[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ould you imagine a December without the cocoa-induced food coma? ‘Tis the season where tins of Roses, advent calendars and selection boxes are ubiquitous, wrapped under the tree and sitting on coffee tables around the country. While milk chocolate was king of the confectionary world, in the last decade ganache has almost replaced “pesto” as the food buzz word. With relation to the cocoa mass percentage, the 70-plus percent club has boomed, strongly represented by Cadbury acquiring the fairtrade choccie mogul Green & Blacks in 2005 for a reported £20 million. Dark chocolate not only provides a more unique, strong flavour, but comes with increased health benefits due to the higher cocoa content; a few squares thought to reduce heart disease along with a glass of fine claret, cocoa is also known to tweak neurochemicals to the same effect as sex and falling in love. Even some compounds known as methylxanthines, used in the treatment of asthma, are found in the humble bean and bar. Cocoa, believe it or not, is a roasted seed of a fruit which grows on the trunk of a tree. The pre-roasted and therefore raw cocoa product, cacao has also taken the food market by storm, with grating slabs available as a topping to any food you can think of for an antioxidant- and flavour-filled feast.
Apart from the mega confectionery corps with international demand hailing from Ireland, more and more artisan producers are cropping up. Single origin is probably the greatest trend in the chocolate industry today, sourcing cocoa beans from one source, which possesses its own unique tasting notes, as opposed to using cocoa powder from multiple plantations without any significant or identifiable characteristics. From bean-to-bar to foraged infusions, we take a look at the world of Irish artisan chocolate, which has never been more enticing.
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Bean and Goose, Ferns, Co. Wexford & Temple Bar Market on Saturdays
Behind Bean and Goose are Karen and Natalie Keane, two Wexford born sisters who grew up with an obsession for baking and cooking. Coming from backgrounds in hotel management and the chocolate industry, they dreamt of starting a food business. After a weekend course on chocolate making with the renowned Kerry-based chocolatier Benoit Lorge, Bean and Goose’s fate was set.
Named after the bean goose which is native to Wexford, the business has been running since February this year from Karen’s kitchen in Ferns, with Natalie coming up whenever she can from her home in Kinsale. The chocolate is sourced from specialist single origin suppliers within Europe. It is then slowly melted and tempered on Irish soil, the latter process lowering the temperature until the chocolate begins to glisten, which allows it to mould properly as well as giving it its characteristic snap. They produce high quality bars, often inspired by local produce, as well as from their own garden. One of their current signatures is the Winter Bark slab, featured as part of Love Supreme in Stoneybatter’s fantastic array of artisan goods. Inspired by organic hazelnuts that were supplied by Hell’s Kettle in Co. Wicklow, to which mixed nuts, winter spice, orange peel and local honey are added to give an overall decadent warmth. Bean and Goose also look for new mixes for their truffles based on a 65% cocoa mass ganache, from chestnut and lemon to cumin and ginger.
Karen isn’t a fan of hot chocolate based on the milk variety, and instead offers a dark, less sweet number which has gained popularity. Two options are available, Aztec or whiskey, initially based on a sugar and cocoa stock with various infusions from cinnamon to black cardamom, before freshly tempered chocolate is added and brought to the boil. Finished off with sea salt and vanilla paste, a shot of Carlow-based Writer’s Tears whiskey is added to the latter prior to serving.
Having a presence in over fifteen local stores nationwide and some of Dublin’s most prestigious markets, the next step for Bean and Goose is to expand their supplier base, as well as build a separate unit within the current grounds, and begin to make a bean-to-bar product. The Keane sisters operate a stall at Temple Bar Market every Saturday where they love to meet new people and customers, and feel there is a huge increase in consumer understanding on how chocolate is made, which has driven a huge demand for high end, small scale producers.
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Cocoa Atelier, Drury Street, Dublin 2
Behind the brains of Ireland’s first and only chocolate boutique is Mark Amand, chef and founder of La Rousse foods. Having previously revolutionised the Irish food industry as a specialist supplier, Amand realised the lack of specialised chocolate boutiques in Ireland compared to their near one-per-village abundance in his native France. Setting about to create a chocolate laboratory and shop, Cocoa Atelier was opened in Dublin four years ago to roaring success.
Cocoa Atelier source their chocolate from the renowned Chocolaterie de l’Opera in the picturesque papal town of Avignon in the South of France. The single origin chocolate arrives in tablet form which contains the cocoa mass, cocoa powder, sugar and milk powder where applicable which is melted prior to the addition of infusions and moulding into one of their trademark twenty-something squares. Kate Saul, Cocoa Atelier’s general manager cites the Irish salted caramel as the most popular flavour. Ginger is also a firm favourite, as is their Jameson whiskey flavour which uses Redbreast 12 single pot still. More unusuals are also available such as Earl Grey and chestnut honey (where the honey is sourced from the chestnut tree, giving an oaky, dark undertone).
