THE CHOC OF THE NEW
新興巧克力
February/March2017
2017年二月/三月
After centuries of exporting its finest cacao beans, Ecuador has produced a new generation of chocolatiers that is turning them into first-rate chocolate. Paul Richardson tastes the world’s best bars.
厄瓜多在出口了幾個世紀的最好的可可豆後產生了新一代的巧克力，這種新型巧克力也成為世界上一流的巧克力。而 Paul Richardson 已經品嘗過了世界上最好的巧克力。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
Ecuador’s cacao zone is to chocolate cognoscenti what Bordeaux is to wine-lovers. Ivory Coast and Ghana lead the world in the production of bulk cacao – the stuff that goes towards your average Cadbury or Hershey’s bar – but the cacao grown in the strip of fertile plain running from the Pacific Ocean to the foot of the Andes, which takes in the provinces of Guayas, Esmeraldas, Manabí and El Oro, is a cut above. Cacao de arriba, as the local variety is known, has depth, subtlety and haunting aromas that run the gamut of tropical and citrus fruits, nuts and berries, flowers and spices.
厄瓜多的可可產區對於愛好巧克力的人來說就如同波爾多對於紅酒愛好者來說是一樣重要的。象牙海岸和加納引領者世界散裝可可的生產，這種可可通常都進入了「吉百利」和「好時」，但是生長在太平洋沿岸安迪斯山脈的可可，也就是在瓜亞斯省、埃斯梅拉達斯省，馬納維省和埃爾奧羅省的可可品質是更高一等的。Cacao de arriba（上部可可豆），也就是當地所熟知的一種品種，瀰漫著一種深深的、微妙的、令人難以忘懷的熱帶柑橘類水果、堅果、漿果、鮮花和香料的味道。
At the heart of the cacao zone, an hour outside Guayaquil, lies Hacienda La Danesa, a 500-hectare estate specialising in cacao de arriba. La Danesa has recently found fame as a pioneer in 「cacao tourism」, bringing visitors from the coast on a narrow-gauge railway. Stepping off the train, they enter a different world.
在可可產區的中心地帶、離瓜亞基爾市一小時車程的郊外的 La Danesa 莊園，該莊園有 500 公頃大，專門種植 Cacao de arriba（上部可可豆）。La Danesa 莊園最近作為「可可旅遊」的先驅者非常有名，該線路帶領著遊客從海岸走上了狹窄的鐵路上，等遊客一下火車就會進入一個不同的世界。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
A cacao plantation is an artificial woodland which looks unfamiliar, even weird, to European eyes. The trees are pruned low and close, with a surprising reddish-pink crown of upper leaves. The swollen fruits, which hang not among the leaves but directly from the trunk, are deep reddish-purple when unripe, taking on hues of pale green, brown, yellow and orange as they mature. Plucked off the bough they feel heavy in the hand, their skin as deeply grooved as a pumpkin. The cacao plantations in this region are tended by traditionally attired horsemen-farmers, the montubios.
可可種植園是一個人工的、令人陌生的森林，以一些歐洲人的眼光看來甚至是很怪異的地方。可可樹被修剪的非常矮，樹的間距也很近，樹的上部有一個令人驚訝的紅粉色的樹冠。可可果實不是生長在樹葉之間的而是直接長在樹幹上，果實呈深紫紅色的時候是未成熟的，等果實成熟後就會變成淺綠色、褐色、黃色和橙色。把果實從樹幹上摘下來放在手上會覺得很重，果實外表皮的紋路非常深就像是南瓜皮一樣。這個地區的可可種植傾向於傳統的馬夫-農民的方式，也就是當地認為的沿海農民。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
In an outbuilding, visitors are given a demonstration of traditional chocolate-making. The cacao beans in their sticky, white casing are fermented in wooden cases, dried in the tropical sun, toasted and ground to an oily mash. The toasted beans have the mahogany-brown colour of finished chocolate, but still taste earthy, yeasty and bitter. Only when sugar is added does the miracle occur, releasing the rich flavours to billow out like a genie from a bottle.
