior citizens. It works so well that the chocolates targeted to the Senior Citizens are frequently out-of-stock.

The convenience stores like Starmart, Indomart and others havent caught on yet. The customers here are largely the teens and Senior Citizens. Simply because these stores are nearer home and often within walking distance.

DESIGNING CHOCOLATES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

In Europe the big manufacturers are already redesigning chocolates foe Senior Citizens.Over there consumption volume and value of chocolate among senior citizens is responding significantly to initiatives by the manufacturers. The smaller manufacturers and artisans have known it all along and have prospered over the years.

It is not enough to address the "concerns" of Senior Citizens.Taste , flavour, texture and mouth appeal are just as important among the different age segments of Senior Citizens as it segmentised for the 5 to 45 years.There are few studies on this.What I ask are you going to feed McCain with perchance he is elected?

THE AUSTRALIANS HAVE DONE IT

As usual the Australians seem to have come with just the right formula of chocolate that will only appeal to their palate but alsoto their health values. Cocoa Farm, Australia have come up with wine infused chocolate. At the moment they have three great bars, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinor Nior. Cocoa Farm has also a rich dark chocolate with only 0.3% natural sugar and a sperb milk chocolate "Roasted Hazlenut and Coffee".The last is my favourite. I have only had it once. The memory remains.

There are many more ideas for developing Senior Citizen chocolate, but I deal with them in future blogs.I am a bit distracted. I on pins and needles waiting for Berlusconi to write out a personal cheque and hand it over to Sarkozy. Then we can all go back and concentrate on chocolate.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS IN JAKARTA.

2008-10-04T19:47:00.007+07:00

Jakarta is my favourite city. I love it. I feel sorry for Jakarta because it gets nudged aside for Bali. Which is most certainly a mistake. I love Jakarta so much that I only go to the city for trivial reasons.And every time I visit, Jakarta surprises me with something new.Usually another spectacular mall. Or even a Disney-On-Ice Show.

Last weekend, just prior to the Idil Fitri holidays, I decided to stroll down the main street of Jakarta. I would begin at the a giant statue of a near naked man carrying a flaming Bomb Alaska, and walk down Jalan Sudirman to the famous Welcome Circle and down Jalan Tamrin to the Presidential Palace. That's about 4 kilometers.

Everything in Jakarta is big. Its history is big. Though Jakartans celebrate 1577 as it birth year, the city actually existed in 397AD. Its building are big. Many are designed by prominent architects and have won awards and things. Mid-way down is the awfully pompous Samporena Strategic(who knows what it means).There are many,many more big, tall and splendid glass and steel structures. Still more surreptitiously rising. True on this main throughfare there are no massive structures like the cathedral in Cologne which can take in 40,000 people. But Jakarta, looks like, it has several buildings that can house 40,000. No problem.Sometimes you can see them all when they stream out during an earthquake.

Jakarta main street has with a snide smile given space to the world's ghastliest building, the Da VinciTower(its true). The owners had tried to provide a Italian kitsch (You know they thought that it was splendidly classical stuff and all, the ignorant bunch) setting in the middle of Jakarta for poor old Da Vinci.Horrific ornate furniture is sold in there. In the upper floors are monstrously distasteful, awful and expensive apartments. But it is okay. It is Jakarta's way of saing, "Look I have a sense of humor."Other cities may have building you can hate but not a Da Vinci Tower which you look and laugh over for half an hour.

Even names are big and impressive. The Ministry of Education which fronts Jalan Sudirman is actually called, Depertemen Pendidikan Nasional. Isn't that impressive!I love it and spend a lot of time there.

Then midway down, is the Welcome Circle with an extremely large, cool and welcoming fountain. From the center rises an obelisk with a happy couple, happily waving flowers to welcome residents and guests alike.

The Circle is the official site for very democratic demonstrations from angry ones to the friendliest, where pretty girls hand out stems of roses or condoms to motorists and the watchful police men and women. The are four, five star hotels around this Circle.and the angry demonstrators, for some inexplicable reason, seem to hurl their fury upwards towards the Grand Hyatt. Serves the Grand Hyatt right. They make such unimaginative chocolate.The other hotels go placidly unscathed.

Pacific Place, stands sedately behind the Jakarta Stock Exchange. It feels like it its lending its massiveness in support to the latter. But once you go in you realise that it is really a massive shopping mall, with elegant and fashionable stores, Starbucks, Food Courts, Cinema theatres.Close to Wendy's Hamburger is the entrance to the Ritz Carlton Ballroom.

I bought a bag of chocolates, at Paci,the famous chocolate boutique, and went to a store to have it wrapped. Two delightful ladies,asked me a series of questions to all of which I replied "Yes" because I hadn't the faintest idea what they were talking about.

"You many textured recycled of course?"
"Yes".
"With a foil backing for form?"
"Yes."
"Watermarked and embossed?"
"Yes"
"A second colour in poignant pink?"
"Yes"
"A wired ribbon flourish in gold and magenta lights?"
"Yes".
The assistants were writing it all down in the invoice, as it was explained to me that the cash register was "down". I eventually staggered out holding an embarrassingly large gift wrapped parcel, looking rather like the Da Vinci Tower I mentioned earlier. But the real pain, hurt like a stab in the guts, was the $100 I had to pay to the exuberant group of ladies.I understood why the cashed register was "down". It must have fizzed out in shock.

To soften this devasting blow to my fortunes, I went to the supermarket in the basement to look for my favourite chocolate wafer, "Take-it". This is a wonderful 19gm wafer or biscuit wrapped in delicious milk chocolate.Kit-Kat pales in comparison. If you ever have the opportunity, buy a ton.I have a special bond with "Take-it". I had in fact named it. Designed the pack. Built the merchandising unit, which called out, "Hey you, take it!" to passers-by. It had to be removed because it scared the hell of of little children. Anyway I couldn't find "Take-it".

The manager apologised and murmured something about category management and profit per meter and somehow "Take-it" didnt fit with the store's plans to make a fortune. I said"But your are talking about something I help bring into being. I designed the packs, I named it. That's virtually baptising it! The public deserve it!" He remained unmoved and suggested I try Kenny Rogers Fried Chicken. For me it was "Take-it" or nothing.

Somehow, perhaps,the way it snaked backwards,at the Circle,the last time I strolled down Jakarta I missed it. Sometimes, you know the obvious thing right in front of your nose can be invisible. But now it blazed forth in glory, the Grand Indonesia. An extravagant, giant shopping, hotel, apartment, theatre, food courts galore and heaven knows what else, complex. It was so big that I suggested to the building manager to have "ojeks"(motorcycle taxis) to take people around inside the building and prevent them from getting feeble with exhaustion or getting lost forever, both of which seemed inevitable if he ngnored my advice.

When I went in, there wasn't anybody around.Sales girls at Seibu Department Store called out "Good morning Sir." There were cheery greetings from security personnel,waiters at cafes,the toilet cleaners and so. This was not because they wanted my custom but simply because they were lonely and wanted to talk to someone.But the manager who rejected my "ojek" idea told me that once the office buildings and banks were filled there will be no shortage of friends. More than 40,000 were expected to patronise the stores, restaurants, cafes and food courts.If you are around during an earthquake, you can wach them stream out.

The toilets, like in most buildings in Jakarta, were spacious and magnificent. They only lacked gold fittings and a dash of the Da Vinci up the road.I wanted to linger on, spend more time playing at the taps and high tech hand driers but my wife called on my mobile phone and I didn't want to say I was loitering in the loo.

There was a chocolate shop by which I naturally lingered, sampled a praline. My home made pralines were better. At the supermarket, there were alas, no "Take-it".The manager, would you believe it, had never heard of "Take-it".The man should be taken to task if it is not possible to fire him.

I walked on, tripped in front of the Japanese Embassy and fell. Three people, two men and a woman, set me back on my feet, dusted me down and send me merrily on my way.The woman ran after me to return my ballpoint. Only in Jakarta can a thing like this happen.When I slipped in Copenhagen a lady in a wheel chair crashed into me and grimly prodded me out of the way with her stick. I had to stagger into a cafe and soothe myself with a coffee and a sticky pastry but went back into severe shock on seeing the bill.Don't ever eat or drink in Copenhagen if you want to remain solvent!

I walked past the United Nations building and marvelled at it shabbiness,approved the solidity of the Bank of Indonesia, admired the Museum and lurked around the Palace hoping to get a glimpse of the President.But it was not to be so I caught a bus home.

Skip Bali, readers and come to Jakarta.It is the most intriguing city in the world and you will love it here.

ENJOY LIFE! MAKE YOUR OWN CHOCOLATE.

2008-10-02T13:38:00.006+07:00

With all the prices going up I lived with some apprehension that one fine day I would wake up and find that I could no longer afford chocolate.Like it happened with cheese,oxtail stew,seven grain bread,crumpets,movies,restaurnats that use white table cloths, doctors,school and so on. They made petrol expensive and then stopped making cheap bicycles.

If it happens with chocolate it will have catastrophic results on my life. I have always depended on chocolate to keep my heart healthy, my brain liking up to expectations, my disposition amicable and felt little need for Prozac. Sex was going fine too.

But recently prices of chocolate in the supermarkets have been surreptitiously creeping up. That was when I decided to make and live on my own chocolate. Frankly it was to be a major milestone in my life.What a lot of luscious vistas opened up!I lie awake at nights wondering what I will do next.

Making your chocolate is not difficult, once you decide to do it. Your neighbours may laugh,"Why go through all the trouble. You can buy a chocolate wafer for 90 cents down at Starmart." Frankly, like all neighbours anywhere, they don't know what they are talking about.

The are three ways to go about making your own chocolate.

BIT OF A QUIRKY WAY
I went out and bought a carton of bitter-sweet curvature. I knocked down a one kg block to get about 300gm. I was ready to go.I filled a pot with water and brought it to boil. Added agar agar and melted in out. Then added the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted and blended with the agar-agar solution, I let it cool.Chill over night.Next day break it and enjoy. I wont tell you how wonderful and exciting the experience can be. Find out for yourself.

THE SAFE WAY

Melt your 300gm of chocolate in your microwave. When its warm temper it by swishing it up and down with a wooden spatula a top a cool surface.Pour it into a flat plastic lined tray. Then do your creative things. Put in nuts and bits of fruit. Chill it overnight. Next morning crack up an enjoy the pieces.

THE ADVENTUROUS WAY

If you have a bit of Bond in you then, you can cut down the cooling chocolate into pieces and drop it into liquid nitrogen. When the pieces are solid, which is almost immediately, you pull it out and let it thaw in a bowl.When you taste it, you realise that you have a chocolate that melts easily in the mouth. It will have a full, intense, rich taste.Enjoy it leisurely over three or four days.

There are full recipes you may want to experiment with. Subscribe to the Java Chocolate Newsletter.

CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Now you have the basics the creative opportunities are enormous. You can try blending types of chocolate, blending ingredients, trying savoury chocolate, spicy chocolate, coat fried banana chips, tempe or tofu slices, experiment with salt,milk powder,vanilla, flavours you enjoy, balsamic vinegar,sprinkle in your bits of your traditional Indonesian snacks. Learn what works and what doesn't.Or just enjoy and luxuriate over the intense, rich taste of chocolate.Recipes are found in our newsletter.

I haven't mentioned sugar. Bittersweet chocolate I feel contains all the sugar you need in chocolate.

SHAPE IT ANY WAY YOU FANCY.

I dislike cubes, squares and rounds. I think they are unnatural shapes to put into your mouth. Make your chocolate in any shape and avoid the traditional. Go where no man has ever gone before.Make it an art form. Please, no bunnies, gnomes and Santa Claus.

SELL

You might try to make it into a home industry. Sell your odd pieces of great chocolate in simple, plain,recyclable, paper bags.Hundred grams can go for $2.

YOUR OVERHEADS.
Three hundred grams of bittersweet curvature cost me about $2.After I made it my way,just the way I liked.I enjoyed it over three days.

INTERSTELLAR CHOCOLATE.

2008-10-01T16:38:00.003+07:00

It seems that the Spltze Infrared telescope gave astronomers a sharper view of the Universe. And what they saw was that nitrogen containing aromatic hydrocarbons are in huge supply throughout the universe.

Subsequently there has been a about turn in the thinking that all life on earth was homegrown. It has become apparent that comets and meteorites bring biologically important chemicals to earth.

These chemicals come to life on any hospitable environment. Earth of course is extremely hospitable. That is until Wall Street made in increasing inhabitable. But never mind lets get back to the main issue.

One of the chemicals that stowed away from deep universe on a comet or meteorite was the main ingredient in chocolate. Hence it tastes, and has an aroma that is, out of this world.

Actually this theory of chemicals(or seeds) coming to earth was started by a Greek Philosopher, Anaxagoras. Pictures show him to be a stocky, dour man,with untidy beard. He said,"There is something of everything in everything," and went on to expand into the theory of "panaspermia". This theory says that all things originated from seeds pervading from the cosmos.NASA scientists agree.

You must give the man his due. He did it without the Spitze Infrared Telescope.He did it 2,500 years ago.He did it without tax payers money. He did it with a doctrine he is credited to have found, the Doctrine of "Nous"(translates, mind).

I feel particularly fond of this man because he was born in Claizomenae. A city, in present day Turkey, Thirty kilometers from Izimir, where resides someone that reads my chocolate blogs.

FILL UP YOU TANK WITH CHOCOLATE. AND GO TO TIMBUKTU.

2008-09-30T20:17:00.006+07:00

There are probably many people today, around the world, that wish they were in Timbuktu.It is good place to be. There are no insurance companies, no investment banks, no mortgage and loan companies. No Paulson. Here when people want a home they make it out of mud.

However I was startled to find out that earlier this year a gentleman called Andy Pag drove from south of England, across Europe, across the Sahara and to Timbuktu.With a co-driver John Grimshaw, they drove a Ford Iveco Cargo lorry powered with chocolate fuel. I am not making this up.

Their intention was to highlight bio-fuel benefits. They also wanted to point out that Timbuktu was on the "edge of climate change", It used to be a river town. Now the river Niger is 20km away. The sand dunes are taking over.

Imagine this was once called "The City of Gold". At it peak around the 14th Century, the University of Timbuktu had over 25,000 students pouring over 700,000 ancient manuscripts on science, mathematics, astronomy, law, philosophy and Islamic Studies.

What happenned? I guess some wise guys speculated on mud houses mortages and cornered the mud market. As you know mud is mud. It crashed.There was no bailout. It has been downhill ever since.Sand dunes are taking over.

To get his fuel Pag approached Ecotec that produces fuel from waste. They decided to create the fuel Pag wanted with wasted or rejected chocolate. Imagine fuel being processed from hazel nut dragees, almond whirls and mis-shapen milk bars!

Eventually Pag got 1,500 litre of chocolate fuel from 3000 kg of chocolate, about 1,200 family sized chocolate bars.

Pag said that they got 15km per litre of chocolate fuel. That about eight family sized chocolate bars. When they got slightly low on food in they unfortunately couldn't eat or drink the chocolate.The fuel bears no resemblance to chocolate. It becomes a golden liquid and looks like normal diesel.The exhaust does not smell of chocolate.

Pag's next ambition is to fly to China on a powered para glider with fuel made out of banana skins. Or something like that. We in Indonesia will be looking up hopefully to see him fly past, if he gets a little blown out of the way.

"Slowly across the desert sand
Trekked the dusty caravan.
Men on camels, two by two,
Destination-Timbuktu."

CHINA'S ASTRONAUTS EAT SPACE CHOCOLATE.

2008-09-29T14:45:00.003+07:00

"We have been working to civillianize space food," said Chen Bin, nutritionist in charge of astronaut food with the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, as reported by the People's Daily.

The chocolates and cakes, eaten by the astronauts in space are also produced for civilian use, Chen said.Space food, is safe, convenient and intensely nutritious. Chen said that space food will be popular with mountaineers and explorers to especially the polar regions.

Space food is made under immense quality control conditions. For instance, air quality at the space nutrition kitchens, will be the same as in pharmacy factories.

NASA very early on it its space flights used RACHEL'S BROWNIES on the Space Ship Endeavour.These chocolate treats were commonly found on the shelves of convenience stores.

More recently NASA has developed Freeze Dried chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips and Freeze Dried Double Chocolate Saucer Space Snack. There is nothing civilian about these snacks. They are indeed very spacey.

Freeze Dried foods are great, it seems, for eating in weightless conditions. First developed for the Apollo Missions, the foods are frozen to -40 degrees Centigrade, vacuum dried and placed into special pouches. Freeze drying removes 98% of the water content and NASA says the dehydration makes it nearly as light as air and dry to the touch, cannot melt and does not require refrigeration. It can be stored for three years.

You know somehow I would opt for the China Astronauts' civillinized chocolate and cakes.Or Rachel's Cookies.

MOCTEZUMA'S WIFE'S CHOCOLATE RECIPE.

2008-09-29T07:21:00.004+07:00

Kidzania is a city built for kids, occupying two floors of a top notch shoppingcomplex in the middle of Jakarta.The original exists in Mexico City.
On the ground floor are the city-type outlets, hair salons,departmental stores, supermarkets,theatres, institutes, driving schools, hospitals and so on. On the top floor is the industrial complex. Here kids are shown how ice cream, biscuits and indeed chocolates are manufactured.

A few weekends ago our community group took the kids through the "Silver Queen Chocolate Factory". They goggled at the massive processes of roasting, winnowing, grinding, conching, refining, tempering and moulding in huge gleaming machines(though the ones in Kidszania were kindly, kidsize). Then one wise guy piped, "Did Moctezuma have all these machines to make his chocolate?". The day before we has taken them through a briefing which included brief history of chocolate.

Last weekend we gathered at the slickest and largest kitchen in the neighbourhood to make chocolate as Moctezuma would have made it. Or at least by some of his many many wives assisted dutifully by his 8 daughters and 11 sons.

