The secret to the Divine cocoa flavour is in the fermentation and drying

The latest blog from Swedish graduate Emilie Persson:

John, the Recorder, took me to his brother Lot’s farm which was just a short ride from Assin Akonfudi, along a dirt road. Then we walked about a kilometre into the forest. The landscape was varied, with cocoa farms, bamboo trees and small swampy areas, all looking very green and lush.

At Lot’s farm, there were already a group of people sitting around a large pile of colourful cocoa.  For the last few days all the cocoa pods that had been plucked from Lot’s trees had been carried in baskets to this collection point. Ready for the task of breaking open hundreds of cocoa pods (!) we started the work. The farmers were experts and opened the pods, took out the cocoa and threw away the empty pod at speed! 

Esi and her son

It was also impressive seeing how some of the women managed to work, while at the same time having their small children along with them. The children rested giggling in the shade on some banana leaves that had been covered with a blanket, while their mothers worked. Two of the women also had their smallest children on their backs.

Inside each pod the purple cocoa beans are covered in a sweet tasting white slimy pulp (a bit like lychees). All the fresh cocoa beans were collected in trays, which then were carried away to the fermentation place. The beans are piled on banana leaves that have been spread out on the ground, and the leaves are then wrapped over them to make a kind of tent. Here the beans will get hot and ferment for at least five days before they being carried back to Lot’s house where he will dry the beans on bamboo mats turning them regularly in the sun for seven days. 

Pouring the fresh beans on to the plantain leaves

Allowing the fermenting and drying to take up to two weeks is very important to get the high quality cocoa that Kuapa Kokoo is known for. John explains – “You cannot dry the cocoa without fermenting it, because it will remain purple and will become mouldy.” He continued by describing what negative impact that would have on the chocolate. – “If you do not ferment the beans you would need more sugar when you produce the chocolate, to get a good flavour.” The hard work and passion of the Kuapa farmers is a crucial reason to why Divine chocolate tastes so divine!

Emilie watches Kuapa cocoa being checked for quality

The third blog post from our friend Swedish graduate Emilie Persson out in Ghana:

Checking the quality of Kuapa cocoa

One of Kuapa Kokoo’s district depots is located in Assin Akonfudi. The depot is used to store a large quantity of cocoa in jute sacks, before it is being transported to the Tema harbour for export. The depot collects cocoa from around fifteen villages. At the depot the quality is checked by people from the ‘Quality and Control Division’, a branch of a governmental board (COCOBOD) that controls cocoa production in Ghana.

Instrument to measure levels of moisture

One day I was able to watch a quality control officer working at the depot. One of the first steps was to check the dryness in each of the four hundred bags. Each of the bags has been given a number that indicate the village of origin and can be traced. The dryness is checked with a metal instrument called aqua-boy. The next step is to take cocoa samples from four sides of each bag to make sure the cocoa in the bag is uniformly mixed in terms of colour and size. The officer then mixes all the sampled cocoa beans and takes a smaller sample that he manually cuts open and checks for mouldy beans or beans that have germinated or in some cases have not been fermented long enough which results in a special colour. Based on the results, the officer will reject or seal the cocoa and it will be take to the port on a large trailer. Another quality control officer then does the same procedure one more time at the Tema port.

To produce good quality cocoa the farmers need to make sure that it is well fermented and well dried, two processed that demands at least two times six days. And because each bag of cocoa for Divine Chocolate can be traced back to the village of origin, the recorders are very particular about the cocoa they buy from the individual Kuapa farmer, which ensures that the cocoa in Divine  is pa pa paa! – the best of the best!

Taking a sample from the cocoa sacks

What makes Divine special?

Nine bars from Divine

I recently ran a competition for our Twitter followers asking them to answer the question ‘what makes Divine special?’.  The prize was two £50 vouchers to Pizza Express.

I thought I’d share just a selection of the answers received.

- Divine is special because it keeps the kids quiet while they have a mouthful of delicious brownies that I make with Divine Chocolate so I can have five minutes peace after a hectic day!

