Gold, Silver and Bronze at the Academy of Chocolate Awards!

“The Academy of Chocolate was founded in 2005 by five of Britain’s leading chocolate professionals, united in the belief that eating fine chocolate is one of life’s great pleasures.”

Now in its 6th year and recognised as one of the leading awards in the world of fine chocolate making, the London-based Academy of Chocolate rewarded MAROU Chocolate’s first entry in such a competition with 3 Awards in 2 categories!

From the AoC press release:

“There was a significant increase in the number of entries in the bean-to-bar category, indicating that more chocolate makers are entering the Awards.

Entries from outside the UK equalled the number of UK entries, demonstrating the international recognition of the Awards. Entries were received from the USA, Canada, Australia, Vietnam [that's us!], Madagascar and Europe, including Italy, France, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway.

To allow enough time to do justice to the many entries, the judging this year took place over 5 days, and involved a record number of judges – a minimum of 25 on each day. Judges included chocolate experts and buyers, pastry chefs, food professionals and food journalists including:  Bill Buckley, Charles Campion, Claire Clark MBE, Josceline Dimbleby, Chloe Doutre-Roussel, Jennifer Earle, Sarah Jane Evans MW, Mark Hix, Jenny Linford, Marianne Lumb, Charles Metcalfe MW, Marie-Pierre Moine, Amelia Rope, Yolande Stanley, Craig Sams, Emma Sturgess, Janie Suthering and Will Torrent … and many more.

- The Academy of Chocolate’s Best Packaging Awards are announced with GOLD going to newcomers, the Franco-Vietnamese producers Marou:  “beautiful enough to frame” [for the Tien Giang 80% Special Edition]

- Best Dark Chocolate Bean-to-Bar: MAROU Faiseurs de Chocolat Tien Giang 70% – SILVER

- Best Dark Chocolate Bean-to-Bar: MAROU Faiseurs de Chocolat Ben Tre 78% – BRONZE

The Academy of Chocolate Awards for 2013 will be presented at a party at  Fortnum & Mason (also a MAROU point of sale in London!) on Tuesday 23rd April when 5 special awards will also be announced.”

 

Peste et Choléra à Saigon!

On vous rassure tout de suite, inutile de faire sonner les signaux d’alerte des veilles sanitaires, aucune épidémie meurtrière ne sévit à Saigon, mais aujourd’hui nous avons eu le plaisir de rencontrer à la Librairie Française de la rue Ho Tung Mau l’écrivain Patrick Deville, dont nous avions adoré le dernier roman Peste et Choléra, une oeuvre de fiction littéraire, un roman donc, mais où tout est vrai, consacré au Docteur Alexandre Yersin, médecin franco-suisse, disciple de Pasteur, découvreur du bacille de la peste en 1894, créateur de la station d’altitude de Dalat et résidant au long cours de la ville de Nha Trang où il s’est éteint il y a 70 ans.

Mais avant d’en venir au coeur de l’actualité littéraire, il convient tout d’abord de répondre à LA question qui nous hante tous chez Marou: Yersin a-t-il oui ou non introduit le cacao en Indochine? La réponse de Patrick Deville, qui s’est penché sur les archives de Yersin à l’Institut Pasteur est: probablement non! Et pourtant Yersin a tenté d’introduire et d’acclimater beaucoup de nouvelles variétés: de la feuille de coca à l’hévéa en passant par la quinine. Ce qui confirme qu’on ne prête qu’aux riches (ou aux narco-trafficants)…

Pour fêter ce 70e anniversaire (et peut être aussi sa victoire du prix Femina 2012?) Patrick Deville est revenu au Vietnam et avant de partir vers Nha Trang et Dalat où vont se dérouler les célébrations officielles, l’auteur est à Saigon. C’est ici, il y a un an qu’il avait fini le manuscrit du roman, ayant suivi les traces encore largement visibles (mais pour encore combien de temps?) de cette figure centrale et pourtant totalement à part dans l’aventure coloniale française en Indochine. Tellement à part en fait qu’une rue porte encore son nom à Saigon et que sa mémoire fait l’objet d’un petit culte entretenu par l’institut Pasteur du Vietnam et une association à la mémoire du bon Docteur Nam.

