Interview: Santiago Peralta, Pacari Chocolate

Interview with Santiago Peralta, Pacari Chocolate
Interview Date: January 21, 2013

During the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, CA, I had the privilege to interview Pacari Chocolate Founder, Santiago Peralta.

Pacari Chocolate is a tree-to-bar maker of Ecuadorian organic chocolates, that also offers a line of raw chocolate bars, cacao nibs, and other products.

I've featured several of these bars this past week and a half, as part of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week. More information on these specific bars can be found in my Chocolate of the Day Posts, from Feb. 6 - 15, 2013.

What's Unique about Pacari Chocolate?

Santiago and others at Pacari work directly with between 2,500 and 3,000 farmers in Ecuador, to produce single region bars from cacao growing areas in western provinces such as Los Rios, Esmeraldas, and Manabi.

Pacari also is involved with the growing of golden berries (trozos de uvilla), native wild Andean blueberries, and other fresh ingredients for their chocolates. Inclusions from other Andean nations, such as salt from a sacred valley in Cuzco, Peru, and Merken (spice) from Chile, can also be found in Pacari dark chocolate bars.

The company works to improve the quality of life for farmers that they work with in Ecuador where possible, with efforts such as Project Flashlamp -- that replaces battery-driven flashlights with solar-powered ones. And the direct relationships Pacari has formed with farmers likely result in better visibility into soil, growing conditions, and what works and doesn't work.

Not only is the company one of the top certified organic chocolate makers, but also the company is one of the few operations that has been certified biodynamic (by Demeter). The company also produces Kosher certified products.

Biodynamic farming goes beyond organic farming in some respects, in that it takes into account relationships between soil, living organisms as well as the crops that are growing, and seeks to balance out these relationships to obtain the best results for the short and long term.

Pacari in the U.S.
I became acquainted with Pacari Chocolate through The Chocolate Garage in Palo Alto. And the following day after this interview, I attended a chocolate maker get-together at the Garage where Santiago and others talked about their chocolates and the processes involved with creating great bars and bringing them to market. (Pictures of Sunita de Tourreil, Chocolate Garage founder, and Santiago, shown bottom right.) Pacari can also be found in various independent markets in the U.S. and maintains an office/rep. in Florida to assist in marketing and distribution.

Francois Pralus - Fortissima 80% bar - Feb. 15, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Francois Pralus
Fortissima - 80% cacao bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .875 oz. (25 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) total bar
Calories: 131 calories (estimate) in 1/4 bar
Cost: $12.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, in Palo Alto, CA

Fortissima (in Italian and French) means strong. It's also a term applied to music. I found that to be a fitting analogy for this Fortissima 80% cacao bar from Francois Pralus (Roanne, France).

Tasting Experience - Music

A tasting experience for a chocolate can be 20 or 30 seconds long -- and might be compared to a short piece of music. The prelude in this case (following the hard snap (a sign of a well tempered bar) when I broke off a piece of bar to taste) was a very mild smell, compared to the strong, unified "chord" of three flavor(s) that dominated throughout this experience. Somewhere in the middle of this chord there was also a pleasant roasted flavor note, then the strong chord resumed. The finish melted away to nothing.

The Melt

And speaking of melting, most Pralus bars have a deliciously smooth mouth feel or texture, similar to that of some other Swiss, German, French, Belgian and other European makers, in part due to cocoa butter, soy lecithin -- and, perhaps most important, longer conch times where particle sizes are ground down to smaller sizes, resulting in a more silky smooth texture. The trade-off with longer conching time can be loss of flavor (off flavors as well as interesting ones).

Criollo, Forastero, Trinitario

This Fortissima 80% bar was made using the beans from three types of cacao pods: Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario. This classification is, in fact, an oversimplification (a subject of a future post), but if all three were musical notes on a piano, and you played all three notes at the same time -- you'd get a very strong flavor chord, especially if you used a stronger percent of cocoa solids. Not unlike this 80% cacao bar. So, Fortissima it is.

As a handy reference (to origin) on this Pralus "Les Tropiques du Chocolat" bar, there was a map with a dot roughly where Ecuador is located in South America, with the following coordinates: 2 degrees 18' S 76 degrees 38' 0.