在種植園區的一棟大樓裡，參觀者將會看到傳統的巧克力製作過程。可可豆先要放在白色的盒子裡進行發酵，之後放在熱帶太陽下邊曬乾，烘烤，最後放在一片塗滿油的地面。烤好的可可豆是紅棕色的，像成品巧克力，但嘗起來還是有泥土、酵母和苦味。只有將糖加進去後奇蹟才會出現，可可豆會釋放出豐富的味道，就像是一個精靈從瓶子中衝出來一樣。
When La Danesa was founded in 1870, Guayaquil was burgeoning thanks to a cacao boom that created a wealthy bourgeois class. In the early 20th century, a series of plagues devastated the plantations; powerful competitors – notably Ghana and Brazil – entered the market and prices plummeted. But a century later Ecuadorean cacao is once more on the rise. China and India have acquired a taste for chocolate, leading to a huge increase in global demand – and not only for the cheap bulk stuff, which accounts for 85% of world production, but also for high-quality varieties like cacao de arriba, used in small quantities to give depth and interest to dull commercial chocolate. A growing taste for dark chocolate is also boosting demand for these so-called 「fine and flavour」 cacaos, especially in Europe.
當LaDanesa莊園在1870年創建的時候，瓜亞基爾市正在迅速發展，由於可可的急速發展還創造了一個富有的資產階級。在20世紀初，一系列的瘟疫破壞了可可種植園；另外由於強大的競爭對手，特別是加納和巴西，進入市場，使得可可價格暴跌。但是在一個世紀後，厄瓜多可可再次強大起來。中國和印度已經了解到了巧克力的味道，並致使可可需求量全球大幅度增長，該增長不僅針對於佔世界產量85%的便宜的散裝可可，而且也包括對高品質可可的需求（例如上文提到的厄瓜多 cacao de arriba），這種高品質的可可通常都是小量使用以便給沉悶的巧克力產業帶來深度和興趣。另外一種新型巧克力，黑巧克力口味的誕生也對增加了對可可的需求，特別是在追求「精細和風味」的歐洲。
The Ecuadorean cacao industry has duly moved up a gear: according to the export agency, ProEcuador, the years 2007-11 saw an average annual growth of 14%. While Brazil continues to recover from an outbreak of disease that blighted its crop in the 1990s, three years ago Ecuador became Latin America’s number-one producer.
厄瓜多可可產業已經有了飛速發展：根據厄瓜多官方出口代理厄瓜多商務部的數據，從2007年到2011年每年出口可可的年均增長率為14%。雖然巴西的可可產業已經從20世紀90年的瘟疫中恢復過來了，但是三年前厄瓜多已成為拉丁美洲可可生產第一大國。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
As the appetite for Ecuador’s sublime chocolate grows, the structure of the industry is changing. Traditionally, developing-world farmers grew beans and rich-world manufacturers turned them into bars. But a new generation of Ecuadorean chocolate-makers – 26 at the last count – is processing cacao in situ. We are not talking mass-market slabs: these are chocolates that take you on a journey, carrying the palate on intense flavour-waves of citrus and red berries punctuated with earthy notes of walnuts, cedar and tobacco. Most of the new brands have their eyes on overseas markets, but the taste for dark chocolate is catching on locally.
隨著厄瓜多巧克力口味的升華，整個行業也在發生著結構性的變化。傳統上，發展中國家的農民種植可可豆，富有國家的製造商則將可可豆送進酒吧。但是新一代的厄瓜多巧克力製造商，最新一次計算一共有26個製造商，正在加工可可豆。我們不是在談論大眾市場模式，因為這些加工過的可可豆將會帶你去旅行，它們都帶著強烈的柑橘和紅色果醬、生長在大地上的核桃、雪松和菸草的味道。大多數新品牌都產生於海外市場，但黑巧克力的味道卻需要在當地才能捕捉到。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
Most successful of the newcomers are Pacari – 14 years in the game and a regular prizewinner at all the European chocolate fairs – and República del Cacao, which has shops all over Latin America and was recently bought into by French chocolate-meisters Valrhona. But coming up on the inside is Hoja Verde, the brainchild of José Nicolás Vélez, a Quito-based entrepreneur. His wares are made with organic cacao sourced from small plantations in the province of Esmeraldas; their idiosyncratic packaging in swirly pop colours is as striking as the dense aromas of the chocolate itself, which lingers and reverberates in the mouth long after eating.
最成功的新興者是 Pacari（厄瓜多著名巧克力品牌）和可可王國；Pacari 是一個經過14年的努力在所有歐洲巧克力展會的普通獲獎者，而可可王國的商店遍布整個拉丁美洲、最近被法國巧克力愛好者 Valrhona 所收購。
The Hoja Verde factory is to be found not in the tropical cacao zone, but in the sub-Andean highlands of the country’s central region where the temperatures are cool and the humidity low. The building stands within a few metres of a monument marking the position of the Equator. It’s a splendid coincidence, for this is indeed a chocolate that straddles two hemispheres: south and north, great cacao and fine chocolaterie.
