Chocolate Interviews
With two of the best local chocolate makers!
Olivia Chocolate and Giddy Yoyo.
Have you tasted them? Is there one that you prefer? They most definitely both have their distinctive taste!
Find out more about chocolate below.
Olivia Chocolate
Olivia chocolate is… “High percentage dark chocolate without the astringency” and non-dairy milk chocolate made farm to bar in the purest form.
What makes Olivia chocolate so special?
All our chocolate is allergen free meaning containing none of the 9 top Health Canada allergens making it safe and pure for everyone. There are no traces of dairy, gluten, nuts peanuts, or soy.
Olivia Chocolate is made with a special process that removes the astringency so our chocolate tastes better at higher percentage cocoa content or with less sugar added for any given bean we use no matter the origin.
However, we let you be the judge because everyone has a unique sense of taste and many people can taste the same food differently and we don’t expect our chocolate to be for everyone. Consumers tell us they like the “bitterness” in high percentage dark chocolate, but it’s actually the astringency that we don’t want. Astringency is what makes one shiver after a few seconds in the mouth of tasting something astringent like bakers chocolate.
What we do is make high % dark chocolate taste much better and develop a taste that changes and improves for 5 minutes or more in the mouth. The result is the creamiest, smoothness we can possibly deliver that we feel is indicative of the highest of quality in chocolate. So all of our chocolate is the creamiest and the smoothest whether dark or non-dairy milk. There is a continual flavour change in the mouth as one savours the layers of taste with the astringency removed without the use of excess sugar. Even if we used the same bean from a coop as a competitor since they sell to many chocolatiers, it’s remarkable what the Olivia process brings out of the same bean in terms of taste and taste experience.
One can go 10% higher in cocoa percentage than your regular chocolate without the desire for more sugar so we enable one to attain more health benefits without giving anything in terms of pure enjoyment.
Approximately 60% of people prefer the taste of our Raw Chocolate, 40% prefer the taste of our Roasted. We make chocolate with Maple sugar (5 Skus), a uniquely Canadian and specifically Quebecois thing we’re known for. Maple sugar is a sweeter sugar, gram for gram and gives that culturally familiar, caramel-like finish to chocolate. Again, making high % chocolate, even more palatable using our process with pure maple sugar in, or on the chocolate and even raw… depending on the chocolate that brings you pleasure. At Olivia Chocolatiers, we feel that chocolate should always bring you pleasure and one should never force down a stronger tasting chocolate just for the health benefits. Understand an important fact that the health benefits begin 70% where the cocoa content outweighs added sugar thereafter. For Olivia Chocolat dark, we begin at 76% and go up where most of the old traditional European chocolate makers would stop at 70%.
Where is it coming from?
Currently, we import our cocoa from our fair trade certified coop in the upper amazon basin of Peru. We visit the farms and do our own importing into the port of Montreal making Olivia Chocolatiers a true farm to bar chocolate maker.
What is raw chocolate anyway?
- We make a 2011 International Award Winning 76% roasted cocoa chocolate awarded by the Academy of Chocolate in London England. Roasted cocoa chocolate has a sharper finish than raw chocolate and has a traditional European taste background that is more familiar to the world of chocolate lovers.
- We make Raw chocolate, chocolate made from raw cocoa beans which offers smoother finish than roasted (making high % chocolate, even more palatable with raw cocoa but using Olivia process).
- Raw chocolate has a smoother, earthier taste experience without the sharp finish and resembles that of the raw cocoa bean itself or the nib (crushed bean, skin removed) but made finer.
- Raw chocolate is first and foremost for the taste and taste experience. But further, for the benefit of live digestive enzymes that help the body absorb nutrients from all the food one eats in the same way that raw salads, seeds, vegetables and nuts do.
- It is a fact that cocoa bean is a legume and is also a fermented food.
What’s the top seller?
92% Maple Raw and Coco-milk Chocolate are always number one and two and often exchange positions with each other and are always close but the new 5 spiced, dairy free, Raw Chai Chocolate is currently our number one seller.
What’s so important about Organic beans?
We feel that organic cocoa tastes better in chocolate. The flavour of the cocoa beans overall, no matter what, brings a better and more complex flavour that is unmistakable, continual and layered. Also there is recent research that organic foods contain 20% more nutrients than non-organic or conventional foods. Peru is one of the best countries in the world for organic cocoa since Peru is focusing itself on organic farming as the country emerges from a tough political history years ago. The cocoa bean is indigenous to the Peruvian and neighbouring amazon jungle and there are still new species of wild cocoa being discovered which is interesting to chocolatiers like us. Also Olivia Chocolatiers source as much as 80% nativa or wild cocoa from the fair trade coops so the country has the natural resources and international support like no other. They benefit from the world agenda and aid to replace the cultivation of illicit coca with socially beneficial cocoa.
The Peruvian amazon is a perfect ecosystem where they can produce cocoa sustainably, abundantly and naturally without the need of fertilizers or pesticides since the amazon is the place where cocoa originated.
