The New chocolate - a revolution

by our editor Martin Christy

Introduction

This is an exciting time in the world of chocolate. For years the 'food of the gods' has languished as a single flavour commodity found in the sugar stuffed candy bars that fill the shelves of our stores. Now though, we are waking up to the idea that not all chocolate is the same. In fact there are a wealth of types and flavours of chocolate waiting to be explored, and scientists, growers, producers and chocolate lovers alike are discovering a whole new depth to the cocoa species, Theobroma Cacao.

Just one flavour?

When the famous chocolate bars we knew as children were invented at the beginning of the 20th century, the industrialists behind them wanted to keep their recipes and newly invented processes secret. As a result, most of us have grown up believing that chocolate tasted like chocolate and that was that: chocolate was a flavour and an ingredient that was always the same wherever you bought it or wherever you tasted it. This is changing and over the last few years public interest has exploded, while at the same time traditional chocolate makers are expanding their horizons and new artisanal producers are sprouting up around the world.

  inside a cocoa pod - are all
  beans really the same?

 

In mass produced chocolate, cacao buyers from the big chocolate producers select and blend beans from around the world to create a consistent, anonymous flavour that doesn't vary from year to year. This is changing though and interest is growing in the unique flavours to be found in 'varietal' chocolate, perhaps made from a single variety of beans, or grown in a single location. Even 'vintage' bars are now appearing that are made from a specific year's cacao beans.

A changing chocolate ...?

It's becoming clear that cocoa is not an interchangeable homogenous commodity and we're only just discovering the wealth of variety that exists in the fruit of Theobroma Cacao. But why are we only now discovering that different strains of cocoa grown in different locations have different flavours? How did cocoa become not much more than a single flavour, while other New World foods like coffee, chilies and even potatoes are known for their different varieties?

Read on to see how chocolate got into this sorry state, and how the whole idea of chocolate is changing ...

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