Cocoa Atelier’s small scale operation of artisan offerings gives scope to experimental creations. Trends predicted in the future by Kate are savoury and herbal infusions, such as from sea and micro vegetables, which is something they are yet to experiment with fully but definitely in the pipeline. Their connection to La Rousse gives them fantastic access to a wide offering of supplier’s produce, and they have also created various contract signature chocolates in the past. A myriad of infusions from sloe gin to rhubarb chocolates were made from garden produce of the five star Ballyfin Demesne (where Kimye honeymooned this year), and recently Cocoa Atelier were able to produce a strawberry and champagne infusion for an Ascot enthusiast’s social gathering. Through their social media output, new seasonal infusions were also chosen by the public, most recently their lemon verbena flavour for the summer.
Wilkie’s Organic Chocolate, Midleton, Co. Cork
Behind one of the artisan, bean-to-bar suppliers to Selfridge’s is an Irish producer. Shana Wilkie of the eponymous Wilkie’s Organic Chocolate was originally a graphic designer who discovered a passion for chocolate after completing a handmade chocolate course. Following the closure of the Sunday Tribune where she was working as a pre-press manager, Shana decided to follow a fascination which developed into a brand, going from strength to strength.
Wilkie’s sources cocoa beans from a Peruvian farmer owned co-op, using Grade 1 cacao of the Criollo variety, which is renowned for its fine flavour which is dependent on the terroir, as opposed to the Fostarero bean which Shana describes as the “bulk bean” most commonly used in mainstream chocolate today. They come dry and fermented when delivered to Midleton before being cleaned, sorted and roasted which is temperature dependent on the amount of moisture lost or gained by the bean when transported. The cocoa is then cooled before being hand cranked and placed through a winnower, which separates the cocoa nibs using air flow. The nibs can be ground from 36 up to 60 hours, allowing for the release of cocoa butter forming a liquid cocoa mass. The chocolate is then tempered and moulded.
Wilkie’s produces two signature bars, based on the region of the cocoa beans extracted. The Tumbes has light floral notes with a zingy finish, making a perfect ganache or sauce, while the Amazonas is more fruity, with public contributions to taste ranging from berries to tequila.
Shana aims to focus production in Ireland for the future mainly due to their small production capacity, promoting Wilkie’s organic chocolate powder as well as meeting foreign markets being served in Germany, the UK and Norway. Although Shana wants to strengthen her rapport with Peruvian cacao farmers, the predicted cocoa shortage for 2020 is leading to larger companies buying plantations, due to previous trading resistance amongst farmers in order to prevent a decrease to their profits. Nonetheless, Shana hopes to “promote sustainable farming and fairness for all” and is confident that the farmers used will continue to produce organic, sustainable high quality produce.
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Natasha’s Living Food, Parkwest, Dublin 12
While the other suppliers work on the roasted cocoa bean, Natasha Czopor favours the fermented, raw cacao product, being the only supplier in Ireland making cacao truffles from scratch. Following a twenty year journey from foraging in East Germany to bringing the trend to Ireland, Natasha took a leap for what she believes is still a huge gap in the market — raw, nutritious, ethical food. Cacao is the predecessor of cocoa, from the same plant but processed differently. Fermenting the cacao beans and pods together as opposed to roasting allows for the twelve thousand individual aromas to thrive, and gives a different, fruity flavour being sundried on bamboo as opposed to the blacker cocoa which has been exposed to much higher temperatures. Cacao naturally clumps due to the high fat content, which is separated in small batches at low temperatures to give both cacao powder and butter.
At the production site in Parkwest, the chocolate is created via melting the cacao powder, butter (at 40ºC), with the addition of traditional superfoods such as agave nectar, maca and lacuma, as well as vanilla and Himalayan salt prior to tempering. Natasha’s chocolates are available in truffle form in a myriad of flavours, such as bee pollen, mint and barley-grass, and chilli, as well as plain dark.
Natasha sources Arriba cacao beans from small co-operatives based in northern Ecuador, with the ethics of the source being a huge priority. As cacao is not a mechanised process, children are often involved and exploitation of plantations at low costs with high margins is rampant. Natasha feels that not only is she providing a food product, she’s also a role in educating the consumer that other people came before the final production via her passion, which often comes into conflict with potential consumers. However, creating an ethical and specialised product comes with a slightly heftier price tag, which often reigns consumer critique. Comparing other large-scale companies’ prices who do not factor ethics into consideration is not possible in this realm, and Natasha feels that it’s not something that people want to know. Following success in the market nationwide with both chocolate and other products, such as her raw kale crisps that have won a myriad of awards, Natasha still holds onto the dream that one day you can “pop into your local Applegreen and be able to buy kale chips and good quality chocolate”, awakening the nation to the healthier and more ethical alternatives available.
