Sunday, August 6, 2017 | The Sunday Times

Get high on adventure

How to prepare for
high-altitude treks
C14

Haute
chocolate
Home-grown chocolatiers get
creative with unique flavours such as
hae bee hiam and salted egg yolk.
Kenneth Goh reports. C20&21

Mr Jay Chua, owner of Fossa Chocolate,

makes chocolate from bean to bar.

Surprises in the sky The two-wheel deal When parents Affordable kushikatsu
Fireworks are great, See the world on disagree Panko offers deep-fried
so are choreographed motorbike to truly It is not always wrong skewers with interesting
drone performances experience the terrain to take your childs side toppings
C2 C4&5 C7 C25
DESIGN: SALLY LAM PHOTOS: LAU FOOK KONG, ACE ADVENTURE EXPEDITIONS, ONG WEE JIN
C20 | The Sunday Times | Sunday, August 6, 2017 Sunday, August 6, 2017 | The Sunday Times | C21
Life Food & Drink Food & Drink Life

Hot
Chocolates (left)
from new player
Fossa Chocolate Handmade
chocolates from
Demochoco, a Fossa. ST PHOTO:
chocolate LAU FOOK KONG
truffle-maker Painful and tedious are two
which was set up words that come up repeatedly
in April last year. when one asks chocolate-maker Jay
PHOTO: GIN TAY FOR Chua, 29, about making the lus-
THE SUNDAY TIMES cious treats from bean to bar.
The owner of artisanal chocolate

chocs
brand Fossa Chocolate (www.fossa-
chocolate.com) makes the chocolates
himself in a food factory in Tuas.
It takes him a month to make a
30kg batch of single-origin choco-
late, or about 850 bars.
The beans, which are sourced
from countries such as Haiti, Indone-
sia and Guatemala, undergo a
seven-step process that includes a pleasant acidity, recalled the for- tional Design Centre today.
roasting as well as four days of grind- mer brand manager. Its range of single-origin dark

on the
ing, which produces smooth and lus-
cious liquid chocolate.
The five-month-old Fossa Choco-
late is named after a wild cat-like an-
imal native to Madagascar.
This is in reference to the time Mr
Chua had a life-changing taste of
Madagascan chocolate from Ameri-
can craft chocolate line Dick Taylor
more than 10 years ago.
He learnt to make chocolate him-
self and also sought advice from
other chocolate-makers whom he
met while visiting cacao plantations
in Indonesia and Vietnam.
A one-man show, he is also in
charge of distributing his goods to re-
tailers. Fossa Chocolate is sold online
and in six physical stores such as life-
style chain Naiise and design shop
chocolate bars ($8) include Haiti 70
per cent, which tastes of plum and
raisin, and Dominican Republic 70
per cent, which has notes of coffee
and peanut.
It also has local flavours such as a
satay sauce-inspired chilli peanut
praline and salted egg cereal blond
chocolate, which won a bronze
award at this years International

block
He had been completely blown Cat Socrates. It will have a booth at Chocolate Awards. Both cost $8 for a
away by the raspberry taste with the Singapasar pop-up event at Na- 35g bar.

From bean to chocolate

Mr Jay Chua, owner of Fossa
Chocolate, talks about how a Pak
Eddy Indonesian dark chocolate
bar (75 per cent cocoa) is made
from scratch.
1. HAND-SORTING
Artisanal chocolate is heating up Raw cacao beans are sorted
and debris and deformed
the scene, with small-batch beans picked out.
chocolatiers and chocolate-
2. ROASTING
themed cafes setting up shop here
The beans are roasted in an oven
to develop the cacao flavour and
to reduce moisture and acidity.
3. WINNOWING
The roasted beans are broken
into smaller bits called cacao nibs
and the husks are removed.
5. HARVESTING down to 32 deg C, a temperature
The liquid chocolate is strained to which helps to form the right type
remove any remaining bits of of cocoa butter crystals that give
cacao nibs and then chilled for a the chocolate a shiny appearance.
day.
7. MOULDING
6. TEMPERING The tempered chocolate is poured
The liquid chocolate is poured onto into bar moulds and solidified in a
a granite slab and swirled around chiller, after which, they are
Sizea spatula
with : 2 Cols x scraper
and 6cm (H) to cool it removed and packed.
(Joycelyn - 5514)
From bean to bar
More stories at straitstimes.com