- I love Divine because of it’s commitment to fairtrade and farmers. Also because it is a rich, smooth chocolate that when it melts in your mouth warms and comforts you on a cold miserable day like today.

- Divine chocolate is special because:
The wrapper’s ornate, like rich Ghanaian textiles,
The chocolate within engenders nothing but big smiles,
And these beautiful smiles come not just from me,
But farmers like Comfort, who own near half the company!

- What makes Divine to me is the taste, the ingredients, the way the chocolate melts in my mouth and puts me in a really good mood. To me Divine Chocolate is exceptional, no other chocolate tastes like Divine.

- 2 words *best chocolate* x x

And here are the two winning answers:

1. It’s rich, irresistible, fair and true  (If only Divine made men too!). Well done Emma Clarke!

2. It’s rich, tasty and scrupulously fair.  Such a package is truly rare! Well done Anna Aird!

Thanks tweeters for your wonderful and uplifting answers!  Follow us on Twitter at @divinechocolate

Big Food Debate – September 2010, Abergavenny

Speakers from all over the world at the Big Food Debate

 What made last week’s Big Food Debate an especially important forum was that it gave voice to so many farmers and producers from around the world.  Yes, there were UK pundits and experts, but there was no doubt we were all there to listen to and understand the challenges and ambitions so lucidly explained by more than twenty five producers who had come from across Africa, Latin America and Asia. 

Organised by Twin (the NGO that has 25 years experience working specifically with smallholder farmers) and Fair Trade Wales, the Big Food Debate was a logistical miracle, as getting visas and travel arrangements sorted for this many farmers will not have been easy.  The sense of unity, sharing of problems, and extraordinary persistence and resilience amongst the farmers was palpable throughout.

The Debate opened with plenary presentations from Tomy Mathew representing the Fairtrade Alliance of Kerala, Southern India, from Peter Lipman of Transition Towns Network, and from Gareth Edwards-Jones of Bangor University. They set the scene for and against consumerism and Fairtrade in the search for sustainable solutions to trade injustice and food security.

The Debate then broke into six workshops all focused on different issues farmers face worldwide and the challenges faced here in the UK in engaging civic society to support farmer-centric solutions to the food security issues we are all now becoming aware of.

In the workshop on “how farmers can move higher up the value chain” we first heard about Zaytoun. This brand of Fairtrade olive oil is a triumph of hope over adversity for Palestinian olive farmers with every possible obstacle in the way of them producing the excellent product the country has been known for over 3000 years. Dyborn Chibonga of NASFAM farmers association in Malawi described how the farmers he represents have succeeded in making more money from their groundnuts and thereby moving further up the value chain, by adding roasting and salting to their offer. Kuapa Kokoo. Like Zaytoun, was another example showing how owning your own brand in the Northern consumer markets brings so much more than extra income.

Another workshop discussed “how farmers can build the capacity to be sustainable, particularly in respect of climate change’.  Here it became clear how profound the impact of changing weather patterns has been around the world. Carmen Willems of Junta Nacional del Café coffee farmers union in Peru described recent harvests being severely decimated due to the multiple effect of very heavy rains and drought at the wrong times. Coffee cherries are either not being pollenated, being washed off the bushes by the rain, or becoming more exposed to pests and diseases.  Junta Nacional del Café has an ambitious and well-conceived adaptation programme in place but they estimate it will need $130m to complete.  So far they have raised $5m. Emmanuel Arthur of Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana explained how important it was to present adaptation solutions to farmers in terms they understand, and which relate to their experience on their farms.  It should be they, the farmers, in control of their own destinies so they need to understand the problems.  Adaptation programmes should not be imposed on farmers by manufacturers and their technical experts.  Farmers should have the training and funding to implement these programmes themselves.

The overriding themes that came out of this Debate were the need for biodiversity, the potential for further organisation, networking and collaboration of farmers, and the need for funding.  Farmers cannot be expected to fund major adaptation programmes out of FT premiums. What is very clear is that it is the farmers themselves who are best placed and most experienced in stewarding the land and keeping it productive, and they should therefore have equal control over funding and how it is used – the power should not be in the hands of the funding provider.

