Setting the bar
Two Malaysian bean-to-bar chocolate producers talk about the challenges and rewards of being pioneers in the Malaysian artisanal chocolate market.
YESTERDAY marked World Cocoa and Chocolate Day, which values and celebrates the work of smallholder farmers from cocoa-producing countries around the world.
Interestingly, chocolate has a history that dates back over 3,000 years when the people of the earliest communities in central America ground cocoa beans into a thick liquid to be consumed as a drink.
From those seemingly innocuous beginnings, cocoa has traversed the planet, from Europe to virtually every other continent in the world, changing shape and form and enjoyed in chocolate bars, drinks, desserts and so much more.
These days, the global chocolate market is immense. In 2021, it was valued at USD46.6 billion (RM213 billion) and is expected to grow 5% every year until 2029.
In Malaysia, cocoa was once a huge commodity, so much so that at one point, the country was the third largest producer of cocoa in the world. These days, those numbers have faltered but Malaysia still remains one of Asia’s biggest cocoa producers.
But despite the national association with chocolate that dates back decades, most Malaysian cocoa is exported and consequently there are woefully few bean-to-bar chocolate producers in the country and by extension, very few opportunities for Malaysians to savour single-origin Malaysian chocolate.
Still, an intrepid few have braved the unknown and embarked on a journey to produce Malaysian chocolate from scratch. There are only a handful of these bean-to-bar producers in the country but the work they are doing has been instrumental in elevating homegrown artisanal chocolate and developing a burgeoning local appetite and appreciation for chocolate that is 100% Malaysian.
Chocolate Concierge
Chocolate Concierge is one of the pioneer bean-tobar chocolate producers in the country and the brand’ s founder Ong Ning-geng, better known as Ning, has been instrumental in spearheading the growth of the artisanal chocolate movement in Malaysia.
But first, what is a bean-to-bar producer? A bean-to-bar producer is essentially an entity or person that takes charge of the entire chocolate-making process from farm level (growing, harvesting and fermenting the cocoa beans) to actually making the chocolate (roasting cocoa beans, conching, tempering and creating chocolate bars and other chocolate products).
According to Ning, he estimates that there are probably less than five bean-to-bar producers in Malaysia, a number that lags far behind regional counterparts.
“In other parts of South-east Asia like Vietnam and Indonesia, there are more bean-to-bar producers than Malaysia. So it’s a puzzle – I am not too certain why there aren’t more producers here. But I do think there is a growing awareness of provenance and also a burgeoning locavore movement – you see chefs are now proud to say their vegetables are from Cameron Highlands.
“So this is something that is slowly gaining momentum, but it is particularly slow to rise in Malaysia,” says Ning.
Ning began his journey 12 years ago with rudimentary kitchen tools – he roasted his chocolate beans in a home toaster and used a blender to create chocolate bars! He confesses that was the point that he “got bitten by the chocolate bug”.
Since then, he has gone from strength to strength. Ning now has one plot of land that he owns in Raub, Pahang and another one in Bentong, Pahang that he operates. He also works with a series of contract farmers and perhaps most interesting of all – his biggest source of cocoa beans are from Orang Asli farmers, from the Semai in northern Pahang to the Temiar in Perak and the Dusun in Sabah.
“I don’t speak for all Orang Asli, but for many of them, their settlement is so far removed that they are not applying pesticide or fertiliser. So they practise natural farming and their cocoa trees are planted under jungle trees like petai or durian trees.
“This is shaded planting which is how cocoa was originally grown in the Amazon basin thousands of years ago. So the beans that come out of this kind of agricultural practice are a really good expression of the natural taste of cocoa,” he explains.
Ning says his decision to become a bean-to-bar producer was tangentially tied in to wanting to make quality Malaysian chocolate.
“Initially I didn’t want to own or operate a farm, but it was such a key piece of the puzzle in ensuring the quality of chocolate, post-harvesting. And I needed a facility close to the plantation, so I thought I might as well plant cocoa in the place.
“And when the outfit is bean to bar, we can integrate and retain more value by having ownership of the whole value chain, so there is more value that we can devote to the upstream section. For instance, when we work with our farm partners, we pay as high as RM24 per kilo, which is way above marrecently ket rate,” he says.
Ning’s hard work has manifested in awards aplenty for Chocolate Concierge. In fact, the brand’s 70% Kelantan dark chocolate was most awarded the World 50 Best at the Cocoa of Excellence Program 2021, a highly respected global competition designed to recognise the work of cocoa farmers. Chocolate Concierge also bagged a best in class for single origin chocolate at the Anugerah Industri Koko Malaysia 2022.
Still, there are challenges galore to being a bean-to-bar producmalaysia. er in Ning says climate change has been particularly detrimental to his busisingle-origin ness as chocolate relies on specific terroirs to make specific chocowhen late. a particuravaged larly area is by floods (something that has been happening a lot lately), he cannot simply swap it with chocolate from another area. This then affects his overall line-up.
But perhaps the biggest chal
lenge of a business like his is the fact that Malaysians have preconceived notions of Malaysian chocolate, and the general perception is that it is inferior to imported variants.
It is why Ning has embarked on a mission to educate the Malaysian consumer through other channels, namely chefs and restaurateurs.
“My mission is not to convert people, it is just to let them taste and make up their own minds and the way I do it is by engaging with professionals. Because I am one man and this is a tremendous task, so rather than engage with consumers, I work with other professionals in F&B, like fine-dining chefs, baristas and bakers. When they are convinced, they convince the diners. So that is the strategy I have embarked on,” he says.
Given that he has been hugely responsible for introducing many Malaysians to quality chocolate produced in their homeland, Ning is surprisingly altruistic and pragmatic about sharing what he has learnt with others. In fact, the chocolate maven says he is happy to impart information to anyone who is interested in getting into the business, because this will create a better market and chocolate ecosystem in the country.
“There is certainly room for more players and a lot of room for experimentation. But every step of the way is equally fulfilling for people looking to uncover flavours unique to Malaysian origin and we are very encouraging of that. There is a lot of transparency in what we do and we are very open about how we transform beans to chocolate.
“So I see us and anyone who is interested in making chocolate as being in the same boat. That’s why we are happy to supply cocoa beans to whoever is interested in trying to make chocolate at home or as a start-up,” he says.