The 5-Century Story Behind Victoria Amores Handmade Chocolates

Cacáhuatl Pods:
Bitter Water, Ancient Gifts
Trees to Treats.

Deep into the tropical forests of Mesoamerica the ancient Olmec civilization (c. 1200BCE to c. 400 BCE), forerunners of the Maya and Aztecs, scoured their environment for nourishment and sustenance. They could hardly have known that one of their discoveries would eventually go from being considered “the food of the gods” to being just plain heavenly: Cacao.

The descendant Maya and Aztec cultures consumed and or used cacao for epicurean and religious reasons. 

When the Spaniards invaded what is now called Central America (1492-1832 AD), Ferdinand Magellan (1521), a Portuguese navigator sailing under the Spanish flag, in an effort to get to the Spice Islands, circumnavigated the globe through what are now known as the Straits of Magellan in South America. He was the first explorer to cross the Pacific Ocean. 

He landed in the Philippines with 3  surviving ships (the Victoria being the only one to eventually return to Spain with spices) thus beginning Spain’s colonization of Las Filipinas. 

Magellan landed on the island of Cebu.

While the  Spanish were colonizing Central America, they  were introduced to a drink called ‘xocoatl’ meaning ‘bitter waters’. This was a beverage made from crushed beans mixed with hot water and chili peppers. Xocoatl was introduced into European culture through Spanish traders returning from the new land. Because it was so popular and because Europe was too cold to grow cacao trees, Spain wanted cacao to grow in all of it tropical colonies as a commodity.

It is believed that cacao trees were introduced to the Philippines in the 17^th century around 1670 AD.

Today the Cacao industry in the Philippines represents 1% of the global market.

Over 3  centuries later, Rose Amores was born in Cebu, Philippines.

Early days

Rose Amores’ parents had professional jobs in Cebu where they worked not only to support the family but also to afford quality private education for their many offspring. Rose, the eleventh of twelve children,  and her siblings spent summers away from Cebu on the island of Bohol where her parents were raised. 

Other family members such as tios and tias (uncles and aunts) worked and managed the family farm there all year long growing mangoes, guava, and cacao as some of their crops.

The children, as is true in many cultures, were expected to come and share the labor when they were off from school.

Rose grew up among the cacao trees and the Chocolate Hills (her family farm has 3 of them on their land). Being from a large family and always hungry, Rose loved working with the cacao tree pods. Inside the pod was a soft, sweet, pulp that protected the cacao beans. This provided extra nutrition and a full-belly on a regular basis. Cacao grew to have an emotional significance for young Rose. Aside from her families’ livelihood and her own appetite, cacao was also used to make a chocolate drink (shared with the Mexican tradition) called ‘sikwate’ or ‘ tsokolate ‘ which Rose would drink, particularly after Misa de Gallo.

Rose: My parents were born in Bohol.  My dad was a mayor on  Bohol and bought property. This was the start of the family farm. My mother was pregnant for over 15 years. I was 10 ½  months old when my younger brother was born. She worked as an accountant in a government agency in Cebu. When  someone was looking for help there,  people would say, “oh, look for the pregnant lady!” Back in those days they introduced their children by  their number. I was ‘Eleven’. Being one of twelve was a really tough life. I always tell my kids, “You don’t know how tough life can be.” (laughs)

Rose’s siblings are strewn around the globe as professionals. She is the only one with as many as four children.

Rose: We never had allowance. We lived in hand-me-downs. By the time I got the navy blue school uniform from my older sisters, it was light blue!

LoP: Did being from a struggling, large Catholic family lend itself to you dreaming about something other than what you were experiencing as a child?
Rose: It gave me the inspiration to do what I was passionate about regardless of circumstances  and resources. At a young age I knew it was necessary to make some delicacy to sell for extra money. It taught me perseverance and resilience.

LoP: Not all children are resilient in their life circumstances. You must have gotten the message from you parents that “you can do things”.
Rose: Yes! My kids ask me, “how did you learn to do this?”. I tell them you have to learn to do things. Be resourceful in unfamiliar environments. Growing up on the farm taught me to appreciate nature more. We harvested strawberries, mangoes, cacao, and other fruits. I worked at the farm from around age 8 through high school.

Whenever Rose speaks about her childhood and the cacao pods her face beams brightly with a huge smile.                                                                                                     

The Process
Cacao has 2 growing seasons year-round in this tropical climate which allows farmers to produce all year long.

”A tree begins to bear when it is four or five years old. A mature tree may have 6,000 flowers in a year, yet only about 20 pods. About 1,200 seeds (40 pods) are required to produce 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) of cocoa paste.”                 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobroma_cacao

It is a strong plant that is usually saved from damage of  tropical storms because it is protected by the taller trees that surround it. 

The beans are bitter tasting if not fermented, dried, or roasted. They are a good source of nourishment to the body.

The beans are covered with a fibrous pulp (below) that is mushy.  This is also nutritious but is discarded during the chocolate production process. 

Once roasted, the nibs can be put into breakfast cereal in the morning adding extra nutrition! Cacao nibs add protein, fiber, minerals, and healthy fats to the diet, but not sugar.

Rose: The harvesting process includes the breaking open of the pod where there is a cluster of  seeds. These are the beans. The beans are then laid out in a basket lined with banana leaves. A top layer of leaves is laid on top of the beans. This helps to elevate the temperature. Banana leaves help to retain heat sometimes up to 150 degrees. Leave it for 7 days as the fermentation process builds the flavor. Every day we have to inject air. The baskets get mixed and are actually transferred from one basket or box to another.

Then it goes to a drying area where the cacao beans are spread out on a wire mesh so there is ventilation at the bottom, and it has to go down to at least 8% humidity. This is  for another 5-7 days. Drying has to happen slowly. It is important for farmers, who want to make a profit, to understand how the drying process affects the flavor.

LoP: How do you get low humidity in the tropical Philippines?
Rose: It is a challenge here. But we have a covered area and in the summer we put it in open air, drying it more slowly, maybe longer. And have patience.

After drying, the beans are sorted by sizes so that each group can roast evenly. We sort the beans manually. A lot of work for a bar of chocolate.

Roasting is not an important part of the flavor enhancement if the beans are properly  fermented. If the beans are well fermented and dried then the flavor has reached [certain  maturity level].  The purpose of roasting is more for the sterilization of the beans. It also helps  separate the outer husks from the inner bean and makes winnowing easier.

“This is our own metate handed down from my grandfather in 1930!” – Rose Amores Hudson  

After roasting you have to break the shell to get the nibs. This  process is called ‘winnowing’. We do this separation manually. We take all the dried and roasted beans and use a metate to press the beans to crack them open. Then we move the cracked beans to a flat tray made of  bamboo splits. 

We shake the tray and toss the beans and nibs into the air and then we blow! This separates them. The nibs are heavier than the cacao shell. Imagine doing it for 50 kilos or 100 kilos!

LoP: Everyone must have healthy lungs.
Rose: (laughs) Nowadays we actually have a machine that is like a vacuum cleaner and a juicer.  It crushes it and so the vacuum cleaner will suck out the nibs and the shells blow out to another area. After roasting the nibs, you pass it through a grinder. We had a large mechanical grinder like what is used for rice. But I went back to using stone because it is much better quality. 

After this, what you have left is the ‘chocolate mass’. This is a paste now. The coco butters combine with nib pieces. All chocolate starts with a coco mass that is 100% dark cacao bean. It goes through a conching machine which refines it to a smooth level. You add the cacao butter and add sugar (for dark chocolate) , or depending on what kind of chocolate you want, add milk  powder (for milk chocolate).

It takes a long time to break down the sugar particle and the milk solid (powder). Sometimes 36-72 hours. 

LoP: WHO was the first person who did this? What was that origin?
Rose: In the beginning, when it was consumed by the Olmecs as a ceremonial drink,  it was believed to be unfermented. It was an accident that they left the pile of beans after opening the pods and came back to it later discovering that it had fermented. When they opened it and ate it, it actually, tasted better. 

LoP: Being in the Philippines, do you use raw sugar cane?
Rose: Oh, yes. We support neighboring farmers. That is what this is all about.

LoP: You work with different farms in the Philippines?
Rose: Yes. Because the production from our farm is not enough. Every variety needs a different  roasting  profile. This is determined by the chocolate maker. I do so many roasting profiles before I select what I want.

This is where the creativity of the chocolate maker determines the percentages of ingredients.

LoP: Once you find the fermenting profile or equation that you like, then can you step away and trust that when the farmers use that profile or recipe then there will be a consistency in flavor?
Rose: Yes. Not a lot of chocolate makers have control over the process of flavor development. I am very particular about the taste and profile of the cacao that I use. It is much easier for me because the fermenting and drying are the most important process. Since I work with smaller quantities compared to bigger operations, I have a lot of control.

The Farmers

LoP: Here is a picture of you with Ernesto Pantua, Jr. at Kablon farms in southern Mindanao. This is in another part of the Philippines. Can you tell me what this is about?
Rose: When I started the chocolate business I went to his farm to see his operations. He also makes chocolate and has been given awards and international recognition. You have to have someone you admire and look up to whose path you want to follow. He has the same situation as I do. He has a family business and a large family. He has other fruits on his farm and makes jams as well as other products. 

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LoP: The farm that you are using is the same property your dad bought early on, right?
Rose: Yes, but the production is not very high. There are farmers around the island I use as well. What I get from them is the coco mass already in a disk form. I discuss the profile of the mass that I want so that I can ensure quality and consistency.

LoP: We talked about you training the farmers to prune their trees.
Rose: A lot of 35 or 40-year-old trees are still producing of course, but you need to introduce to farmers the technology and how to farm more effectively.  Before we just let the trees grow. It isn’t practical. How do you harvest from trees that tall? We have been rehabilitating old trees that were left to grow tall. It is healthier to prune. 

You can rehabilitate an older tree. But this is new, and not all farmers appreciate the value of pruning the trees to a manageable (level). There is a small group of ‘cacao doctors’ and we meet as a group to talk about the health and management of the trees.

LoP: Growing up summers in Bohol, you were exposed to different kinds of crops on the farm, presumably able to feast on all of them. Why did you choose cacao as the plant to make a livelihood out of? What made you pick that plant over all the others?
Rose: (laughs) That is a very good question. It just makes sense  to me as a person from Bohol. If you Google Bohol, you  will immediately see the Chocolate Hills. The tourists come there to see the Chocolate Hills. The top of these  lime mounds is brown all year round.

There are coconut trees that grow at the bottom of the hills  which makes a perfect canopy for growing cacao. 

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The Trees

Cacao trees grow in what is called the understory. In tropical forests the canopy is the top layer that reaches the sunlight while a multitude of plants live in the soft shade below sometimes in a symbiotic relationship feeding off of and helping each other, sometimes not. Cacao fits into the latter category. It draws nutrients and elements from the surrounding trees which will affect the essential taste of its beans. 

Coconut, acacia, mahogany, and other tall trees that shade the cacao will have an effect on the flavor of the beans.

The taste of the cacao that comes from the farms on Kablon are going to be different than the cacao from Bohol because of the terroir. This is one natural way that taste varies from farm to farm or country to country.

LoP: Let us talk about some of the social issues around fair trade and farmers who are the nuts and bolts of this process. Are the farmers men? Men and women? Families? Are they earning a good  living?
Rose: I can only talk about what I have seen or read happening. Down in the south of the Philippines where most of the cacao is grown, are family-owned farms with the family as the workers. What they do is sell their cacao to a cooperative. They are paid fairly. 

Filipinos are a compassionate people who feel for each other. We understand how much work the families are putting into their production and that this is the only income they rely on. So, the cooperative sets a fair price, and the farmers are happy to take that price.

LoP:  So, the cooperatives act as trade brokers for the farmers?
Rose: Totally. The farmers are happy because they are assured it is all sold. A lot of inspiration that I get, really, is from appreciating the farmers. And, to let them know  that my creation would not be like this without the quality of produce they have given! 

LoP: Do you give them a taste of the final products?
Rose: (Giggles) Ya, ya, ya! They are surprised and ask if it is from Belgium!

Climate Change and its effects on Cacao Trees

LoP: Because of the changing climate there are flora and fauna shifting, literally moving, to follow the temperatures they need to live in. How is this affecting the global cacao tree population?
Rose: I went to Costa Rica 2 years ago and studied more about conservation. They are studying about more than 2,000 varieties. They are developing more trees that are more resistant to diseases, more yield, and refined flavors.

LoP: Does the cacao tree drop seeds that are carried by the wind allowing it to move around? Or does it stay local?
Rose: You have to plant it. Although we have been teaching our farmers that you have to plant  it wisely. The proper distance, look at the wind factor, where the sun is, and how it is to plant it under big trees. There are big farms there that are planting in big fields. Those trees won’t keep bearing fruit for a long time because they are not protected.

Designing Chocolate              

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                                                        LoP: Let’s talk a little about what inspires your design.
Rose: I worked in the floral industry for about 9 years. I started on the agriculture side. A really good friend from Mindanao had an orchid farm and didn’t know what to do with it. They sold it to  me and I started selling orchids. Then I developed good relationships with florists and hotels, they started asking for other flowers. Then, I said, sure…not knowing where to get it. I ended up with a whole range of flowers from  different farmers up north. My friends wanted to buy them, too. 

I went to visit my sister in the states. Since my visa only allowed me to stay for 3 months, I  found a florist I liked and asked if I could work there for free. That way I could learn the whole operation. It was an education. While I worked with flowers and since I was able to draw, I gained inspiration for designs. I created a company in Cebu called The Wedding Planner which was a one-stop shop. I came to have really good relationships with photographers, cake makers, fashion designers, etc.. There are a lot of people who want to have a destination wedding. They come to the Philippines and don’t know who to use. I had  contacts with wholesalers. It worked out well. For floral designs, I get inspiration from the floral designers/event stylists that I look up to like Preston Bailey. Later on, I developed my own style and got more inspiration from the client’s personality, mood, etc.