4. GRINDING VIDEO
Kenneth Goh Sugar is added to the cacao nibs Home-grown
and the mixture ground in a chocolatiers whip
melangeur (a chocolate grinding up quirky flavours
Single-origin production. Small batch production. Sus- machine) over four days and until it
tainable sources. becomes a silky-smooth liquid. str.sg/4zuY
No, we are not talking about coffee, but another bean
in town. Cacao.
Artisanal chocolate-making is taking off in Singa-
pore, with at least three small-batch chocolatiers set-
CHOCOLATE 101
ting up shop in the past 11/2 years.
Their sourcing and production methods are just as seri-
The Dark Gallery The Dark
Gallerys Single Ganache: An emulsion of
ous and technical as the coffee purists. Instead of Origin Platters chocolate and cream, which
bean-to-brew, think bean-to-bar. Where: 01-K5 Millenia Walk, allow diners to often has elements such as
The newcomers are Patisserie G cafe, which branched 9 Raffles Boulevard taste three spices and liqueur added to it.
out into making chocolates in-house in its new OUE Open: 11am to 9.30pm daily chocolate treats
Downtown outlet last month; Fossa Chocolate, a five- Info: Call 6255-0368 or go to made using a Praline: A confection with a
month-old chocolate-maker; and Demochoco, a www.thedarkgallery.com different core encased in a chocolate
small-batch chocolatier that was set up in April last year. single-origin shell. The mixture at the core
This crop joins other early birds on the scene, such as Single-origin dark chocolate from chocolate. PHOTO: varies. Sometimes it is
the four-year-old Anjalichocolat in Loewen Road. Venezuela to Madagascar take THE DARK GALLERY ganache or a mixture of
Besides chocolate retailers, more chocolate-centric pride of place at this one-month- caramelised sugar and nuts. In
cafes have opened. Last month, The Dark Gallery, a old dessert cafe in Millenia Walk. France, the inside is a whole
30-seat cafe that specialises in using single-origin dark A highlight at this 30-seat cafe is almond that is caramelised.
chocolate in desserts, opened in Millenia Walk. its five Single Origin Platters. Each
Most local chocolatiers started making chocolates after consists of three chocolate treats Truffle: A soft chocolate made
trying single-origin varieties abroad. This was the case such as hot chocolate shots or of ganache and sometimes
for Mr Lim Jialiang, 27, owner of Demochoco, who spent chocolate pastries, made using a dusted with cocoa powder. Its
six months in Paris on a university exchange programme. different single-origin chocolate. vides tasting notes such as the first foray into the chocolate busi- name is derived from its
His brand, for which he makes and distributes the Single-origin chocolate means chocolates acidity, fruitiness and ness. It also operates the Marble resemblance to truffles, the
products, carries adventurous flavours such as hae bee the beans come from a specific percentage of cacao. Slab Creamery chain and cold- prized underground fungus.
hiam chocolate bars. There are also rojak-style nama place and have a distinctive taste Ms Li Lihui, 35, chief executive pressed juice brand HIC.
chocolate truffles in flavours such as miso with gula profile. officer of food and beverage com- Ms Li, a former lawyer, was in- Cacao: Used to refer to the
melaka and salted egg and cereal. The ice-cream platter ($12) com- pany Thirtythree, which runs The spired to start an artisanal chocolate name of the tree, as well as the
Mr Lim, who invested $20,000 in the start-up, says prises a trio of dark chocolate ice Dark Gallery, says: Placing these cafe after tasting delicious single- beans in its fruit. Chocolate is
he sells 200 boxes a month. cream: a fruity Madagascar, a floral desserts side by side helps diners to origin chocolate in San Francisco made from the beans.
The market for chocolate is evolving in a similar way and spicy Dominican Republic and understand the nuanced differ- and Japan.
to that of coffee, say chocolate business owners. a bittersweet Venezuela. ences among the various single- From next month, the cafe will be Cacao nib: The insides of the
Nowadays, consumers are more conscious about the The ice-cream bowls are placed origin chocolates. holding chocolate-appreciation cacao bean that are ground into
products origins and are open to trying a variety of on an infographic sheet that pro- The Dark Gallery is Thirtythrees workshops. smaller bits. The insides are
flavours, says Mr Victor Seah, 33, who owns Beans To revealed only after the beans
Bars. are roasted and the husks are
Set up in 2014, the distribution company carries a removed. Besides being used to
range of hard-to-find craft chocolates from countries
such as Lithuania and Indonesia.
Beans To Bars Patisserie G make chocolates and cocoa
powder, cacao nibs can be used
Despite the potential, there is a bittersweet side to as a garnish for salads and
the chocolate business. The trade depends on seasonal From Indonesia to Lithua- Where: 01-30 OUE desserts.
