Lab grown chocolate

Morning Glory said:
Here is a simple question. Should chocolate be regarded as a luxury Item?
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I don't think so, but neither should it be considered as food for the masses. It takes a lot of hard work to produce, and a single tree will only provide about 9 lbs of cocoa beans per year.
I'm very fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time, I suppose. Back in 2007-2008, "real" chocolate, ie., chocolate made mostly with cocoa nibs and added sugar (no soy protein, lecithin,artificial colouring, etc) was just beginning to take off. A friend's brother-in-law had a cacao plantation in Carupano, east Venezuela, and their produce was sold at "lets-see-how-cheap-we-can-buy-it" prices to multinationals.
Enter the new generation. The children took over, marketed the product as authentic, single bean cacao, and have now built a surprisingly successful market. They sell 3 or 4 single bean chocolate bars and, like single malt (rather than blended whisky), that means taking care of the product.
So no, not a luxury, but not something cheap as chips slathered in a Mondelez wrapper.
 
Barriehie said:
Me, I don't care if it's made from soy beans as long as it tastes like chocolate and is priced appropriately per it's ingredients and not its label.
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I get your point, totally. I'd take a wild guess and say a large majority of the world population don't know what "real"chocolate tastes like, and they're probably not interested either, which is fine. For the past 100 years or so, we've been served up "chocolate" bars which, unfortunately, contain a small proportion of real cacao and a large proportion of something else. In a sense, it's like someone having been brought up to believe Taco Bell make genuine Mexican food, and that "proper" burgers come from Burger King.
Have you ever tasted 75% dark chocolate from Chuao? Or Canoaba? Or Sur del Lago? Of course you haven't, and I wouldn't have expected you to have done so. However, when I did, for the first time some 15 years ago, I realised that "real chocolate" is a whole new ball game. I loved it, but I'm clear that not everyone else would, nor that everyone else would actually care -which is fine.
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
When there’s no response to the main point you have to assume no-ones heard you or are ignoring it, so repetition naturally occurs.
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Mod.comment:
There is no rule here that anyone has to respond to any post or comment made on the forum.

Non mod comment:
I tried to reply to some of your comments. I've lost count of the times nobody replies to things I say. Its the nature of forums. Posts aren't personal conversations (well obviously!).

karadekoolaid said:
So no, not a luxury, but not something cheap as chips slathered in a Mondelez wrapper.
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it is said that you can't put the genie back in the bottle. People are used to cheap chocolate bars. You and I grew up with them. They were regarded as a treat, but an affordable one. A treat for the post war masses in the UK.

So, how do we achieve a realistic achievable balance between high end cacao products for those that can afford it and affordable chocolate for the rest of us?
 
Morning Glory said:
Mod.comment:
There is no rule here that anyone has to respond to any post or comment made on the forum.

Non mod comment:
I tried to reply to some of your comments. I've lost count of the times nobody replies to things I say. It’s the nature of forums. Posts aren't personal conversations (well obviously!).
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Don’t worry yourself.
It was simply an explanation on your comment about the repetition.
 
Morning Glory said:
So, how do we achieve a realistic achievable balance between high end cacao products for those that can afford it and affordable chocolate for the rest of us?
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You're right. Cadbury's fruit and nut. Mars bars.
In my opinion, there will probably never be an even balance; but is that actually necessary? The majority of the population is perfectly happy snacking on semi-chocolate, sugar dosed bars, and I don't see that changing, because Big Bizness is only interested in profit, not quality; despite their slick marketing campaigns. They'll still dump millions of bars in commercial outlets, at reasonable prices.
However, if the selective purchaser at least has the option of buying real cacao products, then hear, hear. It's a bit like the malt whisky revolution. 50 years ago, if I'd asked for a McCallan's at my local, they'd probably have thrown me out. Nowadays, there's actually a choice of 4 or 5 different single malts.
 
karadekoolaid said:
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Have you ever tasted 75% dark chocolate from Chuao? Or Canoaba? Or Sur del Lago? Of course you haven't, and I wouldn't have expected you to have done so.
...
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No, but I've got this one! 😀
(Like by 5 lbs. so I don't run out...)
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A while ago, someone brought me some chocolate from these guys Tony’s Chocolonely - Chocolate gifts that make impact
Definitely much more intense in taste than most other bars. I'm not much of a chocolate fan, but these were good.

I'm sure there are other companies having similar strategies and it may go to "real" chocolate becoming a luxury product
 
Morning Glory said:
Here is a simple question. Should chocolate be regarded as a luxury Item?
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I don’t know about how it should be regarded, but the way it is regarded is like just about anything else for sale - there are versions available at every price point. I think that’s a good thing.

Do I think that only “fine” chocolates (meaning expensive chocolates) should be the only ones available for sale? Absolutely not.
 
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