Valentine’s season seen boosting demand for local craft chocolates

Craft chocolates in the Philippines have gained popularity as more Filipinos explore distinct flavors of the sweet treat, in time for the love season, according to an expert.

“More consumers are becoming more curious about origin, sustainability, flavor,” Treena C. Tecson, certified chocolate taster with a cacao evaluation and sensory evaluation certificate, told BusinessWorld in an interview.

“If you’re going to be preparing for Valentine’s and you’re a craft chocolate maker, the preparation goes way before Valentine’s Day,” she added.

Ms. Tecson noted that locally crafted chocolates before were often overlooked in the market due to low consumer awareness. “People weren’t really eating local chocolates because maybe at that time there was no awareness.”

With more advanced machinery and buyers’ sustainable shopping habits, the industry has seen higher demand, especially during the Valentine’s season.

“There’s a big shift from international to local interest and I think that’s what really makes the craft chocolate movement in the Philippines really move forward,” she said.

“The local chocolate makers have leveled up how they process craft chocolate… and the consumers have become more aware of this and are choosing to support local, and that’s a big movement also,” she added.

The popular tradition of giving chocolates during Valentine’s dates back to the 19th century, with a heart-shaped box filled with chocolates.

“It became an iconic Valentine’s representation of love, thoughtfulness, and gift-giving,” said Ms. Tecson.

“The heart shape is really the symbol of love, so I guess chocolate makers would want to capitalize on that during that time to make it available for everybody who’s celebrating,” she added.

Cacao, the crop used to make chocolate, is a perennial crop that grows in the cacao belt or countries located 20 degrees above or below the equator. The Philippines is among the “origin countries” that could grow and produce their own cacao.

“We are believed to be the first country in Asia, the Philippines, to grow cacao because we were growing it for Spain at that time as a colony of Spain,” Ms. Tecson said. “That would be exported back to Spain, where at that time the Spaniards were already consuming cacao in the form of a drink.”

Three major cultivar groups in the country – Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario- are available in the country, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA). Of the three, Forastero is the most commonly grown cocoa, amounting to 80% of the world’s supply.

Within the country, the majority of the crop comes from Mindanao, with Davao Region contributing 78% of national cacao production. Meanwhile, the other 12% and 10% comes from other regions in Mindanao and Luzon, respectively.

“It’s a very special thing to be a country that grows your own cacao,” said Ms. Tecson. “Whether it’s bean-to-bar or tree-to-bar, the beans that are used are Philippine beans, that’s the more important factor.”

“People are choosing to give locally-made, locally-sourced beans a try because the Philippines is an origin country,” she added. — Almira Louise S. Martinez