Car si l’on suit bien le fil de ce roman vrai, que prédestinait cet homme possédé à la fois d’un génie pratique extraordinaire, capable d’identifier le bacille de la peste en 2 coups de cuillère à pot, alors que ses rivaux bien mieux équipés piétinent, capable par simple curiosité de créer, de la mer à la montagne une immense ferme expérimentale, produisant de la quinine, du caoutchouc, des légumes acclimatés, des fleurs, cet entrepreneur à succès qui ne se préoccupe pas d’argent, ce pionnier de l’automobile, de l’aviation, ce savant calviniste aussi curieux que frugal, cet esthète aussi qui parcourt la jungle à la recherche d’orchidées rares, cet homme aux talents donc si protéiformes et si tôt reconnus, que diable est-il venu se perdre sur les plages de Nha Trang, ce petit port de pèche endormi?

Selon Patrick Deville une partie de la réponse se trouve dans le parallèle qu’il établit avec la vie de Rimbaud, le poète effronté, le génie précoce de la modernité qui va changer de vie dans le départ vers l’Afrique et se survivre juste assez longtemps pour tenter de devenir ce héros positiviste que Yersin incarne, larguant son bagage de fort en thème, et de virtuose du vers pour aller vouloir dompter un bout perdu de la terre des Afars. Il rappela dans son intervention que Rimbaud, dont la bibliothèque n’a pas survécu, contrairement à celle de Yersin, ne commandait plus depuis son Abyssinie que des manuels techniques. On peut  regretter comme le fait remarquer le roman que Rimbaud n’ait pas disposé des mêmes connaissances médicales que Yersin: là où les 2 hommes furent blessés au cours de leurs aventures, Yersin put se soigner et se remettre complètement pour vivre encore 50 ans alors que Rimbaud ne sut que rentrer mourir à Marseille.

On saisit bien l’attrait de ces personnages quittant le statut bougeois et valorisant qui du Parnasse, qui de l’Institut Pasteur alors à la pointe du progrès médical pour aller parcourir, mais pas comme aujourd’hui en touriste, plutôt pour aller conquérir un monde nouveau, que la quinine et la photographie et le bateau à vapeur mettent à portée de main de ces gamins terribles et trop couvés par leurs mères et leurs soeurs, aussi casanières qu’ils seront aventureux. On songe aussi à cet autre médecin, que mentionne en passant Patrick Deville, traversé quelques décennies plus tard par la même bougeotte, côtoyant lui aussi l’Institut Pasteur mais qui ne trouvera que son propre dégoût au bout de l’aventure: LF Céline, héros négativiste?

On a profité avec gourmandise intellectuelle de ce petit moment auprès d’un écrivain qui avoue que la contrainte choisie de raconter une histoire vraie lui offre une liberté infinie (jusqu’à l’auto-fiction qui voit apparaitre en surimposition sur les lieux du passé où Yersin passe un ‘fantôme du futur’ dont la narration ne laisse aucun doute sur l’identité) pour lui demander s’il voyait dans sa démarche des parallèles avec par exemple Pierre Michon (Rimbaud le Fils) ou Jean Echenoz (Ravel…). Petit sourire de l’auteur qui avoue avec plaisir que même si leurs approches diffèrent  (A propos du Ravel d’Echenoz: ‘Echenoz parle d’une piscine sur le pont du paquebot qui amène Ravel aux Etats Unis, en tant que Nazairien je sais que c’est anachronique et je ne me serais jamais permis d’écrire cela!’), ces deux auteurs sont des amis proches et que ces questions animent souvent leurs conversations.

(Note du rédacteur du post: aurais-je un jour le droit d’assister à un repas entre Echenoz, Michon et Deville? je suis prêt à payer les boissons!).

