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Ecuadorian cacao plantations stand out in Spanish chef Jordi Roca’s book
Posted On 18 Dec 2018
Ecuadornews:
The creative work of the Spanish chef Jordi Roca, one of the best pastry chefs in the world, is not the same after his journey through Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. His time in these countries, accompanied by the gastronomic journalist Ignacio Medina, impelled a turn in the elaboration of his gastronomic proposals from the new cocoas that he collected during his trip.
Jordi Roca Fontané is the youngest of the Roca brothers, creators of one of the best restaurants in the world, El Celler de Can Roca. This chef, one of the most successful in the world and to whom Netflix’s foodie series, Chef’s Table:Pastry, dedicated a chapter, has just published the book Casa cocoa next to Medina. The trip back to the origin of chocolate (Planeta Gastro). A meeting between the chocolatier who had never stepped on a cacao plantation and the real life of cacao.
The text delves into the history of this product that, according to several vestiges, dates back more than 5,000 years. In its references it is fixed in astrange temple in Palanda (Zamora Chinchipe), excavated by the archaeologist Francisco Valdez, who left in the open a structure that ends in a tomb where they conserve, among other objects, a ceremonial vessel with waste of a drink that contained cocoa.
In the book there is also some criticism of a sector that affects the lives of 3million Latin Americans. Its pages talk about how big companies decide about their lives, set prices and establish conditions; and, denounces the abuses on a small scale, which starts with the most isolated cocoa farmers, who are always the most vulnerable.
Of Ecuador, Roca and Medina highlight the national cocoa, known as the gold seed,who they met personally in the plantation of Bitricio Salazar, in the canton Baba, and that well treated and processed provides chocolates”distinguished and with much packaging.” His cacao farm produces between two or three quintals per week of harvest.
The truth is that the way of understanding chocolate has been changing over time due to new formulations. The publication refers to the ideas outlined by Santiago Peralta, by Pacari, a forerunner in some areas, such as raw chocolate,literally ‘raw’, ‘unroasted’.
“Ecuador breathes cocoa and chocolate on all four sides. Its chocolate industry is, by far, the most advanced and developed in the region.” . (I)
Jordi Roca, says in his book
