At Silva, our goal is to source specialty cocoa with an identity from unique places around the world. What is of course essential to this are our partners because as we all know “There’s No I In Team”. Since the start of Silva, Zoi from ZOTO has been a highly valued partner, and we work together in various projects from the Philippines to Nicaragua and Guatamala, and Congo and Uganda. Zoi assists us in discovering the most unique cocoas in the world and unleash their full potential. Through her specialization in post-harvesting, she wants to showcase the diversity and potential that cocoa has. So, we thought it was about time to put the spotlight on Zoi and introduce you to the person who helped develop several of our cocoas.

“For me it is all about the relationships that you enter into with people on the field! After all, this is where it all starts. You have to connect with the farmers and obtain a mutual understanding. When you try to understand the farmers and show them that you want to make improvements that will ultimately advance their abilities and livelihood, then you will get results.”

My background starts during my studies where I obtained a master’s degree in food science and food microbiology. I did a PhD at the VUB in Brussels where I carried out a comparative study on cocoa fermentation around the world which was funded by Barry Callebaut. Afterwards I worked for five years in Central America with fine cocoa exporters such as XOCO Gourmet and Ingemann. My sensory capability  of cocoa combined with this hands-on experience made me realize that I had a certain talent related to post-harvesting. I was also the first cocoa-scientist to enter the craft sector and fine cocoa production, trying to combine academics with practice. This provided me with a complete knowledge to start undertaking product development in the field. In order to commercialize a product, you have to realize that both scientific knowledge of cocoa post-harvesting and commercial feeling are crucial. You have to master both elements and look at the full package.

I’m merely the “ZO” in ZOTO! Today we are a small but well organized team consisting of me and my husband Tom. He is really my partner in crime and so he represents the “TO” in ZOTO. I am so passionate about the fieldwork that I really need Tom for things like accounting and administration. We also sell our own chocolate where Tom also is responsible for things like the packaging and organizing fairs. And not unimportantly, he is also a great salesman! Of course, we also work a lot with partners such as Silva, for which we create customized flavor profiles. In addition, our partners in the different origins are very important, such as NGOs who assist us with technical personnel when we cannot be physically present. We are now also looking to have permanent trusted partners in different continents who can continuously monitor the implementation when we are not physically there.

For me it is all about the relationships that you enter into with people on the field! After all, this is where it all starts. You have to connect with the farmers and obtain a mutual understanding. When you try to understand the farmers and show them that you want to make improvements that will ultimately advance their abilities and livelihood, then you will get results. Without a genuine connection, the farmers are more likely to resist even though you have good intentions or good practices. At the end of the day, what makes me proud is the feeling that I can really help to elevate the farmers and offer them opportunities.

From the past year I must say that this was Chocolat Dos Cielos from Chocolat Bonnat! By complete coincidence, we helped develop this cocoa in Colombia together with Cacao Betulia. I can tell you that this is truly one of the most addictive chocolates I have ever eaten. I can easily munch a full bar like this in one sitting. It also evokes some kind of childhood memories for me. From our own chocolate bars, I think my favorite is the Nicaragua El Castillero. It comes from a very small cooperative that, since we started working there, have completely converted their production practices to my proposed protocol and they have shown 100% commitment to consistently deliver excellent quality.

I don’t have a mapped out path for ZOTO, I rather look at it day by day.  What I mainly want to focus on is that in the long term there will be an industrialization of the fermentation process in general. We see that today there is already a big industrialization for things like wine and cheese and that for coffee this is happening as well. I love the work I do in the field but I believe that today there is a big missing element in the cocoa market and this is industrialization. The fermentation process needs to be more standardized and take place in a controlled environment. However, I am convinced that cocoa will follow the same trend as we see in coffee today. Cocoa is just much more complex in fermentation because it has a larger microbial consortium, so you have to gradually scale it up. But I am convinced that with small steps we can make a big change!