By Rey Anthony Chiu
Bohol tablea among PH
Top 5 best choco drinks
TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, October 26 (PIA)—From the land of the Chocolate Hills and the renowned ASEAN Chocolate Princess now comes the Philippines top five tablea drink.
Tablea, which is Spanish for chocolate tablets, is a square or now the more popular disc shaped, or cone-shaped chocolate that most Filipinos are most passionate about.
A concoction from roasted dried cacao seeds ground into the consistency of a paste, tablea is the country’s prime instant chocolate drink ingredient.
It would take about 2-3 tablea discs or cones in a cup of hot water to have the chocolate drink most chocolate lovers would be crazy about.
From Bohol, a cacao farm has produced one of the country’s top 5 chocolate drinks, a citation it got during the recently concluded Kakao Konek 2019.
Last week, the Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao initiated Kakao Konek ran from October 17-18 at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City and over a thousand attendees from 14 regions in the country attended the event.
Kakao Konek is the biggest annual event of cacao farmers and chocolatiers in the country organized by the country’s leading cacao value chain organization, Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao, Inc, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Information Officer Vierna Teresa Ligan said.
The Kakao Konek conference, acclaimed the First Philippine cacao and Chocolate Festival, dubbed as “Filipinas Tablea and Chocolate Expo and Cacao Conference” was organized by the Philippine Cacao Industry Development Council (PCIDC) in partnership with the Cacao Industry Development Association of Mindanao, Inc. (CIDAMI).
One of the highlights of Kakao Konek 2019 was the awarding of the Top 5 Philippine National Tablea Drink.
The Bohol tablea from Atbang Farms had the chance to impress the 30 jurors from all over the regions, who would sip from the cups of 38 chocolate tablea drinks joining the first National Tablea Drink Contest.
Months back, the province of Bohol through the prodding of the DTI, with Bohol Cacao Development Council sent 5 entries to the said contest.
Atbang Farm of Efrenia Holt, (Calape), Bohol, Balai Cacao Enterprises of Marie Frances Macabenta Manga District, Tagbilaran City), Audrey’s Bakery of Audree Arellano (Panglao), Canjulao League of Women, Jagna, Bohol and Aurora’s Tablea of Gina Solis (Loay) were Bohol’s official chocolate drink entries.
From Bohol, 12 Women Micro Entrepeneurs (WMEs) joined the 2-day activity allowing them to network and appreciate innovations and development directions for the cacao industry in the country.
According to the DTI, their participation was made possible with support from the Provincial Government, the DTI and the Department of Agriculture through the Great Women Project 2.
Atbang Farm is one of the 25 WMEs enrolled with the Great Women Project 2–a Government of Canada funded project on “Supporting Women Economic Empowerment in the Philippines,” organized and managed by the local DTI.
The DTI extends technical support and extension services to the project enrollees; like, technology replication through skills trainings, enterprise management trainings, marketing support, product development, packaging and label development, networking and resource mobilization, raw material sourcing, FDA LTO and CPR registration to ensure their business sustainability.
Miss Efrenia Holt, owner of Atbang Farm shared her farm journey, which started when she planted cacao trees in 2011 at her farm in Calape, Bohol.
However, typhoon Senyang almost wiped out her cacao, and the 2013 earthquake was a double whammy.
Undaunted by these, she continued her passion on farming, having seen the market demand for dried or fermented cacao beans, she took it as another business model and opportunity for community based livelihood endeavors.
Atbang Farm’s Molded Tablea has been developed and is now being marketed in malls and in select Hotels and Resorts in Panglao and in Tagbilaran City. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol with vligan/DTI)
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