Camalig is known for pinangat, pili sweets, and abaca handicrafts. Now it’s fast becoming known for another delicacy, Aurora’s Tsokolate de Camalig.

Raffi Banzuela, Aurora’s much-awarded writer hubby, has already expounded on the chocolate product in “Tsokolate de Camalig: Tempering the Temperamental Chocolate”, in his Facebook page dated December 6, 2020. This article is a must-read to understand why Camalig is a major source of cacao but could only produce tablea or tabrilla rather than delicious, refined chocolate such as Lindt (Swiss) or ROYCE’ Nama (Hokkaido, Japan). Click this link or image to read more.

This is more about the Bikolana entrepreneur Aurora, who embarked on a start-up, after retirement.

 Bikolana entrepreneur

Aurora Vibar Banzuela is the woman for whom Tsokolate de Camalig is named. She is the seventh of nine children of Apolinario Vibar and Guillerma Gomez, and was born and raised in Camalig, Albay.

A high school teacher for 40 years, she taught English and Economics in both private and public schools in Camalig, Polangui, and Guinobatan. She headed the English department in one school for a spell and retired as a young senior in 2012, although she was invited to teach for four more semesters at the Bicol University College of Agriculture and Forestry.

This was when a nephew asked her what they could do with some land in Quituinan Hills left by her father to Aurora and her siblings.

“I didn’t know how to answer him. I was in Grade 3 when I last hiked up to the family property in Quituinan. My sister-in-law Arlene, who had also been thinking about what to do with the land, suggested that we plant pili trees, as her office at the Albay Agricultural Provincial Office (APAO) was then distributing seedlings for free. Of course, I didn’t know anything about it so I attended seminars on pili planting. Then came the offer to plant cacao, which the APAO was promoting at the time. That’s how it started—Raffi, Raymund, and my daughter Anika helped in tilling the soil. We followed all the steps recommended in the planting and in 18 months, the cacao trees blossomed, something which neighboring farmers were not able to achieve.”

From cacao farmer to chocolate maker

“Then came the question of how we could sustain this farm on which we had expended so much of our energy and money. We had planted 1015 trees from seedlings. We had to hire help. Raffi put up a nursery and so we had almost 2000 trees. We had to continue the family plantation, but as retirees, only Raffi and I were available to do this full-time since the rest had jobs, although Arlene and one of our nephews passionately took care of the plants in their spare time too.”

Aurora’s mother used to make tablea for home consumption. Tablea is the traditional Philippine chocolate made from roasted, ground, and manually molded cacao beans sweetened with brown sugar for hot cocoa and tsamporado. Aurora herself had never made tablea before. So she started attending seminars in the basics of tablea making sponsored by the APAO and joined the Albay Pili and Cacao Industries Association (APCIA).

However, simply selling the cacao beans or the usual tablea would not be enough for the family to recoup their costs.

“In my mind, I was already thinking of how I could make my tablea unique, dapat naiiba, mapagayon adi. I decided I would like to make quality chocolate. We didn’t have any fruit yet in 2018, so I bought dried cacao beans from APAO and started experimenting. I watched videos on YouTube and went back to my books to study the chemistry of cacao beans.” She put her grade of 1.0 in Chemistry to good use! 

The rest of the family joined her when she was experimenting with how to make chocolate, and now everyone is involved. Raffi is her main business partner. 

“Raf (Rafael III) is our artist and designer. Raymund, helped me find a refining machine and daughter Jasmin Cecilia, a lawyer, paid for it. Aura Marie is a teacher like me; Anika helps from her base in Germany. Raymund, a 2016 Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers topnotcher, (2^nd placer, national), teaches Special Education in Camalig North Central School. Even if they all have jobs, they help.” Raymund markets the chocolate on social media. 

“I had to procure a lot of things, a grinder, a refining machine. I still had to experiment. I did the conching myself, meaning the heating and melting of cacao into pourable chocolate. I was able to refine the chocolate but I made many many mistakes. I did produce something from conching, and nauubos man because of my friends.”

There are secrets in the different steps of the process of chocolate making, such as in opening the cacao beans and in the fermentation process. “If you don’t know this, the chocolate can turn sour.”

“I hadn’t even perfected the tablea yet, when there was a request to produce a chocolate bar. So I tried creating a bar, but those who had bought them said that the bars turned white or had white spots. I realized then that I had missed an important step. When chocolate is very thin, it becomes very sensitive. If I put it in a mold, it easily melts, so, it was back to the drawing board! We refined it for 10 hours, unlike tablea, which we refine for four hours.”

Tropical heat

I first ordered Aurora’s Tsokolate de Camalig in early 2021 but it was still not possible to send by post because of refrigeration issues. Meanwhile, friends based in Legazpi and Albay sang its praises, adding to my craving.

Aurora said, “At the time, we had not yet perfected the tempering process. I got an idea from the Manoa chocolates made in Hawaii; I realized the importance of temperature for several processes in chocolate making. Chocolate has to be packed in an air-conditioned room as soon as it is taken from the chiller; it should not gather moisture. We solved that issue and have since been able to ship to other places in the Philippines through the usual messengerial services. We however post a note on the pouches that the chocolates should be refrigerated.”

