Eating locally in Belize means (part 3)...

local chocolate!

(An unintentionally timely topic just days before that favorite chocolate orgy, otherwise known as Valentine's Day!).

Whenever I travel, I like to visit local markets to see what's available and in season. In Guatemala, my travel companion and I ventured into the labyrinthine covered and outdoor markets of Santa Elena and cobbled together the fixins for a tasty lunch that made a certain salad lover a happy woman. We also bought a sweet orange that was halved and rubbed with salt and ground toasted pepitos (pumpkin seeds), and a bag of sour green mango mixed with salt, lime, and chili. On a 90 degree day, both were as rejuvenating as a frosty bottle of Gatorade.

In Belize, we didn't come across any outdoor markets during our travels, but we did visit a few local grocery stores. My favorite was Wallen's market in Placencia. Walking down the candy aisle, which was dominated by imported British Cadbury and American Hershey, you would have no idea that the cacao tree, theobroma cacao, is indigenous to the area and closely associated with the local Mayan heritage. Along with Guatemala and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, Belize is part of what some call the Cradle of Chocolate. Which prompted a question: why wasn't I finding any locally produced chocolate?

As I was paying for a bottle of water at Wallen's, a shiny golden object on a shelf behind the cashier grabbed my attention. It was as bright as one of Willy Wonka's precious tickets. I did a double take when I read the sign. The golden wrappers contained chocolate bars made from organic cacao and conventional cane sugar, both locally grown in Belize. The clouds parted and the angels sang. Local chocolate actually does exist! It's even organic. And it's appropriately packaged like precious gold ingots. This aspiring locavore felt as lucky as a photographer snapping a picture of a lake at the exact moment when the Loch Ness Monster emerges with the Yeti riding on its back. I could gorge on chocolate and feel smug in the knowledge that I was supporting local Mayan cacao farmers and a local chocolatier.

The miracle bars are made by a company called Goss Chocolate. I bought one of each chocolate bar (US$1.50 each) — dark and milk — then rushed them from the air-conditioned store to my beachside cabana before they melted.

I fully intended to stow the bars in my fridge and nibble on them over the next few days — no really, I swear — but my curiosity got the best of me and I unwrapped each of the bars to try a bite. Tearing open those golden foil wrappers made me feel just like Charlie Bucket. One nibble led to a second, then a third, and, well, let's just say those little buggers never made it into the fridge. I mean, c'mon, how often can you eat chocolate and simultaneously feel virtuous? I had to go back the next day to buy two more bars for my photos. Then maybe a couple more just to make sure they tasted as good as I remembered them tasting the day before. Oh, the hardships I endure for you all, more concerned about chronicling stories and photos for my blog than my own health! First lobsters, now chocolate. What next?

The dark chocolate (pictured above) was quite good. The mouth feel was rich and silky smooth, more French-style than Spanish, and the flavor nicely fruity with a hint of roasted coffee and caramel. The bar was correctly labeled "dark," as it is what is sometimes called semisweet, not the bittersweet that I tend to prefer. Surprisingly, the milk chocolate (pictured at top of post, somewhat melted because the second store was not air-conditioned) was even better. Far more chocolate flavor and complexity than you usually find in a milk chocolate bar. I later learned that the cacao solids make up a whopping 49% of the milk chocolate bar. The dark hovers between 60-65%, depending on the intensity of the cacao beans used in each batch.

I did a little research after I returned to the States and discovered that I had had the good fortune to sample one, er several, of the very first bars produced by Goss Chocolate. The company, a small family owned factory located a few miles up the peninsula north of Placencia, had just introduced the bars the month before and, at the time, were only selling them at a few select locations in Placencia. Now the bars are more widely distributed.

Goss Chocolate is the pet project of husband and wife team Kerry Goss and Linn Wilson. In an email exchange, Kerry told me how he has spent countless months finding a source for his organically grown cacao beans amongst local Mayan farmers. He and Linn have even gone cacao hunting with local guides to learn more about how all the varieties are grown, harvested, dried, fermented, and roasted. As of this point, he still hasn't been able to secure a steady source for his local cacao, but he is hopeful.

While Kerry didn't want to divulge the details and complexities of his wheeling and dealing, I read that Green & Black's, a British-owned company whose delicious organic and fair trade Maya Gold line is widely regarded as a model for how to encourage local cacao growers to convert their production to organic/fair trade, has contracts with the largest Belizean cooperatives to buy up all their organic beans for exclusive use in their chocolates. Another complication is that cacao producers in Punta Gorda and Toledo, Belize's largest cacao growing region, are still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Iris in 2003. Most of the farmers' trees took 3 years to recover, returning to nearly normal production levels just 2 years ago.

The cane sugar used in Goss Chocolate is also grown in Belize. For now the vanilla is imported from Mexico, but Kerry is hoping to one day obtain vanilla from a small grower who's experimenting with growing vanilla organically in southern Belize. The powdered milk in the milk chocolate bar is Danish.

Kerry makes and packages his chocolate by hand in small batches in his workshop/factory located on the Seine Bight Village property where he and his wife also have a small resort, Blue Crab Beach. Kerry intends to start producing bulk chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar in the future. The company is a real family enterprise, as their son Dylan Goss designed their website and the shiny gold packaging that so effectively grabbed my attention at Wallen's.

To learn more about where you can purchase Goss Chocolate (only in Belize for now), go to their website.

Comments

[Sabah]

GREATTT, now i have to get up and leave my desk to go buy some chocolate.

[EB]

Damnit.... think my officemates will look at my funny for chowing on chocolate for breakfast? So Brett- in keeping locavore-style... what's the closest tasting chocolate available here in San Francisco?

[Leland]

Its tempting.

[Ronie Reiley]

Thanks so much for telling us about this great chocolate. I'm going to Belize in May and can't wait to taste it. Well, I could be a little prujudiced as Kerry Goss is my little brother!
Good taste seems to run in our family.......now you need to discover my daughter's aphrodisiac cookbook, "Fork Me, Spoon Me". I can only imagine how her chocolate covered brie recipe will taste with Goss Chocolate.

[Raw Food Diet Tips]

I was in Belize a few years ago but surprisingly didn't find any local chocolate. My preference these days is for raw chocolate. No sugar, additives, just loaded with antioxidants and minerals - and great for breakfast!

[MacQ]

I just returned from Belize last night and bought 2 Goss Bars at the airport gift shop. Unfortunately, I discovered it in my final minutes during a hunt for toursit items to bring to by daughter (she's now down one Goss bar!). I just opened it a few minutes ago and immediately tried to find a way to have it shipped to me in the US. It looks like I will have to return the Belize sooner than I had planned as Goss is only available in Belize. I do feel a little silly as this was my 2nd trip and I could have stocked up if I had only known.