THE NEW COCOA BEAN! FROM AUSTRALIA?

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.

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?

(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!

INFUSIONS AND CHOCOLATE

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.

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.

WINE IN YOUR CHOCOLATE

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.