The unsweetened 100% chocolate is her bestseller, and cancer patients and their loved ones buy them. “They are regular buyers. The chocolate has nutrients for them, and it makes them feel good. I give them a special price.”

Her personal favorite among her products is the 70% chocolate 30% refined sugar tablea. It was her first successful proportion and her favorite. She also likes the bar.

Start-up Lola

When asked if she had any training or experience in entrepreneurship, Aurora said that her father was an abaca merchant. “We grew up in business. I was already in college and received an allowance for designing bags that he exported.”

In their earlier years together, Aurora and Raffi also had a little sideline in the printing business, without owning a printing press. This helped them get by and send all their children to college.

I asked Aurora what gave her the courage to embark on a start-up at this stage in her life, while other seniors seem content with resting on their laurels, traveling, or simply taking care of their grandchildren.

“Makusog an buot ko. But mainly we needed to do something to support the farm. We were spending a lot. Sayang man pensyon mi. I had to find ways. We also wanted to help more people. We have one scholar now who is graduating with a degree in Criminology. Our third scholar, he takes care of the plants and helps in the harvest. I remember what my father said when we were about to move to our own house: ‘Later nene, you have to earn more to help others.’ He had many scholars as well.”

Aurora’s Tsokolate de Kamalig is a very young business, not even three years old. I asked about the challenges of being a chocolate maker so far and about her vision for the enterprise in the next five or ten years.

“If the family supports it, this will become a big business. We’re still small. There are many orders from Manila and even from the US, through friends who come home. The biggest order so far is P10,000 worth of chocolates to take back to Hawaii. Friends come home and bring them as pasalubong abroad. A nephew will bring 50 pouches of chocolates to Qatar. But I won’t accept big orders now. I will only accept orders which I can supply. I should have enough cacao beans first. The cacao we harvest is for our own business. We continue to plant, and we don’t buy dried beans. We need the farm to continue with this endeavor.”

There are challenges, but she chooses not to focus on them.

“Kung kaunti, ok lang. The hardest challenge is typhoons. We had to rehabilitate the farm for one year after typhoon Rolly hit us. But I’m the person who will not give up. Besides, there are always those who will help. The business is for everyone. We will not be alone.”

There are more entrepreneurial secrets there, knowledge of where it all starts, small is beautiful, political will and optimism, and family support.

“Right now, we make just enough to maintain the farm and our scholars. A little bit is left, and I use that to buy things in advance, pouches, baking sugar.”

As for competition, Aurora believes she has an edge as she has done her homework and learned from her many mistakes.

Raffi says, “Every step in making Camalig’s first chocolate bar passes through Aurora’s hands herself. Quality over quantity. A true labor of love. Passionately made. Seedling to bar.”

Aurora adds, “It passes our hands from planting the cacao up to wrapping and packaging. We have two staffers, both family members. The work is based at home and starts after the chores are done. I also would credit the resource persons of APCIA, especially those from the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMec) for sharing with me the basics of processing cacao beans until they can be made into chocolate.”

Aurora’s advice for women in start-ups, especially in the Bikol region:

“If they have the opportunity to enter a business, do it. Study. Study. Study. Don’t be afraid of the tedious trial and error process. Don’t limit yourself. For women entrepreneurs, maski lola na, go lang ng go.”

Family first

Aurora says that her early success is partly magic and partly science, based on observation and experimentation. The magic part, the first secret, methinks, is in the passionate planting of the cacao seedlings in the land that they love and dedicate to their family. Other retirees might just have sold the lots or passed the responsibility on to the next generation.

“Family first, children first. I’m doing this for the family. Even when I was teaching, the children came first. I chose to be a mother. Career came second. Raffi can go anywhere; not me. I was being sent as a scholar to England, to Singapore, but I had young children at the time. I did go to Mindanao and other places in the Philippines because of the school paper that I moderated. But I always left notes to everyone to take good care of Raymund, our youngest. Even now, I don’t go to the farm if the grandchildren need care.”

What’s next?

Aurora is now thinking of creating an 85% chocolate bar because unlike before, there is now a demand for dark chocolate.

“I’ll also go back to our experiment on chocolate con pili. Presently we buy roasted pili nuts for the pili component. We are not happy with the taste of the pili; it is bland. The taste of the pili nut is disturbed by the roasting or dehydrating process. We are studying how to improve the pili nut roasting process. Fortunately, our pili trees are starting to bear fruit. Well, we did it with our now popular Chili Tsokolate. We can do it with Chocolate con pili.”

I didn’t ask her about sugar-free chocolates for diabetics, since Raffi had already written about the prohibitive price of stevia and coco sugar. It is undoubtedly on their horizon.

Aurora, intrepid Bikolana retiree-turned-entrepreneur, continues to create, to innovate. She is a testament that it’s “not too late to seek a newer world.” No raging against the dying of the light; instead, she turns her head to face the dawn. After all, her name is Aurora.

And we are inspired.

(Many thanks to Raymund Gerard Banzuela for all the photos. Interested buyers may contact Raymund through his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/raymund.banzuela)