 

MAROU in Tokyo: Salon du Chocolat 2013

It all started like that. We were preparing to wind down after a long day at last year’s Salon du Chocolat in Paris, and chatting with Elise, the über cool PR for the Salon over a well deserved glass of Brumont Vintage (the sweet, late-harvest 100% Tannat atomic bomb of a wine we were serving to VIPs along with our chocolate), when I received her sharp elbow in my ribs, with a hushed command to immediately go and greet the elegant Japanese lady who had just stopped in front of our stand, “You must talk to her: she’s from Isetan!” said Elise.

From this first impromptu introduction we were able to meet the Japanese buyers from Isetan and let them sample our chocolates. They in turn offered us an informal invitation to please visit the Salon du Chocolat in Tokyo that is hosted and organised by the legendary Shinjuku department store. We couldn’t possibly say no.

Fast forward 2 months and we arrived in Tokyo, breathing the cold dry winter air and ready to find out all about the local Salon du Chocolat scene. Although set in a much smaller venue than the one in Paris, the Tokyo Salon makes up for lost space with an offering that is much higher in quality, industrial players are all but absent and the accent is on beautifully presented high end artisan products.

For us, who were just visiting, the Salon offered an opportunity to meet again some old friends from the Salon, like Salon founder François Doucet and Stéphane Bonnat, or Hugo & Victor’s co-founder Sylvain Blanc.

As well as local celebrities Sadaharu Aoki and Koji Tsuchiya:

We also got to know better a few of the chocolate and pastry maestros who came to Tokyo like Sébastien Bouillet from Lyon.

After this great introduction to Tokyo we are now hoping to make the cut for exhibiting at the 2014 edition of the Salon. がんばろう!

MAROU chocolate for brainy students…

Among the more unexpected encounters we made at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris were the student collective DELISCEP, who are the fine food society of ESCP the famous Paris Business School. They approached us to see if we would like to participate in their very own Chocolate event on December 6. Sadly we couldn’t return to Paris so soon after our last visit but we wished to encourage them and left them with some chocolate and the support of our French agent.

The event just took place and although we weren’t there to see it first hand, the photos we received show that the event was well organized and the chocolate well presented and, we hope, well received.

Knowing well the effort it takes to get into a school like ESCP, we appreciate that the high content in magnesium found in dark chocolate should help the students cope with their heavy workload and non-stop party schedule…

Welcome to MAROU Country

This map shows where MAROU sources the cocoa beans for its Single Origin Vietnam chocolates: from the provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre in the Mekong Delta, the coastal province of Ba Ria and, on the road to the Central Highlands, in the provinces of Dong Nai and Lam Dong. Enjoy the trip!

When 2 chocolatiers meet… Marou & Pierre Marcolini

COME AND SEE US AT THE GREATEST CHOCOLATE SHOW ON EARTH!

There’s something of the Barnum Circus going on at the Salon du Chocolat, but if you can go past the big industrial chocolate stands and make it to stand D46, you will find us MAROU, FAISEURS de CHOCOLAT, under the heading “les espoirs du chocolat”.

While you’re there we invite you to also visit the stands of our fellow bean-to bar chocolate makers, there aren’t very many of us, and we all stand for a different approach to quality and chocolate authenticity, so go see Willie’s Chocolate, our big brother, Pierre Marcolini and Francois  Pralus our Godfathers and Maison Bonnat the grandaddy of us all, you won’t regret it!

Marou and Cognac Delamain

Patrick Peyrelongue (Cognac Delamain), Vincent (Marou) and Gautier Salinier (Plaimont)

We had the pleasure the other night to meet Patrick Peyrelongue, 9th generation owner of Cognac Delamain in the Cigar Lounge of Skewer’s restaurant and to sample two of his famous Grande Champagne Cognacs: XO Pale & Dry (25yo) and Extra (40yo). In the company of wine experts and gourmets we sampled a selection of our chocolate bars together with the precious Eaux de Vie. The characteristic smoothness and elegant flavors of Delamain spirits (‘Puff daddy once told me that our Cognac was not rough enough for his taste!’ conceded Patrick Peyrelongue, a disarmingly modest man) worked beautifully with the fruity notes of our Ba Ria 76% chocolate.