「綠色葉子」巧克力工廠被發現並沒在熱帶可可產區，而是在厄瓜多中部地區的安迪斯山脈高地上，該地區溫度低且溼度低。該工廠建在離赤道紀念碑幾米的地方。這是一個奇妙的巧合，因為這的確是一個跨越了南北半球的巧克力，且是被最棒的可可豆製成的最精緻的巧克力。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
The smell inside is rich, cloying and delicious. So far, so like every other chocolate factory in the world – but by multinational standards this is a cottage industry. Hoja Verde will never compete with Cadbury or Hershey’s, nor would it want to fight in the same cheap-choc arena. On the office walls hang framed certificates testifying to Hoja Verde’s strong showing at this year’s Academy of Chocolate Awards. I taste my way through the range, deciding that the star bar is the 72%, whose flavour-journey takes the palate from spice and vanilla to tropical fruit (papaya, persimmon), ending on a high note of floral fragrance.
巧克力裡邊的味道是豐富、香甜且可口的。到目前為止，也像世界上其他的巧克力工廠一樣，這家工廠是一個通過了跨國標準的家庭式工廠。「綠色葉子」巧克力工廠將永遠不會與「吉百利」或「好時」競爭，也不會想和這些公司在同一個廉價的競技場戰鬥。掛在「綠色葉子」巧克力工廠辦公室牆上的證書顯示了它今年在巧克力學院所獲得的獎項。我通過我的方式決定給予72%分，該巧克力的味道旅程從香料和香草到熱帶水果的味道（木瓜、柿子），最終結束於花香。
Back in Quito I visit Vélez’s recently opened Chocolab on Plaza de la Independencia, at the heart of the colonial old town, where in-house chocolatiers create bespoke bars with local ingredients such as amaranth, candied fava bean, caramelised peanuts, uvilla (goldenberry) and fried corn. It’s an example of Ecuador’s growing culture of chocolate discernment – another being the young chefs who are making cacao fino de aroma a key ingredient in the country’s nascent contemporary cuisine. Juan José Morán at La Pizarra in Guayaquil creates savoury dishes like tuna ceviche with grated Pacari chocolate; and at Quito, where the talented Juan Sebastián Pérez holds court, the long tasting menu features a terrine of Hoja Verde 100% with a mousse of avocado-flower honey and sweet pumpkin ice cream.
返回基多之後我去參觀了Vélez，Vélez是一家最近新開張的位於老城區中心獨立廣場上的巧克力俱樂部，在這裡廚師會用巧克力再加一些當地特有的食材，例如：莧菜，罐裝蠶豆，焦糖花生，uvilla（金黃莓）和油炸玉米訂做一些小食。這是厄瓜多巧克力文化日益增長的一個例子，另外一個就是一位年輕的廚師做出了可可粉，這也是國家新生當代美食的關鍵成分。位於瓜亞基爾是的 Juan José Morán 創作出了其他一些美食，例如金槍魚海鮮沙拉搭配磨碎的Pacari 巧克力；在基多的有天賦的 Juan Sebastián Pérez 廚師在長長的菜單上加入了用100%「綠色葉子」巧克力工廠巧克力搭配牛油果花蜂蜜奶油和甜南瓜冰淇淋。
So the revolution continues, even as local consumption rises – albeit from a low base: compare Ecuador’s annual 300g per person with Germany’s 9kg. Trends that chocophiles will want to watch are raw chocolate, made with untoasted cacao, vintage chocolate with a specific year of production and strict bean-to-bar chocolates from single plantations. Before long, it seems safe to predict, the new Ecuadorean chocolate will be on everybody’s lips.
所以革新還在繼續，即使當地消費量上升，雖然是從最低開始上升，例如可以比較厄瓜多每年每人消費300可巧克力，而德國則是9公斤。現在的趨勢是需要生巧克力，未被烤過的可可豆，葡萄酒巧克力需要特定年份的可可豆並且是特定的來自某個種植園的可可豆。對之後的預測仿佛就是特定的一樣，那就是新興的厄瓜多巧克力將會出現在每個人的嘴裡。
Photo: Juan Pablo Verdesoto
Source: https://www.1843magazine.com/food-drink/the-choc-of-the-new
來源：https://www.1843magazine.com/food-drink/the-choc-of-the-new
Síguenos en Wechat: 在微信上關注我們: