“The next seat for the Philippines pride in Cacao and the Philippine’s “Belgium” home of great chocolates”
“If you work with your hands,
You are a Laborer…
If you work with your hands and mind,
You are a Craftsman…but…
If you work with your hands, your mind and your heart,
You are an Artisan”.
They are from Cagayan North for ten years who barely drinks coffee. Instead, they indulge so much in having hot chocolate almost any time of the day. And now they have worked their way out using their “hands” to produce chocolate balls or tableas. Putting two things into action, one by enjoying the drink that they truly loved for years and second by working by hands to make a decadent of chocolate has now taking in the center stage to give a local chocolate produce a different angle.
Combining with their “hearts” and “mind” and with so much love and passion for chocolate, they made the effort to make thorough studies and research. Venturing into the chocolate business is never been easy and one should never go wrong with it. Every detail must be carefully studied and analyzed. And as a true “craftsman” with all the combined characteristics, they eventually gave birth with Choco Loco Gourmet of Chocolate as their company name. Originally situated in the heart of Cagayan, the company is now residing in another strategic location in Antipolo Rizal, a “soon to be” seat of the Philippines pride in cacao and Philippine’s “Belgium” home of great chocolate.
“They have worked with their hands involving their hearts and mind, now they were the true Chocolate Artisan of our time”. The company Choco Loco Gourmet of Chocolate has come up with a Festival this February. There were a lot of food and beverage event happening here and there, chef competing and showcasing their talents and skills in cooking and baking while it is very seldom that these food and beverage exhibit has focus on our local produced non commercialized/branded chocolates. In this event, it has been conceptualized carefully that the objective of this festival will be primarily on the locally produced chocolates. There were seminars and forums about various methodologies and modernize technologies involving cacao farming, chocolate manufacturing and processing and other business opportunities.
Various key players in the Cacao/Chocolate Industry and government sectors are invited on this first of its kind Chocolate Festival and Exhibition. Cacao Farmers and Processors, Rizal Provincial/Municipal Agriculturist, Schools in Metro Manila with food and hospitality related courses are among the many. Government sectors like DOA or the Department of Agriculture (Central Office- AMAS) DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), DOST (Department of Science and Technology) and TESDA (Philippines' Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) Artisan Chocolate Makers and several merchants and exhibitors will grace the said event.
There will be some International suppliers represented by their regional delegates in the Philippines like the PURATOS Phils. PURATOS (Belcolade and Carat brands of Belgium) is a global company with subsidiaries in 63 countries worldwide. They manufacture in 50 plants extended over the four continents and have 100 countries to market the product. Global Headquarters is situated in Brussels in Belgium. Transworld Enterprises, a part of the Continental Group of Companies focusing mainly on the bakery equipment and food service tools and equipment will also be participating. Selabourne, brand name carried from Barry Callebaut of Malaysia will be joining as well. Selbourne brand with headquarter in Zurich Switzerland will be represented by regional delegate from Malaysia. DLA Naturals is a producer of nutrition products, cosmetics and bakery ingredients founded in Subic Philippines, owned and operated by Belgian entrepreneur will also be part of the festival.
Philippine Chocolate Festival has commenced last February 12, 2014 and successfully concluded the said event last February 16, 2014.Various activities has been initiated and conducted a free seminar on day three February 14, 2014. Guest Speaker Mr Wiley Dingayan discussed the topic about the “Introduction to Cacao production”. While Mr Alex Luzano, owner of Choco Loco GOC talked about the business opportunity in the cacao industry. Dra. Jesusa Luzano (owner of Choco Loco GOC) taught a lot about chocolates and how to temper. She emphasized the 3 important elements in tempering, which are the following: melting, cooling and working. Each phase must be considered and reviewed carefully to successfully attain your goal in chocolate making. She discussed the difference about the covertures chocolate and the compound chocolate. Covertures chocolate is made of very high quality chocolate that contains extra cocoa butter. That means, a higher percentage of cocoa butter the more sheen the chocolate would be plus the proper tempering, were just few to consider when making chocolates while compound chocolate on the other hand contains hydrogenated fats or palm oils. It tends to be thick and sticky.
Following next day event, it was well attended by some renowned personalities in the food industries like, cooking demo by Chef Zhe Jacinto, demo presentation of Batirol by Mrs Diane Tan-Andin, chocolate cocktails presented by Chef Ricardo de Guzman, chocolate moldings by Mark Jaye Mercado and “How to Bake Chocolate” by Chef Luis Napoleon Sol III. Lastly, owner and event coordinator Mr Alex Luzano of Choco Loco GOC presented some chocolate products to the audience. It was almost a weeklong Festival and was surely a beginning and an open door chocolate business opportunity for us Filipinos.
“From Bean to Bar”
“From Bean to Beverage”
“From Crop to Cup”
“From Farm to Fork”
“From Nib to Bib”
“From Pod to Palate”
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