Outside help from USAid, Minka Therpuy, Fair Trade and other NGO’s help farmers with techniques like pruning, irrigation etc. so the farmers and communities fare better.
Giddy Yoyo
Justin explains the magical chocolate giggles! Get the download on maca and how chocolate can be a food different from most sweet confections.
What’s so different about Giddy Yoyo chocolate?
We go to great lengths to ensure the pureness & quality of our cacao. There is a complete lack of mycotoxins, mold, yeast, and fungus in GY cacao and each batch is lab tested. These toxins are the cause of the adrenal response of jitteriness that is similar to caffeine stimulation in many cacao products. Contrary to popular opinion, cacao contains very little, if any, caffeine. It has been clinically demonstrated that cacao does not elevate blood sugar in the same way as a caffeine containing food or beverage. Instead, GY cacao helps to create a cosmic conscious connection and cause pineal gland expansion.
Thinking of chocolate, people often conjure up thoughts of a gluttonous indulgence that should be eaten sparingly, if at all. However we know the opposite to be true. We have first hand knowledge that cacao can be the daily tonic that Aldous Huxley spoke of in his novel Brave New World; “If we could sniff or swallow something that would for 5 or 6 hours each day, abolish our solitude as individuals, atone us with our fellows in a glowing exultation of affection and make life in all its aspects seem not only worth living, but divinely beautiful and significant, and if this heavenly, world–transfiguring drug were of such a kind that we could wake up the next morning with a clear head and an undamaged constitution – then, it seems to me, all our problems (and not merely the one small problem of discovering a novel pleasure) would be wholly solved and the earth would become paradise.”
We have specifically formulated our hand crafted chocolate as a deeply nourishing food, not a confection. Our chocolate contains the world’s most nutrient dense highly mineralized cacao and unrefined sun dried cane juice available. Synergistically these ingredients provide a deliciously profound magical experience.
Many misconceptions and blatant lies exist about chocolate. Chocolate is often held wrongly responsible for or contributing towards cavities, obesity, acne, migraines, allergies and diabetes. In almost all cases refined sugar is the true culprit.
Different amounts of chocolate are appropriate and needed on different days– some days more, some days less. We encourage you to find the right balance for you and your body chemistry. Always let your heart guide you to the perfect dose.
Where do your beans come from?
The Beans come from the Amazon Forrest in Ecuador.
What’s a top flavor in your line?
- Vanilla & Mountain Salt 82%
- Mint 76%
- XDARK 89%
- Original 76%
What’s maca and why is it in the chocolate?
GY MACA Powder originates from the Junin Plateau high in the Peruvian Andes Mountains of South America where it has been growing wild for approximately 2,600 years.
Today, the Quechua people continue to grow this superfood at its natural altitude as high as 14,000 feet, making maca the highest-altitude crop on Earth.
Maca is a member of the cruciferous family of plants that includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and turnips. It’s grown for its root, which resembles that of the radish. The character and properties of maca have been developed by the extreme conditions under which it grows (thriving in the intense sunlight and thin atmospheric conditions), which makes maca a powerful adaptogen. This means it may have the ability to balance and stabilize the body’s glandular-hormonal system, nervous system, cardiovascular system, and musculature. Adaptogens produce an adaptive response in the body to stress that improves homeostasis. According to most studies, adaptogens improve the body’s overall vitality by 10-15%. Rather than addressing a specific symptom, adaptogens improve the overall adaptability of the whole body to challenging situations and stress.
Maca as an adaptogenic superfood may increase energy, endurance, oxygen in the blood, physical strength, neurotransmitter production, fertility and libido. It may contain biologically active aromatic isothiocyanates, especially p-methoxybenzyl isothiocyanate, which have reputed aphrodisiac properties.
Maca may support the endocrine system, the adrenals, and the thyroid. It typically improves one’s mood and also helps to support healthy hormone production. It can provide more energy if it is needed, but if not maca will not over stimulate you. It has a longstanding reputation as a powerful strength and stamina enhancer. Maca may be a rich source of immune-enhancing sterols, including sitosterol, campesterol, ergosterol, brassicasterol, and ergostadienol.
Maca may be rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium, and iron and may also contain trace minerals including zinc, iodine, copper, selenium, bismuth, manganese, tin, and silicon. It may be high in vitamins B1, B2, C, and E.
GY 76% MACA is our ORIGINAL bar kicked up a notch, with just enough Giddy maca to make it taste and feel like… oh ya! Even people that don’t like maca love this bar. GY MACA is a natural aphrodisiac, energy enhancer, libido booster, hormone balancer (and so much more) for men and women. Maca and chocolate is like peanut butter and jelly, bread and butter, Lululemon and yoga…it just feels “right”. It’s so good you just gotta try it. Yo, whatcha’ waiting for?
Who are the people behind the Giddy Yoyo scene?
- Brigitte Longshore / president and founder
- Justin Booth / Business Development, sales marketing, trade show manager
- Jana Kirdlova / manager of chocolate operations
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