Chef Specials tasting | Chocriti

Chef Specials, Couverture, Chocolate, Factory, Cocoa origins, Chocolatemakers, Bean-to-bar

Time for our third Chef Special already, and the first 'Tasting'! Last month, several professionals visited our factory for a tour and extensive tasting. One of them was Martijn Seekles, a.k.a. Chocriti. Chocolate lover, blogger and critic. Together with chocolatier friend Robert Winters of Pasamore he sat down and wrote this review about it.

GUIDED TOUR & TASTING @CHOCOLATEMAKERS AMSTERDAM

The bars from the Chocolatemakers (Gorilla bar, Tres Hombres ENG Awajun) have become well known to many chocolate lovers in the Netherlands over the past five years. But Rodney and Enver want to go further. They are also targeting businesses such as pastry chefs and restaurants. For that reason, they recently started tours and tastings for professionals, where they want to introduce chefs, pastry chefs and other chocolate professionals to their products. And also appreciate their feedback.

Not just any bar
Enver Loke and Marika van Santvoort talked about how they make chocolate and what the difference is between their chocolate and that of large industrial producers. You can also hear how the Chocolatemakers work together with the companies where they buy the cocoa. cooperatives You will also hear how the Chocolatemakers work together with the companies where they buy the cocoa, why they pay a (much) higher price for their cocoa than the world market price and why this is so important. Not only for the cocoa farmers' communities, but also for the survival of high-quality cocoa and special cocoa varieties.

Besides bars, the Chocolatemakers also make couverture chocolate; chocolate with an increased percentage of cocoa butter, which can be used for further processing in, for example, chocolates, desserts, cakes or ice cream.

From prototype to high tech
What I found great was a look inside the factory. There is a nice mixture of old and new machines. Think of the ballroast machine from 1930, which was partly financed by crowdfunding. But also a prototype winnowing machine that separates the husks from the cocoa beans and high-tech equipment developed by Rodney and Enver themselves in collaboration with an Amsterdam machine factory.

It is very interesting to see how they can produce so much good chocolate on a relatively small area. The current production is about 25 tons of chocolate per year, but with the current line a capacity of about 75 tons is possible. Next year, the company is planning to move to a new location with more space, after which it will be possible to grow to this higher capacity.

Dare to taste
After the tour, we came to perhaps the most important part of the afternoon: the tasting. We tasted about five couvertures. A white chocolate that I found above average, a milk chocolate and three dark chocolates. For me, the 75% Chulucanas couverture stood out. I tasted a clear tone of dried plums, but also berries. Really very good! Chulacanas is a chocolate from criollo cacao from Peru, but very different from for example the Awajun 80% couverture which comes from another area in Peru. The latter has mainly a deep chocolate taste and also a hint of berries, but less than the Chulucanas.

I could write a much longer story about this visit, there is plenty more interesting stuff to tell. But let me end with this: if you work with chocolate as a professional and you are interested in high quality (organic) chocolate with a clear origin, an interesting and distinctive taste profile and a competitive price, please contact the Chocolatemakers at info@chocolatemakers.nl and join the next tour and tasting!

Want to read more from or about Martijn? Check out his Facebook blog