Like Water for Chocolate

Whether chocolate evokes remembrance of Willie Wonka and his Chocolate Factory, an indelible Valentine’s Day or of Juliette Binoche feeding Johnny Depp in the film “Chocolat” – the substance’s magic is universal. In fact, the muti stems back to its very root – cacao beans were once used as a currency and considered to be a gift from the gods themselves. Today the finest chocolate is once again returning to its rightful place of utter splendor – a finesse and distinction on par with the finest wines and whiskies.   A little history moment For most of its over 4000-year history chocolate was devoured as a bitter indulgence, rather than the latter day sweet association. The ancient Mesoamericans fermented cacao beans in the tropical rainforests of Central America and awakened the idea of chocolate as a mythical mood enhancer bespeak to sacred Aztec, Mayan and Olmec ceremonies. Verily chocolate only grows in the world’s equatorial belt – “it’s a tropical thing,” said Rob Crisostomo, owner of chocolate expert brand Casco Commodities in Manila. But the trajectory of chocolate is, of course, an interesting tale filled with mystique, wonder and adventure.  The Dutch and Spanish traders originally brought in Cacao in Europe as a commodity. And Spanish gallants also brought plantain materials in the 1600s to for instance the Philippines. “The Chinese circumvented the world by giant ships and bobbing next to these larger ships, small ships followed, growing soy – cacao was similar for the Spanish merchants,” said Crisostomo.  Production today  Africa is by far the biggest producer of cacao today. The Ivory Coast has traded cacao as commodity however this is what Crisostomo calls “foresteral variety” and he believes that the flavours are not