Four things to know about cacao
Cacao, not cocoa
Native to tropical rainforests, the cacao tree looks plucked from Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. The short evergreen with drooping branches has a whimsical charm, accentuated by its football-shaped fruit in hues ranging from red, yellow and turquoise, depending on the variety of tree. The pods are filled with seeds–or beans–which, once fermented, dried and roasted, make cocoa, the main ingredient in conventional chocolate. (Not to be confused with cocoa, cacao refers to the bean in a pure or less-processed form.)
Good mood food
Cacao is rich in flavanoids—antioxidants that benefit the cardiovascular system. And while not a cure-all for the blues, it contains tryptophan, “a precursor for serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps improve mood,” says Nathalie Norris, a certified nutritional practitioner at Healthy Planet. “It also has lots of magnesium, which helps with relaxation.”
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In short, it’s a superfood and becoming more widely available as a powder, nibs (crumbled dried cacao beans) and butter (a fat extracted from the bean). These raw forms retain more of the bean’s health benefits compared to when it’s processed cocoa. Though bitter, cacao’s citrus and dark chocolate notes make it tasty in small doses.
Ethical challenges
Cacao production has been plagued by deforestation, unpredictable weather and child labour in Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together supply about 70% of the world’s cacao. These challenges have made sustainable and ethical sourcing a priority for craft chocolate brands with high percentages of cacao (60% to 85%), including Ontario-based Hummingbird Chocolate and Chocxo, which manufactures its chocolates in British Columbia. Hummingbird sources its cacao from the Dominican Republic.
“It’s not to say that the country doesn’t have the same challenges as the Ivory Coast, but it’s definitely less prevalent,” says Erica Gilmour, Hummingbird’s founder and president. In addition to the Dominican Republic, Chocxo gets its cacao from Peru. “Its flavour is more natural and fruity than West African cacao beans,” says president Peter Higgins.
Summerhill Market has been carrying Hummingbird since October, with the grocer’s category manager Paul Durning loving the premium taste of the brand’s chocolate bars and confections—the peanut butter cups are his favourite—and commitment to ethically and humanely sourced cacao. “We’re proud to have partnered with them, and their chocolate is selling exceptionally well,” says Durning.
Startups are also developing solutions to address cacao shortages, which have driven up prices of the bean. “Novel ways to mitigate the current challenges include regenerative agricultural techniques and bio-based technologies,” says Lu Ann Williams, global insights director at Innova Market Insights. California Cultured, for example, harvests cells from a cacao plant and grows them in fermentation tanks designed to mimic rainforest conditions. It recently signed a supply agreement with Japanese chocolate giant Meiji.
Taste test
“It’s like having a fine Bordeaux wine compared to the average red,” says Summerhill’s Durning of chocolate with high cacao content, making in-store sampling a great way to encourage first-time purchases. In-store tastings led by brand owners see particularly strong sales increases. “Consumers love interacting directly with the chocolate maker,” says Durning.
Available at most grocers, including Whole Foods Market, Metro and Sobeys, Chocxo creates in-store excitement with limited-edition flavours such as Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cups with 85% cacao ahead of Christmas and Dark Chocolate Lemon Crème Cups with 72% cacao in spring.
“Given they come in secondary displays—bringing more eyeballs to the category—we’ve had tremendous feedback from grocers about our limited editions in driving incremental sales,” says Higgins. In fact, Chocxo is introducing another limited-time flavour later this year.