We brought a kilo of fermented beans from a plantation near Bandung. They were nice and dry and good-looking as far as beans go. We laid them out in single layers on baking trays and roasted them in a 300 degree preheated house oven for 30 minutes.

By this time a nice aroma,filled the kitchen. We then let the beans cool. Then one by one a group of six started to crack the beans and collect the nibs. The rest of the group watched a soap on television.

It is tough work separating about the nibs from the husk. Now we know why Moctezuma had many wives and 19 children. He probably yelled to them, "Come guys faster! You know that grouchy Spaniard Cortes is going to pop in any moment now!I want to cool him down with some chocolate." Moctezuma incidentally had warehouses of cocoa beans. Some he used for making chocolate and the rest for currency to buy stocks and shares.Or whatever they had those days.

After we collected the nibs, we ground a batch(8 spoons of nibs) with two spoons of sugar, in a coffee grinder. The other batch, simply ground the same in a motor and pestle. We ground and ground and ground. The coffee grinder gets over-heated so we had to stop from time to time.

What we had now,was varietal chocolate, that is to say" Moctezuma chocolate". To some purists, primitive. But I wouldn't tell old Moctezuma that. He was skilled at severing heads at the slightest provocation.

It was gritty but most of the group agreed that it "startling". We never tasted chocolate this mysterious, rich and flavoursome before. Moctezuma's wives probably beat it up while warming with honey and cinnamon, making it froth. There is a picture found on the walls of the ruins that showed a statuesque brunette, presumably one of Moctezuma's wives, pouring a cup of prepared from above her head to a vessel on the ground. Rather like the Malaysian Indians make "Teh Tareh". This obviously gave the drink a good head of foam.

We used a batch to flavour brownies. It was unique and great to taste. The recipe, along with other Moctezuma type recipes(or recipes his wives should have tried) will be featured in the Java Chocolate Newsletter.

HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE.

Eventually one day Herman Cortes dropped in to visit. Moctezuma welcomed him with a cup of cocoa."It's ******* bitter!" said Cortes and threw up. Not really, I made that up. In fact he liked it so much that he took sacks of beans home. He also invited one of Moctezuma" daughters to Spain(absolutely true) where most probably, she taught ChocoVic to split beans and extract nibs(pure conjecture).

DRAGEES OR PRALINES?

2008-09-27T13:27:00.005+07:00

Our enterprising group here have been doing a nice trade making candied cashews and dipping them in both dark and milk chocolate. We put them in brown paper bags, marked them CASHEW DRAGEES and sell them at the Ramadan Bazaar. They have been doing well enough for us to make fresh batches every other day.

Our pensive friend from Carrefour turned up, bought a few bags,bit into several and appreciatively said "Ah Pralines!" The lady in charge who does not like her brand interfered with said, "Dragees". The pensive man from Carrefour said, "Yes Pralines."
"No Dragees" said our lady.

It appears that both were right. The French call them either dragees or pralines. The Carrefour person then told us the story. Pralines were named after Marshal du Plessis-Praslin(1598-1675). A long life in those days and remarkable because the Marshal spent most of his adult life fighting wars. But he was smart enough not to fight them in France. Most of his bickering was done in Italy.

Pralines (pronounced pra-leen in French, pray-leen in English)was actualled invented by his cook, Clement Lassagne. Pralines then were simply candied almonds. Chocolate was yet to be discovered in France. He later founded Maison de las Praline in Montargis, a town almost the the center of France. It still exists today.I mean both the town and the Maison de las Praline.

Montargis is actually rather famous. Joan de Arc passed through the town on her way to Gien. But being rather early, she didn't have the opportunity to pop into the Maison de las Praline.

But Deng Xiaopeng and Zhou Enlai, who lived in this town were probably regular customers. Which explains their amicable demeanor which subsequently made China and the world pretty pally.

Coming back to pralines, in Germany and Belgium they are any filled chocolate. The Italians wanting to be different called them giandja. In Louisiana, Texas they screwed it all up. Pralines there are flat, round cream candies dotted with crunchy pecans.

INTERESTING CHOCOLATE DISCOVERY.

2008-09-26T21:15:00.002+07:00

We are not a group or community that is noted for crossing new frontiers in cuisine . Indeed we are not known for anything at all until this evening when a seasoned chef from one of the five star establishment in Singapore, declared that we may be on to something "interesting" in artisan chocolatery.A gentleman from Carrefour looked pensive after a taste

In a session of experimental cooking, a few of us cake makers, bakers and a couple of chocolatiers combined Chocolate with Cardamon and came up it a surprising sensational Chocolate-Cardamon Custard Tart. We haven't thought of a slick name yet. We will when we are ready to rock the world.

We decided to try Cardamon. It is grown here in Java and it called "kapulaga". It belongs to the Amomum variety.It is a ginger-like plant and like cocoa grow in tropical rain forests. It grows up to 5 meters and therefore can actually be grown alongside cocoa Like cocoa it grows in shade. It will boost farmers'income because cardamon is one of the most expensive of spices.

Like the cocoa bean, it's the seeds inside the pod that are used.The husk is thrown away.Java cardamon is brownish and has a distinct astringent aroma without being bitter. It has a coolness similar to mint.

It has a flavour that that good breadth but not enough depth to impinge on the flavour of chocolate.

Besides being used in cooking it is also used in Scandinavia in baking cakes and pastries. The Dutch use it in windmill biscuits.The Russians use it in liqueurs. In China and India they have used it for thousands of years to treat all kinds of digestive and bowel ailments.And it is one of the world's oldest spices.We thought it will combine magnificently with chocolate.It did.

We decide to make a tart because we felt that it bring up the combination best and most noticeably. First we combined the ingredients of the dough:We sifted flour,cocoa and sea salt. We creamed the butter,sugar together to a fluffy paste, added egg and mixed it in well. We mixed all the ingredients until the dough formed. We shaped it into a ball, cut it in two halves, and stored it in the refrigerator overnight.That was yesterday.

This evening we took one half, made it into a kind of a shallow tart shell circle with a 2cm ridge, covered it and let it chill.

In the meantime the oven was being preheated. The chocolate, we used 7 ounces bittersweet was placed in a bowl. Into it we added a heated mixture of cream,a table spoon of fine ground cardamon, milk and sugar stirring in a third at a time, until it blended smoothly. A whisked egg was blended into a part of the chocolate mixture and then to all of it.Get rid of bubbles by tapping the bowl.

Now pour the mixture into the tart shell right to the top. Baked for 20 minutes, turned around and baked again for another 20 minutes until the custard is firm around the edges and sort of wobbly in the centre.Lionel, our friendly chef from Singapore guided the whole operation through. We need his deftness. We were so clumsy.The complete recipe together with another cardamon-chocolate exotica is available in next fortnight's Java Cocoa Newsletter.

The other half of the dough got the same treatment. Except this time we mixed the cardamon with the dough not with the custard. For added effect we made a thin sheet of caramel blended with a pinch of cardamon cracked it into bits and sprinkled over the chocolate custard.

Our guests, mainly family, and of course the pensive friend from Carrefour, declared it a significant discovery and generally rated with a nine.

IS IT SAFE TO GO LOOKING FOR COCOA BEANS IN INDONESIA?

2008-09-24T06:58:00.007+07:00

I had five queries from nervous chocolatiers. This one kind of sums up the thoughts conveyed:"I hear so much about safety issues about Indonesia. In fact till recently our government had issued a travel warning about visiting Indonesia. Is it really safe to go searching around for beans in places like those you mentioned, Papua, Ternate,Bacan, Java.."

Recently I had an exuberant and enthusiastic visitor,a young chef, a Scot, Glen McIntyre(or something close. He had a surname pronounced different from the way it was spelled)who worked for the Four Seasons. On his arrival,in Jakarta, all he wanted to do was to see, and possibly experience, as much Indonesian food as possible.

There is Italian, French, German, Indian, Chinese, Argentine(I am not making this up),Arabian, Dutch, Malaysian, Indian, Singaporean and even Russian food on Jakarta's main street. And miles of chocolate too.But no Indonesian food worth mentioning.

So Glen and I plunged into the back lanes and alleys of Jakarta where food from nearly all of the inhabited 17,000 islands of this archipelago,was being busily prepared, cooked and consumed enthusiastically. In our forays into the deep, sometimes dark, alleyways and byways we did everything the Personal Security Advisor beseeched us not to do.

We made our ourselves conspicuous, we carried a lot of cash(none of the establishment we were interested in accepted credit cards)and arrogantly waved it under noses, we bumped into people who looked sinister, we flirted with giggling women, we went into really dark places, into place conscientiously developed for pick-pockets,we walked, we picked fights by bargaining outrageously,we asked rude questions. We emerged unscathed after a week.

I took Glen to the mountains of Central Java, where my wife has the immensely good fortune to come from. We walked into houses, most were unlocked, dined with occupants, carried a lot of cash and flashed it shamelessly around, took dangerous mini-vans for transport,abused the drivers, went out in the pitch dark, sang rude rugby songs and argued with a policeman. We emerged unscathed after four days. Glen had collected books of notes on Indonesian food.Persumably he is putting it into good use in Scotland or elsewhere.

The fact is Indonesia is safe.Don't listen to your Governments. Honestly what do they know? Look at the mess we faced this September alone. Don't listen, for heaven's sake to Dick Cheney. The best authority to ask is INTERPOL or a missionary.

If you asked INTERPOL they would tell you,that per 10,000 capita, in Homicide, Indonesia is 4 times safer than Australia, 14 times safer than the UK and 6 times safer than the US. Taking Rape incidents, Indonesia is 18 times safer than Australia, 12 times safer that the UK and 32 times safer than the US. Assault, Indonesia is 170 times safer than Australia, 30 times safer than the UK and 89 times safer than the US. We are far behind these countries in embezzlements, but catching up I am proud to say.

Another good source to check out safety in remote parts, where cocoa is grown, is with missionaries. I asked a very petite nun called Sister Godlive(I am not making this up) who lived in the Muluku for years. She has actually been to Becan and Ternate. I asked her if there were many murders in these parts. She said, "I haven't heard really." Are there any gun related violence?"Oh no" she replied, "Gun ownership is against the law." Are there any thefts?"Oh yes. It is sad but people are often stealing chickens."

It is absolutely safe to visit Indonesia. In fact it might be a good place to really get some peace and quiet.

ARE YOU ADVENTEROUS ENOUGH TO BE AN CHOCOLATE ARTISAN?

2008-09-22T07:19:00.008+07:00

To be an chocolate artisan is to be an adventurer. Or you simply wont make it. You must head for Ternate. Which is not on the Old Silk Route, as I once thought.You must land at airports such as Ba Ullah, which is not in Mongolia.You must take a boat Kalumata to Cobo and hike to Rum. For these are the last frontiers of cocoa and they just happen to be in my backyard,in the archipelago of Indonesia. In short you must do what the great chocolate artisan adventurers like Tim Childs and D'Vries did in their backyards(here I am including Peru as being in the backyard, for instance, Tim's San Francisco factory).

It is very desirable, if you want to go into the chocolate business and make a name for yourself, to be an artisan chocolatier.The mass markets are already amply covered very competently by the big boys. If they had time I would advise they develop a small artisan chocolate division. But they wont of course, because they have to focus and also they think I am stupid. Artisan chocolate will fill the substantial niche markets that have a desire to savour different superb chocolates.

Many comparisons are made between chocolate and wine. But in reality for wine, all you need is a nice plot of land. You plant grapes, harvest and jump on them and you make your own wine. To be an chocolatier you pack your rucksack and go. You may never return if you step on a Komodo Dragon.

There are three steps in being a Artisan Chocolatier.Let me capitalise these words, to give the profession more dignity.

STEP ONE

1)Discover a promising farmer, plantation, cooperative, in some out-of-the-way place that has the interesting soil and conditions to produce, or in fact is already producing, good cocoa. It takes much looking around as professional artisans will tell you.

2)Then start to work directly with the farmer either by yourself or if you have the capital, through an agronomist.

3)Use your know-how to give direction to the farmer on growing through to harvesting the cocoa.

4)Provide guidance and tools for better fermentation boxes, drying floors or solar drying.

5)Then pay more for the cocoa to reward the farmer. More than market prices or more than Fair Trade prices.

STEP TWO

1)Don't attempt to follow Valrohono. Or any of the others. They will bury you. Do your own thing. Coax your own flavour, texture stealthily out of the beans. Make it a very personal thing.

2)This makes the artisan chocolate market as creative as the wine market. So welcome and encourage other artisans. The more the merrier. The bigger the love for gourmet chocolate.

3)The choice of equipment is going to be critical. A modern turbo-tamperer will put you out the business straight-off. Read, go to the library, talk to Chocovic. Don't be afraid to take chocolate making back a hundred years. Do not be afraid to do it by hand. In fact separating the nibs from shells is best done by hand. There will be no risk of getting husk bits into your chocolate.

4)Tell the story of your unique chocolate to your customers.

STEP THREE

1)Be open. Go to art galleries, the cinema, the orchestra, read profusely,enjoy wine and cheese,pray, expand your mind. A person with a narrow focus can never be an artisan. He is just a clot.

2)Embrace new ingredients, techniques, information, ideas and be obsessed.Share.

3)Be aware that much resources for being a chocolate artisan are there for you to excitingly discover, in Indonesia. Besides patience, industry, innovation is inbuilt in our genetic code.

4)Indonesia also has far reaching, extremely wide and embracing cooking values, resources tradition. Which is an important element in the evolution of an cooking craft.Collaborate with people of other traditions to make progress.

CHOCOLATE HAS NO PROBLEMS WITH RUSSIA.

2008-09-20T09:22:00.002+07:00

Dr. Condaleeza Rice and our old friend Dick Cheney and some of their friends in the European Union may be somewhat irritated by Russia these days and we hope is just a passing phase. But chocolatiers have no problems about exchanging bear-hugs with the Russians and we hope that is one of the routes to peaceful co-existence.

Barry Callebaut announced a new Chocolate Academy in Chekhau. I love this strategy that Callebaut employs. First they provide Chocolate training. They teach people how to respect and love chocolate. Then they sell chocolate.They did the same in India and China. Ferro built a 91million chocolate facility. And Nestle acquired one of the leading chocolate plants in Russia,Ruzskaya Confectionary Factory.

The Russian Market grows an average of 15.3% in value annually and 5.4% in volume. Which is significantly over the world market of 2%-3%. This is a reflection of the increased wealth, of middle class, urban Russians, growing from $160 a month in 2002 to $540 today.And the shift is towards the high quality premium products.

Financial Times reports that Russia will be the third biggest chocolate market in the world, after US and the UK pretty soon.We should be eyeing this market.

STRONG CHOCOLATE AND THE FRAGILE ECONOMY.

2008-09-20T08:45:00.003+07:00

Employees of Lehman Brothers, it seems, are rushing to use the pre-pay canteen cards in buying hundreds of bars of chocolate.Before the permanently leave the building, as it were. Also roasted coffee and other non-perishables. So reported the Financial times early this week. Obviously this is very wise of Lehman bankers. Chocolate can be a very good anti-depressant.

We in Indonesia felt the shock waves this week. There were lots of stock brokers on Monday who downgraded from the posher restaurants at Pacific Place(opposite the Stock Exchange) to Wendy's and the Food Court.

As someone who sells chocolate I was somewhat comforted to hear that Mintel reports chocolate consumption will continue on track with an annual increase of 4%(US projection) in the next six years. The market research company says that chocolate is recession-proof. People, said a spokesman of the company, might cut back but they wont give up on their daily indulgences, like chocolate.

In Europe sales of dark chocolate hit 106million Euros. This is an astonishing increase of 96% between 2005 and 2007. A five percent growth is expected in 2008.

In Indonesia, fortunately this is the peak season and supermarkets report sales of chocolate confectionery, especially in multi-packs and chocolate coated wafers and biscuits are up 60% over the July sales.

Here we, expect for the upper-income groups, indulgence does not extend to chocolates. People simply switch from more expensive bars to chocolate snacks. This makes sense during rising food prices(60% of the average Indonesian household expenditure goes to food)as a bar of a 200gm chocolate bar can cost as much as two days of family meals for a lower middle income family.

The good thing is the stronger activity during recession from home food industries.
Baking and chocolate snacks produced by home industries find good acceptance in the neighbourhood. Thankfully they do well enough to generate cash-flow. If they ever collapse they cannot expect the sort of concern or assistance as Lehman's or AIG received.Although you and I know, who is the more deserving.

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS DO YOU NEED TO BE A CHOCOLATIER?

2008-09-17T06:58:00.007+07:00

Suddenly the banker down the street I live has started to produce some rather pleasant and creative pralines in her kitchen.She has had no experience in chocolate making.She just loved chocolate. It makes me wonder what kind of experience do you really need to become a cholatier, specifically an artisan chocolatier? Can Dick Cheney or Sarah Palin become chocolatiers?

Over in San Francisco,a guy who built vision-tracking systems for NASA space shuttles is now a very respected artisan chocolatier. And don't forget Art Pollard, who studied physics and was a software developer, founded Amano Chocolate up there in the Utah mountains.

The NASA guy is Tim Childs.The quality you need most to be a good chocolatier, he says,"Be obsessed. Be very obsessed."There is hope for me! Tim says he was "seduced by the bean" This quote I love:"On a molecular level, making chocolate is enrapturing".

Tim ignores the usually way of classifying chocolate by the cocoa content or even origin. Imagine, he says, settling down with a good book and a bar of chocolate that says 60% cocoa. What does the number mean? However if you sit down with a good book and a chocolate that says "Nutty" you will immediately anticipate a nutty taste. You have chosen it because you were curious to taste how chocolate on its own can be nutty.

