Samoan Gold Standard Cocoa now available for testing
Posted in: News & New Products Press
A potential customer in Tasmania asked whether Samoan cocoa is good in hot chocolate. What, is the pope Catholic? Samoas national beverage is called Koko Samoa and the average Samoan drinks 5 cups a week. That would be 200g or 10kg a year. That puts it in the leagues of Switzerland in terms of per capita consumption. You can see a good recipe at http://www.samoafood.com/2010/10/koko-samoa-samoan-cocoa-recipe.html Now, in my shop I have been focus-grouping it to a variety of customers. Mostly they go yuck that looks like cocoa water. Australians expect a think gooey syrupy milky substance with lots of cream and sugar, maybe some added corn starch to make it even thicker. Or they prefer the ubiquitous powder (even Starbucks uses it) with West African beans and probably Fonterra dried milk. No, mate, this is the really McCoy. It is a bit like when you were a teenager and someone said try this for the first time . . . coffee, and you said how can anyone drink this. Or maybe when you first tasted wine. The way they make it in Samoa is the farmer goes into the plantation and picks some ripe pods of cocoa, takes out the beans, dries them in the sun, and roasts them slightly on a BBQ. Sometimes they ferment it before they dry it, but often not, and I cant taste the difference. Then they pound it by hand with a wooden mortar and pestle. The result is a think cocoa paste still containing morsels. You can buy this paste in the markets everywhere in Samoa and also in the Samoan Food stores e.g. in Auckland and Brisbane. You just shave off a couple tablespoons with a serrated knife, two T to 1 cup water, and you gently boil it for five minutes. My wife the Choc Diva loves it straight, but I usually put a T of raw Queensland sugar. Some people add a bit of coconut milk. Ive experimented with adding Chai Spice.
But Australians turn their noses up at it. Id say about only one quarter like it, and no one prefers it given the choice of gooey.It just goes to show you that chocolate consumption is a very cultural phenomenon.