We also reflected on the curious fact that having the same company endure over 200 years in the hands of the same family and still only have 20 employees is something we can strangely relate and aspire to!

Tristan’s hospitality was once again faultless and it was fun catching up with our friend Gautier Salinier who represents Gascon winery Plaimont in Asia.

Talking about Gascony, I asked Patrick Peyrelongue what he thought about Armagnac, we had a good chat about the differences in style between the 2 great French brandies and had a thought for Pierre Samalens, who was well known to both of us and sadly passed away last year.

Jean Bernard Baudron (THe Warehouse) and Tristan Ngo (Skewers)

Marou in the Motor City

Starting a new chocolate company, and exporting from Vietnam is not an easy task.  Especially when there are many great artisanal chocolates on the market in the US, Europe and Australia.  However, and fortunately for us, there are curiosity seekers who are always looking for something new and exciting, and aren’t afraid to take risks for their taste buds.  Data-slappin’ MBA marketers now coin them “early adopters”, and for Marou, Astro Coffee in Detroit, Michigan was the first shop in North America to sell our chocolate.  We’re quite grateful!

Astro Coffee is a truly unique coffee shop in the US serving great coffee, gourmet sandwiches, salads and pastries.  This soulful neighborhood café in the Cork-town district, set in a 1880’s shop house, is the dreamchild of owners Dai Hughes and Jess Hicks.  Using mostly recycled materials and found objects from abandoned buildings; they’ve created a unique setting to express their passions for the world’s finest coffees, and inspired culinary delights.  One year later, Jess and Dai are truly pioneers in a growing movement that’s rekindling life into the remains of what was once the 20th Century’s most important industrial city.

Dai Hughes, wearing a t-shirt from Brittany (second from the right)

What’s left from these glory days are some of the most impressive pre-depression era buildings of any city in the US.  Sadly, most of them have been neglected for decades, and are the detritus of a past civilization now beginning to fall into the hands of profit-minded developers.

Astro Coffee is located across from the abandoned Michigan Central Station which was built in 1912 and was the world’s tallest train station. It was designed by the same firm that created New York’s famous Grand Central Station.

With urban decay being so omnipresent, one can’t help to ask, “what went wrong for this to happen?” The simple explanation is that inner city Detroit suffered two great economic blows that sent it spiraling down to become one of the country’s poorest cities. The first was the 1967 race riots with the rampant destruction of property which only exacerbated the “white flight” (the affluent population leaving for the new suburbs) phenomenon which had been occurring since the 1950’s.   The second was the two-fold effect of the oil crisis, and the growing might and presence of Japan’s industry on American soil.  The once dominant behemoth’s of the great American car industry were now struggling to keep up with production costs and innovation.

Majestic silent movie palaces left behind for suburban multi-plexes.

In recent years, economic recovery has never been strong or sustainable enough, and most development efforts to improve the city have shown little results to attract companies, and residents.  However, among the urban decay lay opportunities for inspired and conscious entrepreneurs like Dai and Jess to bring life back into these haunted structures and streets, and show the unique possibilities that their city has to offer.  Thanks to their efforts, new community minded businesses are mushrooming every day!

We hope to see it for ourselves with some great food and coffee in January.

Looks like Frédéric Chopin could have played here or the Sex Pistols!

**We would like to thank Astro Coffee (http://www.astrodetroit.com/) and the very talented french photographers, duo Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre for the use of their photos.  Please take a look at their splendid work, http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html**

 


 

In the land of giants

 

Giant fruits from old growth trees planted in colonial times, these come from the rarest cocoa trees in Vietnam, we think they’re Criollo. Unfortunately there aren’t enough of them to even make a fermentation batch, but we don’t want this now quasi-indigenous stock to disappear!

The photo below shows the big size of these pods (the only one horizontal and the 2 on the top left) and their different morphology compared with the ordinary Trinitario commonly found in Vietnamese cocoa farms, which sometimes exhibits Criollo traits (pod furthest to the right).

Now all we need is a couple acres of old growth forest to plant a few of these in perfect agro-forestry conditions…