Chocolate Artisan, the Sydney chocolate factory and the destination of cacao from Makira Gold.

After writing Frigate Birds I sent a copy to Jessica Pedemont, Brian’s  partner in South Pacific Cacao. A chef since 17, with much of working life devoted to chocolate products, Jessica describes herself as a chocolate evangelist and runs a business Chocolate Artisan from Ramsay Street in Haberfield Sydney.

Jessica loved the book and sent back a big box of goodies and invited me on a tour of the factory whenever I was in Sydney. In late January a friend and I flew down to see the Kandinsky and Ramses II exhibitions and Jessica’s factory.

Jessica and Fiorella in front of reception at factory

Brian buys high grade cacao beans from farmers in the Solomons and transports them from the Solomons in green grain pro bags which protect them from pests and moisture.  Although the farms are organic some do not have official organic certification while World Vision has supported others to get it. When the beans arrive in Brisbane Brian checks and grades them and sends the high quality beans to Jessica in Sydney via courier.

All the beans used are dried in solar dryers. Many Solomon Island cacao farmers still dry their beans in smoky wood fired kiln dryers (like copra dryers), however the beans produced are of lesser quality as the smoke taints them and they are not dry enough.

When the bean arrive they are roasted and Jessica uses the Italian Unox oven (below) the most widely used oven in the world for roasting cacoa beans

Below are trays of Lucy’s beans which Jessica said were of very good quality. Lucy is a cacao farmer in Makira.

The cacao beans then go into a winnower which separates the husk from the nibs, or pieces of cacao beans.

The husks go into this bag. Husks are similar to the bran produced after wheat is milled. Jessica uses them in Xmas cakes and biscuits and they can be used to make beer.

The nibs come out on the other side of the winnower and are then ground.

The grinder weighs 500kg and the nibs are ground between two big 45kg granite wheels.

The chocolate still needs to be tempered. Jessica describes this as the art of heating and cooling the chocolate, so all the crystals have the same melting point. The chocolate is smoother, and the flavours are released at the same time.

Margaret and the tempering machine

Above is an engrossing machine which coats nuts with chocolate including macadamia nuts.

Solomon Island products which are already being sold include ngali nuts.

In PNG these nuts are known as galip nuts.

The Solomons also exports dried pineapples, bananas and pawpaws.

Some of these products are sold at the international airports in the Solomons and on Solair flights.

Jessica enjoys experimenting and developing new products. She has a keto bar for diabetics and is experimenting with the use of chocolate and kava.

She has a lot of visitors from all over the Pacific visiting her factory and is very impressed the quality of some of the Pacific ingredients, particularly the wild turmeric from Fiji which has a much higher percentage of curcumin, over four times as much as the regular turmeric which is 4%.

She also provides practical support for some Pacific businesses.

Diana Yates, Tommy Chans wife has a cocoa business Cathliro in the Solomons and is setting up a chocolate factory. Tommy Chan is the owner of Honiara Hotel. Diana sent her daughter and a senior employee to work in Jessica’s factory for a week in 2023. Her business also developed a protein bar for athletes at the South Pacific Games. When the hydropower from the Lunga Dam is available in a few years it will finally provide Honiara with a reliable source of electricity, boosting not only Diana’s business but many others.  

Margaret, Fiorella and Jessica having fun