A couple of years ago (was it really that long ago?) I stumbled upon Madécasse chocolate in Whole Foods. I’ve been a fan of it ever since and I now pick up a bar most months from my local Waitrose. In October I received an email from the team at Madécasse. They’d noticed my love for the brand through Twitter and asked if they could send a few more flavours for me to try. I obviously said yes and they kindly sent out a selection of 3 bars.
Like any good company Madécasse has a strong story of social and environmental impact behind it. The brand was founded back in 2006 by 2 Peace Corps volunteers working in Madagascar. When I first found out about the brand I was surprised to hear that Africa grows 70% of the world’s cocoa, but produces less than 1% of the world’s chocolate. Madécasse exists to change this by making chocolate entirely in Africa.
Madécasse are empowering Madagascar’s cocoa farmers with skills, training and higher wages. The chocolate is also made on the island. Madécasse have created income for 200 people in Madagascar. As of September 2015 there is a slight exception to this. The brand has an interim plan in place (Sep 2015 – Aug 2016) to produce chocolate in America (along with their original factory in Madagascar) while they build their second factory in Madagascar. I love that the brand has been upfront and open about this.
If you’d like to find out more about the story behind the brand then check out my original post on Sea Salt Nibs and visit their website.
Toasted Coconut: I’ve purchased this flavour a few times throughout the year. I was delighted to try it again and it really is a tasty bar of chocolate. This bar is 70% dark chocolate and is filled with sweet coconut, which you can see on the back of the bar. The chocolate has a good balance of flavour and the slight tang of the chocolate works very well with the toasted, sweet coconut.
Hazelnut: This flavour was new to me. It’s a 63% dark chocolate which makes it a little creamier than the coconut bar. It’s filled with hazelnuts and cinnamon – you can see the presence of these on the back of the bar as opposed to within it. This chocolate bar is delicious. It’s a rich yet smooth chocolate with nutty notes and a slight hint of warm spice.
Orange Cranberry: This was another new flavour to me. It’s hard to pick a favourite but if you were to push me then I’d go for Orange Cranberry. This is a 63% dark chocolate filled with cranberries and infused with orange. The cranberries add a good texture to the chocolate. This is very much going to be a festive favourite of mine.
You can find out what I thought about the Sea Salt Nibs chocolate bar in my last post.
Next on my list of Madécasse chocolate to try is; Cinnamon and Chilli Pepper, Winter Spice and of course, Peppermint. I just hope I can track them down easily.