Chocolate Math, Cartoon Physics, and a New Daily Format

Today was Day #10 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week. Frequent visitors to this site will note that Chocolate Math does not always correlate with reality. Just as there are principles of Cartoon Physics where humor can alter perceptions of time and space, so it is with Chocolate Math here on Chocolate Banquet. A week may stretch from seven days to ten or eleven days in length. And, when you are enjoying chocolate, this is not such a terrible thing.

Note: Today, I'm changing Post titles to reflect the name of the Chocolate of the Day, rather than preface every post title with "ChocolateBet:" followed by the date. The daily chocolate "bet" continues; however, after more than six years I think I've already conveyed this point.

Preview: Elena Chocolate, Valentines Day Heart

Preview Profile: Elena Chocolate
February 14, 2013

I returned yesterday from a trip to Hawaii, the only U.S. state where cacao fruit can really be grown. I was in Kona, Hawaii, located on the west coast of the largest and southernmost island that comprises the state. And, at 18 degrees Latitude North, the Big Island is perhaps the best island for growing cacao, the raw material for the chocolate that we all love.

So, yes, I was on the hunt for cacao fruit, and island grown and made chocolates; but I also enjoyed discovering a few exotic fruits that might be good combined with chocolate. Vi(e) fruit truffles anyone?

I was fortunate to be able to visit the award-winning Green Gecko Coffee Farm in the Kona area. The owners of Green Gecko, Mike Katz and Lawton Allenby, had designed a veritable tropical paradise on a few acres, with coffee, a variety of fruit trees, flowers -- and even a few recently planted cacao trees. I also visited a few different Farmers Markets with them. These outdoor markets were a great way to sample local produce, fruits, macadamia nuts, and other items.

At the Saturday morning Keauhou Farmers Market, I met an evangelist for the Lulo fruit; and Vheissu and Carolyn Keffer, of Kona Origins, a company I will write about next.

However, to celebrate today, Valentines Day, I'd like to give a shout-out to Elena Garcia at Elena Chocolate.

Her Raspberry Liliko'i (passion fruit) heart-shaped chocolates were the perfect chocolate for Valentines Day this week. Elena expounded on her love for both different grades of chocolate and fresh flavor additions -- a combination of skills and interests not always found with chocolatiers -- who may just want to stick with buying one brand of base chocolate, that is easiest to work with.

Elena was more aware of pairing certain types of chocolates with various ingredients. Hats off to Elena, an infectiously creative spirit and artist. The Raspberry Lilikoi chocolate was delicious.

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Dick Taylor - 70% Ecuador bar - February 14, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Dick Taylor Chocolate
70% Ecuador bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 2 oz. (56 g.) total bar
Calories: 148 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

After eating Pacari Chocolate bars from Ecuador this past week, it was fun to get a different, finished, take on cacao beans from the same country -- this time from Dick Taylor Chocolate (Arcata, CA), a Northern California chocolate maker.

This bar was made from organic cacao and organic cane sugar by these small batch craft chocolate makers in Humboldt County (not far from Humboldt Bay where boats are built). And the makers statement describes how they "delicately roast, crack, winnow, stone refine, and age our chocolate in our factory..." The complete bean-to-bar process took approximately one month.

In contrast to the Pacari bars, today's 70% Ecuador bar was richer, slightly more bitter and acidic, a bit earthier -- and with no up-front floral notes that I could detect. Although there was one pleasant fleeting hit of olive at the beginning of one bite. Later after lunch I re-sampled this bar; it was consistent with what I recalled tasting in the morning, but I picked up one tiny little floral chocolatey hint.

Dick Taylor Chocolate is an amalgam of the talents of Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor -- who also have a background in handcrafted boat building; thus the shipwright-related craft illustration on the packaging. The bar was also imprinted with a beautiful patterned illustration, that spoke to the owners sense of thoughtful design.

Today was Day #9 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Pacari Chocolate - Esmeraldas 60% bar - February 13, 2013

Chocolate of the Day:

Pacari Chocolate
Esmeraldas - 60% Cacao - dark chocolate bar
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .88 oz. (25 g.) / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 131 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

Today's single region Esmaraldas 60% cacao bar from Pacari Chocolate (Ecuador) was rich, but very smooth, with a very slight floral note at the beginning.

