The source of good chocolate

Dunedin chocolate maker Liz Rowe looks for the differences in the Samoan cocoa beans she has...
Dunedin chocolate maker Liz Rowe looks for the differences in the Samoan cocoa beans she has imported. Photo by Christine O'Connor.

The recent importation of cocoa beans from Samoa has been an experiment Dunedin chocolate maker Liz Rowe has revelled in.

A ''bean to bar'' chocolate producer, Ms Rowe has always sourced the cocoa beans for her Ocho chocolate from small co-operatives in Papua New Guinea owned by farmers.

However, she always had the goal of extending her ''single origin'' range of chocolates by sourcing from other Pacific Island nations.

''It's not easy to find the beans though and import them.''

By sourcing beans from the Pacific, Ms Rowe said that she was reducing the travel miles required to ship them to New Zealand.

To get the beans from Papua New Guinea, she travelled there, sourced and imported them herself.

Sourcing the Samoan beans was a challenge, but she had discovered the Sang Yum Farm which had an Auckland-based family that imported the beans to New Zealand.

At her factory in South Dunedin, she transforms the Samoan beans with the same ''handmade'' process she uses to produce the Papua New Guinea variety, resulting in a 70% chocolate bar.

''The only difference is I used organic cane sugar to sweeten it,'' Ms Rowe said.

The result was a ''creamier, nuttier'' chocolate with a slightly caramel flavour, as opposed to the Papua New Guinea origin chocolate which was more ''fruity, red berry'' flavoured.

''It's a good contrast to give choice. I'm pleased it turned out so differently.''

Ms Rowe is continuing to experiment with other ingredients to add to her chocolate, as her salted caramel bar was very popular.

The next project was a pinot grape bar, which she envisioned being a limited release.

Ms Rowe had brought only 10kg of grapes from a local producer, which she then turned into raisins herself.

It was a messy process, she said.

''I was eating them [the grapes] and thought, 'god they're good' and it went from there.''

 


Get some

Ocho chocolate is available from the Otago Farmers Market and some specialty food stores. 


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