Posted by Laura Sutula in chocolate, products, shops on August 1, 2007 at 1:31 pm
ChocoSol (website not up to date)
6 St. Joseph Street, 4th floor
no phone
I was wholly unprepared for ChocoSol’s New Moon Chocolatada. The previous day’s Street Treats Festival had left me bitter - long lines and pushy people as eager as I to sample cheap street foods are not fun to begin with. Nearly every item sold out before the halfway point of the event had come. I was left with a bad taste in my mouth and a distinct lack of Chili Lime Corn. So when ChocoSol’s celebration of their new location rolled around the next evening, I was utterly overwhelmed by the amiability and party atmosphere, not to mention the chocolate delights.
ChocoSol is “a small, ecological and inter-communities initiative between farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, sustainable technologists based out of Oaxaca City, Mexico and horizontal traders and chocolatiers in Toronto, Ontario.” That is the “short” definition from their website. The expanded one includes: “embarking on a friendlier trade route beyond the Fair Trade model, defining it as horizontal trade. In all its endeavours, ChocoSol ultimately honours the spirit and integrity of all those involved in spreading the joy, flavour and nourishment that the cacao bean offers to the world.” Some may accuse me of mincing words, but my short version is enthusiastic people making excellent food.
The small website won’t tell you about the enthusiasm of group members and friends alike, all spilling over with facts and knowledge about raw cacao beans, Mexico, and especially their new facility. It doesn’t even begin to convey the pure friendliness of everyone associated with ChocoSol, who never greet one another with a handshake, instead skipping straight to hugs. Nor will it explain how 40+ otherwise sane adults are somehow compelled to cut a rug in a dark side-room to heavy Latin beats, dancing more smoothly than any group of oversexed 20-somethings, and looking like they are having a million times more fun doing it.
When told of the origins of ChocoSol, it was easy to catch the wholesome do-goodery air. Twenty-six years ago, a group of villagers in Mexico were displaced by the construction of a hydro-electric dam. After walking 7 days to the San Felipe region, they stumbled over fields of cacao trees growing wild, originally planted by the Mayans and utterly forgotten. With the help of Michael Sacco and a group of Toronto chocolatiers they have established a successful operation, which includes sun-drying the beans (hence the group's name) and grinding the cacao between two stones in a hand-operated steel roller.
I was first greeted with “Oh, here, try this Oaxaca Gold, and then the Sawako Snow, and the drinks will be ready in just a second! I just have to find the agave nectar.” Michael Sacco kept up this treatment all night, effusing “Here, have some! And don’t you leave without getting me to give you some of the Atole!” or Jamaica Chia, or Stationary-Bike-Powered Banana Smoothie, or any one of the dozen of concoctions premiering that evening.
“We don't make chocolate candies, we make cacao foods.” admonished one of the servers as I sampled the wares. The Oaxaca Gold included hempseeds and Himalayan sea salts, giving it a crunchy, bubbly texture to juxtapose the deeply rich flavour. (Think Aero, except not cheap and air-filled.) The Sowaka Snow was made with raw coconut, again a far cry above any Mounds bar. The atole drink included corn and lime in addition to cacao powder, making it taste distinctly South American. The Jamaica Chia was the speciality of the night, as bubbling and warm as the guests. All these and more will be available in August, when the Cacao Loft opens officially.
The date of the party was auspicious; in Central American culture, the New Moon is seen as an excellent time for sowing new ideas and endeavours, as well as this specific new moon being the last of the planting season. On top of all that, one of the major members had returned recently with their newest shipment. While any excuse to celebrate is a good excuse, the ChocoSol folks certainly had plenty. They also had plenty of happy, convivial people to celebrate with, who quite literally danced the night away until it was technically morning. People rotated between gettin' down with a makeup'd matador, making friends with strangers and acquaintances, and checking out the newly refurbished kitchen on the fourth floor.
The entire event felt like a house party - having forty of your closest friends over for food and fun. However, while most house parties have an air of reservation hanging over them, these forty people did feel like one's closest friends, despite having only met them a few hours previous. While I still have to wait a month to formally buy the goods ChocoSol was peddling, I will gladly line up further than any of the Street Treats queues just to sample the genuinely open, rollicking atmosphere of ChocoSol and Co.
