Our World in Food

Hicimos chocolate amargo en una forma de madeleines, salieron con mejor aspecto que gusto!

The main reason I came to WWOOF at Fazenda Santa Tereza in Serra Grande, Bahia was to see how they grow cacao and make chocolate. There are very few places in the world where you can find cacao producers making finished chocolate. It’s difficult to grow cacao, let alone make chocolate. The fragile cacao fruit tree grows in a tropical environment that is not favorable for chocolate. And the heat and humidity make it difficult to transport and store chocolate without a lot of resources such as air conditioning and refrigerated trucks. You can flash back to when I made chocolate in the rainforests of Mastatal, Costa Rica at La Iguana Chocolate to see how difficult it was for us then: La Iguana Tempers Chocolate, For the First Time! Thankfully, here at Fazenda Santa Tereza we have a few more resources at our disposal.

Mathieu bought a mini melangeur in the US; a machine with two rotating stone cylinders that grinds cacao beans into chocolate liquor. He also owns a restaurant in Itacare with a spare kitchen in the back full of marble table tops and chocolate molds to make tempered chocolates!

Given the few extra tools we have at Fazenda Santa Tereza, there is the issue of selling the finished chocolate. Mathieu would like to eventually transform his restaurant into a small chocolate shop. Coming from a French background and given that he owns a restaurant that serves creative, gourmet meals, Mathieu is not interested in making a cheap, low quality chocolate. He wants to make fine, pure chocolates, the majority made with just cacao beans and sugar, my kind of chocolate! But most Brazilians (and this also goes for most people around the world) aren’t willing to pay very much for high quality chocolate. Chocolate is usually perceived as candy, just another cheap treat to satisfy our sweet tooth. However, Itacare runs on revenue from tourism, which is perfect for Mathieu for two reasons. First, he can sell quality chocolate to a middle class and upper middle class foreign audience that can afford and appreciate it. And second, this area is known for cacao production and cacao tourism, so people naturally come hungry for chocolate.

For our first batch of chocolate Mathieu wanted to make dark chocolate. We left one kilo of cacao grinding in the melangeur for 24 hours with only 200 grams of sugar. That’s 83% dark chocolate, which was actually too dark for the strong, bitter beans he produces. The cacao content was not our main problem however, the sugar itself was. In order to make a melt in your mouth chocolate bar, not only does the cacao need to be ground down, but the sugar must be refined into a powdery flake as well. We mistakenly just threw crystalized sugar into the melangeur, hoping that with time the crystals would break down. They did not at all! The cacao was liquid but the sugar was crunchy. I suggested we throw the whole batch into a food processor and grind it for 30 minutes, which improved the texture substantially, but not optimally. We went ahead and tempered the chocolate together, and I taught Mathieu the trick to tempering chocolate without a thermometer (testing the temperature of the chocolate against your upper lip to see if it’s cool). The chocolates came out of their molds perfectly and shined dark and proud! They looked great but were a bit overwhelming to the palate!

Templando el chocolate amargo sobre mármol

I was hoping we would get another chance to make chocolate together to correct our errors, but I ended up changing my travel plans and there wasn’t enough time to. Nevertheless, I had a blast making chocolate with another fellow chocolate nerd! Mathieu was so pleased with his first WWOOF volunteer that he even offered me a position in his future chocolate shop! I left Fazenda Santa Tereza dreaming about what it would be like to live in Itacare, making chocolate from bean to bar by the beach! The restaurant and location are truly perfect for a chocolate shop.

I visited two other small chocolate shops here in Bahia. One in Itacare where the chocolates are all overly sweet and super rustic (they are not tempered or kept cool, so they are all basically soft chocolate-flavored blobs!). The other in Ilheus, the nearby export city, where the chocolates were of much higher quality but were way overpriced (I paid R$13 about US$8.25 for a 100 gram or 3.5 ounce bar).