It is obvious, Tim adds, that without context and meaning, complete enjoyment of chocolate is impossible.

Tim sources some of his beans from a Peruvian Cooperative farm discovered accidentally. They were already well experienced in flaor nuances growing coffee. Having decided to grow cocoa alongside, their treated their new crops and beans with love, care and of course obsession. The cocoa not only tastes great but is distinct in genetics and terroir. After much testing and tasting down at the lab Tim coaxed the "Nutty" flavor, stealthily out.

It is my hope that Tim and the new crop of high-tech chocolatiers will travel down this way through the Indonesian archipelago to discover some unique cocoas. I believe that some of our littler plantations are truly destined for artisans.

Tim says that that classifying chocolate bars by cocoa content simply does not equate. Instead he labels his bars as,"Nutty", "Fruity", "Earthy".
, "Floral","Citrus" and "Chocolatey".People buy food and wine by flavor, don't they?
I presume, that is also why the banker down my street, sold out all her pralines.

The bars come in plain brown packs labelled "beta".Curiously it seems to added some intrigue and even appetite appeal. Besides being inviting. Tim, I am happy to say sells his chocolates the way I(and my friend the banker down the road) do, through special, interesting and fun social channels.

This morning's news on the global economy was very bleak. However I take some consolation from Joan Steier, President of Chocolate Marketing LLC, who said," Chocolate is an affordable indulgence. No matter how difficult economic times get, we will always treat ourselves." Eapecially as it never seems to stop being surprising.

THE SECRET OF BACAN

2008-09-16T13:08:00.004+07:00

What or who is Bacan. Till last night I had absolutely no idea but would have that it was probably a town inland Columbia. As it turned out Bacan was in my backyard. An American teacher, with a name I never heard before Imogen,wrote me that it was the prettiest island of the Maluku bunch of islands.

The island's main town is backed by a huge mass of flat topped Mount Sibela nearly 2220 meters high.It is almost always shrouded by clouds. A lake it is said, Imogen never found out,to fill a crater with a small island protruding from it.King sized butterflies,flush with 12 colours live around here.I readup the British naturalist Sir Alfred Wallace caugt one with a wing span of half a meter.Thereupon he had a headache for the rest of the day so great was the excitement.

But what Imogen thought would interest me most was the what seemed to be on a small island, a large number of cocoa plantations. It seems that small plantations line the roads. On the roadsides, almost in front of most homes, families dry the cocoa beans on mats. Their is a vinegary smell all around.They are regretfully not fermented.

Chinese traders come along on motorbikes and buy up the beans and they finally end up with buyers in Sulawesi.

The hills of Bacan it are rumored hold small deposits of gold, copper and precious stones of many colors. But the coast there are small pearl industries.Another industry on this busy is tuna freezing to export to Japan.

I gather there is much mystic here to grandly surround adventurous chocolatiers.

NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO VISIT INDONESIA.

2008-09-15T08:15:00.007+07:00

Most travel savvy people will strongly advice you not to visit this archipelago between now and mid-October.This is very misguided advice.

Between now and 30 September, 20million Indonesians will be on the move. Overseas Indonesians will fly in from almost anywhere in the world, even the unlikeliest of places like Des Moines,Mbabane,Talling and Perivolia.We do get around, you know. All internal Indonesia airlines, railways, buses, taxis, motorcycle taxis will be full booked to carry people working in the coastal areas to the interiors. A staggeringly vast exodus to meet their husbands, wives,siblings, children, parents and others to celebrate Idil Fitri together. Nowhere, absolutely nowhere in the world, would you be able witness anything like this. Would you dare miss this? Would you ever forgive yourself for missing this very emotionally charged exodus atmosphere and the swelling your heart?I don't know about you but it brings tears to my eyes.

It is still Ramadan now when all Muslims in Indonesia fast from sunrise to sunset. They will still be observing the fast when they travel in hot and crowded buses, in trains and say no(gratefully)to the stale airline snack boxes.

About 3million travel home to their villages on motorbikes, often over distances over 300 hot and dusty kilometers on the island of Java. Many carry their families with them. Two million or so go bumper-to-bumper by car. The roads understandably are clogged from start to end. The buses jerk on fitfully. The last time it happened in history, but not in such large numbers, was when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Thanks to modern logistics our people will not wander about lost. There will also be many miracles on the way. Nearly all will arrive safely at their destinations and celebrate Idil Fitri.

Right now all the potential travellers are busy shopping for gifts for the relatives back home and gifts to exchange and distribute to whole villages.Generosity, forgiveness and goodwill are all an essential part of this festive period. Supermarkets report a magnificent increase in multi-pack chocolate wafers, chocolate biscuits and chocolate confectionery. Carrefour estimates that their chocolate and snacks sales will increase by over 60% during this period over the corresponding period and category of an average month in the first half. That's no small change considering their expected turnover of some Rp8.5 trillion in 2008.

Some 36 airlines travel to Indonesia. If you leave now you will make it on time. How you get around to the rest of the country, once you get to Jakarta depends on your ingenuity. Over here, believe me, nothing is really impossible. The best way is of course to hire a motorbike taxi. There will still be some cruising around forlorn in an almost empty Jakarta. They will be delighted to take you anywhere.You can actually tour the countryside and witness the on going exodus safely.

Jakarta, is a city I love at the busiest of times. When roads are packed with APVs, BMWs and on on. Plus weaving millions of motorbikes, a horse cart or two, and some food and other types of hand carts. But after the exodus,the peace that descends is equally as fascinating. Resident expatriates are stupefied by this extraordinary atmosphere. Instead of roller skating on the main street or other things that resident expatriates should do, they sat stunned and stayed home watching the whole thing on Metro TV.

If you visit, Jakarta will be a lovely place to walk about. No motorbikes will brush past you on the pavements, all the pickpockets would have left, leaving only some sad bankers who have to keep the economy moving. There wont be any queues at ATMs, Supermarket counters, you wont have jostle for space with your tray at the magnificent food courts and you can enjoy the cool luxury of your own emptied,generously personalised theatres showing the latest of Hollywood blockbusters.

Many of the other coastal cities will also be partially emptied and it will be a good opportunity to do a lot of peaceful walking around. During the four days or so around Idil Fitri, which actuall falls on the 1st and 2nd of October, airline, rail and bus transportation is quite easy to obtain.

Around the 5th of October the reverse exodus from the interior to the coast begings again.You can watch and welcome the happy and somewhat dusty and exhausted returnees before returning to Finland or wherever you had come from. Do visit us.

THE OLDEST CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD.

2008-09-13T12:52:00.003+07:00

Traces of oldest chocolate in the world was found in an ancient pottery vessel in southeastern Mexico in a place known as Paso de la Amada. Paso de la Amada , an early village, in the region of Soconusco. It was one of the richest cocoa producing regions in pre-Spanish America.

This discovery pushes the earliest use of cocoa to between 1500 and 1900BC. It mas made by analysing the pottery from the site.This site has already shown evidence of a complex society.

In a report in Mexicon,the insides of 16 vessels found at Paso de la Amada were scraped. Jeffrey Hurst at the Hershey Foods Technical Centre analysed them for cocoa. Theobromine was found in two vessels.

The results provide proof that the Mokaya people of Soconusco were involved in the production and consumption of liquid chocolate.

YOUR CHOCOLATES TO COST MORE?

2008-09-13T11:15:00.004+07:00

I cant blame Bloomberg for bleak news. It seems to be the trend these days. But they reported yesterday that our(Indonesia's) cocoa production could fall by as much as 21% in three years. Due to diseases infecting crops. That not a small bunch of beans nor small in consequences considering that Indonesia is the third largest producer of cocoa beans in the world.

Bloomberg quotes Halim Razak, Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association who said yesterday that annual production could fall as much as to 380,000 to 400,000 tons if the diseases are not contained.

The cocoa trees have suffered from the blight of the pod borer larvae the late rains and late flowering and the Vascular Streak Dieback disease.It is very serious because 60 percent of trees in Sulawesi, Indonesia's main cocoa producing region, have been infected.

Halim Razak said yields can fall to 380kg a hectare, from the current 500.

Yesterday's Cocoa for December Delivery fell 2.1 percent to $2,540 a ton on ICE Futures US. The most active contract reached $3,290 a ton the highest in twenty years.

Earlier the International Cocoa Organisation had predicted that Indonesia's cocoa production for 12 months, ending October may only total 480,000 tons. Indonesia produced 530,000 tons in 2007.

Last month Mars Inc, makers of M&M and Snickers, said it was girding up to persuade cocoa farmers in Indonesia to raise production by planting cloned seedlings. The Company confidently stated that cocoa has a definite future in this country. Mars is working in Sulawesi as part of a sustainability programme funded by the Indonesian Cocoa Association, Australia, Belgium, Germany, the Indonesian Government, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the International Finance Corporation.

The Indonesian Government Ministry of Industry handbook( the best I have seen) commits that Sulawesi will be developed as a cocoa producing center.

Crop diseases may cost the Indonesian Farmer as much as $388million in output losses.

Mars Symbioscience coordinator Mohd. Hussin Purong said last month that his team was trying to persuade farmers to prune or cut down diseased trees and teaching them the benefits of composting to improve yields. Compositing has revived some trees and farmers are prepared to learn about clones derived from disease resistant strains.

On the market front Hershey's have already raised prices amidst rising costs.

COCOA FROM PAPUA, INDONESIA.

2008-09-12T13:21:00.004+07:00

From a satellite map it is green, criss-crossed by numerous rivers and streams, with a mountainous backbone with some of peaks tipped with glaciers.It reminds you of Venezuela.

The river Mamberama which winds through the territory is sometimes called the Amazon of Papua.With an area of 421,981 square kilometers it has a density of 6.6 persons per kilometer, 16000 plant species and fauna which include marsupiels like possums, wallabies and tree kangaroos.

It makes news regularly because the gold and copper mining company, Freeport is located in the highlands.

Most of the cocoa plantations are on the eastern side of the territory on soils that are immensely fertile. The climate is ideally suited for quality cocoa shaded by natural jungle. According to one estimate there are some 5,900ha of small holder cocoa plantations. But the same estimate says there is potential for 305,855ha for cocoa.

Coffee, aribica, is the other cash crop that is thanks to people like Starbucks is destined, primarily because of it remoteness, to be much desired. Both the cocoa beans and coffee are flown out to traders or buyers.

Next door in Papua New Guinea, cocoa is witnessing a revival. !00,000 tons are produced by over 6,000 Small holder cocoa families. Much of this cocoa is exported to USA, Singapore, Malaysia and even to Indonesia. Germany and the UK import about 5% of cocoa from Papua New Guinea.

I have not been able to get any reliable evaluation of Papua, Indonesia cocoa beans. But I hear that international, adventurous, chocolatiers have been snooping.More information in future Blogs.

THE BEST CHOCOLATE BOOK IN THE WORLD.

2008-09-12T07:32:00.003+07:00

It arrived a day early from its place of origin, Barcelona:"Ramon Morato Chocolate". judged the best Chocolate Book in the World, by the Gourmand Cookbook Awards, in London last year. A wonderful birthday present. Thank you Jose!I feel very guilty considering for your birthday, I only send you a card.

The writer is in charge of the AULA CHOCOVIC School of Chocolate. On the cover, with his rimless glasses, he looks rather like the kind of heart surgeon you might prefer to be tinkering with yours. But reality his career is enhanced with a list of accolades One that rings really great is:Artisan Confectioner, "Master of Spain".

The book is of 600 pages with 230 step-by-step recipes. Ramon Morato though top at his profession is very much academically inclined. He has a tremendous interest in research and technology. Occasionally lectures at the University of Girona.

He works closely with the Research and Development Laboratory of Chocovic. Which incidentally is headed by graduates in Chemistry, Agriculture and Biology and more relevant second degrees.

Chocovic,also has in its archives a collection chocolates recipies dating back to the eighteenth century. Many of these belonged to the noble families of Spain and are recipes that call for preparations of their own particular preferences. Ramon Morato, given his studious background, must have been inspired by them.

I am delighted to own this book. I am sure I am the only one on this archipelago.

SURABAYA CHOCOLATE!

2008-09-09T17:57:00.005+07:00

A nice email from a member of the Academy of Chocolate,London alerted me to "Bonnat Srabaya Chocolat au Lait 65%" I was delighted of course because I have special fondness for Surabaya, the second largest city of Indonesia, after Jakarta, the capital.

A review describes is as a"gentle giant" among Bonnat's milk chocolates. It is mild enough for milk chocolate fans and the lack of sweetness will find it favor from those who prefer dark.

The cocoa undoubtedly comes from hand selected beans from the Katiklatak Plantation in East Java. Here cocoa is planted alongside rubber and coffee on hilly slopes refreshed by the humid breezes of the Indian Ocean.

Alex Rast describes it flavour;"starts with an olive taste with apricot an cinnamon, rum raisin, tobacco and a fresh tangy presence.

He goes on;"The first touch on the palate is light with vanilla, pistachio and citrus, then savoury, yeasty tones emerge, balanced sweetness, dark fruits, molasses, tea and fried food! After all this the flavour descends to a green tea."

It certainly, high praise for Surabaya and Java beans.

COCOA FROM FLORES

2008-09-09T17:20:00.006+07:00

If you looking for unique cocoa beans from micro plantations, then Flores is the place to go. If you are wondering where on earth is Flores, it 8 degrees below the equator, one and a half flying hours from Denpasar, Bali. There is only one flight a day do plan on staying the night.

Flores enjoyed a brief moment of glory in 2003 when paleoanthropolgists discovered a species that existed on this lush, volcanic island as recently as 11,000 BC. They closely resembled the hobbits.

The island, one of Indonesia's 17,000, is 330 km long at 70km at the widest point. It has an area of 13,540 square km and a mountainous, volcanic backbone. The highest point is 2,370 meters. Mount Kelimutu, near the sleepy capital of Ende, have a lake crater. It is unique because the waters, fed by volcanic gases, keep changing colour from bright red, to green to blue. Very recently it was turquoise.

The population of over 1.5 million is almost all Catholic. A legacy left behind by the Portuguese traders who discovered the spices of Flores back in the 16th century.
Flores devoutly produces more priests per head than any other place on earth.Several are at the Vatican.

Flores is also home of the Giant Rat, the Whales Sharks, and the notorious Komodo Dragon. This creature is grows to about 3 meters long with a face than uncannily resembles Dick Cheney's. A giant lizard, it looks deceptively docile, is a flesh eater and known to attack and chomp off bits of unsuspecting people.

Flores has suddenly come into the coffee limelight with the latest notable origin.
Flores Coffee is described by experts as being, heavy bodied,sweet, chocolaty, floral(of course)with woody notes.It is not yet listed at Starbucks menus in Jakarta.

Cocoa planted by smallholders is gradually being converted to coffee, as it is seen to be a more attention-getting and a better cash crop for now. Flores plantations that lie mainly on the Indian Ocean side of the island in the provinces of Bajawa produce just under 1000 tons of dried cocoa beans.Some fermentation is done on the island.

It is safe to conclude that Flores cocoa beans would have as much an exotica value and fine flavors and aroma to match the coffee. Purists like De Vries may find it worth days of journeying, dodging Giant Rats and Komodo Dragons, to discover some excellent beans. But they better hurry.

HEALTHY CHOCOLATE,NON-CRUMBLE COOKIES AND GORRILAS.

2008-09-07T17:22:00.011+07:00

This is going to be a specially good week for chocolates and snacks. On September 8 following a surge of more healthy food trends, Mars will announce a set of nutritional improvements to it core chocolate range in the UK with benefits that will spread globally in due course.

The famous MARS bar along with Twix, Milky Way and Snickers(which is available here in Indonesia) will all become free of preservatives, flavourings and artificial colours.All these product packs will also feature clearer nutritional labelling with guidelines of daily amounts of calorie, salt,sugar and fat intakes.

Milky Way, Maltesers, MARS and twix will contain less than 100 calories each.

ASDA's bakery team has discovered the non-crumble cookie even when you dunk i9t into your coffee. It will retain its shape even after it hits any liquid you happen to be sipping, even hot chocolate.

It took nine months to develop this cookie from a combination of oats and honey.

Cadbury has brought back the "GORILLA" and "TRUCKS" which were absolutely delightful in a 17million English Pounds campaign breaking on 5th September.The ads promote Cadbury's big claim of "Glass and a Half Full Production". You can view these great ads at www.aglassandahalffullpromotions.com.

THE BIG ARCHEPELAGO FAMILY

2008-09-07T08:09:00.015+07:00

I have been jostling to put Indonesia and particularly Java on the professional chocolate map in my Blogs.I am pleased it has evoked some interest. Several readers have mailed me to tell more about Indonesia. "What's the country really like?" What they mean is, tell us something about the romance and spirit of your country that the Internet can't.

The most amazing thing about Indonesia, which even as an Indonesian I can never cease to marvel at,is its spirit of family. It reflects in its geography. Imagine 1700 scattered islands that lie between the Indian and Pacific oceans now calls itself one big Indonesian family. Admittedly in the 63 years of independence, there have been a few(indeed less than you can count on one hand)problems of integration. Indonesia now is the biggest knit family of islands in the world. The area in length stretches as far as from San Francisco to the Bahamas. And almost equally as broad.

The family spirit transcends the 24different ethnic groups and some 700 dialects. My wife's grandmother from Central Java speaks no Indonesian nor English(the second language in most schools). I don't speak her dialect which is Javanese(which is derived from Sanskrit). However family feelings prevail and she thinks that I am a jolly good sort of fellow.

Togetherness and family loyalty seems to be inbred into our psyche. Land at our airport. It is called Sukarno-Hatta International Airport. It is named after the first President and Vice President of Indonesia. One was demagogue. The other a quiet scholarly man. A very unlikely pair as you can find. Yet together, forever in all probability.

