International Chocolate & Cocoa Festival in Ilhéus, Bahia
The exuberance of Bahia's Cocoa Coast comes through in the region's most important event: the Chocolate & Cocoa Festival held in Ilhéus. The event comprises business and learning opportunities, an epicurean experience, and entertainment for the trade professionals and tourists alike.
As many as 25,000 visitors have attended the Ilhéus Convention Center each edition for the festival's lectures, workshops, cultural activities, art exhibitions, musical performances, and a fair.
Produced by M21, the festival is a great opportunity to visit Ilhéus, one of the top seaside destinations in Bahia, with a 50-mile long coastline, great hotels and pousadas, a rich cultural heritage closely associated with cocoa and a port which receives an average 45 cruise ships every season.
M21, owned by Marco Lessa, also produces the International Amazon Chocolate and Cocoa Festival, launched in 2013 in Belém, Pará and held simultaneously with Flor Pará, a flower show. Additionally, Lessa coordinates the Cacau do Brasil stand at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris. The collective effort involves the Brazilian federal government, the Pará and Bahia state governments and several organizations, such as Bahiatursa and Biofábrica de Cacau, in the promotion of Brazil's origin chocolate and cocoa.
Bahia has intensely promoted the Cocoa Coast and the budding Chocolate Route as touristic products. Devastated by a witch's broom infestation in the late 1980s, the regional cocoa culture has seen a resurgence in recent years, with new developments in cacau cabruca, or cocoa grown under the canopy of the area's Atlantic rainforest, and initiatives with international projection such as AMMA, high-quality chocolate made from selected cocoa grown in the Rio de Contas Valley in Itacaré.
Sustainable agriculture, which profits from experience acquired over 250 years, has been instrumental in the preservation of the lush landscape tourists find in the Cocoa Coast. "It's the cocoa crop that preserves the [local] rainforest," says Durval Libânio Netto Mello, president of Instituto Cabruca (www.cabruca.org.br). According to the institute, more than 228 native species grow in cabruca areas, including Brazil wood, jacaranda, and cedar.
Instituto Cabruca has invested in superior tree identification in the 741-acre Terra Vista area. The work group coordinated by forest engineer Natalia Galati plans to obtain over 500 matrices from 89 Atlantic Rainforest species.
Seeds from each of the trees with superior traits to those in their environment will be used to grow tree seedlings for reforestation purposes. Seeds and new trees can also be sold by the region's cocoa farmers.
The Cocoa Coast is working on improvement of chocolate as a final product up to international standards. "Gourmet chocolate has to snap when you bite it due to tempering and it should melt in your mouth without a grainy texture," says Neide Alice Pereira, coordinator of the Food Technology Department at Ceplac (the Executive Commission for the Cocoa Farming Plan), considered the world's largest cocoa research center.
Ceplac offers a tour of their facilities, with a step-by-step explanation of all the chocolate- making process, including the fermenting of the cocoa beans, the roasting which results in nibs, the formation of liquor after the nibs are winnowed in the mélangeur, conching - when undesirable acidity is eliminated - tempering and molding.
Special equipment was developed for the region's cocoa and research has empowered local producers to improve quality. Ceplac's research team has resistance to witch's broom and other pests as a priority. "Finding resistance molecular markers is a form of genetic improvement," says Milton Makoto Yamada. Antônio Zózimo, a biocontrol researcher with the commission's Cacao Research Center, showed journalists a series of plants deformed by witch's broom and healthy plants of which CEPLAC has nearly 40 selections available.
The commission's latest breakthrough is Tricovab, a sustainable fungicide for cacao crops. Launched in Itabuna in June 2013, the product was developed from research by agronomy engineers Cleber Novais Bastos and João de Cássia de Bomfim Costa, who identified the potential of the fungus Trichoderma stromaticum in the fight against Moniliophtora perniciosa, which causes witch's broom.
Ilhéus has beautiful beaches such as Milionários, Canabrava, Back Door, Batuba and Acuípe on the South Shore and Marciano, Barra and Norte on the North Shore.
Visiting a cocoa farm such as Fazenda Provisão, which offers overnight stays as well as day use, or Fazenda Almada, open for day use only, is a special treat for tourists seeking relaxation and an up-close experience of a cocoa grove.
At Ceplac, don't miss the Zoo-Botanic Reserve Rehabilitation Center, a sloth sanctuary.
The historic center of Ilhéus has a wealth of preserved buildings dating back to the early 20th century. Some of the best stops are Paranaguá Palace, the city hall; the Our Lady of Piety Convent, in Neo-Gothic style and with spectacular views of the sea; the São Sebastião Cathedral; Bar Vesúvio (www.barvesuvio.com), the background to Jorge Amado's Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, and Bataclan, a cabaret turned into a restaurant and cultural center.
www.festivaldochocolate.com
www.facebook.com/festivalinternacionaldochocolateecacau
twitter.com/FestChocolateBA
The writer attended the 2012 festival by invitation of the organizers. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our Ethics Policy.s
As many as 25,000 visitors have attended the Ilhéus Convention Center each edition for the festival's lectures, workshops, cultural activities, art exhibitions, musical performances, and a fair.
