LIVING
chocolates more or less boast their
cocoa content as a percentage on their The tree was named ‘Theobroma
packaging, with the purest being 100%. cacao’ by the 18th century Swedish
A purist taking chocolate up to
connoisseur level is Willie Harcourt-
naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, meaning
Cooze, whose descriptions of his ‘the food of the gods’.
products (referred to as cacao not
cocoa or chocolate), make them sound
like a great wines, whiskies or coffees Kokoo in Ghana which is 45% owned selling what they call ‘premium organic
with tasting notes and country of origin by its 65,000 members and where it chocolate.’ Founded by Craig Sams, who
being part of the information given. Used has been grown since 1878. Buying had already started Whole Earth, and his
as an ingredient, Willie’s Madagascan Divine can make you feel good for wife Josephine Fairley, and environmental
Black Sambirano Superior is described boosting Fairtrade, but be in no journalist. Although its is now owned by
thus: “This bar is made from beans from doubt, it tastes good too. Well-known Kraft Foods Inc., the company claims to
the Sambirano Valley in North West cook Mary Berry has commented, “A continue it’s initial philosophy, its products
Madagascar. Madagascar, famed for its chocolate for all chocolate enthusiasts. have been both organically and ethically
remarkable biodiversity, with many of its Cooking, melting or just enjoying Divine sourced since 1991.
plant and animal life unique to the island, Chocolate is just that.” The fat content in Green&Blacks
is well known for its superior cacao. The chocolate comes from cocoa butter,
beans produce a bar with a wonderful Colour coordinated which contains stearic acid, a saturated
flavour bursting with juicy summer fruits.” A brand that hit shelves and hit the fatty acid. However, while saturated fats
Willie’s website (www.williescacao. big time is Green&Blacks, which can generally raise blood cholesterol levels
com) is a wonderful repository of the take some credit for re-stimulating and therefore the risk of heart disease,
history of cacao, the tree of which was the chocolate market by making cocoa butter in fact been proven to have a
identified and named by the 18th century ‘posh’ chocs more mainstream by neutral effect on blood cholesterol levels.
Swedish naturalist, Carl Linnaeus, as
Theobroma cacao, meaning ‘the food
of the gods’. The site explains how continued over
modern chocolate is made, from beans
to wrapping, with roasting, winnowing,
grinding, conching and tempering in
between.
At £5.99 for 180g (which is packed
in a solid cylinder which you can take
shavings from), there are others in Willie’s
‘Black’ range which hail from Peru,
Nicaragua and Venezuela. Actual ‘bars’
in the range are around £2.99 for 80g.
Divine intervention
While many chocolate producers claim
to be fairtrade, the Divine brand seems
to have made some of the biggest
strides. The cocoa is sourced from
a farmers’ cooperative called Kuapa