6 Must-Try Local Chocolate Brands
There’s no denying that Filipinos have a sweet tooth. Take a quick look at the type of food being sold in the streets of Metro Manila and you’ll find plenty of treats to satisfy your sugar craving.
But aside from popular desserts like turon, halo-halo, and leche flan, Pinoys are also crazy about chocolates. In fact, we often use them as gifts for all types of occasions like birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and more.
If you’re a chocolate-lover who can appreciate suggestions where to get delicious treats, here are some local chocolate brands you can try:
True Chocolate is the product of Treena Tecson’s passion for chocolate-making. Using the best ingredients possible, including cacao from her province Negros Occidental, she is able to create truffles and bars by hand.
“It is my goal to offer high quality chocolate creations using both imported and local chocolate. I welcome the opportunity to work with our farmers and help create livelihood for them,” she said.
Treena also hopes to create a local bean-to-bar chocolate in the near future.
Using locally-sourced ingredients, Tigre Y Oliva highlights single-origin Philippine chocolate from different areas.
“The cacao comes from farms around the Philippines. This year’s current selection is from the Davao region. We are likely to have other local origins in the near future,” said Tigre Y Oliva’s Roberto Crisostomo.
“Similar to wine, the variety and surrounding environment where the crop grows are a major contributor to taste. We selected micro-origins which exhibited interesting taste profiles and characteristics,” he added.
Tigre Y Oliva source their cacao straight from the farmers and use equipment from the US and Italy where you can find long traditions of chocolate craftmanship.
Founders Roberto and Charita Puentespina ventured into cacao farming in 2003 in Malagos, in the Baguio District of Davao. Their chocolate is made from tree to bar with everything from planting the cacao tree, harvesting the fruit, to creating chocolate done in Malagos.
”We have full control on the process where quality is of top priority. The beans, after being fermented and dried, are sorted and only Grade A Trinitario cacao beans are made to become the chocolate,” said Charita.
Their unsweetened chocolate that can be used for hot chocolate, desserts, and other baked goodies is the brand’s pride and glory. It has already won 5 international awards including a 2017 One Star Accolade from Great Taste Awards in the UK.
Handcrafted chocolates made from the best ingredients is what Risa Chocolate offers. The brand’s single-origin bars have a light caramel flavor, which come from South Cotabato cacao beans. You can try their best-sellers that include bacon chili chocolate, brown butter milk chocolate with hazelnuts, and cerveza negra truffles.
Theo and Philo was borne from Philo Chua’s desire to introduce homegrown chocolate to the world. The brand uses high-quality ingredients that come from different parts of the country such as cacao beans from Davao and sugar from Bacolod. To complement their dark and milk chocolates, Theo and Philo uses flavors from a variety of food including calamansi, green mango and salt, labuyo, ginger and mint, black sesame, pili nut and pinipig, turon, barako coffee, and even adobo.
Hiraya Manawari source their cocoa straight from the farmers of Barangay Malabog, which is two hours away from Davao. The brand fuses local favorites into their bars and also offers a unique chocolate tasting experience, which can be scheduled through their website. You can try some of their best-sellers including their chocolate with coconut milk and roasted coconuts, dark chocolate with coffee nibs, and “chicharon,” a spicy dark chocolate with crunchy pork rinds.
via GMA News Online / Macy Alcaraz