If you arrive on a Sunday, you see immediately, motorcycles carrying entire families whizzing around, taking the air or simply going for a spin. On a single motorcycle is not unusual to find father(the driver) mother, one child in front and two between father and mother. Perhaps even grandma behind mother deftly balanced on the licence plate.

The motorcycle is transportation during weekdays and family vehicle during weekends. The more affluent cram entire families into the APVs and take of to the mountains, 3 hours away or to the malls around almost every corner in the bigger cities. The humbler use bicycles for the same purpose. If I attempt to describe their weekend use I fear you may not believe me.

At weekends it is delightful to watch Indonesian families at lunch in restaurants. Tables are hastily joined together by the waiters and the family of a dozen of so take their places. Grandpa and grandma have the places of honour. The children are send to the restaurant play area(almost all family restaurants have a play area)to go completely berserk.

In a family it is also fascinating to see the differences between members. There will one or two devout Muslims with head scarfs,a "punk" rocker with Mohawk haircut dyed brilliantly pink, a serious fellow who could be an investment manager at Goldman Sachs, a stunningly pretty mother, a teenage son carefully modelled after Harry Potter and a teenage daughter examining her split ends with concern.

The "chief organiser" an efficient faced woman determines what goes to whom. She decides who get the last fried prawn, who should eat more greens and who should stay away from the fried potato patties.Her husband,obviously a civil servant, with years of practice to his credit,passes out the dishes. A most diverse group but undoubtedly one happy family.

When they begin to dine some eat elegantly with their fingers and other daintily with cutlery. The table is laden with food.They eat heartily and appreciatively. Obesity is not yet a problem in Indonesia but there is concern about it.

When they finish and pass my family of four at our table, they smile kindly, sympathising at our sparsely laden table and tiny nuclear family.We smile and nod back not without some envy.

We spoil our children no end. We allow then to stay up late. Let them watch Disney channel and Cartoon Network whenever they wish. They shout, they scream their guts out.

When they grow up we send them off to universities in the USA or Australia and sit back with relief and fan ourselves. They come back and look after us. Pile us in their shiny new APVs and take us to the mountains and treat us to lavish meals for the rest of our lives. There is no talk about old aged homes, ever.

In spite of their riotous behaviour at home our children behave almost impeccably in school. Schools are usually very peaceful places and envied by teachers from other countries.Everything goes nice and orderly by the bell.

Indonesia, you must have often heard is 80% Muslim. The rest of the population of some 240 million, are Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and others.However it a secular country. Every Friday the mosques fill and their prayers reverberate throughout the 17,000 islands. A Christian like myself has the comforting feeling of being surrounded by prayers. On Sunday the churches are packed and if you are a little late there is only standing space at the back.

There are undoubtedly differences of opinion but more often than not the one family spirit prevails. We are now in the Holy month of Ramadan, when Muslim fast from sunrise and there is much getting together of the people of different faiths to break the fast at sunset. The church I attend even lays out a break-the-fast buffet in their grounds and invites the neighbourhood.

The economic powerhouse of the country, are the small household industries. They are very much family businesses. Father, mother aunt and cousins pitch together to make everything from jewellery to clothes. Other family type businesses run hair salons,tiny neighbourhood shops,sofa-cleaning,electrical and plumbing services. Some are in the entertainment business, providing clowns,rock bands and surprising good jazz bands and magicians for birthday and wedding parties.Or to entertain the district head when he visits.

By far the mast active family industry is food. Which is not surprising because every known spice and herb grows in this archipelago. There there are as many recipes as there are entrepreneurs.It is estimated that about 60% of the population has some connection to the food industry. If you are visiting, this is instantly visible. Streets abound with restaurants of all sizes and kinds, cafes,push carts and tents.Each one runs busily on the energy of the whole family.

For a fact I know, from a data base, some 16,000 families in Java's main cities work with food involving chocolate.They are contributing in making chocolate the most favoured and fastest growing flavour in Indonesia.

It was this family power that made the country resilient during the Asian Economic Crisis. The people's cash value suffered but their cash flow kept above the troubled waters.To keep this industry powered, cash to the tune of about $40million per year flows in from Indonesians working abroad as nannies,maids, construction workers and others, to their families mainly in the villages and rural areas.

Nationwide everyone calls each other"brother" or "sister".Drive into a gas station and the attendant calls you "Abang"(Older brother)In a restaurnat you hail the waiter with "Mas"( brother).When you come across someone older, who you address gently either as "Pa" or "Bu".You may safely call a girl,"Mbak"(sister).If you are in trouble, help is spontaneous, no questions asked.Indonesians are very generous to each other.Needs are quickly covered with cash or food.

It stands to reason that if you are good to your own family, you are also kind to visitors. Tourists love the islands of Indonesia because they are indeed cared for and treated almost as much as we do for members of our own family. But you must expect some reserve. We are still quite shy and in awe of foreigners who tend to speak louder than we do.

COCOA FROM SUMATRA

2008-09-05T15:22:00.005+07:00

You hear very little about Sumatra at cocktail parties. Yet there is enough on this island to replenish thousands of cocktail parties.

Sumatra is the largest and northern most of Indonesia's 17,000 islands. It resembles the head of a crocodile, lying in wait at the edge of the Indian ocean to devour the Malay Peninsula.

Sumatra is 470,000square kilometers and 1,790 Kim long.That makes it the sixth largest island in the world. It is inhabited by 45 million people.It it also home to 201 mammals and 580 bird species. Interesting residents include the Sumatran Tiger,Sumatran Rhinoceros,the Sumatran Elephant and the Sumatran Orang Utan.

It is separated from Java by the mysterious sounding Sunda Straits home once home of Krakatoa which blasted itself out of existence with shock waves that reached as far as the Californian coast.Another valcano rose from this spot. It is called "Anak Krakatoa" or the "Child of Karkatoa"

Its backbone of mountains reaching from far south to far north peak at some 3800 meters above sea level. This peak is an active volcano.

Sumatra was first populated in 500BC by Austronesian speaking people. In a remarkable short space of history it soon became a maritime power and even a reputed centre of learning. In 671, the Chinese Philosopher I-Ching studied Sanskrit here before sailing on to India. It was once know as "Swamadwipe", which translates as "Island of Gold".

On 26th December a 15 meter high Tsunami devastated the north of the island, Acheh.

Sumatra abounds with so many thrilling names that seem todrop out of the pages of Conrad's novels: Jambi, Palembang, Bengkulu, Pekanbaru, Lampung, Martapura, Manna, Peatangsiantar. The island is divided into half by the equator on which sits a town called Sangkalan. Of which little is known. But obviously a lot can be made of, for at least fifty or so cocktail parties.

This island provides Starbucks with a prized coffee. Which Starbucks describes as "full, syrupy body, intense and spicy, herbal with almost no acidity."

Of importance of some readers of my Blog, from Europe and the United States, Sumatra provides the world with a fine, small amount of cocoa(about 60,000 tons) from 64,000 ha of planted area, largely owned by small holders. Most of the cocoa is grown north of the island. Unlike Sulawesi, beans from Sumatra are processed.

If Geography is flavour, Sumatra beans are exotic,languorously spicy, herbal, with a strong sense of being related to Sumatra's famous coffee.Its aroma teases.It would make some very sensual pralines.Well worth an artisan's touch.

IT'S GOT A NICE FEELING ABOUT IT.

2008-09-03T13:11:00.010+07:00

We chocoholics are sensitive people. Especially to things that have a good feeling about it. For this reason we call two happenings this week, Chocolate Diplomacy. A pleasant surprise, a relaxing sigh and a good after taste.

Today French President Nicolas Sarkozy flies to Damascus to shake hands with Syrian President Bashar Assad with the wonderful intention of restoring relations.France currently being head of the European Union, this meeting is certainly significant.

Chocoholics appreciate any peacemaking. Damascus is a unique city. Founded around 6000BC is the longest inhabited city in the world. It has a relatively small population of 1.67million and more than 10 confectionery , chocolate and chewing gum manufacturers. The largest manufacturer is probably Swareen Chocolates. Their chocolate products are found in Europe, Middle East and Asia.

On Friday Condeleeza Rice will shake hands with Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. What a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately she will miss the Libyan Chocolate, Coffee, Tea Trade Fair to be held later this year. Probably this is a great chance for Hersheys and Mars to participate in the Fair and spread the pleasant after taste still further and strengthen the bonds. By December Rice will be back at the University and George Bush back at the ranch.

Naturally I searched for chocolate manufacturers in Libya. Unfortunately while there are importers, there doesn't seem to be any anyone manufacturing chocolate.

There is a dubious link with chocolate and Libya. Ronald Dahl, the writer of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Dahl crashed into the Libyan desert in I940, when he was a RAF fighter pilot. Fortunately he survived to write our book.

BELGIAN CHOCOLATE.

2008-09-01T17:51:00.007+07:00

Isn't it quite amazing that we chocoholics here in Indonesian actually know very little about Belgium and Belgian Chocolate. Particularly since we have been told by people whose opinions we respect and by chocolatiers who have come this way that Belgian chocolates are the best in the world.

I have actually never disputed it being a person who likes to give the benefit of the doubt to authoritative people.My curiosity was tickled when I heard of Bernard van der Haegen. This gentlemen, a Belgian, actually has brought Belgian Chocolates to Mongolia! He has brought the art of making Belgian style chocolate, truffles, pralines and tablets to Ulan Bator.What missionary zeal!

Then I when I was browsing through Patricia Schultz's "1000 places you should visit before you die" I discovered that the lady recommends that I visit Mary's. Mary's is of course a chocolatier in Belgium. "It looks like a refined jeweller"' says Schultz.
Mary"s supplies the royal court of Belgium with their chocolates. The chocolates which begins from $35 a kilogram are probably what Frederick Shilling was referring to;" You can deprive the body but the soul needs chocolate."

Belgium to me was till recently a place where Europeans, historically, have used as a battleground. I suspect it still is, for it houses the European Parliament and NATO.I am gratified to learn that it produces over 170,000 tons of handmade chocolate a year from some 2000 establishments. WOW! What a paradise!

I am told that Belgian fritters are also famous.

COCOA FROM SULAWESI.

2008-08-30T10:09:00.004+07:00

Sulawesi is one of the 17,340 islands of Indonesia. From the air is looks somewhat like an octapus with four large tentacles. It is surrounded by beautiful waters full of marine life and coral reefs which make it a world class diving destination.

With land area of 174,600square kilometers is is the 11 largest island in the world with a populationof 16million. An island of much spectacle in views and culture is also home of Asian and Australasian species.Much of the flora and fauna do not exist out of Sulawesi.

Many of us will know Sulawesi by Starbucks Sulawesi Coffee. It is a seasonal coffee with a heavy body and just a little spicy. But Sulawesi is really famous for being of a world supplier of cocoa beans. Sulawesi beans are usually unfermented, bulk beans used as fillers with other fermented beans.

Sulawesi produces about 400,000 metric tons of cocoa beans and products( almost 80% of Indonesia production, including Java and Sumatraq.

Sulawesi cocoa beans are produced by small holder farmers on .5 to 1.5 hectacres of farms.Each farm produces between 400 to 800kg per hectacre.Sulawesi have some of the highest cocoa bean yields in the world and one of the largest areas in production. About two million people on Sulawesi are dependant on cocoa beans for their livlihood.

Farmers sell to collectors on motorbikes. Collectors sell to traders. Traders sell to local exporters. Small amounts go to local processors. 80% of the Sulawesi beans are sold by five multi-national affliate exporters in Sulawesi:EDF & Man, Olam, Cargill, ADM and Continaf. They in turn sort and grade and sell to buyers in US, Malaysia,Singapore and Brazil. There are also processors and manufacturers locally, one of the largest being Effem(Mars). Once out of Indonesia Indonesian cocoa beans become part of the global trade in cocoa.

Sulawesi cocoa beans are traded as "Sulawesi FAQ" in the New York Commodities Exchange.

Sulawesi farmers get about 80% of the export value of the beans as against 50%-60% in West Africa. There is no exploitation of children in the Indonesian cocoa trade.

The major problems which effect yield and quality is disease, (Cocoa Pod Borer) and the traditional methods used by small holder farmers. However with much support from government, World Cocoa Foundation, international and local institutions and processors and manufacturers farmers field schools are being set up. A pilot on Fermentationis being set up in Bali and disease control practices are being implemented.

Sulawesi is a most picteresque island. Created specially for two kinds of hiking, along the intricate coastline or inland into the central mountainous regions and the 2,290sq km national park. It was also created for the best experiences you can imagine in snorkling or deep diving.

MORE ABOUT OLYMPIANS.

2008-08-29T08:37:00.003+07:00

It's good modern day Olympians enjoy chocolate. Ancient Olympians did not have that privilege and had to work much harder on their diets. This piece of information comes from National Geographic 2004. It relates an account by Theodorus of Hierapolis.

Milon of Croton was an ancient Olympian wrestler. He used to eat 9kilograms of meat and as much of bread. He drank three pitchers of wine. At Olympia, he carried a four year bull on his shoulders, carried it around the stadium. After this he cut it up and ate it all alone in a single day.

Fortunately we have chocolate for our Olympians today.

OF COURSE HE DOES !

2008-08-28T16:37:00.004+07:00

Yes Usain Bolt, the Jamacian Olympic gold medallist, loves clowning, grimacing at television cameras, running the 100 meters with unfastened shoes. He even slowed down during the 100 meter sprint to see if there was anyone close. There wasnt. He won in the best time ever, 9.69secs. He smashed the 200meter record with 19.67.

And yes, he loves chocolate. He likes to chew on chocolate nuggets and sleeping instead of training, reported the People's Daily.

CHOCOLATE IN RUSSIA

2008-08-28T15:10:00.005+07:00

Until today I thought Red October was a submarine commanded by Sean Connery. An email from a Russian citizen informed me that it was the largest confectionery and chocolate manufacturer in Russia. It has 15 retail outlets in Moscow alone. I was also reprimanded because I never mentioned Russia as a country of chocolate lovers. I am told that Russia is the third largest confectionery market in Europe and the fourth largest in the world after USA, Germany and the UK.

The average per annum consumption of confectionery products in Russia was 17kg per capita. Confectionery is produced in the region of 2.6million tons per year. A ripping 37% growth since 2000. The market value, according to experts is close to US$4 billion.

In the confectionery market, pastries take 57%, chocolate 25% and the rest goes to candies including chocolate confectionery.

The chocolate is however the most rapidly developing. Volume grown today is estimated at 550,000 tons with a growth of about 2,5% annually and the monetary growth registering 20% annually. This indicates a trend among consumers towards higher quality chocolates.

The top two chocolate manufacturers are Russian. After Red October(wonderful name!)is Babayersky Confectionery OAO. Nestle is number three. There are other international manufacturers like Mars, Kraft andUnited Bakers.

There is a spate of chocolate boutiques opening in Moscow and the other major cities. My friend tells me his favourite is the Guylian, a small cosy chocolatier and cafe. The "Guylian Breakfast' being his favourite. It consists of rolls and fresh baked bread made with Guylian chocolate dough, orange juice and a hot chocolate or choice of other beverages. Tri Piroga(Three Pies) is another interesting patisserie and chocolate boutique.

INDOOR CHOCOLATE?

2008-08-27T13:24:00.007+07:00

Interesting trends in Jakarta worth noting! Restaurateurs tell me that more people are staying at home these days. More people are staying home these days, say the Movie people. In my area more people are buying DVDs.

Adding up I wondered if these trends were doing anything to chocolate. A retailer who didn't want to be named said,that in the last three months sales of moulded chocolates had gone up be 12%. Chocolate confectionery multi-packs upped by nearly 5%. So are soft drinks, snacks(modern and local).

The general opinion is that more people are tending to stay home, and enjoy in-home entertainment, rather than go out for "expensive" diversions.

Cross selling, said the retailer, would be an ideal strategy to take advantage of this trend.

Small and home businesses can also cash in on this trend.

SOME DOWNSIDES ELSEWHERE

Prices of chocolate bars and snacks are trending upwards in US and Europe and we fear it may trickle down here in Indonesia. The reasons are the higher prices of nuts, cocoa and fuel of course. Mars and Hersheys have pushed up prices by 12% and 11% respectively. Cadbury in the Pacific Region, closer home, has announced downsizing to refocus on their chocolate business.

INTERESTING TEAM-UP

An interesting team-up has been brought to my attention with an email. A strategy and a concept use able on a small scale or big. This one is very big. It has nothing to do with chocolate but it is interesting for chocoholics to think about.

Unilever, Pepsi-Co and Starbucks have joined forces to produce Ready-To-Drink teas.
Of course I don't mean that chocoholics and chocolatiers should look at team-ups to produce something as mundane as chocolate drinks but something things chocolate that are sparse on our shelves.

CHOCOLATE FOR MORONS?

2008-08-26T14:29:00.004+07:00

Many food companies, including chocolates, advertise to children and teens. After all they are the ideal advertising audience. They are receptive, influential with their friends and parents, and have a whole lifetime of purchasing ahead of them.

Recently, parents have been worried about the influence of advertising on obesity among children. In some parts of the world food companies have complied with regulatory bodies on the content of advertisements that are aimed at children. Obesity is also a problem that the parents can help with by supervising the calorie and type of food intake of their children.

What is really difficult is when food companies advertising, including that of chocolate, influence children to be "fatheads"- plain dumb!This is more difficult for parents to control or tackle because it often needs complex explanations.

This week, I saw the most moronic chocolate wafer television advertisement ever. On prime children's time. This 30 second advertisement showed an imbecile, unshaven and obviously unwashed,being fed in bed by two giggling women, on strawberries dipped in chocolate. It didn't seem to do much for the imbecile as he continued to have a blissful imbecilic expression throughout. The advertisement was for a strawberry flavoured chocolate wafer.

