Gridcrosser: Marie Frances B. Macabenta: Sweetening and Salting the Bitterness

Chocolate maker and Balai Cacao owner Marie Frances Macabenta (Photo by Roel Hoang Manipon)

The province of Bohol is mostly known as one of the Philippines’ popular tourist destinations with its white-sand beaches, heritage churches, tarsiers and the Chocolate Hills. Lesser known about the Central Visayan island is that there are several chocolate makers making their own chocolate products.

One of them is Balai Cacao, which is based in a residential area in the district of Manga in Tagbilaran City, the capital of Bohol. The bungalow is actually nondescript except for a small sign. It is actually the home of its owner and founder, Marie Frances Buyco Macabenta.

Macabenta actually has been a teacher for many years and started a small chocolate business, the Balai Cacao, which means “house of chocolate.”

“It started in 2011 as a passion and for my personal interest because I had a heart bypass in 2011. And I learned that chocolates—or dark chocolate specifically—is very good for my heart health. So, I did the research and I became interested in it. And so, I learned it from an elderly woman who is vending budbud (local rice cake) and sikwate (chocolate drink) in the neighborhood,” she related. “And so, I asked her to teach me and I learned from her. And that became my passion. And I was teaching then. I was in the academe for twenty-one years. On the side of my teaching job, I did tablea (chocolate tablets). I sold it to my friends, relatives. And so, it became a hobby and later on an income-generating project.”

Macabenta actually hails from La Paz, Iloilo City, Iloilo, but she married a Boholano, and moved to Bohol. Coming from Iloilo, which is known for its cuisine, an enterprise related to food is not a far-fetched idea.

In 2013, they bought a piece of land in San Isidro, Tagbilaran, and her husband became interested in cultivating cacao trees.

“So, he planted cacao and he gave away some seedlings to the fathers in the neighborhood. Later on, we saw children roaming around and ang papayat nila tapos nakakatuwa din na (they were so skinny and they were also amusing because) they were very responsive.”

Concerned about the plight of the children, they decided to help through outreach to the children and then to the mothers, organizing feeding programs and catechesis Sunday school, giving them sikwate and champorado.

They also helped the parents, especially the mothers, organize a savings group, and introduced an income-generating project.

“Una ‘yung (First, it was) soapmaking pero (but) later on we realized na not everyone can be entrepreneurs. We thought about it; we prayed na ano kaya kung itong tablea gagawin nating (what to do, what of we make chocolate making a) business and we employ the mothers. And so that's what we did,” Macabenta related.

Thus, in 2017, she registered Balai Cacao enterprises, and hired the mothers of the children.

She said, “We thought it was a sustainable way of helping the community. And later on, in 2019. I thought about it very hard and deep, and decided that I will leave the academe after twenty-one years of teaching. And so, I did not wait for retirement. Sana magre-retire ako at the time, mga nine years pa ang aabutin (It would take nine years before I retire). So, I decided to resign. But the university gave me a gratuity pay na ginamit ko rin na (which I used as) capital for my tablea business.”

She also found support from initiatives such as the Canada-funded Great Women Project and programs for women entrepreneurs of Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Science and Technology.

She continued: “My husband bought me a grinder na parang sinasaksak sa kuryente pero (an electric one but) very simple grinder. So, I didn't have to go to the market para ipa-grind yung aking tablea (to have my chocolate ground), and that was how I started—[with] Php5,000 and then the grinder and then this dirty kitchen. And then we improved it. And then later on, of course, when the pandemic came, we made the factory. That was in 2019.”

Macabenta also enhanced her skills in chocolate making as well as in marketing by enrolling in different trainings.

“So, I learned the science of making tablea because I only learned it from experience and from, of course, my mentor, ‘yung elderly woman, si Nanay Paping. Later on, pati chocolate making tinuruan kami and DTI also helped me with the packaging. At first nag-introduce ako in a box, and then later on, I learned the craft and made some designs already,” she divulged.

Her enterprise thrived despite the pandemic. When her husband retired, he was able to help her out. They slowly improved their home-based factory, and found a supplier for good quality beans.

From the simple, tablea, the coin-shaped unsweetened chocolate used to make chocolate drink, she was able to create other chocolate products such as nibs, candies and chocolate barks with nuts and seeds. Her latest products contain asin tibuok, the artisanal sea salt of Bohol, which is a heritage product that is in danger of vanishing.

She discovered asin tibuok through tour guides, who became their friends when they ventured into farm tourism. They invited the couple to visit a salt-making workshop.

“So pumunta kami (we went) and then we learned na ganoon pala kahirap ‘yung kanilang dinadanas just to preserve the asin tibuok, ‘yung heritage nila. And then triny din namin, kasi gumagamit na rin ako ng asin sa chocolates, ‘yung Himalayan salt. Pero na-taste ko na mas maganda ‘yung taste ng asin tibuok. Para kasing may smoky flavor na kino-compliment niya ‘yung chocolate. At saka, since very conscious kami sa health—dark chocolate ‘yung sa amin—so parang nate-temper niya or naba-balance niya ‘yung taste ng sweetness. At saka ‘yung beans din namin, dahil nga fermented siya, fruity flavor, so nako-compliment din nung fruity flavor ng asin tibuok (We went and then we learned how difficult it is for them to preserve asin tibuok, their heritage. And then we tried it because I also use salt in chocolates, Himalayan salt. But I tasted that asin tibuok has a better taste. It's like it has a smoky flavor that complements the chocolate. And since we're very health-conscious, our chocolate is dark, so it tempers or balances out the sweetness. And also our beans, because they're fermented, have a fruity flavor, so the flavor is complemented by the asin tibuok),” she enthused.

Macabenta started using asin tibuok coming out with chili chocolate flakes with asin tibuok, sesame chocolate barks with asin tibuok and chia and oat chocolate barks with asin tibuok. She also put a dash of asin tibuok on her sikwate

“I've been using asin tibuok with my sikwate. Iba ang taste ng sikwate with asin tibuok. Ang asin kasi naba-balance niya rin yung tamis. Cacao is really bitter. Bitter lang siya sa sarili niyang taste pero lalagyan mo ng sugar para naman matabunan ‘yung bitterness pero dark chocolate pa rin yung aming sikwate. Para hindi masyadong matamis, at saka may flavor siya na unique din, nilalagay namin ng asin tibuok (It tastes different with asin tibuok. The salt also balances the sweetness. Cacao is really bitter. It's just bitter on its own but you add sugar to cover up the bitterness but our chocolate drink is still dark chocolate. To be not too sweet, and to have a unique flavor, we add a dash of asin tibuok),” she enthused.

Her use of asin tibuok is her way of helping this element of cultural heritage continue, and she said she frequently promotes it so that makers can sustain their craft and tradition.

“Every time kung may chance ako (If I have the chance), I tell some of my friends not just about my chocolates but also about asin tibuok,” she said.