There is a popular exercise in the philosophy of mindfulness where participants are asked to eat a bar of chocolate. Rather than chomping it down absent-mindedly, the idea is to savour the treat: to look at it carefully, take in the smell and think about how it tastes as it melts in the mouth.
Would this exercise be as effective with a piece of cheese or bread? Chocolate expert Jennifer Earle suggests not. “Chocolate is unique in nature,” she explains. “More than 400 different flavours can be found in it. And then there’s the fact that cocoa butter melts at body temperature. You don’t get that from anything else.”
This sensory overload explains why chocolate occupies such a special place in our hearts and minds – but we may have taken it for granted too long. As appetites for chocolate increase (particularly in the UAE, where sector growth is expected to increase at three times the global average rate in the next five years), demand for cocoa is increasing exponentially, leading to talk of a global shortage. With drought, disease and pests already making it difficult for farmers to turn a profit, the Ebola crisis in West Africa caused cocoa prices to rise 25 per cent last year and the world’s leading confectionery company, the Swiss-based Barry Callebaut, has predicted that annual demand will outstrip supply if trends continue until the year 2020.
The upshot is that chocolate is likely to become a far more expensive commodity than the daily treat it is now. According to Earle, who is a judge at the International Chocolate Awards and runs walking tours of London celebrating the foodstuff, that might not be a bad thing. “People don’t treat chocolate with the reverence it deserves,” she says. “It should be a luxury. If you eat a higher-quality product much more slowly, it’s far more satisfying than cheap chocolate, which can have a nasty aftertaste.”
This is a message that Qudsia Karim, a chocolatier whose business Cocosia opened its first shop in Dubai in 2013, is keen to promote in the UAE. “Chocolate is considered a luxury commodity in Europe and North America, but this is not the case in GCC countries, where it is just used or consumed as sweets,” she says.
Karim, a Pakistani-Canadian who trained in Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Germany and France, is attempting to draw the UAE market away from mass-produced, wrapped chocolates towards unwrapped, individually chosen creations for those with a more adventurous palate. Her globally influenced creations include Earl Grey, a tea-infused chocolate ganache; Oh Canada, a chocolate filled with maple syrup and topped with a pecan nut; and Schwyz, a Swiss-style raspberry gianduja with pistachio.
“Flavours are an important aspect of any good chocolate,” Karim says. “They should be in harmony, so as not to overpower the chocolate. European chocolates are more concentrated on infused herbs and fruits, to achieve a more pronounced taste in contrast to the Arabic palate, which is more flavoured to nuts or dates, with very little variance in taste. But any good chocolate has to be crisp, firm, smooth and silky in texture, and melt in the mouth.”
Inevitably, in a global market estimated to be worth US$98 billion (Dh3.6 trillion) by next year, not all chocolate is good. So as well as looking for the next salted caramel (a hugely popular flavour combination in recent years), brands that cater to connoisseurs are keen to set themselves apart by sourcing the best available cocoa.
At the Dubai tea room of Angelina Paris, for example, customers drink a carefully balanced blend of four varieties in its world-famous Chocolat L’Africain. “The chocolate that we use to manufacture this traditional beverage is composed of three cocoas from different origins – Niger, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire – selected by us for their particular taste and bitterness,” explains the head pastry chef Sébastien Bauer. “They are assembled specifically for Angelina and have 60 per cent cocoa content. And we also add original cocoa beans from Papua New Guinea, which bring a smoky note to the hot chocolate.”
Chocolate is at the very heart of the Angelina brand, whose original Parisian tea room opened in 1903. For the friends and families who gather at The Dubai Mall store, chocolate is a pursuit in itself – the two most popular pastries are the éclair chocolat, a traditional choux pastry with a bitter chocolate-cream filling and dark chocolate icing, and the opera pastry, an almond biscuit soaked in coffee served with a crunchy praline and milk chocolate mousse.
Perhaps surprisingly, Angelina does not look for Fair Trade cocoa – a scheme that would seem at first glance to offer the industry’s best chance of sustainability as farmers struggle to stay in business. But Earle explains that Fair Trade may not be the most practical approach to growers’ problems. “Looking for a Fair Trade mark is usually better than buying an equivalent product that isn’t Fair Trade. But in practice, because of the long supply chains involved in chocolate production, farmers are being paid only a tiny fraction more for their cocoa, while the price to the consumer increases tenfold.”
Instead, some high-end manufacturers are going directly to growers and helping them to improve crop yields. One such company is Prestat, a British chocolatier that recently began selling its beautifully packaged products in Harvey Nichols Dubai. “Fair Trade is one of a number of ethical standards and it concentrates on paying a modest $200/tonne [Dh735] premium to the farmers for their cocoa [currently about 7 per cent above the market price],” says Bill Keeling, who owns the company along with his half-brother Nick Crean.
“Prestat’s projects pay an equivalent premium to farmers, but also focus on improving their yield. A reasonably managed cocoa farm can produce 400 per cent more cocoa than a poorly managed farm, so yield – rather than a premium – is integral to lifting farmers’ incomes. While paying a modest premium to farmers, the Fair Trade system unfortunately creates a large cost on the supply chain. One estimate is that the $200 per tonne premium paid to the farmer becomes a $16,000 [Dh 58,765] per tonne cost to the consumer, so Prestat prefers to undertake its own projects to avoid penalising the consumer in this manner.”
Keeling reveals that hampers are particularly popular in the Middle East, and Prestat offers bespoke hampers that can be delivered to your door. This is likely to be a popular option around Eid, when many local businesses report a 200 per cent rise in the sales of boxed chocolates. The Belgian brand Godiva also created a specially gift-wrapped box of truffles for UAE National Day last year, featuring red, green, white and black striped ribbon.
But the sheer number of luxury boutiques springing up around the country suggests that chocolate isn’t just for special occasions any more. The French artisanal chocolatier La Maison du Chocolat opened in The Dubai Mall in 2013, selling signature treats such as praline twig gourmandises and orangettes. Meanwhile, the Japanese brand Royce’ opened two stores in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi last year. Its signature and most popular product is a ganache called Nama Chocolate.
It’s all good news for chocolate lovers, who are starting to realise that the only way they can continue to enjoy their favourite treat is to approach it more mindfully. “Buy the best you can afford, and look for references to where the cocoa has been sourced on the label,” advises Earle. “Not all companies are doing the right thing, but if they are they will generally refer to it on their packaging.”
Sustainability isn’t something that anyone with a chocolate craving wants to have to think about, but the bittersweet truth is that if we don’t, then high-quality, high-cocoa-content chocolate could become a luxury that few can afford to taste.
