Blind Taste Test – Milk Chocolate

X is a sample of milk chocolate bar from Europe

Y is a sample of milk chocolate bar from the USA

Z is a sample of milk chocolate bar made from (unfermented) Sulawesi cocoa beans

Europeans may prefer X, while Americans may prefer Y.  No surprise as generations on either side grow up accustomed to different taste.  But will you be surprised if first-time chocolate eaters prefer Z?  They, who have never eaten any chocolate in their life, actually prefer the slightly astringent flavor in Z?  So taste is purely subjective, but why don’t we see chocolates that are entirely made from unfermented cocoa beans?  Okay, chocolate made from unfermented cocoa beans does not have the body and richness as chocolate made from fermented cocoa beans.  But doesn’t the blind taste test show that there are people who like the sharp biting taste in chocolate?  Well, maybe.  However, the market for it could be so small that no chocolatier would want to bother.  I guess this is one of the reasons why the cocoa liquor which my company is selling through eBay is not selling well even though 100% of the proceeds is to be donated to Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres).  Nevertheless, we are grateful to the few who bought and contributed to charity.  To be fair, it is not cheap to ship a 25 kg. carton of cocoa liquor to the USA by DHL, so this could be the other reason.  To those who might be interested, you can find the item at eBay.  Since 2014, my company is prepared to donate one carton a week or four each month (could be more but five exceeded the monthly selling limit at eBay).  Anyway, I hear that the Indonesian government may soon “force” farmers to ferment the cocoa beans before selling it.  Or “force” traders/processors to only buy fermented.  So it is possible the unfermented will “disappear” in the not-so-distant future.  Unless it is to be discovered later that the unfermented has health benefits that you don’t find in the fermented.  Just like Green Tea and Black Tea, the unfermented Green Tea has more cancer-fighting benefits than the fermented Black Tea.

Based on the findings above, there could be market for chocolate made from unfermented cocoa beans. But the market is small… very small. However, cocoa butter manufactured from unfermented Sulawesi cocoa beans possesses superior quality and characteristic. Sulawesi-origin cocoa butter is also known for being ‘hard butter’, meaning that it melts at higher temperature compared to African-origins. So it is preferable as ingredients for chocolates sold in tropical countries. Moreover, Sulawesi-origin cocoa butter usually has lower Free Fatty Acid (FFA) than African-origins.

PT. Hope Indonesia (a limited liability company) manufactures cocoa liquor as well as cocoa butter made from Sulawesi cocoa beans. Actually, most of the exported cocoa liquors arriving in Europe were pressed for cocoa butter, and the cocoa cake milled into cocoa powder. The company has shipped tens of thousands of metric tons to Europe since 2006.

UPDATE as per 02 May 2016:  The Indonesian government has postponed mandatory fermentation for two years or until 21 May 2018.