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Tree-to-bar chocolate makers in Grenada (Part 3)
Tree-to-bar chocolate makers in Grenada (Part 3) One of the field trips during the Grenada Chocolate Festival was a visit to The Grenada Chocolate Company. It has been one of the highlights of my trip! Since Mott Green, the founder, passed away too soon in 2013 (Note 1), I was wondering what was happening with the brand and the business. By talking to James Mort, the manager, and Edmond Brown, the co-founder, I was able to understand better what challenges they will face in the next months. Back in 1999, when Mott Green founded it, The Grenada Chocolate Company was the only tree-to-bar chocolate maker on the island. Now, 18 years later, Edmond, Jim and the members of the cooperative need to make big changes. The Grenada Chocolate Company The Grenada Chocolate Company The members of Grenada Chocolate Company’s cooperative used to ferment and dry their cacao using Belmont Estate’s facilities. They also have a small bonbon shop there, where they can sell their bars and their truffles. Since Belmont is also starting to create its own tree-to-bar products (see Part 4 of this series), The Grenada Chocolate Company needs to relocate everything. Edmond said they want to create a crowdfunding campaign to finance their new shop in St-George’s, the capital. They will also rehabilitate a fermentation and drying center in Hermitage, the village where the factory is located. If you want to help them, I invite you to follow their Facebook page to get the latest updates. Refiner and conch Cacao butter press. Not many tree-to-bar chocolate makers have that kind of machine. The Grenada Chocolate Company is an exception. Their press works by hand. Freshly pressed cacao butter Besides The Grenada Chocolate Company, there are many other tree-to-bar makers in Grenada, all different from one another regarding size and the type of chocolate they produce. Jouvay (on Diamond Estate), belonging to the Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA), is the biggest one even if it was founded only three years ago (2014), with the help of USAID and the American chocolatier L.A. Burdick (Note 2). During the festival, we did a really quick group tour of Jouvay, so quick it was disappointing. Yet, the factory is in a magnificent setting! The building is an old rum distillery, founded by French monks in 1774. And the cacao estate is beautiful and perfect for a walk: one of the activities during the Grenada Chocolate Festival, the Chocolate Hash, was held there. We walked and run among the cacao trees, with the mountains in the background! Jouvay foundation: 2014 Cacao beans sorting Roll refiner Chocolate hash on Diamond Estate Unfortunately, Jouvay’s chocolate is also a little bit disappointing… This is of course my personal opinion, but compared to the chocolate made by other tree-to-bar makers in the country, it does not let the wonderful flavors of the Grenadian cacao shine through. Jouvay’s chocolate bars In the 4th and last part of this series, I will talk about three other projects involving chocolate in Grenada: Belmont Estate, Crayfish Bay and Tri Island. ——— Note 1: See my blog post from 2013 on that topic (in French). Note 2: I’ve been told that Burdick is not involved anymore in the project, even if Jouvay’s website still talks about him (personal communication with James Mort).
The Grenadian cacao market (Part 2)
The Grenada Chocolate Festival is really different from all the other festivals I have attended in the last years. It is one of the only festivals where participants can visit craft bean-to-bar chocolate makers and cacao plantations all around the country, as well as take part in various activities like chocolate yoga or skin products creation with cacao. The range of activities is really diversified, and one leaves the country knowing more about every aspects of the chocolate industry in Grenada. Talk about the health benefits of chocolate. You can find part of the talk here. Chocolate facial mask with cocoa powder European chocolate tasting with Elle Coco During our numerous field visits to cacao plantations and chocolate makers, I was pleased to see how many tree-to-bar makers (note 1) appeared in the last years in Grenada. There are now four of them including the well-known Grenada Chocolate Company, and a fifth one will be ready soon to sell his products. The chocolate industry is literally booming, and the Grenadian people are really proud of what is happening in their country. I did not visit all the cacao producing countries, but in the ones I traveled to, I have not seen that deep awareness and pride anywhere else. Except in Peru, where there are 12 to 15 bean-to-bar makers (and probably even more since my last visit in July 2016). Starting to make chocolate on site, in a cacao producing country, is a great way to add value to a raw material and to create more jobs in the country. It is also a way to bypass the low prices farmers receive for their crop. While in Grenada, I learned that an organization called Grenada Cocoa Association (GCA) is in charge of buying, selling and exporting all the cacao beans Grenada produces. In doing so, they also fix the price to be paid to the producers. This association, owned at least in part by farmers, has the monopoly to buy cacao (Note 2). The GCA buys wet beans (Note 3) for 1,50$ EC per pound (around 0,55$ USD), in line with the commodity market; then they ferment and dry them in one of their facilities. The price paid by the GCA is not enough for the farmers to make a living. It is also not enough to recognize the specificity of the fine flavour cacao from Grenada: this cacao should not be traded on