“What is it that defines whether you like a certain chocolate or not? [...] Taste preferences are as numerous as there are people enjoying chocolate. It’s the variety, the endless possibilities in taste which make chocolate such a wonderful product.”
Flavour expert Julien Simonis shared his opinion on the need for fermentation to preserve creativity, variety and diversity.
24 Dec 2018
Why good taste pays off for everyone
The base of the sustainable Cacao-Trace programme lies in this mentality. Through fermentation, you can elevate the expression of the beans’ aromatic potential.
By homogenizing processes through training, providing a quality premium to cocoa farmers and setting-up post harvest centres in cocoa producing regions, we get the maximum out of well selected beans and increase the quality significantly.
Famers get training from fermentation experts, turining their best practices into standard for Cacao-Trace chocolate. They also have more time to spend on other activities for a higher paycheck. Additionally, the natural fermentation process provides the opportunity to meet individual needs: a tailor-made chocolate flavour by adapting variety, terroir, fermentation and drying. Differentiation and personalization through fermentation.
Cacao-Trace : fermentation
It is where the need for segregation comes in. Today, cocoa beans from different qualities are still commonly blended for mass production. The result is that we often talk about ‘West-African chocolate’, ‘Or Ivory Coast’ chocolate. And not about ‘Gréléon’ chocolate for instance.
Once you have obtained fermented and dried beans with a specifically desired taste profile, only a full segregated production process can guarantee the taste stays consistent until the final chocolate. Cacao-Trace chocolate will therefore always be segregated. It also provides a transparent supply chain and the necessary tool to return an additional Chocolate Bonus to the cocoa farmer community, the roots of the final chocolate sold. A good taste pays off for everyone, for chocolate lovers, for local cocoa growers and for the environment.
Read more about Cacao-Trace