Can you imagine chocolate that is scientifically proven to improve the cognitive and learning shills seems to have had no effect on the manufacturer, the advertising agency or the cast in this television advertisement. Obviously an imitation.

Here,s where the manufacturer and his agency has misread their audience. A child of five is already deft with the computer. He or she has been exposed to good tasteful programmes on television(if parents are wisely choosing the channels and programmes).
They can rationalise, they can evaluate, they can be unreceptive if they choose.A bad advertisement is a rude and ugly intrusion into a child's experience.

An advertisement, especially on television is bad when it is cheap to look at. Obviously cheap to produce. When it is ugly. When it is untrue.
It is bad when it conveys no message of value,or is confusing or irrational message to a child or a teen.And when it does the product undeserving harm.
It is bad especially when it undermines the child's belief on what is good from all his or her points of view.

There are fortunately very good chocolate and chocolate candy ads with slick, easy messages. It's not too difficult for right down, chocolate is the ideal taste for a fun and relaxing moment. It's a clean, every body's environment friendly story.

CHOCOLATE AND MUSIC.

2008-08-26T07:17:00.004+07:00

A email from a classical music lover asked me to say something in my Blog about the Brahms Concert by our famous Nusantara Symphony Orchestra tonight. Why, I asked. Because, she said that people who read my blogs in Jakarta, were not just chocoholics but classical music lovers. I was tremendously flattered of course. Why why not, so far chocolate has been associated with many of the good things of life.

The Nusantara Symphony Orchestra is our oldest, most famous, orchestra in Indonesia. It has enjoyed much acclaim from visiting conductors and music ans. Tonight the Orchestra will be conducted by the eclectic Hikotaro Yazaki. Yazaki who impacted this region for his recent taking the Requiem to new emotive heights in the memory of Princess Galyani of Thailand.

Tonight's concert will present Brahms Piano Concerto No1, Opus15, in D Major and Symphony No2 Opus73 in D major.

The pianist is Jun Komatsu, graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. She as you may know is also the winner of the Palma d'Or.

Discreet enjoyment of chocolate will not be frowned upon. Don't take noisy packaging with you.

There are some connections of chocolate and music. I am not stretching to make a point. Both are known to be relaxing to the brain. Both stimulate some kind of brain activity(you have already heard of the Mozart Effect).Classical Music it is claimed, offers short-term improvements to the spatio-temporal reasoning. Chocolate rich in flavonals encourages learning and memorising. Music researchers say has transformational powers in health, education and well being. The same has indeed been said of chocolate.Both Classical Music and Chocolate make you better disposed towards others and towards the world in general.

So do attend tonight's concert. And come back home and have a hot cocoa.

HEALTHY EATING FOR CHILDREN

2008-08-25T09:12:00.004+07:00

I had a very interesting email from the United Kingdom from educator Georg Janssen who is involved at school level on the project I am going to describe below.

In early 2007, Northern Foods, Nestle and Cargill funded a primary school project called "PhunkyFoods." This is a curriculum based programme which provides weekly lesson plans for children in primary school groups.All lesson materials are written and developed by nutritionists and educationalists. The funding partners are not involved in the formulation of lessons at all.

The purpose is to help children in their current and future well-being and health.They will be guided to start off in life with a better understanding of healthy eating and the importance of active and balanced lifestyles. Without loosing out on the fun aspects of eating and snacking.

Georg tells that naturally an emphasis is placed on the snacks children tend to buy themselves with pocket money or which parents buy on supermarket trips. The programme actually began trials in 2005. The Northern Foods, Nestle and Cargill began their funding, after noting the success of the project, in 2007.

Health trends among chocolatiers in the UK seem to be gathering force. In September 8, this year Cadbury will launch Dairy Milk Canberry and Granola and Dairy Milk Apricot Crumble bars. The new flavours were selected with consumer insights into health, taste and nutritional and energy values.

On snacks Pringle has launched Rice Infusions, Hula Hoops have come up with Multigrain. Kit Kat, introduced, or will do so shortly, bring out Red Berry, Mango and Passion Fruit. Rowntree will launch more sugar-free snacks by using natural flavours and colours.

In Indonesia researchers says that there is more concern on health issues particularly on that of children.Principals of schools have shown concern of increasing cases of obesity among children under 10years. Some have indicated high interest in a regular curriculum based programme in primary schools on healthy eating and snacking.It will certainly be kicked off in October in the school which my children attend.

An additional prat of the curriculum, tried here in Indonesia, will be on how not to be "priced out" of healthy eating and snacking. This is naturally focused on low-income families or those with tight budgets.

DOES MICHAEL PHELPS EAT CHOCOLATE?

2008-08-22T06:44:00.005+07:00

Like all chocoholics i wondered about multiple gold medallist, swimmer, Michael Phelps' training diet and if it included chocolate. It was no easy task to track down this information but finally with a spot of luck I got it from the Sunday Times correspondent.

Michael Phelps daily intake is, believe it or not, 12,000 calories. Six times that of an average male requirement.His breakfast seems to be, as it should, his biggest and most important meal. It consisted of servings that included, porridge, three fried eggs, a five egg omelets, fried onion, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, French Toast and, here it comes three chocolate chip pancakes. He does not seem to consume any dessert for lunch or dinner.

I wont go into the recipe of the Phelps pancakes here. But no doubt, they being honest-to-goodness pancakes, will contain among the other ingredients, eggs, butter, buttermilk and probably a very liberal sprinkling of chocolate chips. A nutritionist tells that that one such pancake, wide as the inside of a plate would be around 300 to 350 calories.

All this brings to mind that the Swiss eat the most amount of chocolate in the world, nearly11kg per person per year. Wonder where Roger Federer gets his energy from? And very pleased to see that he is certainly not obese.

AFFORDABLE LUXURY CHOCOLATE.

2008-08-21T07:09:00.003+07:00

I was just beginning to get seriously worried that chocolate will indeed be beyond the wallets of ordinary Joes, when I recalled Steven De Vries. Chocoholics will know De Vries as the man who took chocolate a hundred years back at his factory and shop in Denver Colorado, USA. A long way from Java Island but his existence is reassuring.

De Vires began by working closely with small plantations in Mexico, Costa Rica and Venezuela. Being a small artisan manufacturer he goes directly to small growers with very good beans. But in such small quantities that they don't interest the big manufacturers who have to buy big. De Vries goes to growers that grow on ten acres or less and produce one to two tons of dried beans per year.

He hit upon the artisan technique when he was in Costa Rica seven years ago. He brought back 30 kilos of dried beans in his bags. He roasted some in his oven. Peeled them by hand and ground them in an old grain grinder. The chocolate that emerged was gritty but full of "complex" flavours that he had never tasted before. He decided that he was not going to miss out in the "complexity and intensity" of these chocolate flavours in the production of his chocolates.

De Vires inspired by his "discovery" took classes in chocolate making in California, scoured libraries throughout the country and all the way to Amsterdam and Spain. He visited dozens of chocolate factories. He says that he discovered that the people who made the best chocolates used the oldest equipment. With slower operating speeds and lower temperatures the old machines, he says, nurture flavour development.

De Vries monitors the first crucial points of processing. He does not want the beans ever to be rushed. Fermentation and sun drying stretches over two weeks. Later low temperatures and slow roasting preserve the aromas that can be burned up by high temperatures. De Vries then winnows cracked shells by hand to avoid husk being blended with the chocolate.

De Vries's recipe is simple:77 percent cocoa. The rest is sugar."Dark and intense," says a reviewer,"it pushes the upper limits of portability." Lately he has begun to age his blocks of chocolate for two months before releasing them for sale.

In tasting sessions at Berkeley California, De Vries chocolate took top spots over the big, big names.

At the moment he has been sourcing from Mexico, Venezuela and Costa Rica. But he says, he is certain that many more flavours are currently available. I have made it a point to email him about cocoa beans in our region.

He has not blended beans yet. He says he has his hands full with single origin cocoas at the moment.

Finally, what does De Vries chocolates cost? He told an interviewer once that"Chocolate is the only product where the difference between a run-of-the-mill chocolate bar and the best chocolate is only about five bucks."

And since he says his aim is to make the best chocolate in the world, it is certainly reassuring for us ordinary Joes. It is wonderful if great chocolate can remain egalitarian.

SWEET SEPTEMBER IN SHANGHAI

2008-08-19T13:20:00.009+07:00

September is confectionery month in China. From 3rd to 5th September, three Fairs take place simultaneously in Shanghai: International Sweet & SnackTec China, Sweet China and World of Food China.

Four hundred and Fifty suppliers will be showing off their products and services over a 20,000 square meter exhibition space. The last such event in 2007 attracted 8,143 trade visitors from 69 countries. It featured 41 exhibiting companies from 9 countries.

The concept of holding events in parallel is based on the successful model of the ISM and ProSweets in Cologne.

German Sweets, VBZ(netherlands)OSEC(Switzerland)and the Japan Confectionery Association will make presentations at the Fair. Also participating are South Korea and the Malaysian Cocoa Board.

Very valuable synergy effects are beginning to rise from this parallel scheduling. The Fair also serves to draw attention of China manufacturers and Internationals based in China and Chinese exports initiatives the hinterland significance of South East Asia as the nearest and possibly the best supplier of raw and finished products and ingredients. Chinese importers can take advantage of free trade agreements between China and ASEAN.

With China's Chocolate confectionery market projected to climb 50% to $1.23billion by 2012, the demand for offshore ingredients and even consumer finished products is going to be significant.

Sales of these products are particularly high between November and Chinese New Year. Nearly 40 percent of total confectionery sales are for occasion gifts such as Christmas, Weddings, birthdays, Chinese New Year and of course Valentine's Day.

According to the Global Agriculture Information Network and USDA reports, the biggest markets are for speciality products with focus on Speciality Confectionery and Functional Confectionery. This is more evident along China's East coast.

The reports notes that demand for Functional Confectionery is due to the rise of diabetics- the unfortunate consequence to high income life style diets.

Vitamins, nuts, herbal ingredients are in demand. The Chinese consumer favours less sweet and less milky confectionery. Small elegant packaging is preferred with one or two pieces of candy or chocolates.This will allow weight conscious women women to restrict themselves. It is also preferred by parents who are conscious about their children's calorie intake.

US products are not popular due to their shorter shelf life and high sugar content.

We know that Indonesia has the resources both in processed ingredients and finished goods to meet China big appetite in all categories of chocolate confectionery needs.In recent months there have been encouraging announcements of more processing plants and even plantations to be set up to meet future requirements. While existing processors aim to increase output. We will have approximately a harvest of 790,000 tonnes to process this year.

China's appetite will set in motion tremendous surge in research and development of tastes, flavours, textures, recipes, nutrition and energy needs.This will require manufacturers here in Indonesia to look towards the development of more sophistication, combining science, technology and enterprise.

Indonesia is the fourth largest coffee producer with an expected output of some 687,450tonnes in 2008. Hopefully we will play a part in the Fairs'Coffee and Tea Zone.Not forgetting that these products are natural allies to cocoa.
But this is outside the scope of this Blog for the time being.

INDONESIA CELEBRATES.

2008-08-18T08:15:00.005+07:00

Indonesia celebrated it 63rd anniversary of Independence on Sunday 17Th August. In my community there was a lot of chocolate at our Traditional Foods Bazaar which was the main part of our celebrations. I sold 56 bars of Silver Queen Chunky(my best ever record in 6 hours) which is a 100gm long corrugated bar with lots of bite and mouth feel. Other stalls sold homemade chocolate tarts,chocolate biscuits,chocolate rice buns and various other chocolate pastries.

I paused a bit to consider,was chocolate really a traditional Indonesian food? I sell Silver Queen(among others), the brand which has dominated this market for over 50 years. There are numerous home industries that have been operating with chocolate for years.According to a manufacturer of chocolate ingredients, they have a list of over16,000 such industries in five major cities in Java. I have even had the privilege of visiting some of them recently. Traditions of chocolate at home and hearth are strong.

This country provides,what the World Cocoa Foundation says, is "an efficient, good quality 'bulk' beans and products supplier to World Markets." Their figures also say that we provide 16% of the World's Cocoa and Cocoa products market.

It is not perhaps a well known that the Petra Foods Group which has several manufacturing units in Indonesia( the Group,s heritage has strong Indonesian roots) is the third largest manufacturer of cocoa products in the world.

Exports of cocoa products by Indonesian processors is worldwide. BT Cocoa regularly supplies Cargill, Unicom International, Theobroma. Olam, Barry Callebaut among others.

Indonesian products even go to South America, if you forgive my cliche, is rather like shipping coals to Newcastle. A full circle completes! In the late 16 Century cocoa arrived from Caracas, Venezuela from Indonesia.

Indonesia cocoa development programmes include Farmer Field Schools, CPB Control, Applied Research. Pilot Activities Scaling up Successful Innovations and Improving Farm Level Incomes, Productivity and Quality.It may be possible that by 2020 Production could could double to one million metric tonnes, supplying a fifth of World market requirements.

I am a little envious of Vietnam's programme with the WCF Partnership. Here Long Lam University with WCF Funding has programmes of germplasm,breeding and setting up of demonstration plots on cocoa-agro systems.Plantations in Java have implemented cocoa-agro systems growing vanilla and other crops alongside cocoa. But it can be more wide spread and growing with research and technology guidance.

It must also be noted that Indonesian cocoa meets all the ethical and moral requirements of world trading.

WHAT REALLY IS JAVA?

2008-08-15T14:04:00.004+07:00

I had a few emails asking for more information on Java. And why is it so important, in my opinion,to chocolate? Well here is a lesson on Java.

It"s one of the 17,000 island of Indonesia. The most populated. About 124 million people live on this island which is approximately the size of the United Kingdom. It is 1300 km long and 300km broad at the widest point. It has a very impressive mountain range as a backbone with volcanoes; some live, some simmering and some dormant. This much perhaps, and the tourist attractions,you can get from the Internet if you search for Java, Indonesia.

But what the Internet does not tell you is that almost 60% of the Javanese are engaged in some way or other, big, medium and small, in the industry of preparing food to sell. Everyone in Java knows, some one involved in the food industry. My wife sells chocolates(of course) and recently health foods.Her uncle is in fried rice. Her aunt makes tempe. A C Neilsen, will give you nice categories of occupations which they say occupy the Javanese. But they don't mention the numbers engaged in the food industry.

Along any street in Java you see carts, makeshift tents, little hole in the wall establishments offering straight from the pan absolutely superb assortment of foods with intriguing combinations of tastes, flavours and textures and immensely satisfying for prices no more that $2.

Javanese work very hard at it. The street out of the housing complex, I live in,springs to life at 4am with offers of porridge, soups, noodles and rice dishes, the flavours and tastes of which,I guarantee, Ferran Adria or Heston Blumenthol, could not possibly imagine.

These establishments are depleted of their stock by 9am. At 11am a new crop,of similar establishments spring up to serve lunch. A bigger bunch of restaurants now winding into side lanes and car park spring up for dinner. Some switch menus at 11pm to serve some innovative suppers till 2am. You see this happenning all over Java.

These are separate from the posh air conditioned and chic sidewalk cafes, restaurant which often reach to the heavens of fine dining. There are in Jakarta, the capital city, over 3000 such institutions. This does not include McDonalds, Dunking Donuts, KFCs, Burger King, Wendy, etc etc.

Java is also home to the world largest instant noodle industry. Coming soon, the instant rice-porridge industry. All with a fascinating array of flavours and mixes.

Then there are the small snack industries; Home enterprises that compete with the numbers bakeries. I believe that Bandung, a hilltop city, about two hours drive from Jakarta, is the world's cap[ital of snacks. I all my travel I have never seen such a variety of snacking foods, baked, fried or steamed.

It is possible for each Javanese entrepreneur to stay in business, support their families(some send their sons and daughters to US and Australian universities to specialise or learn new trades) and be competitive because the backyard is simply alive and bristling with appropriate resources.

Java for centuries was the hub of the Spice Islands.Here exists every spice known to man, cloves, herbs,flavours, aromas, sugars, medicinal plants and other culinary treasures. There are notorious recipes from almost each of the 17,000 islands. There are also resources from the seas that surround these islands and 360million chickens strutting around.

Here came, among others, Ptolemy and Marco Polo. Indian, Arabs, Chinese, Malays, the Portuguese, Dutch and the English came. Nearly all of them stay long enough to blend their cuisines with the Javanese. The result is that there is lot to be inventive on.

Many of the recipes have been copied and taken inside the posh restaurants where they have been prepared with the "finest ingredients money can buy". But is not the same as sitting on precarious bum-hurting stools, under a canvas roof,with the perspiring cooking stirring up your breakfast or dinner, in a noisy sizzling wok hidden under a aromatic haze of smoke. So many of those copy cats have dropped out of the race and tried Italian or Turkish.

Coming back to chocolate, what makes Java so special is the unique soil of Java, the mighty amount of culinary resources and the inspiring inventiveness that hangs around like a holy aura. This is an ideal chocolate laboratory.

Java chocolate has made a small impact on the world scene. I particularly like a review on the l'artisan de Chocolate's Java. 72% cocoa. "An Indonesian on the wild side. Unlike anything in the chocolate world. Components of leather and bizarre peaty flavours.Suggestion of smoke and tobacco." Spicy and Satin smooth.

What possibilities and opportunities to start from.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH CHOCOLATE CAFES AND SHOPS?

2008-08-13T13:39:00.005+07:00

Chocolate cafes and shops, it would seem, out here anyway, have a high mortality rate.I have noticed this in Sydney(Australia), Singapore and also here in Jakarta. They come and go. At the best they linger on painfully or worse boringly.

