The Real Fair Trade: Chocolate Under Sail
Cornwall’s Chocolarder are awaiting their first shipment of cocoa beans under sail, in Europe’s deepest port at Falmouth.
As Fairtrade Fortnight trends across the UK, one chocolatier in Cornwall is making waves. With its Packet Ships and deep natural harbour, Falmouth in Cornwall has been a stop for international trading since 1688. Chocolarder has enlisted the help of Bristol based New Dawn Traders to import beans from overseas, and awaits their arrival in May.
Famous as a port and for its seafood, Falmouth is becoming a popular brand with oysters, Helford Mussels and Mylor prawns. Yet, given the resurgence in popularity of traditional sailing, soon a new and exciting food will be brought in through the harbour: cocoa beans.
One of only a handful of producers of authentic, bean-to-bar chocolate in the UK, Chocolarder have had an exciting few months. In-line with its ethical consciousness, The Eden Project now sell Chocolarder’s bars, which are set to sell well over the summer season. Liaising directly with cocoa farmers, every step of the Chocolarder process is ethical and sustainable, meaning buyers’ conscience is eased.
Founder of Chocolarder Michael Longman, explained, "I started Chocolarder to put ethical transparency at the forefront of what I do. People are starting to vote with their wallets and make ethical choices in what they buy. Working with New Dawn Traders is a logical ethical choice and I am really excited about getting the first shipment.” He will be making their chocolate and
What makes Chocolarder different from other ‘fair trade’ chocolate is that everything comes from family plantations and farmers are given autonomy in their farming, which is all organic. What buyers eat is a pure product, without emulsifiers, thickeners, palm oils and lecithin; which most commercial chocolates add. The Peruvian bar, for example, contains 65% roasted and ground beans and 35% raw cane sugar. And that’s all.
Hugely popular for its provenance, The Wild Gorse Flower bar uses handpicked gorse from the cliff tops overlooking Kynance's mineral-rich serpentine cliffs. The golden flowers, just the colour of the gold within the Cornish coat of arms, are then steeped in cocoa butter. They impart the heady scent and delicate taste of coconut.
Mike said, “I have spent a lot if time getting the roast t and refinement right. There’s a lot more to making chocolate than just bashing up some beans, and I wanted to get the right texture and flavour without adding anything.”
The result is an ethical bar of chocolate with a delicious and complex flavours which change as they’re chewed. To read more about Chocolarder, see their website at http://www.chocolarder.com/ or to find out about other fair trade produce visit http://www.newdawntraders.com/
e laura@palavermaven.co.uk
t 07729263818