LoP: How does a flavor get turned into a chocolate candy?
Rose: I make the dark chocolate or sometimes a milk chocolate. The white chocolate, I don’t make. It is very tricky. I use a company in the Philippines who makes it. With chocolate bonbons, developing the recipes for the center-filling is what I get excited about. There are so many possibilities of flavors to make. But I always make sure to incorporate Filipino culture and taste in each of the bonbons, though I also make classic flavors like burnt caramel, hazelnut,  lemon, raspberry and more.

LoP: I heard that ‘white chocolate’ isn’t really chocolate. Is that true?
Rose: No, that is not true, because all chocolate has cacao butter in it. The butter is stripped of color.  

LoP: Is all chocolate dark chocolate to start out with?
Rose: Yes. This is where the creativity of the chocolate maker comes in. What percent of other elements do I want? Elements such as milk-powder, flavorings – which can include chilies, or [nuts]. 

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LoP: Is that with pandan leaves?
Rose: Yes, pandan. You think about Filipino food, there are many spices. There is ginger, coconut – all these spices we use a lot in desserts and other dishes, too. I think about how to put it  together. The ratio has to be balanced to have a good mouth-feel and a good shelf-life as well, and taste! I want people to have a good feeling. Buko pandan is such a favorite for us. I can put that in the ganache.

At the beginning, I only created with flavors from the Philippines. My old time favorite dessert as a child, buko pandan was one and then I formulated the filling.

Rose Amores Hudson

LoP: You must have a pretty sensitive palate to distinguish these tastes.
Rose: I went through tasting courses to learn how to break down each ingredient, and how to pair them together.

LoP: Are these courses also for people who are in the wine industry?
Rose: Yes, and baking, etc.

LoP: How do you layer the paint in the mold?
Rose: The key is to use a tempered cocoa butter.  You have to temper the cocoa butter properly, so they unstick from the mold and give a good glossy finish. You aren’t painting on a flat surface and you have to paint in reverse.

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LoP: That must take a lot of time.
Rose: I guess that is where the passion comes out. I don’t think about time. It is labor intensive, but I just think about people’s reactions. Every time I see someone.. their reaction is priceless. The money I make from them??? My husband says, “Why?”. (Rose laughs)

LoP: So, Amores means …
Rose: Love (smiles). It’s all about giving. Ultimately, my dream shop is chocolate, flowers, and wine.

LoP: Well, you have the flowers, and you have the chocolate, what about the wine?
Rose: The sugar in the pulp of the cacao pod is changed into alcohol through fermentation. There are a lot of similarities  with the grapes. They say these two, the grapes and the  chocolate, are like mothers and daughters. They have so much in common they always clash. (laughs)

And it is hard to match cacao with wine. I have been working on these pairings which are really tricky. You can ferment grapes with the cacao beans. My dream  is to create a facility on the farm and ferment the cacao in wine barrels which will change the taste in a delicious, unique way. There is one company in Ecuador doing something  like this already.

LoP: There are a lot of pictures on your Instagram and web page that features pairing events. Can you talk a little about what we are seeing in these photographs?
Rose: Another way of introducing Philippine chocolates is to use it to collaborate with other industry  like beverage. This is the reason why I said yes to a wine educator who wants to do a chocolate and wine pairing event. So, what happens in these events is that each chocolate bonbon flavor pairs with a certain wine. 

We start from light flavors to strong flavors just as when you pair white wine with white meat like fish. The wine educator, Chie Gatchalian, would introduce the wine, talk about the maker, the farm, location, flavor profile, etc.. 

Then, I talk about the chocolate that pairs with it, the flavor profile, the inspiration, or reasons why I made a certain flavor, how I formulate the recipe and so on. For example, I paired a sparkling wine with lemon infused white chocolate ganache. For the port wine, I paired with burnt caramel. We did a few of these events in Bangkok, Thailand.

What is Rose working on next?
Rose: I am currently meeting with the founder of a luxury tea in Tokyo, Japan, who wants to collaborate with me. Her tea flavors would be incorporated into my ganache creating  a new chocolate sensation for sophisticated palates.

LoP: Rose, how would you define your personal mission?
Rose: I want to be able to use my chocolate products to give awareness of the Philippine cacao and it’s contribution to the world industry. This will not only bring a sense of pride and  accomplishment to existing Filipino cacao farmers and chocolate producers, but will also encourage other farmers to plant cacao. Most of my clients buy my chocolates because they are interested about where cacao comes from and the story of how it is made.

For me, it is always about the story.

For more information about Victoria Amores handmade chocolates or to place an order, visit: www.victoriaamores.com
https://www.facebook.com/victoriaamoreschocolate
Victoria Amores
Handcrafted Chocolate Bonbons
Directly sourced Filipino cacao
Traditional Method
https://www.ecolechocolat.com/en/certified-chocolatier.html

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amoreschocolate/

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LoP Team