Just the other I took a quick look at some outlets in Singapore. An extreme chocoholic I usually am enticed by chocolate cafes. But rarely go in preferring to watch surreptitiously. Perhaps it is because i preferred to keep this wonderful passion private. So as it often happens, late in life rather than sooner, I wandered into several. These are my conclusions:

1)I was overwhelmed with chocolate and thoroughly confused. At one place I was proudly told that there were more than 60 varieties. Another boasted of over 50. There were chocolates from almost everywhere. Green tea figured prominently.

2)The ambiance was exactly, I am afraid,what you would expect of a gourmet chocolate shop. Not quite comfortable and a trifle uneasy to be in.The service to a introvert like me was intimidating. It was, it seems, assumed that I was a chocolate moron. Which I rather resented because I was a chocolate expert having eaten chocolate daily for sheer pleasure for at least 40 years.I should know more about chocolate than people who simply make it.

3)I kept wondering if I should eat more than two and run the risk of ruining my appetite for a extremely promising Singapore lunch. The two I tasted where probably not top of the range of 60 or 50. In the late afternoon I wondered whether I should try one more and ruin a very promising Singapore dinner.

4)Somehow it didn't seem to be the right places to be in at the time. It kept on bring out a sense of launching into over indulgence.

One of my stops was at Max Brenner. It was like the other cafes, sparsely populated by customers. A powerful sense of chocolate and many choices. I felt, too much. With a lean Jakarta wallet, I also found it rather pricey. The first thing you notice here, is the lack of a friendly, chocolaty service.

Max and Brenner(two guys actually) didn't rate very high with customers. As many said they would definitely not come back as those who said they would. Both numbers were less that 20%. The others I visit did rate too well either. Out of 10, they like Max Brenner averaged at a polite 6.

If I were to start a Chocolate Cafe/Shop this is what I would do:

1) I would focus on a few specialities. Cakes, pastries and pralines These would be simply devastatingly superb. The menu would require no more space than a playing card.They would stay on the menu for as long as.....I will keep that a secret.

2)The shop will display no chocolate in glasses cases. I think to display wonderful
dignified chocolate behind glass is being rude to chocolate.

3) Instead I would have a superb minimalistic modern kitchen/factory open behind
floor to ceiling glass where customers may watch the real mystical excitement of chocolate being carefully crafted in splendid special masterpieces.

4)The place will be comfortable. Practical with white table linen and sparkling tableware.Providing a dignified setting to chocolate.
5)Beverages will be offered. A few. Specials of course. Not just chocolate but also tea, coffee and wine. I may experiment with one or two juice cocktails.

6)Service would be limited because the range offered is limited. But expert, brisk and friendly.

7) There will be a small in number and small in portion food menu, of other than chocolate. Emphasis o fish. So that customers can enjoy their chocolate as dessert if that is what they prefer. Of course if they simply have chocolate and well chosen wine. With cheese.

8) There will be no distractions. Customers will be encouraged to discover the art of interesting conversation with each other.

Do I have a model? Yeas I was impressed by one place I visited. They had only three types of cake. All Chocolate, Chocolate Banana Cake and Rum, Cherry and Chocolate. There were also three ice creams. All were superb. Yes I bought all three cakes(to take away).Rating of this place was high. They got an overall 8. Actually 10 for ambiance and 8.8 for service. It was called Awfully Chocolate and was at Vivocity, Singapore. I was told they have two outlets in Jakarta. I have yet to visit.

FAMOUS CHOCOLATE THIS WEEK

2008-08-12T14:44:00.003+07:00

I consider worth mention because it combines dark milk chocolate with goji berries and salt. Made by Vosges Haut-Chocolate is is called Vosges Goji Exotic. Vosges claim on their pack that their chocolates take you through a sensory journey of awareness of indigenous cultures through spices, herbs, roots, flowers, nuts and the obscure with chocolate. Now goji berries.

Goji berries, or the genuine one are found in Tibet and in areas of China. They have been known for centuries to increase energy levels, quality of sleep, mental activity, calness and concentration. They were used for 2500 years for anti-aging. What more do you want.

Vosges Goji Exotic is 41% cocoa, dark and milk chocolate and PINK HIMALAYAN SALT!
Vosges uses various salts for their chocolate such as smoked saltand grey sea salt. They have also used smoked bacon in their Vosges Bacon Exotic.I have emailed them about our own Java Sea Salt that come in rock crystals and Bali Salt.

CHUAO VS JAVA.

2008-08-11T22:00:00.003+07:00

Laughable of course to most chocolatiers. Chuao comes from a plantation in Choroni, along Venezeula's Caribbean coast. That much I knew. To get more Paul Lewis, a writer with the Guardian, who travelled to Choroni, helped.

As you approach this village in a large valley, the arid scent of fermenting beans shows you the way. A small pretty village of nicely painted houses and a church. They produce about 20 tonnes of cocoa beans a year. It costsabout $12 a kilo. It is a cash windfall for the families that live here. I some places bits that trickle out are sold for about $15 a kilo. The chocolate that it produces is sold for about $20 per 50gm.

Chuao is genetically "pure" Criollo". It was in the early stages abadoned in favour of the more hardy forastero bean. Pure Criollo softer, more aromatic,was neglected. But experts say that this species, like gold dust, still thrives in rainforests in Madagascar, the Carribbean islands and Mexico.

It used to be believed that Chuao has something in the soil, a unique combination of minerals.But it is more likely that the secret of Chuao beans is its inherited methods of growth, fermentation and drying. It is also people. They do as they have been doing for hundreds of years. They keep it small.

It makes me envious. I recall a plantation i recently visited near Ciajur, near Bandung. AS you approach the scent of fermenting beans overwhelms you. Very vinigarish.

Java riollo, as is planted here is also known as red Java. It was imported from Caracas, Venezuela in 1888. This plantation produced about 900kg a ha. With a total crop of 15 tons. In a wet year the crop could be more. Here it certainly looks like the methods of growing, fermenting and drying hasnt changed for years.

Does any great chocolatier use Java. I asked the best I know, Bonnat who produce atop the French Chartreuse Alps.One of the oldest factories in the world. Indeed they use Java cocoa. They produce a 100gm chocolate bar called Bonnat Java 65% Dark Milk Chocolate which is described as "a powerful blond cocoa coming from the Indonesian island of Java. The taste is unique with a creamy sensation on your palate,"

I suspect Java cocoa needs more PR.

CHOCOLATE GOES EAST?

2008-08-10T08:08:00.010+07:00

I was gripped by Bill Emmott's admonishment of Barrack Obama,in last week's Sunday Times, "Europe is for wimps. Tough guys go East."

My mind being one track related it to things chocolate and cocoa. Indeed it seems that chocolate is trending East Ironically it seems that most of the moves are made by the Europeans proving perhaps they are less wimp than we may be.

"Chocolate Challenges" Report says that chocolate consumption in Asia Pacific is growing at a rate of 25% a year. Manufacturers from the West are using new strategies to introduce their products and strategic tie-ups with local networks.

Cadbury, Nestle, Dove, Golden Monkey, Hershey"s have already established local ties. Barry Callebaut starts production with a capacity of 25,000 tonnes at Suzhou. This city is close to Shanghai where chocolate consumption per head is one kg(China per head is 100gm).

China, interesting also seems to go for quality. A new legislation will require that products with more than 5% vegetable fat will need to be labelled as containing cocoa substitutes.

Confectionery New Product Development reports that in 2007, 30% of new confectionery was launched in Asia Pacific second to Europe with 30%.Asia now stands at 17% of the world's cocoa consumption. If forecasts are right the chocolate cultural hub should move somewhere East.

Switzerland is the hub of the chocolate eating world. If it moves East where it it be?China, India, Singapore? I think the answer is coming to be clearer. It must be Indonesia.

Yesterday Merrill Lynch"s Lionel Neave announced the launch of the Gulamerah Fund. Though the name implies Palm Sugar, the Fund is all about chocolate. It aims at raising S$30million to plant cocoa plantations in Java, around Sukabumi(150years there were cocoa plantations here), Jember(close to the Cocoa Research Station) and elsewhere. Neave has been very successful in Cambodia with other crops.

Also not so long ago the Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangestu(who is reported to love chocolate) announced that Indonesia will work with the Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of the European Union(COABISCO) in developing cocoa based industries here. COABISCO recently visited Indonesian cocoa plantations and cocoa based industries here.

In Feburary Antara reported that PT. Uniflora would invest $2billion in a cocoa processing plant, in Serang, Banten.

These ambitions are not new. Three year ago Piter Jasman , Chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association(Askindo)proposed that cocoa exports look east towards ASEAN and China, pointing out that they are nearer and have large populations, with obviously great appetites for chocolate.

Indonesia is ideally placed to be the cocoa/chocolate hub, both functionally and culturally, in the Asia Pacific region. Indonesia produces about 450,000 MT of cocoa each year. About $700million in value. The country is the third largest producer of cocoa in the world. About 400,000 smallholders working on an average of 0.5ha to 1.5ha earn their livelihoods from cocoa. Eighty-five percent of Indonesian cocoa is grown in Sulawesi. The beans exports are unfermented, bulk beans and low cost and is used as a filler with fermented beans by chocolate manufacturers. Some have learned to use it skillfully.

The government has kept a hands off policy with cocoa and that ha actually befefitted the Indonesian farmer who can expect 75-85% profit from export prices as opposed to West African farmers who earn 50-60%.

Indonesia has very competitive advantages. It closer to the vast cocoa and chocolate potential.It has low cost high production capacity, efficient infrastructure and open trading. The cocoa value chain has also experienced phenomenal growth in the last decade. The free trade agreement between China and ASEAN will also be an advantage.

Java has the technology, science, the resources for innovation, expertise and experience and some of the giants in cocoa processing and chocolate manufacturing.

Java bring procurement closer to suppliers and manufacturers located closer to their markets. It then becomes cost beneficial.

We also have an appropriate location, historically rich Jogjakarta , a confluence of many cultures and one capable of absorbing a chocolate too. Surrounded by notable universities, an creative population and a very popular governor. Wat does it entail?

1) It requires learning. Setting up a Faculty of Chocolate at a university. To study the enormous possibilities of chocolate globally and towards the development of tastes, textures and flavours appealing to consumers in Asia Pacific, with focus on using backyard resources. And growing with trends because chocolate and cocoa development will never slow down.

For the university it can turn into commercial possibilities. Charles Stuart University in Australia made their own wine and cheese. And enterprisingly export their products.

2) Create a kind of Astor Center (modelled after New York"s)where the finest chocolate, food, nutrition experts can discourse share and demonstrate all aspects of their passion.

3) Set up a interactive, taste and experience oriented chocolate museum. Probably on location in a plantation.

4) Set up a carefully studied and researched chocolate cafe with franchise possibility. Carefully because it can be a venture fraught with some discouraging problems as Max Brenner in Singapore is experiencing.

5)Relate to the tourist industry and export potential of resources gained.

I will take up each of these points in future blogs.
It is a simple and feasible start and I hope some initiatives come along.

CHOCOLATE AT THE OLYMPICS

2008-08-06T06:47:00.005+07:00

At what is going to be the grandest Olympics ever, Chocolate will be participating. Snickers has been appointed the Official Chocolate of the Beijing Olympics. This rich chocolate bar studded generously with peanuts will provide athletes, officials and spectators will the energy they are going to need. In Indonesia, Snickers distributed by Nirwana Lestari, will in Indonesia shy away from any publicity.

The China English Language Daily reports the some athletes have included chocolate as part of their training diet. Among them are swimmers, Australian Libby Trickett and American Katie Nott. The latter preferring a peanut-brittle bar coated with chocolate.

The Swiss Embassy will be holding a chocolate exhibition of their products during the Games. Hershey's, though not officially connected will be running an interesting and involving promotion supporting the US athletes, called"Taste of Victory".

George Bush, getting int right, send off the US Olympic team with a dinner at the White House.
For dessert the President served the "Chocolate Olympic Torch"- a dark chocolate tart with raspberries and a brown-sugar Olympic flame.

CNN reports that taxi drivers in Beijing have nicknamed the city, "Chocolate City" because of the large presence of Africans.

In the meantime chocolate consumption in China is increasing, according to conservative estimates at 8% per annum, and by 15% by other estimates. With the current percapita consumption at 100-150gm there is obviously great opportunities. In Shanghai it is one kilogram of chocolate per head per year. If the Chinese in the Eastern, affluent seaboard cities alone, eat as much chocolate as the Japanese(2.2kg) chocolatiers will have a potential of 800,000 metrics tons of chocolate per year.

That's why Barry Callebaut has set up a factory there(operational this year). That is why BT Cocoa of Indonesia have smartly networked themselves in the China chocolate market also taking advantage of the removal of import taxes.

The China chocolate market as a whole is the second biggest in the region, after Japan. China Food Industries says that the annual consumption worth CNY3billion is projected to reach CNY20billion(about USSIbillion) by 2012.

If this figure is reached it will make China the Gold Medal winner of the world chocolate race.

FAMOUS CHOCOLATE THIS WEEK.

2008-08-03T21:05:00.004+07:00

The chocolate dessert atop the dessert list at Fat Duck currently is Delice of Chocolate which everyone knows is Chocolate Sorbet cumin caramel.

I cant off hand tell you what the recipe is. But judging from Heston Blumenthol's masterpieces, it will be very simple but skillfully prepared. So the chocolate will turn out as if it were made in heaven

The difference in this sorbet is the cumin caramel. Blumentol usuaaly turns out a better caramel than mortals. Blended to this is probably cumin seeds, roasted in a dry pan. This will deliver a impactful cumin flavour to the caramel.

You can imagine the result when it crackles with the sorbet.

Finally I got to taste a morsel from the revered Pierre Marcolini. Some chocoholics may have heared of his exquisite lookingFor sexily tickling taste buds I persume. chocolate heart with gold leaf packed in a box worthy of Tiffany,which replaced diamonds last Valentine's day.

What I got to taste, with compliments from a pasrty chef at Ritz Carlton, Marshmally cube , handmade I was told, with chocolates fragments and sprinkled with little sparks of chocolate.
Marshmallows are difficult to get in Jakarta. But this was not the usual stuff you get. It has more of a light jelly texture. It is French in orgin and called guimauve. I was offered it as part of a dessert. But I chose to eat it srraight and eyed the bag in which it arrived. The chef quickly placed it in his desk draw.

Pierre Marcolini's signature chocolate I am told is a blend of beans from Java and Venezuela.
There are nine varieties of Venezulan beans. But I suspect the bean he uses is Chuao. A hybrid of Trinitaro and Criollo. It is very assertive, sharp, plummy, with hints of molasses. It should blend, I guess well with the light bodied Java.

And talking about Chuao, it is also the brand name of the chocolate of Venezuelan brothers Michael and Richard Antonosri. Ferran Adria, of El Bulli, says it is the best in the world. Their Par Con CHocolate Burbon is filled with roasted Panko bread crumbs in olive oil with a pinch of sea salt. Next week I will tell you about their ancient Mayan chocolate chocolate recipes, if a friend at Four Seasons keeps his promise.

2007-2008 ACADEMIC YEAR FOR CHOCOLATE,

2008-07-31T21:35:00.003+07:00

This ha been a great academic year for chocolate in Universities in Europe and America, Here are some of the honours that chocolate has added to its credits.

American Chemical Society: Found a link of "love for chocolate" to a specific chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system. It is detectable by laboratory tests,

It was found, as suspected that "lovers of chocolate" had a metobolic profile that involved low levels of LDL-cholestral(bad cholestrol). They also had slightly elevated levels of albumin(a benefical protein).

The amazing thing is that "lovers of chocolate" expressed this profile even when they ate no chocolate.

The gut microbes in "lovers of chocolate were also different from "non-lovers of chocolate."

For more information on the above study read the Nov.2 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research--if you dare!

German University Hospital, Cologne: dark chocolate can lower blood pressure.

University of California, Davis: chocolate can improve blood vessel function.

University of Nottingham: Chocolate improved cognitive skills by increasing blood flow to certain areas of the brain. As I said earlier eat some before taking an exam.

University of Chicago: Study claimed that those who had a chunk of chocolate generally were better disposed to others than those who had none. Wish we had flown some chunks of Silver Queen Chunky to the delegates of the recent WTO conference.

And Nestle announced the establishment of the Chocolate Centre of Excellence, dedicated to the development of luxury chocolate, at Broc. It will be operational in 2009. Persumably Nestle was encouraged by the "premiunisation" of Cailler, Baci, Nestle Noir and Perugina. Our great chocolatier Pierre Marcolini has been seconded to provide the inspiration.

I am beginning to fear that like like most common needs and joys of life, including air and water, chocolate too may eventually be priced far beyond our budgets. Hopefully Beng Beng may still be around at 10c a bar.

THE SYNTHESIS OF JAVA CHOCOLATE.

2008-07-30T14:27:00.003+07:00

After all the home of cocoa is in equatorial regions. Where it was consumed by crushing the beans and mixing with spices found in the backyard. Aniseed was a favourite ingredient among the Aztecs. The first cocoa drinks were very local.

In Europe, they too made it local and subsequently exported their ides throughout the world to all chocolate lovers. Up to today Milk Chocolate remains the world's most popular. But within Europe things are changing. Chocolate has acquired, over the last fifty years more localised variations and flavours. Flavours and tastes even came from colonies and former colonies. Spain particularly was very keen of give chocolate the brisk feel of the Mediterranean.

There are several dates quoted as to when cocoa came to Indonesia. Some say it was brought by the Spaniards in 1560 or thereabouts. Others, borne out by credible records, say the late 18Th century.A report of that time says that that the first person to plant 50 trees would be awarded a trophy.

This strategy seemed to work. By 1839 annual exports to Europe were around 50 tonnes. Unfortunately the Sulawesi crops came under the scourge of Helopeltis and the Cocoa Pod Borer Moth.