Produced by M21, the festival is a great opportunity to visit Ilhéus, one of the top seaside destinations in Bahia, with a 50-mile long coastline, great hotels and pousadas, a rich cultural heritage closely associated with cocoa and a port which receives an average 45 cruise ships every season.
M21, owned by Marco Lessa, also produces the International Amazon Chocolate and Cocoa Festival, launched in 2013 in Belém, Pará and held simultaneously with Flor Pará, a flower show. Additionally, Lessa coordinates the Cacau do Brasil stand at the Salon du Chocolat in Paris. The collective effort involves the Brazilian federal government, the Pará and Bahia state governments and several organizations, such as Bahiatursa and Biofábrica de Cacau, in the promotion of Brazil's origin chocolate and cocoa.
New Paths for Chocolate and Cocoa in Bahia:
Bahia has intensely promoted the Cocoa Coast and the budding Chocolate Route as touristic products. Devastated by a witch's broom infestation in the late 1980s, the regional cocoa culture has seen a resurgence in recent years, with new developments in cacau cabruca, or cocoa grown under the canopy of the area's Atlantic rainforest, and initiatives with international projection such as AMMA, high-quality chocolate made from selected cocoa grown in the Rio de Contas Valley in Itacaré.
Sustainable agriculture, which profits from experience acquired over 250 years, has been instrumental in the preservation of the lush landscape tourists find in the Cocoa Coast. "It's the cocoa crop that preserves the [local] rainforest," says Durval Libânio Netto Mello, president of Instituto Cabruca (www.cabruca.org.br). According to the institute, more than 228 native species grow in cabruca areas, including Brazil wood, jacaranda, and cedar.
Instituto Cabruca has invested in superior tree identification in the 741-acre Terra Vista area. The work group coordinated by forest engineer Natalia Galati plans to obtain over 500 matrices from 89 Atlantic Rainforest species.
Seeds from each of the trees with superior traits to those in their environment will be used to grow tree seedlings for reforestation purposes. Seeds and new trees can also be sold by the region's cocoa farmers.
A Tour of CEPLAC
The Cocoa Coast is working on improvement of chocolate as a final product up to international standards. "Gourmet chocolate has to snap when you bite it due to tempering and it should melt in your mouth without a grainy texture," says Neide Alice Pereira, coordinator of the Food Technology Department at Ceplac (the Executive Commission for the Cocoa Farming Plan), considered the world's largest cocoa research center.
Ceplac offers a tour of their facilities, with a step-by-step explanation of all the chocolate- making process, including the fermenting of the cocoa beans, the roasting which results in nibs, the formation of liquor after the nibs are winnowed in the mélangeur, conching - when undesirable acidity is eliminated - tempering and molding.
Special equipment was developed for the region's cocoa and research has empowered local producers to improve quality. Ceplac's research team has resistance to witch's broom and other pests as a priority. "Finding resistance molecular markers is a form of genetic improvement," says Milton Makoto Yamada. Antônio Zózimo, a biocontrol researcher with the commission's Cacao Research Center, showed journalists a series of plants deformed by witch's broom and healthy plants of which CEPLAC has nearly 40 selections available.
The commission's latest breakthrough is Tricovab, a sustainable fungicide for cacao crops. Launched in Itabuna in June 2013, the product was developed from research by agronomy engineers Cleber Novais Bastos and João de Cássia de Bomfim Costa, who identified the potential of the fungus Trichoderma stromaticum in the fight against Moniliophtora perniciosa, which causes witch's broom.
Things to Do in Ilhéus:
Ilhéus has beautiful beaches such as Milionários, Canabrava, Back Door, Batuba and Acuípe on the South Shore and Marciano, Barra and Norte on the North Shore.
Visiting a cocoa farm such as Fazenda Provisão, which offers overnight stays as well as day use, or Fazenda Almada, open for day use only, is a special treat for tourists seeking relaxation and an up-close experience of a cocoa grove.
At Ceplac, don't miss the Zoo-Botanic Reserve Rehabilitation Center, a sloth sanctuary.
The historic center of Ilhéus has a wealth of preserved buildings dating back to the early 20th century. Some of the best stops are Paranaguá Palace, the city hall; the Our Lady of Piety Convent, in Neo-Gothic style and with spectacular views of the sea; the São Sebastião Cathedral; Bar Vesúvio (www.barvesuvio.com), the background to Jorge Amado's Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, and Bataclan, a cabaret turned into a restaurant and cultural center.
www.festivaldochocolate.com
www.facebook.com/festivalinternacionaldochocolateecacau
twitter.com/FestChocolateBA
The writer attended the 2012 festival by invitation of the organizers. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our Ethics Policy.s
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