'Estate' chocolate coming

An extra helping of prestige with your chocolate?

According to food consultant Maricel Presilla, it won't be long before Venezuelan cacao bean growers offer "estate grown" chocolates, which she said have "incredible chocolate flavor."

The improvements in chocolate are expected because of better scientific understanding of chocolate itself, better growing practices for cacao trees, more attention to the varieties of cacao beans and control over quality and processing.

At a recent symposium on "the science of chocolate," Presilla said that Venezuela is already producing regional types of chocolate -- and they have "enormous flavor differences."

When larger growers mimic the "estate bottled" wine classification system that the French originated, she noted, prices are likely to be high.

Pub Date: 3/11/98