Note: For more about how smallholder farmers are key to the future of the world’s food security read George Monbiot’s piece ‘Small is bountiful’ here

Good luck from another feisty Ghanaian player!

The Ghana Black Stars have done it again – the only African team still in the World Cup.  We’re supporting the team with an ad in the Metro on Friday – so proud to be Ghanaian!

Divine's ad in the Metro supporting Ghana in the World Cup

Mr Arthur in town to approve new flavours from Divine

Posted by Mr. Emmanuel K. Arthur, Executive Director of the Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union

Mr Arthur's in town

I flew in on Monday 24th May having travelled through the night from Accra with British Airways. The flight was good and landed in Heathrow terminal 5 ahead of time. I checked in at my favourite City Hotel at 12 Osborn Street and took a good rest just to prepare myself for the meetings ahead. I had meetings planned at the Fairtrade Foundation, Twin and Divine.

My most memorable day was my day at Divine Chocolate where I tasted some new chocolates from Divine. I can’t remember the exact recipe, but, the chocolate made with quality and finest Kuapa Kokoo’s cocoa mixed with ginger was a great taste. I was happy to taste some of these chocolates and to make a choice which I believe will meet the taste and pleasure of Divine Chocolate lovers.

My meetings ended on Thursday 27th May and I had to fly back to Ghana the next day. However, my trip back to Ghana looked threatened as my flight on BA had been cancelled due to a strike action by BA Cabin Crew. There was the need to make an alternative arrangement for me; I was desirous of returning to my lovely and enterprising Kuapa Kokoo farmers. I have got a lot to do between May and August as Kuapa Kokoo farmers are going through the election period from the society to the national level. Elections occur every 4 years and this exercise will end up at the August Annual General Meeting where about 3,000 farmer delegates from about 1,400 societies will elect their National Executive Council members to steer the affairs of the cooperative for the next 4 years. An alternative arrangement was made for me to return on the new Virgin Atlantic route to Accra. It was my first and, wow!!! this was a lovely flight, one of the best flights I have had in recent time.

I am now back in Ghana serving one of the greatest cocoa farmers cooperatives in the world. The cooperative which produces the cocoa beans for the ‘Chocolate which makes the world go round’ – Divine.

Cocktails and stars at the Observer Ethical Awards

Observer Ethical Awards 2010

Sophi and I went along to the Observer Ethical Awards last night at the V&A - not up for an award this time but there to help celebrate world-improving innovation and excellence.  The Observer’s Lucy Siegle - Queen of Green – shared the podium (dressed in Sika) with a sharply suited Colin Firth and presided over a cheerful and laid back evening. Amongst the winners was our own Board member Gordon Roddick - who deservedly won this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  Gordon summed up his life’s work as doing something about the things that “pissed him off” – that was the motivation behind Body Shop, helping set up Divine with his wife Anita – and his latest campaigning initiative 38 Degrees.  Other notable winners included two young lads - the Recyclists – who have been helping people in their local community in Fife recycle by delivering their waste to the local recycling centre – on trailers behind their bikes. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was voted Campaigner of the Year, Caroline Lucas, the first Green Party representitive in the House of Commons, got the Ethical Politician Award, and Guy Watson from Riverford organic delivery service got his THIRD Observer Award (NB loook out for great review of the Riverford restaurant in Observer this Sunday)! 

Gordon Roddick - Observer Lifetime Achievement Award

Over a few cocktails (one of which had little pink petals floating in it which needed to be constantly removed from in between one’s teeth) it was great catching up with Livia Firth and everyone from Eco-Age, Marc Francis (one half of the Black Gold filmmaking team), Harriet Lamb and the Fairtrade Foundation team, and Rosie Budhani from the Foundation ethical fashion people. Vic Morgan, one of the guys behind ethicalsuperstore.com was there too, and Martin Wright, editor of Green Futures.  Spotted Jo Wood, Ken Livingstone, and John Sauven director of Greenpeace in the audience.

We’re still extremely proud of having won Observer Ethical Business of the Year (this year won by B&Q for demystifying ecological ideas for the consumer), and it’s good to see both smallscale local initiatives and big company efforts being acknowledged at the same event. 