the stock market. That is one of the reasons why youths do not want to take over the family farms. And as everywhere else in the world, cacao producers are getting older, the majority of them in Grenada being in their 50s or even their 60s. Visit at the Grenada Chocolate Factory. Credits: Grenada Chocolate Festival. When a cacao producer in Grenada decides to make chocolate with his beans, he does not need to go through the GCA, which can be a huge advantage (Note 4). In that sense, the Grenada Chocolate Company has been a pioneer. When Mott Green founded the company in 1999, he created a cooperative, and farmers were part of it too. There were 10 farmers at the beginning; there are now more than 30, all organic certified. By incorporating the farmers in the company, Mott was allowed to buy their cacao beans directly, and he paid a higher price. Today, the Grenada Chocolate Company still pays more for its cacao: 2,50$ EC / pound (around 0,93$ USD) (Note 5). And since the company is a cooperative, farmers also get part of the profits. In the next part of this series, I will talk more about the mythical Grenada Chocolate Company and the challenges it will face in the next months. With Edmond Brown, co-founder of The Grenada Chocolate Company Note 1: Since everyone making chocolate in Grenada also grows it’s cacao, it’s more appropriate to use the expression tree-to-bar than bean-to-bar. Note 2: Three of its board members come from the government, while the remaining six are elected by the members of the association (Grenada Cocoa Association Act). Note 3: The wet beans are the beans freshly removed from the pods, before they undergo the fermentation and drying processes. The GCA has centralized fermentation and drying centers. Note 4: Personal communication with Lylette Primell (Crayfish Bay Chocolate) and James Mort (The Grenada Chocolate Company). Note 5: Personal communication with James Mort (The Grenada Chocolate Company).
Grenada, nutmeg and cacao! (Part 1)
I love chocolate. Not only because it is a delicious food with many health benefits, but also because it gives me the opportunity to see the world differently. Chocolate enables me to visit countries I never thought I would travel to, and it helps me to get a better understanding of those places. Petite Anse Grenada, a tiny island in the Caribbean, is one of those countries I never thought I would visit some day… until a chocolate festival brought me there! The Grenada Chocolate Festival was created only four years ago but it has already received a lot of attention. In such a short period of time, Magdalena Fielden, the founder, managed to create a nine days event that attracts people from Grenada, surrounding islands and all over the world. Because of the history of the country, many participants of the festival came from the UK. After being conquered by the French in 1650 (Note 1), the island became an English colony in 1763, following the Treaty of Paris. Grenada became independent in 1974, but the links between this Commonwealth country and UK seem to remain strong to this day. A period of insecurity and political turmoil followed the independence, between 1979 and 1984, when the country became communist (Note 2), and allied with Cuba and USSR. I have to admit I did not know any of this before my stay in Grenada, but I find it truly interesting and fascinating. Fort Frederick St.George’s from the top of Fort Frederick Nowadays, the country seems pretty quiet politically. I have not heard anything about corruption among the elites, like in Madagascar, for example. It does not mean everything is perfect on the Island of Spice, but life seems better there than in a lot of other places I have visited. I have noticed less poverty, and I have been told that criminality is low compared to other islands in the Caribbean, like Trinidad. One of our guides during the chocolate festival told us it is safe to walk almost everywhere alone in Grenada, even at night. Nutmeg fruit Nutmeg, mace and cacao have been important crops for Grenada since colonization by Europeans. Nutmeg production is down since Ivan, the hurricane that devastated the island in 2004. The crop, unfortunately, has not fully recovered yet. Nutmeg and mace processing facility, Gouyave Whole nutmeg, ready to be shipped internationally Cacao plantations were also touched by Ivan, but as many people told me during my stay – including Dr. Darin Sukha of the University of West Indies, Trinidad -, cacao trees are resilient. Cacao production could recover from Ivan over the years, but it is not what happened for nutmeg (Note 3). Grenada is a small player on the international cacao market, with only 900 tons produced per year (Note 4). It is nonetheless a well appreciated origin when it comes to fine flavor cacao: the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) recognizes 100% of its cacao as fine flavor, a privilege only shared by 10 countries in the world! No wonder why the cacao and chocolate industry is booming these days in Grenada, as you will learn in Part 2 of this series. ———— Note 1: Many cities in the country still have French names, like Gouyave and Petite Anse. Note 2: In 1979, Maurice Bishop, leader of the New Jewel Movement, organized a coup to remove the elected president, Eric Gairy. Bishop was killed in 1983. Note 3: According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Grenada produced 763 tons of cacao in 2004 and only 47 in 2005. The industry has now fully recovered, with 900 tons produced in 2014. In comparison, the country produced 2887 tons of nutmeg, mace and cardamom in 2004, and only 448 tons in 2014… Note 4: The total world production is a little bit more than 4 million tons per year (ICCO).
