What do you know about the farmers who produce the cacao for your chocolate?
As chocolate-sellers there are a few things we rather do than selling chocolate. Of course, eating chocolate would be one of them. But also: learn about the world of chocolate & teach people about how it works. That’s why we let customers ask questions, questions we send to the makers of the chocolates we sell.
The first question we got was by Paul’s mother, a fan of milkchocolate interested in the ethical side of chocolate and cacao. Do you also have a question for the chocolate makers? Contact us!
This blog is also available in dutch.
We have send this question to the makers of the chocolates we sell. And received a lot of answers.
The answer of Georgia Ramon from Bonn, Germany
“Hello Paul,
as we are a very small bean-to-bar company it is not easy for us to follow every living conditions of our suppliers.
Our chance is that I know many people in the business so I can source cocoa from people which I can trust and from farmers who I know myself.
Here are our suppliers:
Madagascar cocoa
The cocoa comes from Akesson’s Organic and is a single plantation cocoa.
I know the owner of the plantation, Bertil Akesson, for many years and I was many times in Madagascar visiting his plantation.
Belize cocoa
We buy the cocoa from a friend who import the cocoa directly from the TCGA-Cooperative. It is a Fair Trade certified cocoa which is also used from Zotter (the company Zotter is 100 % Fair Trade certified). We have the same supplier for Belize cocoa.
Ghana cocoa
We buy the cocoa from Josef Zotter. The cocoa comes from the ABOCFA-Cooperative. It is a Fair Trade certified cocoa and we buy the cocoa directly from Zotter.
Dominican Republic cocoa
We buy the cocoa from a german importer and the cocoa comes from the CONACADO-Cooperative. We know the Cooperative very well and it is one of the best known cocoa-cooperative worldwide.
We pay our suppliers a premium price for the cocoa as we know that the money goes also to the farmers.
We trust in our partners where we buy the cocoa and in the directors of the cooperatives, but we also visit the farmers to see how they work and lives.
I hope our answer is clear enough for you.
Best regards
Georg”
Answer by Georg Bernardini of Georgia Ramon.
We have send this question to more chocolate makers, you can also read their answers.
