This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
The big annual chocolate festival is fast approaching and, for several weeks already, a crowd of coconuts and barnyard animals have been eyeing onlookers in store windows. But parallel to this offer of industrial chocolates often coming from elsewhere, another one is developing, local, sensitive to the quality of the ingredients and the people who produce them. Welcome to the Easter universe of Quebec’s “bean to bar” ambassadors.
While we hardly talked about it ten years ago, chocolates from the bean to the bar – or ” bean to bar” — products in Quebec attract a growing number of gourmets and professionals, who no longer hesitate to pay more to taste the qualitative, local and ethical difference of these products.
This difference, the Peruvian of origin Elfi Maldonado – who did not like chocolate at the base, it should be specified – and her companion, Maxime Simard, immediately succumbed to it and decided to devote their career to it by founding, in 2017, Qantu. This small business bean-to-bar » has since won all the medals in international competitions with its origin chocolates.
They are not the only ones to have taken the leap. Quebec now has a handful of such producers, such as Palette de Bine, Chocolats Monarque, Avanaa and Chaleur B chocolat. And even more chocolatiers, pastry chefs and processors who use these chocolates in their creations. This is the case, for example, of Allo Simonne, a high-end chocolate spread company that arrived on the market like a UFO in 2017 and which now sells more than 30 tons of products each year.
A strong demand
If we can understand that lovers of good chocolates can treat themselves from time to time to bars, cocoa or quality spreads, what about the Easter period, during which the proposals abound, often at a lower price? Well, it would seem that, as with Christmas, the Easter feast is now part of the calendar of the craftsmen of the bean to bar. “It’s a great showcase for our chocolates, and demand is strong to mark this tradition,” recognizes Elfi Maldonado.
This year, Easter will therefore be celebrated at Qantu with several salivating proposals: an egg made of white cocoa (and not white chocolate, which only contains cocoa butter) filled with praline and covered or not with caramelized hazelnuts; another crispy egg containing crunchy corn; little bunnies in dark or milk chocolate “for the purists”; and, finally, a bar of happiness made with milk chocolate and pieces of crunchy caramel with Peruvian spices.
“For Easter, we are stepping out of our comfort zone to create more gourmet products,” explains Maxime Simard. But we use the same origin chocolates to make them, we have the same work ethic and the same values as always. It is for these elements that our customers appreciate us. »
irresistible creations
At Allo Simonne, everyone is also active at the moment, because for a third year, the company is offering, for Easter, chocolate sweets that are selling like hot cakes. Gluttony is, in fact, at the rendezvous with small (one bite) or large eggs stuffed with the brand’s famous praline or buckwheat spread. A beggar with gianduja, a chocolate and hazelnut paste, sprinkled with candied oranges, pecans and dried cherries, as well as a rabbit containing crushed hazelnuts are also on the menu. And it’s all made with chocolate bean to bar Quebecois as well as Canadian ingredients, hazelnuts included.
“We absolutely want to source locally, with good ingredients and artisans who share our values, says Quentin Ryckaert, who runs Allo Simonne with his partner, Vincent Coja. We know that there is still a lot of educational work to be done so that more people adhere to this philosophy and agree to pay more. But to see the seduction that takes place among those who taste our products and the loyalty of the customers who follow us — they even respond to our newsletters! — I think we made the right choice. »
Our ambassadors from bean to bar would they therefore be actors of social change? Without a doubt, and they do it in the most beautiful way… by treating us!
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.