Choklat

You may be suprised to learn that...

every chocolatier in Western Canada, including Chocolaterie Bernard Callebaut, Roger's, Purdy's, and Ganong all buy bulk chocolate and use it as an ingredient in their confections but do not actually "make" the chocolate itself.

Why Does This Matter?

It absolutely matters. Unlike here at Choklat, not a single chocolatier in Western Canada (including those already mentioned) has control over the most important steps in developing the flavour and texture of the chocolate they use - steps such as:

The variety of bean used (Criollo/Forastero/Trinitario)
The country of origin
The fermentation process
Transportation and handling
Roasting
Refining and final processing into chocolate
Quality of ingredients such as vanilla, cocoa butter, and powdered milk.

We are aware of chocolatiers who promote the fact that their chocolate is "made to their specifications". While that may be true, the "specifications" are limited to the percentages of the ingredients in the recipe, and NOT the qualities of the ingredients themselves.

A good analogy here would be to take all of the grapes grown in the Okanagan, and process them in one factory in one batch, then give the blended juice back to the vineyards to process into wine. The great flavour of the good grapes would be tainted by the bad grapes, and the bad grapes would blend in with the good ones thereby improving the taste of the bad ones. Each grower needs to bank on the gamble that there are more good grapes in this year's batch than bad grapes. While there would be subtle differences between the vineyards due to fermentation practices, etc., the wine for the most part would taste fairly consistent across the entire region.

For the most part, this is how the chocolate industry works, as over 43% of the world's chocolate supply is made by just two companies.

In our case, we buy only the best, hand sorted beans, from single plantations and sources, just as a premier vineyard would produce fine wine from their own grapes as opposed to the juice they would get from the regional pool.

Our extremely selective process allows us to produce small batches of chocolate that can't be touched by large producers. Consequently, our growth will be restricted by the volume of quality cocoa beans we can purchase.

What about Callebaut baking chocolate?

The baking "Callebaut" chocolate we have all purchased in grocery stores throughout Canada, - the same chocolate that Martha Stewart promoted on her television show - is in no way related to Chocolatier Bernard Callebaut here in Western Canada. It is actually produced by a SWISS company called "Barry Callebaut LLC" (head office is in Zurich), which is currently the largest bulk chocolate producer in the world. Currently Barry Callebaut, and Cargill Foods (yes that's right, Cargill Foods) together process approximately 43% of the world's supply of chocolate, or approximately 3.5 BILLION pounds of chocolate every year! In fact you may find it interesting to learn that one of Barry Callebaut's largest factories is located right here in Canada (Quebec). That single factory is reported to produce over 1.6 Billion pounds of chocolate per year for resale under different names all throughout North America.

If you would like to read more on the chocolate world, and its oligopolistic nature, please feel free to download a copy of the World Cocoa Consumption Statistics located at the website International Cocoa Organization

Chocolate Myth #1: It's Belgian. Therefore it must be good!

Consumers are inundated with the term “Fine Belgian Chocolate”. This clever marketing has led the consumer to immediately associate the term “Belgian Chocolate” with fine quality.

No longer is the case! In fact according to our sources, there is only one remaining "true" Belgian chocolate manufacturer, and they are "Belcolade", a division of the Puratos group of companies (head office in Belgium). Furthermore, some of the best chocolate in the world comes from right here in Calgary, France (Valrhona), Italy (Fererro SpA), and Salt Lake City, Utah (Amano). The companies we've just mentioned here actually make their chocolate, just as we do, and mold it into bars for you to enjoy by itself.

The 7 day clock is ticking...

Unlike chocolate itself (which has a very long shelf life), the delicate and smooth buttercream centers of high quality chocolates, have a shelf life at room temperature of approximately 7-10 days before beginning to go rancid or mouldy. If refrigerated, they can last up to 14 days before becoming inedible.

Chocolatiers can get away with extending the shelf life of their product by lowering the dairy content, increasing the amount of sugar in the product, substituting corn syrup in place of sugar, adding alcohol, in the center, and even using preservatives.

Purdy's for example advertises publicly on their website that they use "fresh cream", "fresh fruits", and "fresh natural ingredients", yet when we called 5 stores to find out how long the confections stay in the display cases we received the same answer all 5 times: "Our staff our trained to rotate the stock every 4-5 weeks."

The next time you walk into someone else's chocolate shop ask the clerk the following questions:

When were these chocolates made?
Are your cases refrigerated?
Do your chocolate centers contain cream or butter?
How long have they been sitting here?

Knowing what you know now, you’ll be very surprised at the answers you receive.

A CHOCOLATE BAR THAT SAYS 70% COCOA SOLIDS MAY NOT MEAN THAT IT CONTAINS 70% GROUND UP COCOA BEANS

This is one of the most deceptive advertising practices/gimmicks in the chocolate industry, and a real bone of contention among more ethical chocolatiers. The truth is, that 70% advertised is actually a combination of cocoa beans and cocoa butter. (Cocoa beans by the way are about 54% cocoa solids, and 46% cocoa butter. A typical 70% recipe may look like the following: 50% cocoa beans, 20% cocoa butter, 29% sugar, ½% Vanilla, ½% lecithin. In reality, the cocoa bean solids are only 27%! The remaining 43% is actually fat (cocoa butter)! In order to be true to you, the customer, we post the actual receipe of our chocolate on our bars!

“FAIR TRADE” DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN “FAIR”

According to the World Fair Trade Organization, fair trade in the chocolate industry means the purchase of beans from the farmer by the local co-op at a minimum price of $1750 per metric ton once the world market price of cacau exceeds $2,000 per metric ton. As of February 6, 2008, cocoa beans sold for approximately $2337 per tonne or $1.18 per pound. Even if the farmer was paid full market value, this price is hardly “fair”, and for the most part keeps the farmer at or below the poverty line.

Here at Choklat we only buy the best beans in small quantities (1-2 tons at a time) from specific producers. We pay directly to the plantation owner multitudes more than market price per pound for our product and in doing so, encourage a long term and profitable relationship with the grower, quality growing practices, and a consistent supply of the best beans available anywhere.