Well, What Now?

200 years ago most of the world’s supplies of cocoa came from Venezuela and Central and South America, before nature even gave a thought to the possibilities of an African home for the precious tree. Now, in the blinking of an eye, more than two thirds of the world’s cocoa is grown in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

However, in the face of the industry’s current habit, of manufacturing chocolate by blending a variety of different cocoas to ensure a uniform standard and flavour, a number of good chocolate manufacturers have woken up to the concept of a new range of products, based on the traditional recipes for chocolate made with a single origin variety bean. A thorough knowledge of the plantation areas acquired over generations inspires the right choice of cacaos that best reflect the distinctive characteristics of the variety, whether from Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil or Ecuador in South America, the Ivory Coast or Ghana in West Africa or Papua New Guinea or Indonesia in South East Asia.