We went home with the mother of all goodie bags (including a Divine bar of course).

Sophi inspires students at Sussex University

Posted by Sally Wright, Project Manager in Enterprise, Sussex University

Sophi Tranchell with the Enterprise team at Sussex University

On Thursday 13th May 2010 Sophi Tranchell was the keynote speaker at the University of Sussex’s “Enterprise Thursday Grand Celebration” event. The evening was a celebration of the entrepreneurial endeavours of Sussex students throughout the last academic year. Sophi’s talk focused on the story of Divine, and gave the audience of students, staff and business people a real insight into the heart of Divine: it was amazing to learn how such a successful social enterprise can be run on such a large scale. Sophi’s drive and passion for social enterprise was abundantly clear, and her talk seemed to ignite a similar passion in the audience too. It was fantastic to have Sophi come to speak, especially as the values of Divine really seem to fit with the ethos of Sussex University as a Fairtrade campus with Divine chocolate sold in our campus shops and cafes.

We had lots of positive feedback from our audience including;

“Very to the point about her goals – yet devoted to her cause. The 3 p’s ‘partnership , passion and persistence really stuck out in my mind.” Chariton Papakonstantinou 1St year Engineering student Sussex University

“Fantastic, inspirational and in depth explanation of fair trade and the Divine Chocolate company” Jonathan Gaiger 2nd Year Business and Management Student Sussex University

Sophi Tranchell speaking at Sussex University

“Insightful, with an incredible focus on CSR. She’s developing a brand that people can or want to relate to. Truly inspirational.” Colin Harrison Breathe Brighton

“It’s interesting how competitive and focussed a social enterprise can be” Tom Saunders SIFE Southampton

“What a fantastic, powerful person! Her speech was incredible, and so fluent.” Kim Macdonald Short Sweet Lets

Guess who’s loving Divine (6)

Beverley Knight

The simply gorgeous Beverley Knight stood up at the podium at the recent SHE Inspiring Women Awards – and proclaimed her love for Divine.  We love her lots in return!  This is what she said:

” No one needs to sell me the virtues of Divine Chocolate! One bar and I was sold. I absolutely love it! Why? Well, the clue’s in the name!!! It’s ethical too! You have GOT to try it!”

 

See who else is loving Divine here

 

 

 

 

 

The first Fairtrade cocoa from Sierra Leone

The day after arriving in Freetown we drive for five hours to Kenema in the Eastern Province. Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone with a population of around 165,000. There is a mix of all the country’s ethnic groups, as well as many Liberians and Sierra Leonean-born Lebanese. It is a major diamond trading centre and also home to some of the country’s cocoa trading enterprises.  Sierra Leone has a liberalised economy – so anyone can trade and export cocoa.

Ibrahim Moseray (left) and members of the KAE team

It’s here we meet Ibrahim Moseray – the charismatic general manager of Kpeya Agricultural Enterprise (KAE).  He, like all his fellow cocoa farmers, experienced firsthand the terror of the civil war that waged in the country throughout the 90s, and lost family, friends and the ability to work his farm. Despite the terrible circumstances, Ibrahim nurtured his idea that farmers should run their own cocoa buying and trading business, and liaised with NGOs on the ground and his farmer colleagues to help bring his idea to fruition. 

Kpeya Agricultural Enterprise was first established in 1996, and Ibraham persevered with persuading farmers to come on board.  Today KAE has over 1200 members from 50 villages and has made great strides in creating a working, vibrant cooperative and the farmers are starting to see the tangible benefits of doing things for themselves.  Key to their progress has been the input from Twin, and in turn the help and technical advice from Kuapa Kokoo, the Ghanaian cooperative behind Divine Chocolate.  They have helped on organisational issues, helped them improve the quality of their cocoa, and helped them receive Fairtrade certification.

Ibrahim guides us to KAE’s new offices on the edge of town and we join all his management team in singing an introduction song – where everyone sings a verse including their own name.  The team are a mix of men and women, young and old, and all equally energised and enthusiastic about the organisation they are creating.  The Chairman, Sellau Momoh, was born in 1933 and remembers the British encouraging Sierre Leone to plant more cocoa when he was young.

