GARY AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
CHEF VISITS COLOMBIAN PLANT MAKING CHOCS NOT COCAINE
Say the word Colombia to Gary Maclean and there’s an unfortunate, immediate association.
Or at least there was until Scotland’s National Chef actually went there.
The 46-year-old dad of six says that, like most Scots and Europeans, the mention of the name
prompted images of cocaine, cartels and Pablo Escobar.
But Gary, who won the 2016 edition of MasterChef: The Professionals, has just had his preconceptions transformed with a once-in-a-lifetime visit to the South American country.
And he told how some battles against the cartels are finally being won… by chocolate makers.
Gary teamed up with high- end manufacturer CasaLuker, which is at the forefront of a national effort to persuade farmers across the country to produce chocolate instead of cocaine.
He said: “The areas of Colombia where they grow cocoa are all the same places as they grow cocaine.
“It is a real social journey this company is on – it is trying to move people away from cultivating cocaine and trying to make it more profitable for the farmers to grow chocolate.
“Most of the farmers are independent so they have their own training school to help them double and triple the amount of chocolate they can grow and quadrupling the amount of money they can make.
“This company is huge and has made a stand against the drug cartels.
“Fundamentally, in South America, they don’t eat chocolate bars the way we do. They drink it.
“For over 100 years, the company was producing chocolate for drinking in the morning but they spotted that younger generations weren’t drinking as much.
“They realised they had to diversify into new markets – but it was only about 11 years ago they started to make high-end chocolate and export it all over the world.”
Founded in 1906, CasaLuker is one of the biggest private firms in Colombia. It specialises in Fino De Aroma chocolate and has established growing export markets in Europe and the US.
The company’s product ion network extends across the whole of Colombia, with much of the infrastructure in the region north of Santander.
Gary linked up with the firm after its executives saw him doing a demo at a chefs’ conference in England. That led to his trip to South America in May. He said: “Their executives explained the project – it is unique. This is a Colombian grower which makes all of its own products and then exports.
“That maybe doesn’t sound too incredible but the majority of chocolate made with beans harvested abroad ends up being made in Europe.
“The big companies buy the cocoa beans and ship them to Europe or America where they are mixed with European sugar and European dairy.
“These guys are doing the whole lot in Colombia. That means there is more profit in it for local dairy y farmers and growers.
“They get a bigger slice of the pie, e, whereas before they have really just st been getting screwed over.”
Gary admits being on the ground nd in Colombia changed all of his perceptions of the country. He said: “We are bombarded in the west with the association between Colombia and cocaine and Escobar. “It’s hardwired – in our media, our TV shows, our movies. It’s what people think about when they hear Colombia. “When you get there, it’s the complete opposite. That’s what I found. “You could quite happily go on a family holiday there and have an amamazing time. The thing that blew me away the most was the people.
“The place where we were staying would have been too dangerous for us to enter five years ago. The legacy of the drug trade is still very much there.
“We were in remote parts of the northern jungle and the mobile phone coverage was amazing. That’s because American law enforcement put in a state- of- the- art phone network so they could triangulate cal ls being made from car tel phones. But when you get into the villages, there is a real sense of proper community.
“One place we went into, I can remember everything just stopped when we arrived. But until recently, that village had been run by the cartels.
“You have to remember that, in the last 10 years, people were still routinely being murdered by the cartels. So it ’s right there in people’s recent experience.
“Now there is investment right
They were playing Mozart to the trees. They wanted to see if the music relaxed them and made them produce better cocoa
from primary school – even just stuff as simple as getting bikes for kids to take the long journey into school.
“In some cases, they even buy them donkeys.”
Gary was hands- on throughout, joining local workers planting trees out in the fields.
He admits his fellow farmers were bemused by his appearance and accent, with most assuming he was from the US.
For much of the trip, they were based in the town of Necocli, a former strategic stronghold for the cartels.
He said: “It will be a tourist destination in 10 years but, when we were there, we were still being advised not to leave our hotel.
“There was a police station opposite with about 200 armed officers visible.
“We were really in among it. The guys work so hard in the humidity – by night time you are knackered.
“One of the kids was looking at my ginger beard and asking if I came from the Disney film Brave. That was their only point of reference.
“I had to explain to people who had never heard of Scotland, the UK and even Europe.”
Like any top chef, Gary had his eyes open for tips and techniques he could use at home. Scotland will never be a producer the way Colombia can be.
He admits he was taken aback by one experiment, with farmers playing Mozart to the cocoa trees to see if it made them produce better beans.
He said: “Cocoa is grown on a small tree and comes in a multi-coloured pod with seeds inside.
“They split the pod open and it is recovered in a sort of pulp.
“The beans are taken out and fermented and put into wooden boxes in sheds.
“After about three or four days, they are taken out of their box and dried in the sun.
“That’s then processed and turned into cocoa powder. Dependent on the type of chocolate, milk and sugar is added.
“The fermentation process is really important in making good chocolate and the type of beans used.
“One of the fields we were in was being used as a kind of training college in the jungle to train the farmers how to get better yields.
“They were playing Mozart with speakers directed towards the trees.
“They squared off a number of the trees and experimented. They wanted to see if the music relaxed the trees and made them produce better cocoa.
“They believe there might be properties in the music as it is so mellow and constant.”
One of the kids was looking at my ginger beard and asking if I came from the Disney film Brave. I had to explain to people who had never heard of Scotland, the UK and even Europe