a day ago
How Thailand's craft chocolate industry is raising the bar with sustainable practices
When it comes to countries that produce chocolate, Switzerland and Belgium may be among the first to come to mind. But neither of them grow cacao, the fruit whose seeds are needed to make chocolate. In fact, 70% of the world's cacao comes from the Ivory Coast, in western Africa.
Few would think about Thailand, but the Asian country is emerging as a craft grower with a blossoming bean-to-bar movement.
Thailand's relationship with cacao has been a long and rocky one.
In the 17th century, Spanish galleons began transporting the crop from the Philippines to elsewhere in Southeast Asia - to Indonesia, India, Malaysia and finally Thailand, where it arrived in the early 1900s. Yet, unlike its regional neighbours, Thailand never became a major player in the global cocoa trade.
In 1952, the Thai government introduced subsidies to promote cacao as a lucrative export crop. But the initiative faltered as farmers found greater profits in rubber, palm oil and fruit.
By the 1990s, annual production of cacao had dwindled to just 400 tonnes (440 tonnes), a drop in the bucket compared with regional giants like Indonesia.
A brief revival came in the early 2000s, when authorities introduced "Chumphon 1", a hardier cacao cultivar, as part of a renewed push.
For a time, yields climbed to 1,400 tonnes per year, raising hopes of a sustainable niche market. But two decades later, the industry is in retreat once again as a result of farmers' shifting priorities and protectionist trade policies.
Many growers have chopped down cacao trees to plant more profitable crops like durian, for which there is a booming demand in China.
At the same time, high import tariffs on raw cocoa beans intended to protect domestic growers backfired, forcing Thai chocolate producers to shut down because of supply shortages. With no local buyers, farmers lost the incentive to sustain production.
However, there are signs of a chocolate revival in Thailand, with a growing bean-to-bar movement fuelled by chocolate cafes and small-batch chocolate makers.
Choch, located just off Bangkok's famous Song Wat Road, is a chocolate bar that serves chocolate drinks made by "chocoristas".
Its owner, Suradech Tiyachaipanich, was previously a cacao farmer who tried to find buyers for his product before deciding to vertically integrate and create new opportunities for himself.
"I wasn't planning to work in retail chocolate. I was a farmer. I started planting cacao. At first, I was just trying to sell the beans to chocolate makers, but I found out that no one was buying because the market is very small," he says.
"Everyone imports from outside Thailand. At that point, I thought it was a very good chance because no one was doing it, and that is how I started in the chocolate business."
Among Choch's early successes has been winning the Thailand Chocorista Championship 2023, held by the Federation of Cocoa Commerce.
In Chanthaburi, a province in eastern Thailand famous for growing durian and mangosteen, Boonnum Phromchan owns Suriya Farm. She began farming cacao as an extra income stream.
"Growing cocoa can generate a monthly income. It allows me to have money to spend on daily expenses such as electricity, travel and other expenses without having to wait for durian and mangosteen to generate income once a year," she says.
Daniel Bucher is the founder of Pridi Cacaofevier, a company that manufactures chocolate bars in Bangkok. He agrees that planting cacao, a plant that yields fruit throughout the year, can boost farmers' finances.
"You do not just depend on one crop. You can still sell your durian, you can still sell your mangosteen, but you also have another new crop in the mix that brings some income into the farm."
With the global chocolate industry estimated to be worth almost US$170 billion, cacao is a lucrative crop - especially for farmers in western Africa, where most of it is grown.
Such profitability has led to widespread monocropping there as farmers stick to growing cacao exclusively.
One problem is that with so many cacao trees planted, many grow under direct sunlight, which causes them to consume more water.
"Cacao sometimes has a really bad reputation in terms of water consumption, because cacao naturally grows shaded," Bucher says. "So when you expose it to a lot of sun, then it just drinks a lot of water. And then you have to put irrigation lines in and push a lot of water through these plantations."
As a cacao buyer, Bucher sees an opportunity to encourage sustainable cacao practices. He points out that at Suriya Farm, the cacao trees grow among the mangosteen and durian trees.
"Cacao grows really well when shaded and with a lot of other plants. It also helps to reduce the water consumption of the tree because the shade helps," he says.
Arne Riehn, head chef of one-Michelin-star Igniv Bangkok, also sees an opportunity in the bean-to-bar movement. For him, it is about creating pod-to-plate experiences for diners.
"My first [Thai] chocolate was from Chanthaburi and it's still my all-time favourite from Thailand," he says. "This is super fruity, like you have different kinds of fruit notes, like banana or mangosteen flavour or mango flavour. It's super interesting."
Reihn orders an exclusive blend of chocolate from Pridi Cacaofevier to create desserts at Igniv.
One of his signature desserts is the chocolate souffle, made with Chanthaburi chocolate. The natural acidity of the chocolate adds subtle notes of raspberry to the souffle.
Being close to the source also means that chefs partake in sustainable practices.
Riehn creates his chocolate sorbet with a granita and cacao husk and nibs. The restaurant also uses the juice from the cacao fruit to make another sorbet.
"We even use the flesh around the beans. It's a cacao juice sorbet. It's not even chocolate flavoured. It's more fruity and light," he says.
Make no mistake - Thailand's cacao production is tiny. At its height, the country produced 1,500 tonnes a year. To put this into perspective, Swiss chocolate producer Lindt & Sprungli alone uses around 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of cacao beans a year.
However, this nascent industry can pave the way for sustainable industry practices, setting a new standard for the rest of the world.
