Our
organic and fair trade chocolate is 76% cocoa paste, pure cocoa butter, organic cane sugar and
contains no traces of milk.
We buy our base chocolate from Olivia
Chocolatiers. The following is an excerpt of their Web
site.
''Olivia Chocolatiers is a new chocolate maker based in the Outaouais
Region near Cantley, Quebec, Canada and is dedicated to making only high percentage
dark chocolate that is, full, rich and surprisingly not bitter tasting.
The
Olivia Chocolat line delivers the finest, most decedent and unique chocolate taste
using our own proprietary process. Our chocolate is far from candy; conversely,
a fine and nutritious superfood. Olivia Chocolat is to be savoured and is a healthy
alternative to mainstream confection.
Our chocolate is made bean-to-bar
from ethically traded, responsibly grown, certified organic, single-origin cocoa
from the Caribbean Islands.
Thanks to the initiatives such as those from
Transfair Canada, many cocoa producers have fared better through times of low
cocoa prices. Our farmer has expanded growing to 25 farms and now operate their
own export division office. They and others are thriving now that cocoa is trading
at an all-time high due to world demand from recent discoveries of a number of
health benefits; they are no longer reliant on subsidies and are able to embrace
the free market system of commerce. Since the cocoa is responsibly grown and ethically
traded, they choose Rain-forest Certification which carries the additional mandate
of environmental sustainability as well as social responsibility for the workers
and their families. A portion of the cocoa price goes toward sustaining the dwindling
rain forest in the Caribbean country origin.
We use only our farmers finest,
fine cocoa which is of the Criollo and Trinitario varieties; we work closely with
our cocoa farmer and pay a premium to the Forestero cocoa commodity price because
these cocoa beans are very rare. The fine Criollo and Trinitario species of bean
are a more delicate crop and represent less than 10% of the world cocoa production;
the certified organically grown versions are even a smaller fraction of this availability.
Olivia
Chocolat is naturally a reddish brown in colour; it is not to be mistaken as there
are no milk solids in our chocolate which is also naturally gluten and peanut
free. We do not make milk chocolate nor do we intend to. Most people in Canada
know dark chocolate as the dark black, commodity traded chocolate. This bean is
the Forestaro Bean that is indigenous to Africa and represents the other 90% of
the world cocoa crop which is commodity traded.
The Criollo and Trinatario
beans that we use are delicate so we choose to slow roast at lower temperatures
to maintain the nutrient value and flavours of the raw bean.
For our raw
chocolate, we by-pass the roasting step entirely to deliver even more antioxidants
and natural enzymes that aid digestion. A surprisingly softer taste is immediately
apparent, for even less bitterness at high percent cocoa without adding more sugar.
We recommend the 86% Raw Olivia Chocolat for people that normally buy our 76%
Olivia or competitors around 66%. There are natural sugars contained in the cocoa
bean itself that come through, unaltered, by eliminating roasting and producing
the raw chocolate through our Olivia Chocolat special process.
The Criollo-Trinitario
cocoa are known for their natural, citrusy flavour and lingering, pleasant after-taste
that continues for 5 minutes or more. Many Olivia Chocolat lovers comment that
there is a slight taste of alcohol in our chocolate; no alcohol ingredient is
added, however, alcohol is produced naturally and evaporated at the fermentation
stage in the hot Caribbean sun at 120°F+. This might be where the hint of
alcohol is recognized to some discerning palates.''
From Olivia
Chocolatier