SUNDAY 8 APRIL, 2018 – UWI TODAY
7
SWEET HANDS AT COCOA RESEARCH CENTRE
says. It was only in the final semester of her undergraduate
degree, when she enrolled in the Food Product Development
course, that she knew, “this is what it is!”
When her relationship with the CRC began, Kerry Ann
was deep in her quest for that “aha moment,” and began
entering food competitions, “to measure myself, in a way,
because I was not sure exactly where I belonged.” She entered
CRC’sWorld Cocoa and Chocolate Day cuisine competition
twice, in 2011 and 2013. Though she was disappointed with
her performance the first time she entered, by the time the
competition came back around, she was game. “I entered
my stuff and I came first in [the] drinks [category], second
in savoury, second in sweet,” she says. Confidence boosted,
Kerry Ann entered more competitions, including one for
which she used CRC’s chocolate, “and then, one thing led
to the next and I was introduced to Darin. I was asked if I
would like to work here [in] product development, which
was exactly what I wanted.”
So, she says, “I came over to the 70 per cent dark side.”
Making chocolate is “truly a labour of love,” she says. If
you don’t love it or don’t have a passion for the craft, “you
taste it in your work,” she says. “When you’re passionate
about it, you are more careful with each step in the process,
and make sure that things are done correctly.”
Kersha adds that, though turning dried cocoa beans
into a bar of chocolate may be a lengthy process, requiring
a great deal of attention, it is important to be meticulous in
each step, “to really do the chocolate justice.” Just a couple
months into her role at Food Tech, she took up this position
in February, she admits to not having the passion for food
shared by the rest of her team. For her, the science behind
the art is magnetising.
Kersha’s connection to the CRC was forged a little
over three years ago, when as a Master’s student in
Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability Development,
she completed her thesis under the supervision of CRC’s
Director, Professor Pathmanathan Umaharan, and worked
part-time at the CRC’s Pathology department. She then
moved on to the Agronomy section, which was in line with
her research interests. “I was always partial to the fields and
trees,” she says, and her role in Agronomy allowed her to
work directly with the cocoa plants.
When she was offered a position at Food Tech, Kersha
saw an opportunity to interact with cocoa in a different way.
Her experience working in the gene bank, directly with the
cocoa trees, makes her vividly aware of how the field and
factory go hand-in-hand. “One supports the other,” she
says, explaining that, “the value of the cocoa tree, to me, is
something that some chocolatiers don’t understand, [while]
persons who predominantly work in the fieldmay not always
understand the value in each step of the chocolate-making
process.” Having come from a field-work-intensive role, she
recognises the disconnect farmers may feel. For a farmer,
she explains, cocoa doesn’t taste like chocolate. They’re
concerned with the fruit – “how it looks, the size, the smell
…how the pulp tastes. They can tell you about the tree.”The
disparity between her different experiences with the cocoa
bean helps her connect it at both ends for those who seek
the CRC’s services. So when it comes to advising farmers
and chocolatiers on their beans, she goes even further back
in the cocoa production process than the bean. “I might
actually start talking about your tree … about what you do
to get this type of fruit. You want your fruit to be bigger.
You want a fruit with larger beans because that’s how you’ll
get more mass to make your chocolate.”
That’s the business Kersha has become wrapped in now
– chocolate. She’s joined Kerry Ann in the chocolate-making
workshop and is learning the craft. The CRC wouldn’t be
Trinidad and Tobago’s authority on cocoa and chocolate if
they can’t make said cocoa and chocolate, after all. Although
she admits to not having much of a sweet tooth, Kersha
is enjoying her experience thoroughly. She particularly
enjoys the manipulation of the bean-to-bar process that
is sometimes needed to bring out the best flavour in the
cocoa bean.
“The chocolate-making process so dynamic for different
people,” she says.The process remains the same, but “you can
manipulate your beans to get the best results.” For example,
if a farmer or chocolatier thinks that their batch of beans
may not be particularly flavourful, they can “manipulate
the process and still get a good flavour.” Kerry Ann adds
that conditions change, whether they be environmental,
mechanical, or any other of a number of factors, so, “you
have to be ready to fix to suit and make the most out of the
bean, in terms of flavour, because you want to show [it] off.”
For Kersha, that’s the exciting part about the cocoa
and chocolate industry. Someone can have beans that
have a naturally fruity flavour, another’s can have floral
characteristics and still another’s can be nutty. “There’s one
way to make chocolate, yet you can get all of these great
things coming out of this one procedure and … you stand
out.”
In addition to helping local cocoa farmers and
chocolatiers nurture their beans to their fullest potential, the
Food Tech team teaches them to make chocolate through
its Beginners Chocolate Making Training – for which Saila,
Kerry Ann and Kersha are all facilitators – as well as its soon-
to-come Advanced Chocolate Making Training. The entire
team recently underwent the Advanced Chocolate Making
Training, led by French chef and chocolatier, Régis Bouet.
It was a train-the-trainers endeavour, in which they learnt
the fancier side of chocolate making and can now create
beautiful chocolate and cocoa products – think bonbons,
ganache, truffles, mousse – with our local fine flavour cocoa
beans taken straight from the trees at the Genebank.
They’re not keeping all that decadence to themselves,
however. Tomaintain and enhance their newly-learnt skills,
and to show the public the wealth that lies within our soil,
and how the Centre is uncovering it, the Food Tech team
started Fridays at CRC.
Most Trinbagonians don’t appreciate the flavour of
dark and fine chocolate, however. Saila, who also joins
Kerry Ann and Kersha in the section’s product development
endeavours, admits that, before working at the CRC, “I was
a Cadbury’s [and] Hershey’s Pot of Gold person … The
dark I knew was the Hershey’s Special Dark.” But, when she
began working at the Centre and tasted its 70 per cent dark
chocolate bar with its natural tropical fruity flavour, she
realised what dark chocolate is supposed to taste like. Now,
Saila is an ambassador for local cocoa and chocolate and is
enjoying learning about the cocoa culture and industries
in other countries. She recalls a trip to St. Lucia where she
noticed roadside vendors selling the island’s local cocoa tea
alongside their other wares. “You would not see anybody
on the Maracas lookout selling local cocoa,” she points
out. “We’re still very much a Cadbury’s population [but] ...
people need to get out of the mind frame that everything
from the west is better because Trinidad has one thing that
is the best – our cocoa,” she says.
Kerry Ann agrees, sharing her own tale of under-
appreciated-chocolate woe, while attempting to share free
samples of CRC’s chocolate bars to passers-by at a trade
show. “Some persons turned it down …Then every person
that tasted it, and I was there interacting with hundreds of
people, would say, ‘oh this is actually good,’ or, ‘this is actually
not bad.’” Kerry Ann was struck by the fact that rather than
simply pay a compliment, people were surprised that the
chocolate was good. It’s sad, she says, but “local is associated
with being inferior.”
“It’s a local ignorance,” Kersha says. People have been
exposed to a certain quality of cocoa and chocolate all their
lives and “that was good enough” for them. They don’t
appreciate dark chocolate because they haven’t developed
the palate for it. That’s what Friday’s at CRC is working to
change. It’s the Centre’s way of “trying to help persons open
that part of their minds and expand their palates.” Armed
with a tray-full of fine flavour chocolate (or brownies!)
and mugs filled with steaming cocoa tea, CRC is making
a good effort.
The CRC team of chocolatiers: (from left) Naailah Ali, Saila Ramkissoon, Darin Sukha and Kerry Ann Deo.
PHOTOS: KEYON MITCHELL