What role do women play in cocoa and chocolate industry?
On January the 20th, I was invited to participate on a panel called “How can women transform the food industry for women?” during the International Forum. This forum was organized by CECI and WUSC-EUMC, the two organizations with which I was able to go to Peru in July 2016. In the weeks previous to this forum, I dug deeper into the topic of women’s conditions in cacao and chocolate production. There are many inequalities, but things are changing little by little, and numerous initiatives appeared in the last few years to help women and add value to their work. The situation According to statistics from the World Cocoa Foundation, in agriculture in general, « Women perform 66 % of the world’s work, produce 50% of the food, but only manage 10% of the income and only own 1% of the property » (World Cocoa Foundation). The situation is similar in cacao production. In West Africa, between 15% and 25% of women working in a cacao field own the land (UTZ Certified and Solidaridad, 2009). The others are spouses of cacao farmers, family members or employees. Access to land is one of the major barriers for female producers, and other obstacles result from it: access to cooperatives, credit, training and market (1). Percentage of land ownership in West Africa. Source: CLP survey; Empowering Women and Fighting Poverty: Cocoa and Land Rights in West Africa: International Food and Policy Research Institute; Dalberg analysis. Oftentimes, the work of those women is less recognized, and they get lower salaries than men. However, they participate in 50% of the tasks related to the cultivation of cacao, and as much as 70% in some countries like in Ghana (Andoh, 2017). Also, most of the time, the tasks they complete are essential to the quality of the cacao beans. They are the ones taking care of the young cacao trees in the nursery, or in charge of the post-harvest processes: fermentation, drying, sorting of the bean (The Gender and Cocoa Livelihoods Toolbox). These steps are crucial to getting a high quality cacao. That’s indeed what I observed during my trip to Madagascar in the Fall of 2016. Pod breaking, MAVA Plantation (Madagascar) Drying cacao beans, Plantation Millot (Madagascar) Sorting cacao beans, MAVA Plantation (Madagascar) The situation of the female bean-to-bar (b2b) chocolate makers is different. Since I started in the industry in 2008, the number of female b2b makers has largely increased. In Canada only, there are about thirty b2b makers right now and more than half of them are run by women alone or couples where the woman has a very influential role in the production. The weight of the cacao bags or the very mechanical and technical side of the production don’t seem to stop them (2). Most of the female b2b makers I talked to told me that their biggest challenge as women was to get cacao beans directly from farmers. Unfortunately, some of them are not taken seriously when they do business with male producers, wether they are based in Canada, in the USA or in a cacao producing country (3). Several of them would like to work with female cacao producers, but they don’t always know how to reach them or the cooperatives in which they are members. Positive initiatives One of the solutions is to help women from all spheres of the chocolate industry connect by giving them the possibility to meet and forge links. Since May 2016, those connections are possible thanks to the Women in Cocoa and Chocolate Network (WINCC). Helping women to create relationships between those who cultivate cacao, transform it, sell the final products and those who offer education is very important. And I think it’s the key for things to continue improving. However, positives initiatives are plentiful and we should talk more about them. In many cacao producing countries, women cooperatives or cooperatives run by women are put in place. I’m thinking, among others, about the Cooperative des femmes entrepreneurs de Côte d’Ivoire (COFENCI) or Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana. More than a third of the members of this cooperative are women, and they are represented on all the committees. In Peru, the Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa, that cultivates coffee and cacao, has a women as general manager, Esperanza Dionisio Castillo, and she is respected by all. Esperanza Dionisio Castillo, General Manager of C.A.C. Pangoa Those are only some examples of positive initiatives by and for women in the cacao and chocolate industry. Women in cacao producing countries have more and more opportunities to cultivate and sell their cacao, but they need to have access to market. A well, more and more b2b female chocolate makers are seeking the female producers because they would like to work with them. Not only because they are women, but also because of their high quality cacao! NOTES 1. For further details on the barriers women face in the production of cacao, read the thorough report from UTZ Certified and Solidaridad (2009). 