Chocolates de una nueva chocolateria en Ilheus, la ciudad que exporta todo el cacao de Bahia

I also visited the organic cacao cooperative called CABRUCA and sat in on one of their monthly meetings (Mathieu is a member). Regrettably, there was very little member representation. I think of the 38 member farmers, only 6 showed up, and 5 of the 6 were expats (mainly Swiss and French). The other members are participating less and less in the coop because CABRUCA not only has organic agriculture requirements, but quality standards too. And these standards demand more work, something that Bahianos are notorious for avoiding. Instead, these members harvest cacao only when it is convenient for them, throw the beans out to dry after minimally fermenting (if at all) and sell to the large corporations like ADM and Cargill, who will buy any old bean to make cheap, industrialized chocolate.

Visitando CABRUCA, una cooperativa de productores organicos de cacao

It was disheartening to see that the last few contributing members of the coop are foreigners, but their energy was inspiring. There was a French cacao farmer who gave me a bottle of the cacao wine he makes and sells. He scoops out the fresh seeds and pulp, strains them to collect just the juice, and ferments this juice as you would to make white wine. I wouldn’t call it my favorite drink; it was strong (alcoholic) and tart (vinegary) but had a distinct honey aftertaste. There was also a woman there who was super excited to help Mathieu open his chocolate shop and suggested it could be the coop’s chocolate shop. She even suggested they make me head chocolatier, since it turns out I have more chocolate-making experience than any of them and a passion that is difficult for me to hide. Again, someone telling me to stay in Itacare and offering me a job…tempting! I am definitely going to keep in touch with Mathieu to see how the coop chocolate shop endeavor goes!

Clearly folks, I can go on and on about chocolate and cacao, but I’m going to bring this post to an end and go chill out at the beach! It is my last week in Brazil and I want to take advantage of every moment!

Cacao de Fazenda Santa Tereza en Bahia

I am once again WWOOFing on a cacao farm. This time I am in Bahia, the Northeastern Brazilian state known for cacao production. Brazil used to be one of the primary cacao exporters in the world, until a disease called witch’s broom wiped out the majority of the region’s plantations. Still, cacao is an integral part of Bahian culture. Bahianos all have their own recipe for chocolate and they love talking about the good ol’ days of abundant cacao production and high prices.  

I got in touch with Mathieu, the owner of Fazenda Santa Tereza, a few weeks ago. He’s French but has been working on this property for 10 years. Fazenda Santa Tereza is a 35 hectare property dominated by secondary Mata Atlantica forest. That is, the land was once cleared for production and is now recuperating. The land shifted from primary Mata Atlantica forests to pasture for cattle to cacao monocultures. There are now pockets of agricultural production spread around the property and Mathieu is planting agroforests in many of the cleared areas. He is planting acai, citrus, pineapple, coconut, cacao, and cupuaçu (a fruit related to cacao). Products that are already being cultivated include seringueira (the tree rubber comes from), cacao, coconut, mango, vanilla and many local fruits such as jenipapo. However, Mathieu is allowing the majority of the property to return to native Mata Atlantica.

Vainilla de Fazenda Santa Tereza

Mathieu does not have a background in agriculture or chocolate, he was an event organizer in France, but he has completely shifted gears in his life and is pursuing this new passion. Being with him has allowed me to geek out on chocolate! It’s our main topic of conversation. He has been selling his cacao to buyers for the past several years and is now finally getting in to producing his own chocolate. He was intrigued to hear I had made chocolate by hand in the rainforests of Mastatal, Costa Rica at La Iguana Chocolate. I was expecting him to only have a coffee grinder and a rustic chocolate production, but Mathieu has a mechanical mind. He’s using an old roaster that circulates beans to evenly roast them and a stone grinder that runs on electricity. I was super impressed! This weekend we are going to make our first batch of chocolate together.

Mathieu y su maquina para tostar cacao. A cacao roaster.

During one of our chocolate conversations he told me more about witch’s broom. I knew that cacao is a delicate plant and that monocultures are much more susceptible to diseases, so I naturally thought that witch’s broom had propagated from plantation to plantation. It turns out that there is another theory about this disease that devastated cacao production in Brazil. Back in the good ol’ days, the fazenderos, cacao land owners, held immense power. They ran local politics and made all decisions in their favor. It is said that one day the locals got fed up with this corruption and decided to sabotage cacao production by dispersing witch’s broom throughout cacao plantations. The scheme, if it is true, worked. As cacao production plummeted, so did the power that the fazenderos once held.

