Knowledge is king:<br /> <br /> People love a good story and there is a shift towards product knowledge embracing history and origin such as Valrhona, which was set up specifically to protect a specific variety of cocoa from extinction. Knowledge is king:

People love a good story and there is a shift towards product knowledge embracing history and origin such as Valrhona, which was set up specifically to protect a specific variety of cocoa from extinction.

3 KNOWLEDGE IS KING
People love a story and there is a shift towards product knowledge such as history, origin, and nutrition. Andreas Schnidrig, corporate chef at More Café explains: “Germany is the leading exporter of chocolate at 1,551,960 tons, followed by Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Canada, USA, Italy, UK, and Switzerland.

There seems to be a rising trend in people being more conscious about what they eat and where it comes from. People are becoming more inclined to buy fair trade and organic chocolate.”

With their own cocoa plantation in Venezuela, which was set up specifically to protect a specific cocoa variety, Porcelana, from extinction, Valrhona is able to easily react to people’s desire to know more.

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“These days clients don’t just want tempting and original recipes, they want transparency. For instance, when you choose a 'grand cru de terroir' chocolate (pure origin or single origin), you are choosing a top quality product born from shared values, with its own special story and reliably distinct flavour.”

Fun Facts
• Men's love of chocolate is on par with women's preference for the treat: a UK study by research group Mintel revealed that 91% of all women admit to eating chocolate — with the men not far behind at more than 87%.
• The word ‘chocolate’ comes from the Aztec word, xocolatl, which ironically means bitter water.
• Weighing 5,000 pounds, the biggest bar of chocolate ever made was in the year 2000 in Turin, Italy.

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