2. However, some select their machines accordingly, buying those that are lighter or easier to move. (Palette de Bine, personal communication). 3. Personal communication with Q’UMA Chocolate, QANTU, Palette de Bine. BIBLIOGRAPHIE Andoh, D. (January 12th 2107). « Female cocoa farmer groups receive support to improve yields », Graphic Online. En ligne: http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/female-cocoa-farmer-groups-receive-support-to-improve-yields.html. Barrientos, S. (2013). « Gender production networks: Sustaining cocoa-chocolate sourcing in Ghana and India », Brooks World Poverty Institute (no. 186). Manchester. Barometer Consortium (2015). Cocoa Barometer 2015. Online: http://www.cocoabarometer.org/Home.html International Food Policy Research Institute. (2002). Empowering Women and Fighting Poverty: Cocoa and Land Rights in West Africa: International Food and Policy Research Institute; Dalberg analysis. Oxfam. https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/gender-inequality-cocoa-ivory-coast.pdf. The Gender and Cocoa Livelihoods Toolbox, http://genderandcocoalivelihoods.org/ UTZ Certified and Solidaridad. (2009). The role of certification and producer support in promoting gender equality in cocoa production. Online: https://utzcertified.org/attachments/article/92/CocoaGenderUTZSolidaridad_2009.pdf. World Cocoa Foundation. Online: http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/files_mf/womenincocoafarming_presentations.pdf
Cacaosuyo’s secrets
(This blog post was first published on the Uniterra Volunteer Blog.) During our trip to Peru, Isabella and I met Samir Giha and Eduardo Lanfranco from Cacaosuyo. We shared some great conversations with them at the Salón del Cacao y el Chocolate and when we visited their factory. Since 2012, Samir and Eduardo have made one of the best chocolates in the world. Their products have received several awards in two prestigious competitions (International Chocolate Awards et Academy of Chocolate Awards). Cacaosuyo barsPhoto credits: Cacaosuyo Samir and Eduardo were both working in fields completely unrelated to chocolate before starting their chocolate company. Samir was at one time a pop singer, the owner of a record company. He even was a textile exporter, taking the influence for the colourful geometric patterns of Cacaosuyo’s packaging from traditional Peruvian fabrics. Eduardo, on his side, studied economics and has been an investor in various projects, mostly related to hydroelectricity. However, he was introduced to chocolate at a very young age by his mother, a confectioner. Samir Giha and Eduardo Lanfranco, founders of Cacaosuyo. Photo credits: Trome.pe After they me at the Salón del Cacao in Lima in 2012 , Samir and Eduardo decided to start a chocolate business together. They soon realized that Peru grows a lot of native and very aromatic cacao. At that time, the Piura region was already known for its white cacao (cacao blanco), and that is where the two entrepreneurs looked for the best cacao beans to make the best chocolate. For more than a year, they learnt how to ferment and dry cacao beans with the Venezuelan expert Gladys Ramos. The fermentation and drying of the beans are two post-harvest steps usually made by the producers themselves or the cooperatives. Cacaosuyo’s founders decided to take on these steps: they built post-harvest centres in the regions where they buy beans. As Samir told us, fermentation and drying are critical to get good beans. Even when genetics are good, cacao can be ruined if those steps are not done properly. In this film clip, Samir explains why it is better for a chocolate maker to master the post-harvest processes usually done at the plantation. Bean-to-bar makers learn to make the best chocolate with the beans they receive, even if there are some defects. Sometimes, they even need to throw out an entire lot of costly cacao beans. That is why Cacaosuyo decided to take care of the post-harvest process, instead of buying dry cacao. Samir and Eduardo buy wet beans, as soon as they are removed from the pods, which is rather unusual. Even if it is a much more expensive way of buying cacao, they work directly with the cacao producers, selecting the trees that produce the finest aromatic cacao for their chocolate. They pay 66% more for the wet beans and they hire employees and engineers on site in each region. Samir and Eduardo often travel to meet the producers and keep strong links with them. For Eduardo, it is really important that the farmers know who is behind Cacaosuyo. Samir and Eduardo talked a lot about how they work, about their relationship with cacao producers and about the importance of giving them a fair price, but not through certifications. They also emphasized the fact that direct trade is not always easy for a chocolate maker that lives outside Peru: logistics are often in the way! What stands out in this interview with Samir is the fact that direct trade is multifaceted and that is important to find solutions so that more bean-to-bar makers can grow direct relationship with farmers. A platform like Yellowseed is already a game-changer! With Samir Giha and Eduardo Lanfranco, of Cacaosuyo
