Beautiful bean

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What separates the best chocolate from the also-rans?

SAVOUR it with all of your senses. Look at it, touch it, feel the texture. Let it melt slowly and let the five senses take you....”

That is American master chocolatier Ann Czaja from Lindt & Sprüngli USA waxing lyrical about premium chocolate in an online interview. My 16-year-old brother would probably agree with her sentiments. He was thrilled when a visiting cousin from the United States generously presented us with “made in America” chocolates recently.

“Save me some,” he said quite seriously, when I told him that one of the boxes was sitting in my drawer at work.

1. The tree that starts it all.

He’s like many Malaysians I know, favouring imported chocolates over locally-made ones. Nothing can beat that luscious Swiss milk chocolate or Belgium’s pralines and truffles; then there’s America’s famous Hershey’s and Australia’s wonderful fruit and nut chocolate bars. Or so many say.

(Pralines are made from roasted nuts and sugar; ganache is a soft filling made from cream, syrup and chocolate; and truffle is a paste made from cream and chocolate.)

And from my experience, as well as observations of friends and family, it always seems that you make a bigger impression if you give a box of European chocolates as gift.

But is there really a difference between Mat Salleh chocs and local ones? If so, why, when Malaysia actually produces, and exports, its own cacao beans and products?

2. A cut-open fresh cacao pod.

According to the Malaysia Cocoa Board (www.koko.gov.my), the first cacao-planted area in Malaysia was reportedly found in Malacca in 1778, though we only began planting the crop actively after World War II. Planted acreage might have stopped expanding but the processing of cacao products has increased steadily. In 2009, the export earnings of cacao beans and products were estimated at RM3.23bil; in 2010, it was RM4.19bil.

But we also import a lot of beans, to the tune of RM3.08bil and RM3.68bil in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

This is because many local chocolatiers favour premium cacao beans from abroad, claiming that the quality of local beans tends to be lower due to ground acidity.

As such, raw cacao beans are often sourced from Africa while we look to Belgium and Switzerland for the premium quality chocolate base needed to make confections.

3. Beans are fermented and dried in the sun.

Local manufacturers Chocolat World, for instance, uses Belgian and Swiss ingredients for its handmade chocolates while gourmet brand Fidani Chocolatiers Sdn Bhd imports ingredients and recipes from Belgium.

This is, very briefly, how the process works, as explained by local experts and at websites such as cocoasymposium.com: Cacao beans are fermented and dried before reaching the chocolatier, who then roasts them to bring out the flavour.

The beans are winnowed to separate the meat, or nibs, from the shell and these nibs ground up to form “chocolate liquor” (though there’s no alcohol in it, it’s just what it’s called).

This is pure, unsweetened chocolate; it is processed to separate out the cocoa butter, leaving behind a dry cake, or cocoa bean solids, commonly known as cocoa powder.

4. Then roasted to bring out the flavour.

It is the cocoa butter, the natural fat in cacao beans, that gives premium chocolate its rich, velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

A process called tempering sets the butter at the desired texture. The cocoa butter is then combined with the cocoa solids, which contribute the brown colour, and, sometimes, milk (for milk chocolate, of course), sugar and soy lecithin (a binding agent).

In Europe, the cocoa solids and sugar are “conched” together; this is a process that refines particles by grinding the ingredients in a container filled with metal beads.

Good chocolate that’s extremely smooth requires at least 72 hours of conching – another reason these chocs command the big bucks – while lesser grades can do with four to six hours.

It is interesting to note that in Europe, there is law that states that manufacturers cannot claim that their product is chocolate if cocoa butter is substituted with other ingredients, no matter how closely the product resembles the texture or taste of chocolate. According to Stanley Ng, managing director of Aeroshield Sdn Bhd, importer of premium chocolates and ingredients, Malaysia does not have such a law.

5. The cocoa butter is separated, leaving behind the dry powder.

Very high quality chocolate containing at least 32% cocoa butter is called couverture and forms the base of those premium chocolates. However, couverture is difficult to handle because it has a low melting point; this causes problems when the weather heats up in summer in the West – and in the tropics, with the constantly high heat and humidity, it is even more problematic.

This is why chocolates made in (or for sale in) tropical countries use compound chocolate as their base.

This contains vegetable fat, whey powders and whey derivatives to replace cocoa butter, and dairy blends. And, most importantly, it has a higher melting point than couverture, allowing the finished product to tolerate higher temperatures without turning slushy.

However, chocolates made this way, while being more common and less expensive, tend to leave a slight “waxy” aftertaste.

6. After the cocoa butter is mixed with the solids again, it needs to be carefully tempered at the right temperature to get the right texture.

It might not be a problem for the untrained palate but would certainly put off connoisseurs.

“Ultimately, it’s the fat content – cocoa butter – that brings out the lusciousness of good chocolates,” Ng says.

Determined to gain that quality for their chocolates, local confectioners are making great strides in producing high-end chocolates with a higher cocoa butter content.

At the International Cocoa, Chocolate & Consumer Show 2011 at the Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, local industry players exhibited their products to thousands of walk-in visitors.

It was the first event of such a scale in Malaysia – and its participants intend on organising it annually.

Chocolates made locally using home-grown cocoa and those made from imported raw materials were available for sample and purchase.

7. Pouring into moulds.

According to Ng, local chocolate manufacturers are making good progress since its early days yet in using compound chocolate. As an importer of luxury chocolates as well as ingredients, Ng says he has cause to believe that it’s only a matter of time before Malaysia catches up with premium chocolate giants around the world.

For instance, we are now maintaining the quality of imported couverture in our factories by keeping temperatures low throughout the chocolate-making process.

It’s more complicated than using substitutes, but doable, says Ng.

The temperatures of everything from raw materials and production line processes up to the finished goods are watched with eagle eyes.

Air density must also be closely scrutinised as chocolate tends to “seize” or bind up in the presence of water and turn lumpy.

“You can differentiate chocolate from the way it melts in your mouth. It should not taste ... odd afterwards,” says Chocolat World head managing director and head chef Cheah Mei Chin, an experienced chocolatier who trained in the renowned Richmond Craft School in Switzerland.

“It is through a very careful tempering process that one can ensure the quality of chocolate.

“This process is to ensure that the chocolate ends up in the best form.”

When not properly tempered, cocoa butter can crystalise, causing the surface of the chocolate to appear mottled and matte. Instead of snapping when broken, the chocolate crumbles.

As Lindt chocolatier Ann Czaja puts it: “When you touch premium chocolate, it’s going to be smoother and shinier if it’s tempered properly.”