Chloe Doutre Roussel was just born when her chocolate-loving mother smeared some on her lip on the way back from hospital! That is when her love affair with chocolate started. Today, she travels the world sampling chocolate, helping makers fine-tune flavours and educating consumers about the difference between fine chocolate and mass-produced ones.
“I’ve never been fond of anything sweet, no soft drinks, no marshmallow, but chocolate… that’s another story,” says Chloe, who was here to conduct a bean-to-bar programme by Chocko Choza and Cocoa Town, which manufactures innovative chocolate making machines.
At 14, Chloe moved from Mexico to France, and there she was exposed to a mind-boggling variety of chocolates. “I have a scientific mind. I’ve always wanted to know the ‘why’ behind everything. I wanted to know why one chocolate was better than the other and what I should spend my pocket money on,” she recalls. She would read the wrapper to understand the fine details — why some cost more than the other, and what they had that the others did not.
Now Chloe, an agronomist, wants consumers to do the same, so that they get to sample the goodness of a lovingly-crafted chocolate, and not something that came out of a factory with little focus on what it contains. “Chocolate was my parallel life, something I used to indulge in after work, during weekends. Now, it’s a full-time passion,” says Chloe, 47.
It’s been 12 years since she chose chocolate as her profession, and Chloe says she loves it. “I get to meet so many people across the globe, discuss the social and economic context of chocolate, it’s wonderful.”
Many bean-to-bar chocolate makers send Chloe samples for analysis. “For the past 25 years, I’ve been tasting every fine chocolate made in the world. They are all part of my mind’s database. Every time I taste something new, I fall back on years of reference to give my feedback, about its aroma, texture…”
Still, there have been occasions when a new chocolate has surprised her. “In 2003-2004, a gentleman took out a small bar of chocolate from his pocket. It was like fireworks in my mouth. It was a De Vries chocolate. Last month, I tasted another creation — a Swiss chocolate brand was experimenting with aromas, taking them out of chocolate and then putting a selected few together again. The flavours were incredibly heightened.”
Chloe admits she is prejudiced against mass-produced chocolates, but if she has to eat one, it would be milk chocolate. “I love dark chocolate, but can live without eating a mass-produced one for months, because I recognise the negative side of it,” she says.
She has great hopes for Indian farmers and customers. “They must be encouraged to focus on varieties that are not high-yielding but rich in aromas; where the focus is not on productivity, but taste. Luckily, some farmers seem willing to devote a part of their land to such varieties.”
People here need access and the opportunity to taste special chocolates from across the world, she feels. “Once you taste a bean-to-bar chocolate, you’ll be spoilt for life. You don’t need any intellectual explanation as to why it’s good; your tongue will do the talking.”
The bean-to-bar route
The programme, says Anbuchelvan, managing director, Chocko Choza, was meant nudge consumers, cocoa farmers and chocolatiers towards pure, healthy chocolate. During the three-day programme, they visited cocoa farms in Thodupuzha (Kerala) and Aliyar and interacted with farmers on how they can improve their crop. Over 100 cocoa farmers, 10 chocolatiers and a few end-users benefited.
Arun Viswanathan S K of Ganache calls it an amazing educative initiative. “We now have an idea of pure chocolate. More important, chocolatiers got a chance to interact with each other. We have plans to form a network to educate the public about good chocolates.”
The world over, many farmers have learnt to make small batches of chocolate from beans harvested from their farm. Helping them are innovative bean-to-bar processing machines. Andal Balu and her husband Balu M. Balasubramanian make and market such machines in the U.S. and 50 other countries under the brand name of CocoaTown. The couple started off marketing ELGI Ultra grinders in the U.S. before they decided to do this. “Some years ago, when chocolate became health food, we branched into this. Balu loves tinkering with machines. We came up with a machine, got feedback...it’s been a good journey.”
The couple plans to enter the Indian market soon. “People want to make their own chocolate, but they need good cocoa beans. For that, we need to support farmers. And, before selling people machines, we need to get them into the habit of making chocolate and perfecting their recipe. I don’t want someone to buy a machine and then discover they don’t want to make chocolate, after all. For, the idea is based on ethics. To help people make something using honest-to-goodness ingredients in small batches,” she says.
Chocolatier María Fernanda Di Giacobbe from Venezuela gave a demo on making bon bons. “We had a bunch of interesting people who were very keen on making chocolate at home,” she says. Back home in Venezuela, Maria has seen the bean to bar industry grow from 30 women in one community making chocolate from plantation beans to over 600 women. “We want to show women here that they can set aside some beans for themselves and make great tasting chocolate.”
