methods but is also offering training in literacy, life skills and vocational training. In association with its Cocoa Horizons initiative, the Growing Great Chocolate programme also offers access to basic health care services and water, distributing mosquito nets, sponsoring vaccinations and funding boreholes. So far the two schemes have succeeded in setting up 575 ‘Farmer field Schools’ a national ‘Cocoa Centre of Excellence’ and five regional ‘Showcase Farms’ as well as building 24 primary school classrooms housing 1,200
students in eight schools, drilling eight boreholes and erecting four water towers. It has also launched a ‘Micro Health Insurance’ programme targeting 250,000 people.
It was to hear this news that myself and a group of journalists had been invited to Callebaut’s Belgium HQ where we were also treated to the factory tour. We also got to take a look at the new Chocolate Academy which is currently under construction.
After all this we were whisked off to Callebaut ambassador, Lieven Lootens’ nearby restaurant, 't Aards Paradijs where we would learn to pair chocolate varieties with fresh herbs. ‘t Aards Paradijs (despite being pronounced ‘tarts paradise’) means ‘earthly paradise’ in Dutch and it lives up to its
title. Constructed almost entirely from wood and surrounded by extensive herb and vegetable gardens, it looks like something from a fairy tale by the brothers Grimm, but one with a happy ending that involved everyone sitting down to a nice eight-course tasting menu with matching wines.
Lieven is well-known in Belgium for his multi-sensory approach to dining, so there was no better person to school us in the art of pairing chocolate with fresh herbs. The herbs came straight from the garden – naturally – and included basil, fennel leaves, rosemary and mint along with two kinds of Callebaut chocolate. We took a callet of the chocolate and let it dissolve on our tongues
before smelling the various herbs to see which ones created interesting combinations of flavour and aroma. The first chocolate went well with the basil but was also, somewhat surprisingly, well matched to the aniseed notes of the fennel leaves. The bitter, more acidic tones of the second chocolate contrasted interestingly with the rosemary.
But enough of our amateur posturings, it was time for Lieven to show us how it was really done, knocking up a dessert he’d created only the day before matching the zingy freshness of lemon verbena with a warm mousse made from Callebaut CW2NV and accompanied by fresh in-season strawberries and rhubarb. It was a wonderful mix of contrasting temperatures, textures and tastes and sang of spring almost as exuberantly as the blooming flowers in the sunshine of the herb garden outside.
After that the fairy tale was over and I was whisked off to the airport and back to cloudy England. I still had the smell of chocolate in my nostrils though and the memory of the slightly unnerving happiness of Isabelle. I never did get to find out what chocolate she was on…