I've featured several chocolates from Pacari this week. All have had a similar flavor profile -- not too harsh or acidic, smooth with a fairly rich chocolatey taste. I'm tempted to ascribe these flavors to Ecuadorian origins. However, I'll continue to look at other makers who are using beans from Ecuador, to see how these different makers ferment, roast, conch and temper (cacao from the same region) --resulting in a range of flavor differences.

Pacari is a fairly large "tree-to-bar" chocolate company in Ecuador, that works with as many as 2,500 farm families, over approximately 3,000 hectares of land. Having a slightly larger bean base to work with, may make it easier to blend and balance flavor profiles than a smaller batch maker in the U.S. or elsewhere out of country.

Today's single region bar was made with beans from Esmeraldas -- a province in northern Ecuador (see map), northwest of the capital city of Quito.

In addition to supplying organic (and some raw) chocolate bars, the company's packaging mentions fair practices/efforts to support farmers, and to preserve biodiversity of the Arriba Nacional (general type of cacao) forest.

Today was Day #8 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Pacari Chocolate - Dark chocolate covered Golden Berries - February 12, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Pacari Chocolate
Dark chocolate covered Golden Berries
(Trozos de Uvilla cubiertos con chocolate)
Good + - Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) total package
Calories: 140 calories (estimate) in 1/2 package
Cost: $3.85 for 1 package/small box
Purchased from: Abundant Life, Hilo, Hawaii

Today I took a break from dark chocolate bars from Ecuador, to sample chocolate covered golden berries from Pacari Chocolate (Ecuador). What are golden berries? Listed in Spanish as Trozos de Uvilla, perhaps they are similar to golden mulberries. I'll look forward to researching this further*, as there are many wonderful golden colored berries that grow in tropical climates.

These dried berries were tasty, a bit tart, and balanced very nicely with the Pacari dark chocolate soy-free (a bit of sunflower lecithin was used instead) couverature -- made from tree-to-bar in Ecuador.

*Postscript: It's more likely that these berries are similar to Poha berries (Hawaii), or Cape Gooseberries (South Africa) -- little golden orbs that resemble tiny, sweet, yellow tomatoes or tomatillos.

Note: Due to travel this week, posts and photos will be delayed.

Pacari Chocolate - Raw 100% and 70% bars - February 11, 2013

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

Pacari Chocolate
1.) Raw 100% bar
Very Good
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) in 1/5 bar/ 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

2.) Raw 70% bar
Good +
Weight: .35 oz. (10 g.) in 1/5 bar / 1.76 oz. (50 g.) total bar
Calories: 53 calories (estimate) for 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.00 for 1 bar
Purchased from: The Chocolate Garage, Palo Alto, CA

What is raw chocolate? Most definitions involve minimizing heating the chocolate during roasting and conching (typically to a range below 112 - 120 degrees Farenheit) in order to preserve antioxidants and nutritional value. The challenge has been to create a finished bar or product that doesn't taste any different than a fine bar that has been traditionally processed.

I'm happy to report that today's raw bars from Pacari Chocolate (Ecuador) were nicely tempered, with a perfect snap, flavorful, smooth and rich. Nothing about them yanked me out of the tasting experience in taste or texture that said "raw." The 100% cacao bar had a nice floral note to begin with and followed up with a sustained robust current of rich, slight bitter flavor.

We tasted the Raw 70% bar second. The added sugar masked a bit of the floral note at the beginning, created a bright spot in the middle, and mimimized the bitter flavor. When we re-tasted the Raw 100% bar after this one, some of the floral note was also gone, and it tasted a bit more bitter/sour than it had initially.

While it was interesting to compare these two raw bars from the same maker (and it's not unusual to re-taste a bar at the end of a chocolate tasting to find that flavors shifted), based on this experience, I would advise eating the 100% bar separately to enjoy the unique, unadulterated flavors of pure cacao.

Thank you to Lawton for tasting input.

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.

Note: Due to travel this week, posts and photos will be delayed.