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In the remote island country of Sao Tome and Principe in West Africa, Italian Claudio Conaro believes that he has developed the best chocolate in the world. Conaro believes that the supreme treasures touted by the chocolate industry are actually just “a lot of boasting, a lot of sugar, and a lot of packaging.” For many years, Cornaro has always made the best chocolate in the world as his mission.

He is now praised by many gourmet magazines around the world, and his products are sold in Europe, the United States, Japan and other places. Those who were lucky enough to taste the chocolate he made thought they had never tasted real chocolate before.

small island production is exported to overseas

Cornaro now lives in the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, a small country in West Africa that is far away and few people have visited. It consists of two volcanic islands in the Gulf of Guinea — Sao Tome and Principe It is composed of 14 islands including Rollas and Carlosso. It used to be a colony of Portugal. In the 19th century, it was mainly famous for two things: slaves and cocoa beans. Now only cocoa beans are left here. Cornaro’s house is located on the seafront promenade in the capital São Tomé, and his chocolate laboratory is behind the house.

Conaro was originally born in Florence, Italy, but he has lived in Africa for 34 years. Here, he was self-taught and learned everything about chocolate.

He himself and his chocolates are now frequently appearing in various food magazines. His hard work is called “Kona Rococo” and sells for 10 euros per 130 grams. Few people in Sao Tome and Principe can afford this type of chocolate, and Cornaro can only sell them by sea to France, Italy, Spain, the United States and Japan.

pure chocolate is breathtaking

The 56-year-old Claudio Conaro has a gray beard and his eyes are soft. He took a knife out of his pocket and cut the slice of chocolate in front of him into thin strips. This is a piece of chocolate with cocoa juice and raisins, with a purity of 70%. He sniffed the chocolate, then leaned back, watching the group of testers close their eyes and let them immerse themselves in the strong and aromatic smell of cocoa juice, the sweetness of raisins and the aroma of alcohol. He is smiling.

“What do you think?” he asked.

In Konaro’s opinion, anyone who tries his chocolate for the first time will realize that he has never eaten real chocolate. He believes that there is no chocolate in this world that can be compared with his “housekeeping”. These “fist” products include 75% pure chocolate with ginger flavor, 80% pure chocolate with rock sugar, and the best of all his treasures: 100% pure chocolate.

“Supreme Goods” has no original flavor

But in the face of the surging commercialization tide, what he fought was a lonely battle. Because he wants to let the world taste real chocolate, rather than show off flashy luxury like countless chocolate manufacturers.

As Cornaro took a box of chocolates from the shelf, he said: “Today’s chocolate is actually a lot of bragging, melted into a lot of sugar, and packed in a lot. This is 100% pure from Venezuela. The cocoa is too expensive.” He sniffed the chocolate in his hand, broke a piece and put it in his mouth, then made a face. “Greasy, bitter, no aroma. If you want to say that this is also a good chocolate, then I don’t know what other chocolate is bad. But our own chocolate, it can let you taste the original flavor of cocoa beans.”

Conaro’s opponents are the major multinational companies that control the chocolate business. They process low-quality cocoa beans and use various techniques to make the chocolate fragrant and delicious. He said: “They put the cocoa beans into a “conch-shaped machine”, which is specially used to remove the taste of cocoa beans.” He was referring to a kneading machine that was originally supposed to be used Refined cocoa beans. Cocoa beans are repeatedly grinded in this machine, and then heated to 80 degrees Celsius, and by this time, it has no taste at all. Then they will add vanilla to regain its fragrance, call it “the best product”, and sell it for 100 euros per 1,000 grams. This is actually a processed product that has completely lost its original taste.

Conaro said that the milk chocolate sold in supermarkets is actually much purer than these luxury items.

The quality of cocoa beans is the most important

There are three favorite things in Cornaro’s life: coffee, cocoa and coconut.

It was coffee that he fell in love with at first. At the age of 22, he felt that everything in Italy was too perfect for his taste, so he left for Zaire (the Congo whose capital is Kinshasa). He took over two abandoned plantations and started growing coffee. His plantation covers an area of ​​2,500 hectares and is located in the jungle. It takes 1,600 kilometers to get there from the capital Kinshasa by boat. He stayed in the plantation for many years. During this period, he suffered from malaria and schistosomiasis. But he loves his coffee business, and he now recalls that he served the coffee trees as carefully as a wine manor grows grapes.

But then the war broke out. The rebels occupied his coffee field. In 1993, Cornaro fled to Sao Tome with his wife and two children.

is here, he found his cocoa bean business.

The family originally lived in wooden shacks on Principe Beach. There were not many people there, so sometimes they just walked around naked. When traveling long distances in the forest, Cornaro encountered old cacao trees from time to time. In 1819, the King of Portugal ordered the introduction of the first cocoa trees to Africa from Brazil in South America. The cacao trees that Cornaro saw were produced by the first batch.

There is no mystery in these cocoa trees. However, compared with the modern hybrid varieties that the chocolate industry relies on, the cocoa trees used by Cornaro have a smaller yield, but the taste of the cocoa beans they produce is not known how many times better. For those who want to make the best chocolate in the world, the quality of cocoa beans is the most critical.

Unique formula secretly unannounced

But even with such high-quality cocoa beans, Cornaro still pondered for many years to find the correct manufacturing method. Just like when people process grapes when making wine, he will let cocoa beans ferment for more than two weeks.

Then, he would put the beans in a stove to dry. Women in white coats and masks shake the beans in the sieve, and remove the bitter beans by hand. Then people will use a homemade fan to blow away the fine dust on the beans. The final product is cocoa paste.

However, Conaro is tight-lipped about most of the other secrets in the chocolate making process.

Cornaro is not very interested in product marketing, which may be the reason why his business has never been so popular. He does not speak English and rarely travels to Europe because he feels that Europe has become less cute than before. Speaking of his hometown of Florence, he said that it has become a “Disneyland” for tourists. The streets are full of luxury goods. “No ordinary, normal things can be seen anymore.”

perfectionism alone

Conaro is a perfectionist, obsessed with taste and effect. He is not an easy person to get along with. He and his wife divorced a long time ago; she now lives in Lisbon (the capital of Portugal).

He took a machete, climbed into his turquoise limited edition “Fiat”, and planned to go to his plantation. He finally said: “I believe that the chocolate industry is afraid of us. It should be the case. Who told them to sell chocolate with a ‘75% purity’ even though it contains only a little cocoa?”