Business delegation in Peru
(This blog post was first published on the Uniterra Volunteer Blog.) I came back some weeks ago from a wonderful trip to Peru with five other Quebecers working in the chocolate industry: Isabella, my colleague at Miss Choco, Daniel and Alcina (Chocolats Monarque, Montréal), and Sylviane and Narada (Chocolaterie Le Cacaoyer, L’Assomption). We went to Peru as “business volunteers” thanks to the Uniterra program, created by CECI and WUSC-EUMC. During those two weeks, we had the opportunity to meet with Peruvian bean-to-bar chocolate makers (1), visit plantations in the region of San Martin and meet professionals from all over the world that are involved in the chocolate industry. Our delegation on the first day in Lima. With Christian Clément and Roy Vera Chung. Credits: Roy Vera Chung This trip to Peru was very special for me for a lot of different reasons. First of all, I visited my first cacao plantation in this country, in October of 2010. I was put in contact with Norandino (a coop from Piura, called at that time Cepicafe), thanks to Martin Christy (2). I was reading about chocolate for two years, but it was not yet the true passion that would change my life. I can say for sure that my passion was born there, in this small cacao farm in Buenos Aires, Peru. My first cacao plantation visit in Buenos Aires (Piura) in 2010. The fact that WUSC-EUMC was one of the organizations involved in our delegation is another reason explaining why this trip was so special for me. During my studies at l’UQAM, I was a volunteer in our local committee. I was very happy to be involved again in a WUSC project and to get to know their Peruvian team! Our delegation visited their office in Lima, where we had the pleasure of meeting the executive director, Chris Eaton, who is based in Ottawa but traveling to Peru during the same time. We had several in-depth discussions with him about our work, bean-to-bar chocolate, cacao trade, etc. At the WUSC office in Lima.Credits: Isabella Geddes. In planning our visit to Peru, I was looking forward to seeing Francesca Valdivia again, founder of Q’uma Chocolate. It was in part because of her that our delegation was made possible. Francesca is a young, passionate and inspiring woman. The connexion between us was instantaneous. She came to Montreal last April for the Salon International de l’Alimentation (SIAL) and during that time, she also visited my store, La Tablette de Miss Choco. The idea of going to Peru to attend the Salon del Cacao y el Chocolate originated at that meeting. If you would like to know more about her, read this article on CECI’s website. Discussion with Francesca Valdivia from Q’uma Chocolate.Credits: Isabella Geddes Francesca and I, as well as the Miss Choco team, share the same vision on a lot of issues, including direct trade and the importance of education to further develop the artisanal bean-to-bar movement. Isabella and I talked a lot with Francesca about how she buys cacao beans. In the following video, she explains why it is so important for her to buy directly from the farmers and to personally know the producers, not only the coop administrators. In Peru, we went to the factory were Francesca makes chocolate. It’s in Pachacamac, a suburb of Lima, in the middle of the desert. The factory is owned by Lisi Montoya (Shattell), another female bean-to-bar chocolate maker. Francesca shares Lisi’s equipment, but she plans on setting up her own factory in the next year. Lisi and Francesca are a sign that the chocolate and cacao industry in Peru are undergoing profound change. Men are still the major presence in cacao plantations and bean-to-bar chocolate factories but increasingly women are getting involved. Isabella and I were lucky enough to discuss this issue with Francesca during the Salón del Cacao y el Chocolate Perú. As you will hear in the following video (in Spanish), she wishes that more women will be involved in cacao cultivation. She also points out that, in her view, it is important for women to help each other in Peru. Francesca Valdivia with Bertilla Mori. Credits: Francesca Valdivia It is an undeniable fact, the chocolate industry is quickly changing in Peru. In the coming years, it will be interesting to follow it’s development. I will talk about that in my next article. Stay tuned! (1) Bean-to-bar: the chocolate maker buys the cacao beans and make everything from the scratch. (2) Martin Christy is, amongst other things, the founder of the Seventy Percent website and also one of the founder of the International Chocolate Awards.