Cornwall's Traditional Chocolatier Spills the Beans on Putting Cornwall on the International Trade Map
Chocolarder have been making artisan bean to bar chocolate for 3 years in Cornwall. 2015 will see the business expand into new premises and begin international trading; putting Cornish produce on the world map.
With its Packet Ships and deep natural harbour, Falmouth in Cornwall has been a stop for international trading since 1688. A local chef turned his hand from Michelin star pastry making to manufacturing Cornwall's only bean to bar chocolate, and his international sales intend to carry on this tradition.
Being a peninsula, Cornwall is surrounded by an abundance of seafood; from Falmouth's celebrated oysters to the mussels lining the rocks of the Helford and other estuaries across the county. Hayle, with expansive salt flats offers marsh samphire and razor clams, where most seaside towns grow rock samphire and sea spinach without most people knowing. It's a county known, amongst chefs, for its provenance.
One passionate creator has taken his pride in the county's prolific produce to a new, and expanding, arena: chocolate. One of only a few producers of authentic, bean-to-bar chocolate in the UK, Chocolarder grind beans using local granite and forage ingredients from Cornish hedgerows to experiment with flavour.
With organic beans imported from single estate, family run plantations in Venezuela, Java, Madagascar, Peru and the Dominican Republic, every step of the Chocolarder process is ethical and sustainable. The Cornish Honeycomb milk bar uses traditionally made honeycomb; incorporating honey gathered from bees who feast on the Lizard peninsula's wild heather, gorse and clover. The Wild Gorse Flower bar similarly uses handpicked gorse from the tops of cliffs overlooking Kynance's mineral rich serpentine cliffs. Imparting the delicious scent and delicate taste of coconut, the flavours are complex and changing.
Founder of Chocolarder and economics graduate, Michael Longman, explained, "We've seen sales double this year since our products had a rebrand from Kingdom and Sparrow, and have recently had a lot of interest from importers in Belgium, Switzerland and other European countries. It's great to see so many people taking an interest in the real craft of chocolate."
Furthermore, this growth in sales has facilitates a move of premises to allow for expansion in the new year. "We just started running out of space to store the beans! We're meticulous about ensuring that everything has the exact right conditions for storage and manufacture; the new space will enable us to keep up with demand and increase production." said Michael.
Driving their business towards international sales, Chocolarder will continue the tradition of pushing Cornwall out onto the global market for producing fine and high quality goods.
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