sales and prices have been on the rise due to increased nia, home-grown arti- Downtown Gallery,
demand from markets such as China and India. sanal chocolate distribu- 6 Shenton Way Cacao butter: Natural
Chocolate is also hard to store it needs to be kept in tor Beans To Bars has Open: 7.30am to 7pm vegetable fat extracted from
a cool and dry place such as a chiller. been sourcing an eclectic (weekdays), 9am to 4pm cacao beans. It is white and has
Singapore also lacks a craft chocolate culture. range of chocolates from (Saturdays), closed a rich, buttery texture that
Not many people will pay for artisanal chocolate that all over the world for the on Sundays resembles white chocolate in
costs two to three times more than a generic brand, past three years. Info: Call 6222-0390 taste and appearance.
says Mr Jay Chua, 29, owner of Fossa Chocolate. It carries about 70 vari- or go to
There is an information gap on the hard work that eties of dark and milk www.patisserieG.com Couverture chocolate:
goes into bean-to-bar chocolate-making that justifies chocolates that are sold Chocolate that is made up of
the higher prices. on its website French dessert cafe Patis- at least about 30 per cent
He sources, makes and sells chocolate in a factory in (www.beanstobars.sg) serie G has opened a sec- cocoa butter, which makes it
Tuas. It takes him a month to make a 30kg batch of and in shops such as cafe chain Dean & Deluca and life- ond outlet in the Central Business District and with the easier to melt and is ideal for
single-origin chocolate, or about 850 bars. style shop Naiise. new space comes an expanded range of products: forming thin coats for
Fossa mainly sells single-origin chocolate bars made Beans To Bars has a booth at the Singapore Coffee in-house chocolates. Launched on July 15, the range com- confections or for dipping.
with cacao beans from Bolivia and Indonesia. He sells Festival at Marina Bay Cruise Centre, which ends prises bon bons ($2.50 a piece), chocolate bars (from $12)
about 120 bars a month. today. and panned chocolates (from $18 a jar), which are nuts Compound chocolate:
For Ms Anjali Gupta, 53, owner of Anjalichocolat, the Some note-worthy brands sold at the booth include and fruit coated uniformly in chocolate. Chocolate that has some or all
biggest challenge is finding experienced chocolatiers Mulate from Lithuania, which makes bars from organic For example, the panned chocolates come in three of its cocoa butter replaced
for this labour-intensive business. Her shop sells con- dark chocolate in flavours such as tahini and roasted flavours: white chocolate-coated salted pistachios, milk with vegetable oil.
fections such as pralines and bars made from Belgian sesame and cayenne pepper ($9 a bar). chocolate-coated cranberries and melon seeds covered
chocolate. Last week, she launched a From Singapore Mr Victor Seah, 33, owner of Beans To Bars, was intro- with Szechuan pepper-infused dark chocolate. Conching: The process of
Lah collection that features 15 pralines in local flavours duced to the craft chocolate movement in Australia, Cafe owner Gwen Lim, 43, graduated from Le Cordon mixing, stirring and aerating
such as Singapore Sling and kaya toast. where he worked as a corporate trainer and lecturer in Bleu Paris with a pastry diploma, did apprenticeships heated liquid chocolate to
She says more than 1,000 boxes of chocolates are UNSW Sydney university for eight years. with Parisian patisserie Pierre Herme and fine-dining remove unwanted acidity
sold a month, mostly through corporate orders. In 2013, he returned to Singapore and decided to set restaurant Les Amis in Shaw Centre, before setting up and bitterness.
Loyal customers include Ms Gayathri Santhi- up his own business as a distributor. Patisserie G in 2012. She makes the chocolates herself,
McBain, 42, who is a trustee for a medical non- A trend he has noticed is a preference for flavours having attended a chocolate-making course by French Tempering: The process of
governmental organisation. She says: They are not that are more tart, which can be found in cacao beans master chocolatier Jean-Marie Auboine at the Choco- heating and cooling chocolate
overwhelmingly sweet or milky like in generic brands. from Bolivia and Indonesia. late Academy Centre here. to a range of temperatures to
These chocolates go well with a whisky or cognac at din- To that end, he has brought in single-origin dark She spent about $70,000 on equipment and says her form the right type of cocoa
ner parties and make good door gifts. chocolates such as 70 per cent Sulawesi from Indo- chocolates are alternatives for people who want a light butter crystals that give the
nesian chocolate-maker and social enterprise snack. If diners dont want a full-sized dessert, they chocolate a shiny appearance.
kengohsz@sph.com.sg Krakakoa. can just taste a bon bon or share a chocolate bar.