Dedicated foodies are a vital contingent within the premium chocolate market, and their passion to learn the full pedigrees of the foods they eat has turned single-origin chocolates into a minor phenomenon. Made from cacao beans sourced exclusively in a single country—or even from within a single growing region or plantation—these tony chocolates have earned renown for what fans call “terroir.” The term, which refers to flavor nuances that express the soil, climate and bioregion in which an agricultural product was grown, comes from the world of wine. But it appears equally suited to single-origin cacao beans.
“Cacao flavor is influenced by local growing factors,” says Richard Benson, director of research and development, North America Innovation, Barry Callebaut USA, Chicago. “The uniqueness of the soil, the climate and the habitat leave their signature on the beans grown there. This is the signature uniqueness that is captured in the taste-of-origin chocolates. It’s just like wine—even going to the level of a small plantation to get the unique flavor qualities that come from microclimates and specific harvest or fermentation practices.”
Most of the beans used for single-origin products are from African countries like Ghana and Madagascar, or from Central and South America—Ecuador, Venezuela, Costa Rica, even Brazil. Benson cites the African nations of Ghana and Tanzania as the “gold standard of cocoa” for their “balanced medley of strong chocolate with sour and fruity flavors.” Ecuador’s Arriba beans are prized for “distinctively fruity” notes and “a floral bouquet,” he says. Beans from Mexico have “robust, natural flavor perfect for milk chocolate,” and Venezuelan beans produce “lightly colored cocoa with a slightly bitter-fruity flavor.”
Such a diversity of flavor profiles is catnip to flavor chemists, who can’t help but analyze and categorize single-origin beans and their chocolate products. “We compared single-origin chocolates against various products that were on the market, and we actually put together spider graphs that produced various signatures based on the descriptive notes that are in the end product,” says David Mauer, flavor chemist, David Michael & Co., Philadelphia.
Producing chocolate from beans with such a specific set of characteristics goes against the tradition of blending beans from multiple growing regions to achieve a rounded chocolate profile. “In the case of origin beans, which can have some really strong notes on their own, when you try to blend them off, conch the product to get it to calm down, go with more sugar or load it with a heavier vanilla or a different type of vanilla—whatever the approach may be—you’re much more constrained as to what your options are for getting a good flavor profile that’s going to come across nicely,” says Michelle Frame, director of confectionery R&D, Kerry Ingredients & Flavors, Elk Grove Village, IL. “It’s a little more of a prima donna.”