CEBU-MADE CHOCOLATES TO SWEETEN ASEAN MEET
Raquel Choa will once again showcase her cacao-derived chocolate truffles at the 50th Asean Foreign Ministers’ meeting and other related meetings this week.
Chocolate truffles made by Cebu’s Raquel Choa will again be showcased at the Association of Southeast Asian (Asean) Meeting in Manila from Aug. 3 to 8.
This will be the third time Choa will serve cacao-derived chocolates to Asean delegates where she will have to prepare 9,000 chocolate truffles.
Her chocolate truffle is a round confection that is traditionally made with a chocolate ganache center and coated in chocolate, cocoa powder or chopped toasted nuts.
Choa’s first Asean project for this year was for the Finance Ministers’ meeting where she served 22 tablea powders infused with hibiscus, chamomile, and jasmine, among others, to 350 delegates. Her signature chocolates were also served to the ministers in Shangri-La Resort in Mactan for three days straight.
In the same Asean meeting, she also had an opportunity to meet with the delegates’ spouses where she showcased the traditional method of preparing cacao-dervied chocolates.
“That had the biggest impact because I was with them and they asked questions (about cacao),” she said.
In another Asean meeting, Choa’s chocolates were served in a “chocolate break,” instead of the usual coffee break for eight days in Radisson Blu Hotel in Cebu City. On the fourth day of the meeting, she distibuted cacao de bola and organized a chocolate painting activity at the sidelines of the meeting on the sixth day.
Choa is a pioneer in modernizing the traditional “tablea” from local cacao beans, and has proudly served it to international guests. She is dubbed as Cebu’s chocolate queen and is the woman behind Ralfe Gourmet, The Chocolate Chamber (TCC), and Batirol.
Today, Choa serves as an advocate of the cacao industry where she encourages more cacao planters and producers in Cebu and across the country.
National Cacao Congress
Choa is also the chairperson of the Regional Cacao Council in Central Visayas.
She is expected to give a talk and demonstration in the National Cacao Congress on Aug. 8 to 9 at the Cebu Grand Convention Center in Cebu City. She is also a panelist on the talk about the potential of the Philippine chocolate industry.
Some 500 cacao industry stakeholders from across the country are expected to convene next week, where officials of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) will present the 2017–2022 Philippine Cacao Industry Road Map and collectively identify gaps in the industry and how to address these challenges.
Under the said roadmap, the Philippines targets to produce 100,000 metric tons of dried fermented cacao beans by 2022.