Plantations moved to the Sangir islands and then on the Java. The Java Criollo, red Java, produces deep red pods with white beans. Later these were combined with trees from Caracas in 1888. These pods were yellow.

In the beginning of the 20Th century, 1000kg of beans were produced per ha. In the western part of Java a lighter fermented roasted bean great for milk chocolate was produced. This cocoa was known as Edelcacao or "noble cocoa,"

Today pretty exciting plantations exist in Ciajur, between Bandung and Jakarta, Around this area sugar is made from the sap of coconut trees.

Added to cocoa paste this combination gives a warm fruity taste. Later I began to realise that cocoa adds a nice warmth to some of our backyard spices. Adding a tingling and surprising flavour and aroma. It gives a new twist to many of our local foods(and I don't just mean desserts. sweets and snacks). The "warm twist" is very seductive on the palate.

It is therefore appropriate to set out some strategies to give cocoa and chocolate a Javanese direction(which from our history is not a new thing in itself, merely a logical progression, even if it comes a bit late).

We have to acknowledge that creativity with chocolate is a global art. It is harmony within complexity. It is a celebration of joy, provocation, ethnic exuberance, innovation and peace.

Regional chocolate, like Java chocolate among others, is a natural evolution rising from the richness of our backyard resources and culinary traditions. In Java, which the world knew for hundreds of years as the Spice Island, chocolate and cocoa blends well and enriches our own natural ingredients and with the vitality and sensuality of our tastes and flavours.

Here most of all, given our enormous backyard resources, no barriers will exist between the many different worlds from exotic to erotic and from sweet to pungent. We will learn and collaborate from knowledge and experience of chocolate professionals, and reach out to the scientific world which has brought on some spectacular advances to give an impetus to our evolution.

For centuries we have been very passionate about culinary innovation. That's why Bandung is the snack capital of the world, and unique flavours and tastes have emerged from Padang, Menado, Medan, Malang, Semerang, Bali and so on. These are cuisines come about through years of collaboration with the Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch, Malays and others
Our development of chocolate will follow a similar path with a focus on our own growing gourmet traditions.

In time and with a sense of purpose, given our vast culinary resources we have no doubt we will make a profound effect on the world of chocolate. I hope that those who have an passionate investment in chocolate will collaborate.

CHOCOLATE DURING HARD TIMES.

2008-07-29T12:49:00.005+07:00

Times maybe a little tough with cost of living going up and up. But it not preventing Indonesians from eating chocolate. A source inside Mayora, quoting research, confided that one million people eat Beng Beng everyday. This caramel, wafer, rice crispie snack thrives not only by being a good snack but it seems to enjoy the loyalties passed on from the previous generation. It is alsoi believed that Beng Beng"s distribution has a wider geographical reach penetrating well into the rural areas. It nearest competitor Top has about half as many eaters daily. And an estimate is that there are about 400,000 Silver Queen eaters daily.Silver Queen has reigned for decades as the top chocolate bar in Indonesia. Kit-Kat has about half as many daily consumers.

As we all guess the 14 to 17 year olds(of course) and the over 50s make up the largest segment of chocolate or chocolate covered confectionary. The rest are evenly spread from 18 to 49. Over 60% of the consumers are in the middle and upper income groups. There are about 90million Indonesians who buy coinfectionary(chocolate, candies hard and soft and gum), frequently(within the last month).

GOD'S RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE.

2008-07-28T13:54:00.005+07:00

You can believe it or not. I must confess, I don't know whether I am being facetious or not. Let me tell it my way. anyway.

In the Bible(I am referring to the New International Version) it say that approximately six weeks after departing from Egypt, the Israelites were literally wandering in the desert somewhere around the plains of Jeri co. They were tired and hungry. They complained to Moses.

In answer to their complaints and having much sympathy for their hunger, God rained MANNA down from heaven for the Israelites to eat.

The Bible describes MANNA as, "It was like white coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey."(Exodus 16,Lies 30-31). Remember the writers of the Exodus, nor the Israelites had any points of reference. So you can draw your own conclusions.

I being an passionate chocoholic for all my life concluded that it was chocolate. It could have been white, having fallen through the the stratosphere, from it journey from heaven. Coriander is also brown. There is of course some similarity in taste between chocolate, white or milk chocolate, to what is described as wafers made with honey. Another translations describes the taste as"like flour with honey".

This happened in 1200BC. Just about the time that Anthropologist Michael D. Coe estimates that chocolate in a pot was buried alongside an Olmec notable in Mexico. It was recently unearthed.

It made eminent sense for God to give chocolate to the Israelites. They did need energy. They did need some uplifting in spirits from their severe depression. They needed vitamins and minerals and no doubt some stabilisation in their blood pressures. Chocolate of course does all these things particularly if it was processed by God.

In verse 31 of the same chapter, Moses urges the Israelites, to "keep it for generations."Apparently they obeyed. MANNA was not their only diet during their subsequent 40 years of wandering, but it was their chief diet. Michael Levine, nutritionist and researcher is quoted(in "The Emperors of Chocolate") as saying, "Chemically speaking chocolate really is the world's perfect food."

So appropriately last Sunday after Church we decided to try out God's recipe in a very simple way. We made some flour(mixed with egg white, sugar, salt,) strips, dipped it into warm liquid milk chocolate, brushed it lightly with honey and dropped it into liquid nitrogen(I found another place where you can get liquid nitrogen. Obviously at the benkel). When the pieces were rock solid we pulled them out with wooden spoons and placed it on a dish to thaw. A tap with the back of a spoon breaks it up.

You might ask why we used liquid nitrogen? Perhaps to be more authentic after all God passed his chocolate,or manna, from Heaven, through the mesosphere, stratosphere, troposphere and atmosphere to freeze it. Also because it has become an adventure with us. We tried it with dark chocolate and white too. We also put some in the frig overnight instead of using nitrogen. We tried it out with some Penabur school kids and moms the next day. They loved it.

Indeed it was very good. We can still work on refinements. We also tried mixing the flour strips with powdered coriander.The coriander with it's nutty, spicy and citrus flavour combined with Tulip chocolate's characteristic sharp spicy flavour rather nicely and contrasted well with the taste of honey.

Thank you God.

WINE IN YOUR CHOCOLATE

2008-07-27T14:40:00.004+07:00

Alerted by an email from Austrade, following my blog on Australian chocolate, I learned that the Australians have done it again. If I am not wrong fusion cusine really reached its heights in Brisbane combining Thai with influences from Europe. Well now the inventive Australians have combined wine with chocolate.

Actually, I am bit late in reporting this. Much of the introduction happenned at ISM in last year. But this year the plant in Scoresby is really going to get serious about chocolate and wine, organic chocolate and chocolate with great healthly flavours like youghart.

Using a techinique developed by Horizon Science, and licensed to Farm by Nature,under brand name Cocoa Farm the wine range was launched.

Fortunately and wisely the Aussies choose Shiraz as one of the wines(Merlot and Pinot Nior, the others in the range). Shirz with its spicy, rich berry and cherry flavours, licorice and pepper was a natural choice to compliment the basic flavours of chocolate. Shiraz even had a inviting hint of chocolate.

I wasnt particularly excited. The Shiraz didnt really impact itself on the palate.
I have tasted better gourmet chocolates.I have no doubts, knowing the culinary experts and food technologists of Australia rather well, it will get better, pretty soon.

The chocolate is not Australian. To me it seemed had some hints of Valrhona. At least the bar I tasted. I hope I am not upsetting anyone with this. However I believe that the cocoa estate at Mossman have harvested their first crops. The Aussies have to still learn how to process the beans. No doubt it will not take too long before their innovative skills come out on top again.

In Indonesia a limited suppy of these bars are available sometimes at Sogo Food Hall.

CHOCOLATE IN YOUR BUBUR AYAM.

2008-07-26T15:50:00.006+07:00

If you are reading this story from Mexico, Bubur is Indonesian for rice porridge. Everywhere you go in Java and rest of the 17000 islands of Indonesia you will find some variety of Bubur. The Chinese and Indians call it congee(porridge). It could well be Asia's main prepared food. Usually eaten as supper(much after dinner) or breakfast.

The are simple congees to complex ones. A fairly sophiscated version is made with the famous Chinese Five Spices with shreds of chicken.

What is Chinese Five Spices? Well its the great wonder powder that the Chinese invented to combine the five elements of taste: sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty. Very, very close to the five elements of the taste of chocolate: sour, bitter,sweet,astrigent and umami.

Bitterness in chocolate comes from the caffeine, L-valine,L-tyrosine and L-isoleucine.The sour from acetic acid, latic acid and citric and oxalic. The sweet from galatose, glucose, L-serine, fructose and sucrose.Astringency, which I liken to puncency comes from amines, eplatechin, catechin and other horribly difficult to spell elements. Just trust me.

What is umami? Well in chocolate it come comes two main elements, glutamic acid and aspartic acid. You will find these elements in Ajinamoto. I liken it to being salty savoury.

Make your congee by boiling rice and once it is ready allow to simmer for about an hour. It will not boil over. Combine, strips of chicken, a clove of garlic crushed, thin strips of ginger, a teaspoon of oyster sauce,pinch of pepper, two pinches of salt, and simmer it with the cosimmering porridge.Added finely chopped onions if you wish. Then add two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa. stir in and simmer. Garnish with fried onions. Serve.

With a dash of soy it can bring much joy.

You can makt a bit more interesting if you throw in some roasted cocoa nibs and some ikan bilis(deep fried anchovies) Even Italian anchovies are great as a garnish. Overdoing it perhaps but as Mae West said"Too much of a good thing is wonderful".

WHICH INDONESIAN CHOCOLATES ARE GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH?

2008-07-25T07:22:00.004+07:00

In the last few weeks I have received many emails from those you who have been reading my blogs. I have also been asked by teachers, mothers and others who I sell chocolates to, which chocolates, or more precisely which Indonesian chocolates, should they buy to get the benefits I have written about in my blogs.

The delay in replying is obviously because I had to talk to experts. Nutritionists, doctors, universities here and abroad to get some valid answers.

No Indonesian chocolate actually contain no polyphenols to provide an anti-oxidant effect or to be really good to lower your blood pressure or good for your heart or have beneficial effects on your blood pressure.Polyphenols in are rich in cocoa but are destroyed(not completely) during fermentation and by heat during cocoa processing.

Flavonoids also present in cocoa is lost during processing. Its benefits to memory and learning are non-existent in locally produced chocolate.

What is therefore of benefit in say Silver Queen,the most popular of all chocolate?
It is an important source of energy with its concentration of calories packaged in a small volume. Cocoa and chocolate are among the most concentrated vegetable energy suppliers.In fact it is probably true that a bar of Silver Queen will give more energy that a bottle of Extra-Joss.

Silver Queen like all good chocolates with its content of sugars and fats can produce a positive, soothing,"suntai" psychological effect while being enjoyed and for some time after. This is probably due to the presence of theombromine and caffeine(minimal).

Silver Queen, will also contain some insoluble dietary fiber which is important in providing a smooth passage of food through the intestines and keep their and stomach walls clean.

Milk chocolate and white chocolate will also contain calcium and proteins. Silver Queen will probably have about 3-4g of protein to 100g.

Silver Queen will also contain some amounts of vitamin A, B Complex, D and E(mostly in Black). But much less, less than 5% of the RDA of each. Minerals are also likely to be present in Silver Queen. Calcium, Copper, Iron, Phosphorus, Zinc and Magnesium, in small quantities.

Chocolate, according to hundreds of scientific studies, has no direct effect on obesity. It does not cause tooth decay or acne.

In the near future you will have chocolates from Mars Inc with Flavanols. Barry Callebaut have already introduced chocolate with polyphenols.Chocolates, with high content of cocoa and other beneficial ingredients are available from time to time at Sogo Food Hall.

Currently Indonesian chocolate manufacturers show very little interest in improving the nutritional profile of their chocolate. Recent launches of snack products show shocking disregard for nutrition.The focus is on taste and texture experiences which they feel cannot be compromised.

I sell chocolates face to face not from shelves and increasing I am asked if the chocolates I sell are indeed "good for you". The consumers of chocolate and chocolate snacks are demanding satiusfaction in health and balanced foods.

Manufacturers elsewhere are getting very serious about new recipes. Kraft has invested much in nanotechnology and molecular gastronomy which analyst the physiochemical laws to create new recipes.Since Kraft's investment in these sciences 15 universities have opened nanotechnology laboratories. The objective to create products that will identify with consumer needs. Manufacturers will soon have to work alongside with physicists and chemists.

AUSTRALIAN COCOA

2008-07-24T14:39:00.004+07:00

Little is known about Australian coco beans and coco production. But cocoa is being grown in parts of Queensland. A few dark chocolates Origin Australia have trickled out of the country and were available at Sogo Food Hall recently.

The cocoa tree first came to Australia in 1900 from Papua New Guinea. But serious planting and trials began only in 2000. The first harvest was in 2002.The trees are mainly of the Criollo variety.

The news from down under is that they are somewhat astringent with a light citrus taste. The climate is hot and humid. Cocoa is grown under commercial timber trees. However there is isn't the kind of rainfall that cocoa trees thrive under.

But processors and chocolate should take the Australians seriously. See what they did with wines. Queensland's main strengths are it resources,technical expertise, a capable grower base, hundreds of domestic chocolate manufacturers. Also Australia with it severe plant import laws will possible be able to produce disease and pest free cocoa which plagues the rest of the cocoa growing world.

If they get down to the task, the Australians are capable of producing a high quality product, with a clean, safe image. They will also be capable of high yields. There is a niche production for tourism, which has begun in a small scale.The producers will be leveraged to the value chain.

With a growing genetic resource base, the possibility is that the country could be capable some quality cocoa from hybrids in a few years.

Now that wine and chocolate is being paired and likened, perhaps the astute wine growers of Australia could also turn their noses and palates to creating prize winning chocolate.

IF YOU ARE STUDYING FOR EXAMINATIONS EAT CHOCOLATE

2008-07-23T13:28:00.004+07:00

It's good for the heart. It is good for pregnant women.Now scientists confirm that it is good for students studying for examinations. Two studies reveal this. The latest commissioned by MARS and another conducted by Yale University.

THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF CHOCOLATE

In the MARS study it was discovered that cocoas rich in flavonols increased blood flow to the brain and therefore can help in learning, solving and memorizing. Besides giving relief from fatigue. It worked in participants who drank flavonol rich cocoa.

It also worked on mice. Mice fed on flavonol were more effective in solving and remembering.

Dr,. Ian Macdonald of Nottingham University, an old friend, said that flavonal works by enhancing nitrous oxide(NO2) circulation NO2 improves circulation by dilating blood vessels.

Flavonol is actually very bitter. It also is lost during processing. MARS however is coming up with a marketable version costing about $2.

The Yale study also revealed that even the smell of chocolate would improve memory and learning capabilities.

NITROGEN COOKED CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

2008-07-22T06:20:00.003+07:00

Over 30 years ago at Oakhill College New South Wales, we made instant ice cream in our Science lab, using liquid nitrogen. On August 26, this year Chefs Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa will teahing chefs and others about the use of liquid nitrogen in cooking. What took them so long?

The big problem of using liquid nitrogen in cookin in Indonesia is its availability exactly for this purpose. Try your hospital and a friendly pediatrician. Or welders. School science labs did not have it. At least those i have checked with.

The are also safety issues you must be aware of. Contact with liquid nitrogen is dangerous. Safety clothing, gloves and safety glasses should be worn.

Now the recipe. You need:

1 quart of heavy cream.
1 pint milk
3 tablespoons Vanilla
Half cup sugar
Chocolate chips or crush dark courverture Tulip chocolate.
And you need 5 litres of liquid nitrogen.

For cokking tools you need:
Large stainless stell mixing bowl
Wooden mixing spoons

The Method:
Mix the cream, milk,vanilla and sugar in the steel bowl, Stir until the sugar is
dissolved.Add the chocolate chips or/and crushed dark chocolate.

Now the liquid nitrogen

Place the steel bowl in the sink. Be warned it will overflow.
Pour an estimate of one litre of liquid nitrogen into the bowl.It is impossible to measure liquid nitrogen. So you must estimate.
There will be lots of cool fog. Do not stir.
Let the nitrogen do the job of freezing the mixture.
Stir cautiously. Some parts of the mixture will be frozen. Other parts will be liquid. Stir with the wooden spoon and mix till you have a consistant mixture. Then add more nitrogen. Let it freeze for a few seconds and then stir. The trick now is to stir and stir till you have a consistant mixture. Keep adding small amounts of liquid nitrogen as you stir. Finally you have a nice consistant mixture.

Why you end up with a wonderful creamy ice cream is due to the rapid freezing. The nitrogen makes the fat and water particles to stay ver small. This gives the ice cream extra smoothness. Scientists say that rapid freezing also preserves the nutrients in food.

Keep reading this newsletter for more information and recipes on MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY
using chocolate.

IS THIS THE RIGHT TIME FOR SILVER QUEEN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAMS

2008-07-20T15:05:00.001+07:00

Per capita Ice cream consumption in Indonesia is probably the lowest in the world with just 0.1 liters per annum according to a studies by Unilever. Singapore has the highest in Asia with 2 liters and New Zealand the highest in the world at 28.4 liters. Unilever plans to double its Asian consumption by 2010.

Indonesia with 200million should be a very good potential for ice cream growth. Unilever is not kidding when they say it is the fastest growing category. The country has all the right ingredients. The modern trade is growing. The convenience store is expanding at a phenomenal rate.Urbanization and disposable income in the 20 largest cities is growing rapidly. Refrigerator penetration is at 82% in the Modern and convenience retail outlets. The cold chain is growing fast. Ice creams are also relatively cheap. A nice cone with chocolate topping costs less than 0.80cents. There are few major brands in this country.

