Melts in your mouth, not in the container

The Austrian company Zotter is famous worldwide for its dedication to the art of crafting exquisite chocolate. Our interview explores how the one-of-a-kind flavours of these edible works of art are preserved during their transport by road, air and sea, how crystals can form in dried fruits and why bacon chocolate is especially popular in Asia.

Zotter produces over 400 different types of chocolate and never ceases to amaze with its extraordinary creations – including eccentric ideas like cheese, fish or hummus chocolate. The manufacturer places great emphasis on sustainability at every stage of the supply chain, from farm to transport – which even led on one occasion to a delivery of cocoa beans by sailing ship. Because of the wide variety of raw materials used, transporting these unusual products to Zotter’s distributors and stores worldwide is essentially a science unto itself.

We talked to Julia Zotter, who built Zotter’s ‘Chocolate Theatre’ in Shanghai and ran it for three years before rejoining the team in Austria, where she develops new products together with her father Josef Zotter.

Interviewer: Zotter insists on sustainability in each and every stage of production. Zotter buys its cocoa directly from cocoa bean farmers in Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, amongst other places. Cocoa blends are created in close cooperation with local producers. They can even sometimes be traced back to a particular region or even a specific village. Does this pose any specific challenges when it comes to storage and transport?

Julia Zotter: Cocoa beans are harvested all year round, so they have to be stored at the cooperative until the quantity is sufficient for shipping to Austria. That could even take up to a year, though it generally means anywhere between six months to a year. As a dry product, cocoa can be stored safely for a long time under the proper conditions. Storing it in tropical climates poses a significant challenge, though, because of the humidity. You need properly functioning cooling systems when transporting it through humid tropical regions too, otherwise there is a risk of mold. If mold grows on the cocoa beans, we cannot use them and the whole shipment is worthless.

Cocoa is also susceptible to pests like moths, so the warehouse needs to be kept absolutely clean. Organic cocoa cannot be fumigated during shipment to prevent infestation, so every part of its journey needs to be kept spotless. The best way to avoid infestation is to maintain cool temperatures during storage, but quick freezing storage, nitrogen treatment and ichneumon wasps are also used to ensure safety, all of which are permissible under organic certification schemes and none of which use any chemicals.

What are the challenges involved in transporting and storing the finished chocolate products?

The chocolates are very temperature-sensitive, but most importantly they are especially vulnerable to repetitive and pronounced fluctuations in temperature. Exposure to direct sunlight must be avoided: Cool and dry conditions must be maintained during storage. The temperature should ideally between 18 and 24 degrees. Temperature fluctuations create imbalances in a product’s specific formulation which, in the absence of artificial preservatives and flavors, can result in mold, crystallization or flavor loss. Temperature fluctuations can also cause the chocolate shell to expand or contract, resulting in it breaking – the same is true of the fillings. This is then followed by oxidation, which degrades the quality.

Given the wide array of products, Zotter chocolates contain an array of ingredients besides cocoa beans, including fruits, nuts, coffee, liqueurs – even bread and cheese. Over 400 different organic ingredients are used in Zotter’s extraordinary creations. Which ingredients pose the greatest challenge in terms of transport, storage, handling and manufacturing?

Nuts and similar ingredients are particularly challenging, as they are susceptible to moth infestation and oxidation – basically they can easily go rancid – or sometimes they contain foreign objects, such as tiny rocks. Anything that is stored for longer periods is susceptible. It is easier to properly store fresh ingredients, which are also used more quickly. Freeze-dried fruits can also be challenging, since crystals can form when they are exposed to warm, humid conditions – to prevent this we have developed our own processing method.

Recently Zotter transported cocoa beans by sailing ship as a climate-neutral alternative to using container ships in importing this ingredient. The cocoa travelled by sailing ship from Nicaragua to Hamburg. How did this first test run go and are you planning to use this method again in future?

The first trip went beautifully; storage on board the ship stayed dry and pest-free. We have already started organizing the next trip of this kind for March or May from Belize. The amounts being shipped this way are still small, but we hope to increase them in future.

In 2014 Zotter opened a ‘Chocolate Theatre’ in Shanghai. cargo-partner transported the chocolate by air from Austria to China, maintaining strict temperature control, never letting it exceed 25°C. It is pretty obvious that external temperatures greater than 30°C are not good for chocolate. What about winter-like temperatures down to -15°C? Can excessive cold damage chocolate the way heat does, or does it not have any effect on taste and quality?

Temperature fluctuations are a bigger problem than warm or cold temperatures in and of themselves. Generally, chocolate should not be exposed to freezing temperatures for long periods. Flavor loss is less of a problem than the fact that the chocolate becomes brittle and can crack or the filling freezes and expands, damaging the chocolate shell, which reduces shelf-life. As long as the chocolate does not freeze or get too close to freezing, and cold chocolate is not warmed up too quickly, everything will be fine.

You opened a new location in Cape Coral, Florida in 2015. What have you learnt from your time so far in Shanghai and Florida? Are there certain types of chocolate that are more popular in Asia and the US than in Europe?

Dark chocolate is very highly regarded by American consumers, who appreciate the number of high percentage single-origin chocolates we offer. Bean-to-bar is not yet a widespread concept in Europe, but there is an incredibly interesting movement in the US and a number of small bean-to-bar manufacturers already. This is a perfect environment for our products.

Things are a little different in China, where there is no tradition of chocolate. It is very important to Chinese customers that they get the products exactly as they were made in Europe – ideally in the original packaging, with Chinese labels placed over the list of ingredients. Our fish and bacon chocolates are particularly popular there, since a taste for sweets is not as widespread, they just don’t really have it – and customers are simply more familiar with savory flavors, though we are selling more milk chocolate and chocolate with fruits now too.

In Europe, it always takes a little longer before consumers are ready to try the more unusual types of chocolate – in this market, chocolates with nuts or nougat are popular. But by now our customers here have also discovered that chocolates filled with sweet potato and passion fruit, or passion fruit and thyme, are quite delicious, and these now sell too as highly sought-after specialties. But we were very surprised by the outcry that followed our temporarily pulling the fish chocolate from our assortment. We had buried this concept in our 'Cemetery of Ideas', but customer demand led us to exhume it and it now has a permanent place in our assortment.

Thank you for speaking with us!