This precise census is the result of significant research work carried out by the Chocolate Academy and the Bayonne old center association (BCA). The two structures, which have in common the promotion of Bayonne heritage, have joined forces to set up an exhibition. This traces the evolution of trade linked to the processing of cocoa beans in the Labourdine capital, through the ages. Crazy growth, from the arrival of cocoa on the Spanish coasts, in the middle of the 16th century, to the development of know-how specific to the Bayonne chocolatiers, the first on a national scale to develop a dish more cocoa than sweet .
On the same subject
Bayonne: the work in homage to the “chocolate makers”
It is in the Saint-Esprit district, at the foot of the collegiate church, that the City will shortly seal a sculpture representing a metate, a stone formerly used to transform cocoa beans into paste. This will create the raw material used to make chocolate.
“It is the founding act of chocolate as we still consume it today,” enthuses Jean-Paul Carrère. The story of this gourmet success is transcribed on around forty panels which will be presented, from October 31 to November 2, in 32 shop windows, on the occasion of Bayonne celebrates its chocolate (2). “The idea is to explain to the general public how local artisans have been able, generation after generation, to preserve and perfect their technique,” explains the president of the Bayonne institution.
Commercial success
At the very beginning of the 17th century, the Portuguese Jews, who had fled the Inquisition in the 16th century, were pushed beyond the city walls. They settled in Saint-Esprit, on the right bank of the Adour, and created the first workshops for transforming cocoa beans into chocolate. They master manufacturing techniques and develop their own commercial network, thanks to members of the community based in Europe and America.
We are convinced that a wealth of information still lies dormant among certain individuals, linked or not to these dynasties.
An industry that has spread well beyond Nive and Adour. “In the interior of the Basque Country, we have discovered numerous metates on farms,” notes Jacques Marty, president of BCA. The term metate refers to a kind of grinding wheel which was formerly used to transform cocoa beans into paste. The tool was used in chocolate makers’ workshops until the 19th century. Before spreading to working-class homes in the Basque Country. “In the 1860s, it’s simple, there were more chocolate factory employees in the Basque Country than in all of Switzerland,” summarizes Jacques Marty.
For the Chocolate Academy and BCA, this exhibition would only be a first step. Both structures would like, in the near future, to explore the history of chocolate-making families in more depth. “We are convinced that a wealth of information still lies dormant among certain individuals, linked or not to these dynasties,” underlines Jacques Marty. To the wise…
(1) In 1792, the parish of Saint-Esprit became a commune in its own right, attached to Landes. From 1857, it once again became a district of Bayonne.
