IF you've ever looked for an alternative metaphor for selling ice to Eskimos, here it is - Australia's newest chocolate producer, Daintree Estates, has sold our country's first commercially produced, single-origin chocolate to a Belgium chocolatier, Geert Vercruysse.
The Belgian master chocolatier is selling Australia's latest "food of the gods" bars to his countrymen for $6 and critiques in his blog: "Australian chocolate is rather special. I like the 70 per cent bar: perhaps a little too sweet, no bitterness and quite an intensity of cacao flavours (good roast), balance between cacao butter and mass is nice. I'm very proud to have these chocolate bars in the shop".
Local foodies haven't missed Daintree Estates' quiet entry into the gourmet marketplace either.
"It's slightly more bitter than the chocolate I normally use, but very good quality," Palm Cove chef Daniele Serpa from reef house resort Palm Cove said.
While the accolades have been as sweet as the finished product, Daintree Estates' director and grower Gerard Puglisi says the process of harvesting the cocoa pods is still fairly labour intensive.
"Each pod grows from the timber of the tree and if broken off rather than carefully and individually cut, you won't get another pod from the section," he said.
This fact, along with the price and availability of labour within Australia, has seen some potential cocoa growers scared off in the past, but Gerard says it's not too bad.
"We make a family activity out of it with everyone from mum (Mary) and dad (Angelo), wife (Terese) and the kids (Angelo Jnr and Lucia) out in the paddock for harvests."
Once harvested, the thick-skinned pods are hand separated from their seeds using a machete.
With wet cocoa beans making up around 10pc of the pod weight, Gerard says there are a lot of pods split for each tonne of cocoa nib produced.
While cocoa is one of those products which loses significant amounts of weight each time it gets closer to a finished product, it also becomes more valuable.
The initial 90pc is lost through the pod just to obtain the seeds, which are then fermented and dried to achieve a moisture level of around 5 to 7pc.
Both these processes unlock the first critical process in developing the flavour of the cocoa bean.
To achieve a cocoa nib which is ready to refine, beans are roasted, cracked and winnowed.
"All of these processes take place at our facilities in Mossman, but at the end of this stage, we still send the cocoa nibs south to be made into our milk and 70pc dark chocolate varieties.
"Eventually we want to see the whole process completed in Mossman," Gerard said.
The final decision to plant their two hectares of cocoa was made on the back of poor sugar prices and a period where it was difficult to do any good in sugar.
For those looking to enter the industry, Gerard says growing what is considered a developing world crop in Australia has a lot of advantages.
"We have a very rapidly developing market and the pioneering work has already been done for you," Gerard said.
"Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) and the first growers can provide a wealth of excellent quality research and experience for those joining the industry.
"For example, from experience we know the young trees require shelter from the wind and sun alike, and cocoa only grows in hot, wet climates limited to around 20 degrees either side of the equator.
"Our plantation is within 10 metres of the World Heritage Daintree Rainforest and yet we've had very few problems with pests."
Feral pigs and cockatoos have all left the trees alone, and the only minor problem was a black rhyparida beetle which attacked juvenile trees.
"The bug was much more of a problem for our organic grower than those of us farming more traditionally," Gerard said.
With such a fledgling industry, there are still things to learn - not the least of which is how long a tree will last.
Currently, Daintree Estates chocolate has four estate plantations all located within 15km of each other.
