However, it is an alert to the company. When you label a product, costumers trust it. If you say it is VEGAN, and the list of ingredients does not mention milk, I trust your product. In our podcast, Beach also talks about the situation on the ground in Madagascar, where certain areas have suffered environmental disasters such as drought and flooding, leading to famine in a country that is one of the poorest in the world. Kelsall joined the company in 2004, with a brief to ‘raisetrade’, which he explained is different to fairtrade. “ Our farmers nurture the finest cocoa and are paid premium prices that depend on the quality of the rare cocoa beans harvested​.

If you can't buy chocolate in Madagascar, various chocolate makers in other countries offer Madagascar cocoa based chocolate, either made from bean to bar or from pre-crushed cocoa exported from Madagascar. However, such brands are mostly available in specialised gourmet chocolate stores, usually at relatively high prices. Unlike most Chocolate Factories in the world, our Factory is close to the fine cocoa plantations. We craft and optimise the fermented and dried cocoa into Chocolat in days and not years, ensuring the complex and delicate flavonoids are freshly captured as nature intends. We craft the Chocolate the same way a Winemaker would create the best Wine from grapes nutured in the vineyard close to the Winery.

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Our first production unit was set up in 2005 and development started with our first recipes, with the help of a French Maître Chocolatier. Cocoa was introduced to the island of Madagascar by the French in the 19th century. The majority of the cacao plantations in existence today are run by descendants of the same families who have been growing and harvesting the beans for generations. Flavor Profile of Madagascar Chocolate We bounce down potholed roads in Madagascar on our way to a cacao plantation, passing women dressed in bright reds and yellows selling fruit and vegetables under grass huts. Small yards are covered in drying and fermenting cacao seeds on their way to becoming chocolate. Manufacturing accounts for a great deal of the finished product’s taste so the risk, says Pralus, is to ruin a very good bean with mediocre processing. Starting from scratch is an onerous task, even for experienced hands. Pralus, who has a small cocoa plantation on the island of Nosy Be in north-west Madagascar, says that he gave up on plans to build a chocolate factory there because of the difficult business climate – the country is ranked 164 out of 189 countries for ease of doing business according to the World Bank.

Each box carries the Fairtrade logo on the front, and text that describes each bar as using the finest single-origin cocoa beans. Traditional, soil-depleting farming practices for the country’s staple crop of rice are taking their toll on the land and the creatures that live on it. Certain varieties of cacao, on the other hand, are not heat tolerant; fruit and hardwood trees are mixed in with cacao trees to provide shade. This method, called agroforestry, though practiced, is going through a renaissance in a bid to encourage more cacao farming and to improve yields. Until Lalatiana learned how to maximize his cacao production, earning enough to feed his family and consider the environment, he thought of lemurs as rodents—many Malagasy still do. But now he comes out looking for them every night. As you know, we issued a call for Fairtrade to consider this model as a standard certification. I will be pushing more behind the scenes, and we plan to make a submission to the FCIA Glossary to help solidify the broader meaning of the term for the industry. I’ll also be coordinating with industry players and will look to issue a group press release in the coming months​,” he informs ConfectioneryNews. HB Ingredients, the UK’s largest independent chocolate distributor, started distributing Chocolat Madagascar couverture in 2013. The Madagascan products complement their single-origin couverture range, which also includes chocolate from Colombia and Grenada.The climate, soil, flora of the area, and agroforestry farming practices all contribute to its single-origin habitat – along with post-harvesting fermentation and drying process that are critical to the flavour development. Subsequent roasting, grinding, and conching shapes the fine flavour, aroma and mouthfeel experience of Madagascar chocolate. To find out more on MIA​, listen to our podcast interview with Brett – or visit the company at ISM​, Hall 4.2, Stand J050 April 23-25 at the Koelnmesse.​ Pioneering the first fresh fine Malagasy chocolate exports in 2004 from Africa, Chocolat Madagascar became the export brand, adding much more value (Raisetrade) to the Malagasy’s least developed economy. The company has recently increased its capacity after it bought a new 2,000 hectare plantation in 2015, which will give it the capability to produce 1,000 tons in the next 10 years. Near Ambanja, where a rusting French colonial bridge spans the coffee-coloured waters of the Sambirano river, it is easy to let charity and sentiment cloud the Malagasy vision. On the exposed shingle riverbed, dozens of women pummel their clothes clean while a naked boy, aged about two, hurls himself repeatedly into the shallows on his belly - joyful, innocent, a poignant reminder of how the simple accident of geography and birth can blight a child's future. As we roll into Ambanja (the end of a journey by Piper Cherokee plane, water taxi and Jeep), there are more ghosts from the colonial past - the Brigade Gendarmerie National, the pastel-pink Ecole Primaire Française d'Ambanja - along the dusty main drag of Madagascar's cocoa capital. In a quiet side street, the whitewashed offices of Ramanandraibe Exportation (Ramex) mark the spot where the Malagasy venture begins.

The fine cocoa only grows in the Rainforest, creating a sustainable and growing haven for the endangered animals and fauna of Madagascar. Madagascar cocoa has been designated a ‘fine flavor’ by the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) and was first introduced to the island from Réunion island by the French in the late 18 th​ century. The first plantations were located on the east coast. They were moved to the north in the 1900s, partly to shelter against the seasonal cyclones blowing off the Indian Ocean, and also to benefit from the region’s unique terroir, responsible for Chocolat Madagascar’s fine, fruity flavor. One of only a few chocolate makers in the world that makes chocolate at its source, Menakao proudly sources and crafts its chocolate on the island, using only local ingredients. Unfortunately, this is rare even for craft chocolate – it’s estimated that less than 5% of the world’s chocolate is produced in the same country the cocoa is grown. It's going to start very simply … with companies that have found a good key ingredient paying a fair price and can show that they double the value of that ingredient by making it in the country. That's what I think the base is to start … and I think if we can demonstrate that, Fairtrade can be part of a movement that can actually make such a huge difference for our communities by building on what they already do, then I think it would make a huge difference​.”And there’s another advantage: Sustaining an ecosystem increases biodiversity, encouraging more animals, such as Madagascar’s endangered lemurs, to return to the land. From seed to tree to cocoa to chocolat in Madagascar (unlike most chocolate companies in the world). Cinagra's 72% cocoa Tsar bar with roasted cocoa nibs and its 44% cocoa variety with natural vanilla We work closely to the cocoa producers in Madagascar, to avoid a purely commercial relationship with them. That’s why our beans are produced by the best planting cooperatives and plantation in the upper and lower Sambirano Valley.