Sellau Momoh, Chairman of KAE

We sit and talk about the challenges facing the KAE.  In Sierra Leone there is only one harvest a year and in between, during the summer months is the ‘hunger season’ – when there is next to no income for buying food. The staple food is rice – and the farmers do grow some of their own – but the local market is undermined by subsidised imports.  Farmers have become dependent on being pre-paid for their cocoa with rice – and then not being paid enough on delivering their cocoa to feed their families for the rest of the year.  It’s a cycle KAE hopes to break – ultimately ending up with farmers producing more, higher quality cocoa, and being paid a good price when they harvest their cocoa so the income takes them through the hunger season.  Other cocoa traders have responded to KAE’s recruitment of farmer members and offered a range of short term incentives to lure them away. But both a good price for the cocoa and the growing number of other benefits they can see – a new school, a new truck, a new depot – are starting to keep members loyal to KAE.

Members of the KAE team

Next day we set off to Batiama, a small village two hours out of Kenema, along some challenging roads and tracks. We arrive to a reception of KAE members and once again the ‘introduction song’ gets everyone laughing.

The truck bought with funding from Divine

This is a significant occasion. My mission is to represent Divine Chocolate and explain how their fellow farmers in Ghana, Kuapa Kokoo, agreed to KAE selling their first container of Fairtrade cocoa to Divine, thereby forgoing the premium they would get for the same amount of cocoa.  I explain that Kuapa Kokoo was once small like KAE – but over 17 years it has grown and thrived – and it also established its own chocolate company – something to consider for the future!  It makes sense for Kuapa to help other farmers sell to Divine – as they still receive their share of the profits.

KAE farmers cutting open cocoa pods

 KAE’s first premium was spent, with the agreement of the members, on buying land for the first proper KAE offices and storeroom which have now been built.  It has made the company seem even more tangible – the farmers can see it really is established, professional and in business.

The new KAE office and store

 The farmers gathered in Batiama are very interested to hear more about Kuapa Kokoo, but are more focused on the fact that the very chocolate that now contains their first Fairtrade cocoa is in a coolbag next to me.  A major tasting session follows – thankfully there’s enough for every single adult and child (with enough left over for Ibrahim to impress his bank manager).

We visit two farms and hear the stories of how they had to abandon the farms when the rebels came to their village.  Most of the farmers had to flee and came back to the village years later.  It took five years to get the cocoa trees back in good condition again and a lot of work needs to be done on planting new trees and pruning the existing ones to improve production.  The farmers are very proud of their new skills to produce better quality cocoa – they have learned about fermentation and slow drying and now have quality testing equipment.  Like Kuapa, they vote for the key KAE representatives in every village and they are seeing the benefit of having their voices heard. Batiama has built its own small school and paid for a teacher to come out to them so now the children no longer walk four miles to school and back each day.

Everyone has harrowing stories but there seems to be a sense of determination and optimism – if we went through that, we can get through anything. 

Swaray Salia

56 year old Swaray Salia says:

“Our biggest challenge is getting good money at the right time – and ensuring we have enough to eat through the Hunger Season. We need to work hard on weed control in between harvests and we need food to give us the energy to do it.  Cocoa is our only source of income.”

“Since I joined KAE we have been able to build houses for ourselves – I now have my own house.  Kpeya had the idea of building a school here in this village so the children didn’t have to walk four miles to school any more. It opened this year.”

“Our water supply is from the river.  I hope one day we can earn enough Fairtrade premium to have our own well.”

“My personal dream is to ensure all my children go to school.  One of my sons wants to be a cocoa farmer, so the farm will go to him.”

“My message to the people who love chocolate: As we are now exporting our cocoa please help us – and stretch your hands out to us.  Let there be communication between the people who eat chocolate and the farmers here.  We are simple people and need your support, so our children can be educated.   We sometimes go hungry – and we need our cocoa to give us a sustainable income. Two sacks of cocoa is not enough to send one child to school.”