Who knows if this conspiracy theory is true, but what is certain is that monocultures only worsened the situation. It is much smarter and safer to to spread production around the property, grow many different varietals of cacao and intercrop with other species (especially those that provide shade and can be harvested between seasons). This is exactly what Mathieu does here at Fazenda Santa Tereza.

It feels great to be working with cacao and chocolate again after so long. Chocolate changed the course of my life. It was my grandma Ofelia who in 2007 suggested I visit a chocolate shop her friend owned in Buenos Aires. From that moment forward I was hooked. I got a job and learned so much working as a tour guide at Theo Chocolate for three years, and then had the opportunity to WWOOF at La Iguana Chocolate in Costa Rica for two months. Chocolate is magical to me. I hope to find a way to continue working with it in the future.

Resende, una playa de Itacare en Bahia.

A week ago I left Pirenópolis and the state of Goias for Bahia, a Northeastern state in Brazil known for its African influence, cacao production and beautiful beaches. Their motto is the title of this post: sorria, voce esta na Bahia, smile, you’re in Bahia!

I came to the coast, to a town called Itacare, which used to be known for surfing, fishing and ecotourism. Now the town is overrun with backpackers looking to smoke cheap marihuana. It’s a shame; many folks who run ecotourism businesses are struggling.

This past week I stayed with a family running an ecotourism forest reserve called Refugio dos Anjos, Angel’s Refuge. They have been here for 10 years, protecting old growth Mata Atlantica and reforesting degraded areas of their property. They provide environmental education by taking groups on hikes through the forest, waterfall swims, preparing lunches made with local ingredients, and selling artisan crafts made with natural materials gathered in the forest. The local government provides zero incentives for this environmental education and protection. Government revenue dedicated to the environment is usually from foreign organizations.

Una cachoeira en Refugio dos Anjos

Itacare’s surfer, beach bum vibe has multiplied over the years, multiplying the amount of marihuana circulating in the community. Now the word has spread among travelers that Itacare is the place to come to chill out and smoke. I spoke to an American who came here directly from home just because his friend told him he could easily smoke all day. He’s been here for one month and not left the town of Itacare. It’s because of these tourists and little government support that Refugio dos Anjos is struggling.

The owner of the reserve has a daughter my age, Marie. We spent our time together chatting, cooking and taking fotos. She needed some up to date shots of the reserve and the jewelry she makes with natural materials. In turn, she let me camp in the reserve, taught me a lot about the natural environment and introduced me to Bahian culture and slang. Super masa, very cool!

Modelando bijouterie de Marie hecho con materiales de la Mata Atlantica

Marie doesn’t have a steady stream of tourists coming to the reserve. Sometimes she gets a big group or many small groups, but it seems like tourists would rather spend their money on something other than a hike through the jungle. With less income, she is forced to invest less on the reserve and more on basic necessities. She even interviewed for a full time job in town. It’s upsetting that Marie can’t make a living through environmental preservation and education here in Itacare.

I introduced Marie to WWOOF, Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, the organization I have been working with in order to stay on organic farms for free. I was not WWOOFing on the reserve, though I think I may have been their first WWOOF volunteer! Marie was very intrigued by the work for lodging exchange and might join the network soon to enable her to dedicate more energy on the reserve.

My kind hosts: Marie, her mother Cecilia and baby brother Micael

When I started this trip I had no idea I would get so involved with WWOOF; it has become my primary activity. I have enjoyed almost every farm I have been to and I am always planning my future stays. I found a farm here in Bahia that produces cacao and vanilla, among other things. They have invited me to stay with them for a little over a week to help them start making chocolate. Super masa! After hanging out in Bahia for a few weeks I am going to bring my three months of travel in Brazil to an end in Rio de Janeiro, cidade maravilhosa, the marvelous city!