CHOCOLATE & FRIEND -MISSION VENEZUELA 2009
“In my talk, I will discuss a new path to be traveled together between cacaouiculturists and chocolatiers, with the aim of bringing mutual knowledge to the improvement of the product in the market, which would see the farmers co-actors of quality and the chocolatiers able to source directly, shortening the supply chains and allowing the cacao producers to co-participate in the earnings by taking on an important responsibility, distribute the benefit with the laborers and guarantee the chocolatier a unique and conscientiously produced raw material! With sustainability for the environment and magic for the palate!”
I am an
Italian artisan chocolatier
and in my company I roast cocoa that I have researched all over the world.
Traveling at least 4 to 5 trips across the three cocoa continents each year.
I try to get as much flavor out of each variety as possible, and if I can, to enhance its qualities!
I’m not looking for fashion cocoa!
I do not travel the most famous roads, but go in search of those special features that deserve to be researched and presented in their own right, from the alluvial cocoa of the Amazon River at the Catongo of the Atlantic Forest, from the Sri Lankan Criollo, at the Peruvian Porçelana from the almondy Guasave to the Equadorian Indigenous Calceta or the very special Narancal Passing by Trinitad’s Fine Summer that moves me every time I toast it, reminding me of the scent of the plum jams my grandmother Angela used to make during the vacations I spent with her when I was a child.
The best chocolate in the world does not exist!
There is well-processed cocoa and badly processed cocoa, there are very good varieties that are well processed or badly processed.
If a cocoa is appreciated in the world, it is not only because of the beans but mainly because of the farmers’ ability to protect it!
Everyone fills their mouths with the word Criollo!
But yes, that’s fine!
But there are not only blondes in the world!
There are other fascinating gifts in the female universe as well, and cocoa exactly parallels them.
Magnificent characteristics that can “Thrill” but must be discovered, developed and then promoted professionally.
Often there is no contact between those who produce cocoa and those who turn it into chocolate; there are chocolatiers who have never seen a cocoa bean and cocoa producers who have never tasted chocolate. On the other hand, there are many characters who make up little stories and try to deceive their audience into believing things they are not capable of doing often confusing consumers and thus doing great harm to the chocolate world!
My professional experience of about 30 years and my scientific studies have led me to develop knowledge that can bring concrete help to the improvement of production and post-harvest processes, I am currently following quality development in some very important cocoa producing countries.
But I want to tell you about an important project; many cocoa producers want to produce their own chocolate to increase the value added to cocoa, without knowing that the markets where they could make sales would see them competing with companies that work with high technology and are familiar with the necessary business tools, and therefore it would become difficult to penetrate those markets effectively.
I read this need of cocoa producers and the need of small chocolatiers to always have new products to bring to the market with the often serious intention of bringing something interesting to chocolate lovers.
On the other hand, the need for consumers to be more and more aware of what they are eating and where the meteria is coming from first I thought of a tool that could make everyone a player in the same project.
La Bioethics in Cocoa Talking Bioethics it may seem futuristic that it is slow in coming but what I want to present to you is not long term but has already started “Silvio Bessone Chocholate and Friend.” that is, no mediation by anyone direct contact between agricultural producer and Me, direct processing by me for my market and for the cocoa producer’s market that can trammite my facility see transformed into Europe his cocoa properly and in accordance with continental standards, which can guarantee him effective processing and in collaboration develop the best cocoa processing to ensure the consumer to buy the best chocolate in the world!
Because between the beginning and the end of the supply chain, each of the actors is a key player and each cocoa producer can feel like the protagonist of that chocolate bar that will bear his or her name and become part of the
“First International Charter of the
Chocolate”
and in the world’s best restaurants, in the halls d
egustations or in the workshops of the most ambitious confectioners and chocolatiers, they will be able to find their chocolate and their name!
Combined with my own transforming for them the best beans they produce and the sensitive chocolatier who brings it to his customer by sharing with us a new philosophy.
Friend
non-suppliers,
Partners
not speculators, where the price is not set by the stock exchange but by the quality and distinctiveness that that cocoa expresses, and the price will not be brokered by unscrupulous traders but decided between two friends, who have in common to grow and improve the project guaranteeing the consumer Cleanliness, Seriousness, Constancy, and Environmental Sustainability in addition to the Ethical Respect of every worker in the field!
All with the same dignity, with no handouts from the far trade, no stamps or certificates, as it is used in my parts a handshake and a word as between two old friends having a common interest, to increase the profit by improving the meteria first produced by giving it more value!
With absolute transparency!
A project that is not limited to the cocoa product, combined with cocoa we find other ingredients that join walkfacendo such as: brown sugar, Vanilla, Hazelnuts or Fresh Milk!
Yes fresh milk, we are producing a special recipe that sees the use in the production of chocolate of fresh milk, which comes from a Cuneo farm and the cows, of the Piedmont breed, are part of the project, declaring their ear tags and all traceability.
For Gianduia or hazelnuts, we do not just state that they are Piedmontese but we even indicate the Hazel grove and the map numbers so that the consumer can know if they are hillside-grown hazelnuts rather than the intensive lowland crops, which are more profitable but have poor flavor.
As I think you have been able to understand, the project is complex and requires a lot of passion and the ability to hang in there, the obstacles are many and not only financial!
The struggle lies mostly in getting these things out there, getting serious people involved who are trying to do good and good, fortunately I have met a lot of them, and that pushes me to keep my head down.
I would like to thank all those who put their trust in this initiative this publishing house that has always lent its pages to present my travels and solidarity initiatives such as Sri Lanka that will definitely be present in this project.
Someone presenting my project in Europe said to me, “but who makes you do it? just tell about it and then do as others do, buy chocolate from industries or cocoa at the best price!”
It’s TRUE it would be more convenient!
But as long as I have the will and the strength to wake up every morning with a goal and a mission, I will pursue my dreams, and as long as a single customer takes pleasure in knowing that I do these things, it will always be worth it, and however if one day there is not even that, it will still be worth it for me, I owe it to God!
When I started as a chocolatier many things had already been doneand I thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have allowed chocolate to be what it is, but let me have the illusion that I can leave those who will follow me with a world more
Good
,
More Fair
,
Healthier
,
Fairer
e
More Sustainable
!
This is the Bioethics project I mean!