But ice cream needs a boost. It is by far an impulse purchase. It is not clearly understood. Even Unilever's Moo, which is great value, with its calcium benefits, is not really changing people's cooling down, or mood habits.

Silver Queen on the other hand is clearly understood. It is Indonesia's market leader. The most popular across the age and income spectrum. Nearly every Indonesian has sometime or other enjoyed Silver Queen. Ice cream topped with Silver Queen has benefits that needs no elaboration for consumers or ice cream producers and their marketing departments.It suits ice cream because it is also a great mood food.

It is perhaps more than a rumor that the ice cream manufacturers are thinking about it. Obviously it is a winning formula and ingredient. Or they should. It is also more that a rumor that a fast food chain has considered a Silver Queen sundae. Now with the many variants of Silver Queen the idea becomes more attractive with more options
.But ice cream manufacturers need Silver Queen more than Silver Queen needs ice cream manufacturers.....

Will it work? It will, according to enthusiasts and professionals. The slightly sharp cocoa taste will blend well with vanilla ice cream. Both the milk chocolate and the dark Silver Queen will work just as well.The cashews for which Silver Queen is famous is added bonus. But they need crisper roasting for ice cream topping.

THREE SECRETS FOR A PERFECT CHOCOLATE COOKIE

2008-07-18T21:23:00.004+07:00

We think anyone can bake a cookie. Kids do it in school. All over town are bakeries that sell cookies.After all to make a cookie all you need flour,butter,eggs,sugar, leavening agents,salt and of course chocolate. Simple right? Yet most of the cookies we munch into are quite insipid. There are three secrets you must know to bake the super cookie.

1)Mix and leave the dough in the frig for at least 36 hours. Why? Shirley O Corriher author of "Cook Wise" all about Science in the kitchen explains: it allows trhe dough to soak up the liquid especially the eggs which are gelatinous and neet a longer hydration time.

The butter coats the flour, preventing the liquid from going through. The extra time in the frig allows the liquids to get through to the dry ingredients.

2) Size is important. The best cookie size is 12cm. Big! This is when the three textures really come through. The first nibble cracks with a bite releasing the wonderful warm flavours of butter and caramel. In the center is a 4cm softer ring.
Between these two zones the flavors mix delightfully. Use lots of chocolate. Use Dark Tulip for best effect and couverture because it melts better.The ratio of chocolate to dough should be 40 to 60.

3)The last secret is Salt. Not just any ordinary salt but sea salt in the dough and sprinkled on top adds tremendous effect to you cookie.

More information on other interesting cookies are available from the writer.If you serve it warm from a warming oven it can be sheer bliss.

SINGLE ORIGIN AND JAVA COCOA

2008-07-18T11:54:00.000+07:00

Increasing we hear about Single Origin Chocolate or Cocoa. What this means is that cocoa or chocolate from a single country has it own distinctive flavor. This flavor is due to the genetics of the plant, the soil and climatic conditions, fermentation, drying and other post harvest practices.This means that beans produced from one country is very distinctive and unique. Rather like wines. And like wines you may go further into regions within one country or even to particular plantations.

Single origin chocolate has not yet caught on in Indonesia. Though it is rumored that Freyabadi is experimenting, on behalf of customers, with single origin from Ghana and other countries in West Africa and Papua New Guinea. In Europe( Belgium, France, Germany, UK) of course according to recent studies 42% of chocolate consuming respondents have discovered origin chocolate. The Swiss are the most regular consumers of Origin chocolates, with 23% of them enjoying it at least a few times a month(Research by Barry Callebaut).In Indonesia you may be able to find a few bars at Sogo Supermarkets sometimes.

Java Cocoa is of the Crillo variety. The tree is a native of South America. It is known as the "flavor beans" and prized for their fragrance. Crillo has travelled far from South America to Java. The soil conditions are certainly different. Java is incredibly fertile. The soil is mainly volcanic. The island is home to almost every spice and herb known on earth.It enjoys and humid, wet, equatorial climate.Cocoa trees here have a lot of shade.

In flavor Java cocoa is bold in flavors that are ideal for milk chocolate because it can withstand dilution with milk solids. It is of a highly acidic nature with a citrus like flavor presentation. There are bolder flavors of leather(the experts say but I notice a hint of cardamom) and smoke. Overallthe cocoa is extremely light in body but strong in flavor. If you are a wine drinker Java Chocolate goes best with of course the wines with pronounced acidity and fruitiness, dry or semi-sweet.

Single origin Java is good for milk chocolate. It is also very interesting as a dark semi sweet.Indonesian manufacturers are however not very interested in maximizing tits potential nor of other Origins like Sulawesi, Sumatra,Timur, or Papua.Indonesian cocoa is waiting for innovators and more passion.

Besides single origin the selection process can go further. There are also cocoa or chocolate that are Grand Cru Cacao a marketing term invented by Valrhona when it launched Guanaja, a South American mixture of beans.

The highest honor goes to Premier Cru/Estate Grown where beans come from specific plantations. It is terminology taken from the wine industry.Though in wine Grandu Cru is loftier that Premier, it is reverse in the chocolate industry. Famous of a Premium Cru is Cluizel's Ier Cru Chocolate which is a single estate and considered superior to Valrhona's Guanaja.

GEOPOLITICS OF CHOCOLATE

2008-07-16T18:07:00.000+07:00

After over 3000 years of existence chocolate is far from being global in character. Chocolate is essentially European in personality and culture. It has no overtones nor undertones of Africa or Asia. If it continues on this track, given the surge of popularity of chocolate, the frequency of consumption per chocolate lover. in time it is going, to get boring.Indeed you must admit Europe is getting pretty boring these days.

Acquiring and absorbing Asian characteristics(I cant cant talk about Africa yet),will give it a new lease in life and a vibrant developing personality. However it is not going to be an easy task. And it is best not to leave it to the Japanese. They make great European chocolate.

TOUGH TO MARKET

Marketing "Asian chocolate" will deter enthusiasts. It does sound, at this time at least, pretty absurd. Asian chocolate indeed! Some kind of stupid chauvinistic idea?It will be tough to gain acceptance even by Asians. Asians swear by European chocolate. They grew up on very traditional flavors according to the sacred chocolate books written by the Swiss and the Belgians. And by the uncompromising Germans chocolatiers.

But stranger things have happened. Beatles lovers now enjoy Bollywood. Even a surviving Beatle confesses to enjoy Bollywood.Eastern noodles have found a Western flavour. Curries become British.But if chocolate were seen as acquiring Asian flavors, the Belgians would be affronted. The Swiss furious. The French will grumble.The British amused at first.The Americans of course will care. They love their chocolate, bland.

THE CONSERVATIVE CHEFS

There will also be some derision from Asian chocolate purists including highly regarded chefs.Asians are conservative like the Europeans and change is threatening. Bad for business. To create Asian chocolate flavors one must necessarily appeal to not just the master chefs but to alchemist chefs.

CHOCOLATE KINGS

The Asian chocolate must also have the support of brave manufacturers. They will be disinclined to devote the production lines to something untested and to bizarre deeds.They may be persuaded to try on a small scale.Such a task can only be asked of the leaders. Who better in Asia, than the Chocolate Kings themselves, The Chuang brothers of Petra Foods(the fourth largest manufacturer of chocolate ingredients in the world).They can take the initiates of research and development.

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Universities admittedly have been experimenting but see little encouragement from the business sector. one or two Australian universities have taken chocolate to new areas that are distinctly Asian or at least regional. They need support. The top Asian Universities may eventually find this area of food technology quite lucrative.

Of the countries, Singapore is cautious and too eager for quick returns. Thailand is engrossed with other foods and flavors. Which the Australians are fusing. The Philippines prefer fudge it seems.The task seems to be left to Indonesia, the third largest producer of cocoa and home of many thriving chocolate industries from the big and established right down to the tiny household entrepreneurs.

THE SULTAN

There are also people in Indonesia destined for the task. The Sultan of Jogjakarta(a city close to the cocoa heartland), who is also a very enlightened governor of the city,could take the lead in establishing a center for chocolate with the assistance of the many notable universities within his jurisdiction.

ASIAN CHOCOLATE AND THE BRAIN

What is Asian Chocolate. It understand it in its proper perspective is important to understand the science of eating. Eating involves all senses and even some of our instincts. All this to tuned up to the olfactory bulb. From this complex network information on the flavors what we are eating is send to the brain.

The brain then decides on this current information and stored data what we are going to like or dislike. This is the basis of a defense systems that will reject flavors that we don't like. It also welcomes surprises and evaluates them.The brain of course highly approves of chocolate. Milk chocolate. Chocolate and hazel nuts. Chocolates and biscuits. The brain can be persuaded to love contrasting flavors such as what was proved by combining white chocolate with salty caviar.If the tongue is adventurous, the brain give its wholehearted approval.So it is important to set aside preconceptions. For instance as it discovered in caviar and white chocolate salt can do wonders with chocolate. And Asia abounds with the most exotic salty flavors.

Our brain can also anticipate flavors,even new flavors and unusual combination of flavours based on information stored in its data base.It evaluates and passes judgment. Asian chocolate are those blends that the brain, first surprised eventually pronounces as "wonderful." So careful research in combinations and blends is needed. Milk and chocolate was easy. Marzipan and chocolate inevitable. Hazelnuts and chocolate, the squirrels could have come with it.

EXPERIMENTS

The movement has begun. Traditional Asian Flavors are being experimented by a few of the alchemists chefs. Some interesting recipes have been tried and accepted by a select number of chocolate lovers and by many well trained brains.No chillies, I assure you have been tried in these experiments. We have left it that to the Mexicans.

For more information and recipes contact the writer.

THE GREAT DONUT DIP

2008-07-15T16:22:00.000+07:00

Of course you have enjoyed donuts covered with chocolate. But have you ever tried donuts dipped in CHOCOLATE COFFEE SAUCE. It is a great treat. And best of all it is very simple.

WHAT YOU NEED
300gm of unrefined sugar
One cup of water
40 coffee beans
180gm cocoa powder
60gm of TULIP bitter chocolate
Pinch of salt

WHAT TO DO
1)Melt the sugar in pan over medium heat
2)Dip a pastry brush in cup of water and keep brushing sides of pan till the sugar is caramelized.
3)Add rest of water from cup, coffee beans, cocoa powder, chocolate and pinch of salt.
4)Bring to boil
5)Sieve
6)Cool
7)Dip the donuts.

For variety you may crush peanut brittle and sprinkle over the cooled chocolate sauce.

CAVIAR AND CHOCOLATE. THE GLOOMY NEWS

2008-07-14T14:37:00.000+07:00

The CNN reported recently that according to John Mason, Executive Director and Founder of Conservation Research Council located in Ghana, chocolate will become like cavier.

"It will become so rare and expensive that the ordinary Joe will not be able to afford it" says Mason.

The reason is declining yields of cocoa from West Africa which produces about 70% of the world's cocoa. Due to soil degradation. The way cocoa is being farmed is just not sustainable.

CAVIAR AND CHOCOLATE . THE GOOD NEWS

2008-07-14T14:30:00.000+07:00

It may not really sound as the ideal combination, but the Guardian newspaper in the UK
pronounces it as "fantastic" or words to that effect. And even implies that it procures all your senses and even your brain in the enjoyment of cavier on white chocolate discs.
Yes it is as simple at that. Most great ideas are simple anyway.

The inventor is the alchemist, Chef Hugh Blumenthol owner of Fat Duck at Bray, UK. That,s the good news.

CHOCOLATE IS PROBABLY THE BEST FOR YOUR HEART

2008-07-14T13:51:00.000+07:00

Flavonoid-rich chocolate and soy make decrease blood pressure and improve heart health, says this month's issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reporting a study of 133 trials by the University of East Anglia, Britain. That is probably not so new news. But what is new is that the same study reports that flavonoids from other sources are not as effective. Chocolate is best! It was also observed at the same trials that chocolate also lowered the bad cholesterol levels.

Chocolate also achieved a four percent increase in blood flow, the study reported.

GREAT NEWS FOR A SHY INNOVATOR

This is probably great new for a Swiss Chef I know who lives in Sydney. He has been working on combining tempe with dark and also white chocolate and has come out with some delicious results. " It works, but I am still perfecting the recipe," he mailed.
"No it is definitely not going to be in the region of $2,600 a pound. Probably less than $26 a pound." He indicated that he has worked on pralines, squares and donuts. Once on the market it will deliver a two pronged benefit: that of chocolate and soy protein.

$2,600 A POUND CHOCOLATE

2008-07-13T16:35:00.000+07:00

If you love chocolate that much then perhaps you may be interested in this Chocolate Truffle created by Chef Fritz Knipchild from a culinary school in Denmark. He uses only his bare hands to make this. This comes in an approximately 4cm diameter with French black truffle inside. Made from 70% Valhrono cocoa it blended with truffle oil into a creamy ganache. It is finally dusted with cocoa powder. One piece will cost you $250 if you don't want to buy it by the pound.

CHOCOLATE AND CHILD LABOUR

2008-07-13T15:28:00.000+07:00

Should every bar of chocolate carry an assurance that no child labour was ever involved in its production. Considering that hardly a day passes without a glimpse of of chocolate, if not its enjoyment, it is fair to ask manufacturers for such an assurance.

After the signing of the Harkin-Enoel Protocol in 2001, there are still doubts whether children are being exploited in cocoa farms, especially in West Africa. Disturbingly photographs of cocoa plantations in these areas often picture children who seem to be not just onlookers but part of the labour force. Indonesia, the world's third largest producer of cocoa, fortunately has been free from any allegations of child exploitation.Considering many of the farms, especially outside Java, are small family owned holdings, it is comforting that children are in school most of the working day.

Child labour is a disturbing issue. Especially these days when media reports exploitation of children widespread in all kinds of dreadful sins the chocolate industry, particularly must free itself from any such stigma. If manufacturers are reluctant for reasons that it may be inconvenient, the consumers must take the imitative. Can we ask that the next bar of chocolate we enjoy guarantees that a child wasn't exploited in its production. Considering the wretchedness of the the problem it is not too much to ask of manufacturers. Perhaps it it also be worth while, and certainly aid to our addiction to chocolate, if the bar we are enjoying in some way contributed to the welfare of a child in the cocoa growing areas.

It does well to remember that cocoa was first cultivated some 3000 years ago and treated with great reverence. Now that we are adequately civilised we do have responsibility to ensure that the food of the gods is not in any way tainted by misdeeds.

A WELL KEPT CHOCOLATE SECRET

2008-07-13T13:33:00.000+07:00

It is no secret that the Belgians are great chocolatiers. The Spaniards could be flamboyant chocolatiers,. The French must be stylish. One mustn't forget the Swiss, for they are very serious at choclatiering(new words do keep cropping up dont they?). One didnt take the Japanese very seriously. Chocolate lovers are slowly discovering Japanese chocolate with some pleasure.

In these capitals of chocolate, a mention of Indonesia as a chocolate country will bring a dismissive look that says "Don't be silly." Java, may be known for it distinctive smokey, spicy cocoa flavours. But as a producer of chocolate or chocolate ingredients Java is never taken seriously.

The truth is that Java, besides producing much sought after Origin cocoa can make chocolate ingredients as well as the Belgians, Germans or the Swiss. In fact they already. Which is not surprising. They have the technology, the sciences, the inventiveness, the experience and the expertise.

What is extraordinary is that they even have the history. Cocoa was first grown in the Indonesian islands in the early 17Th Century after arriving on a Spanish ship all the way from Venezuela. By the I8th century the Dutch were already exporting cocoa from Indonesia to Holland. Cocoa press were already making chocolate to drink by the 19th century. By 1950s chocolate manufacturers in Java were already producing milk chocolates that was making a impact on chocolate lovers. Today you can seen the ultra -modern factory of Ceres, the industry leader, in Bandung in West Java. Here they not only produce Van Houten under licence for Barry Callebaut but their own brands. Silver Queen milk chocolate with cashews is a legend in the region. It has a strong cocoa explosion on the tongue, which is a pleasant surprise.Then the sweet milky after tones in a nice combination of flavours.The cashews fragments are a bonus filler. There is also veryrich and pleasant and lingering aftertaste of having experienced somthing rather pleasurable.

Silver Queen was such a success that naturally it had many imitators. Even Cadbury started their cashew range hoping to capture some market share. Silver Queen still reigns supreme. But it not the only chocolate of consequence in Indonesia and the region. There are other brands that have done well. Bakeries have revelled in creating chocolate snacks as have donut outlets and other fast foods. Harvest a new relatively new bakery have a immense variety of chocolate cakes and snacks which not just taste as good as you would experience in Belgium but even look as good as French and Japanese pastry.

Not far from the capital of Jakarta is Freyabadi, a Ceres joint venture with Japan's mighty food innovators and vegetable oil producers,Fuji Oil This is factory with pristine, well organised production floor. It is easy to believe that this factory can indeed produce world-class chocolate. Staffed by experienced professionals, food technologists and microbiologists they run a superbly organised chocolate ingredients production centre. There are others that are also quite impressive for their capabilities.

The potential for discovery in Java is staggering. Possibly every known spice , flavour and herbs grow in Java. Also a great variety of nuts, and fruits. Its high valconic mountains ranges and equatorial jungles provide a wide variety of climatically facvourable conditions and soils. Java is also home to literally thousands of indegenous snacks most of them surprising in their uniqueness. Many can blend so nicely with chocolate and that' kind of innovation isalready happenning with the small household and medium sized industries all over the island. It is a worthy study for serious, flamboyant and professional chocolatiers.

There have been many innovations in the confectionary, chocolate and pastry industries. But in such a creative profession it is still amazing to find that are still a large number of crusty curmudgeons who must source ftheir ingredients from traditional markets. They are missing out on delivering some wonderful surprises to their audiences. One way is to turn to Java to be inventive with chocolate.

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2007-09-30T10:46:00.008+07:00

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