Hotel Chocolat moves to expand premium St Lucian cacao chocolate series
A distinctive new six-strong series of chocolate batons, bars and drinks from Hotel Chocolat premium confectionery brand has been launched using St Lucian cacao from its own farming estate, writes Neill Barston.
As previously reported by Confectionery Production, the business was acquired by Mars in a deal said to be worth £534 million earlier this year, with the move enabling the global firm’s access to the luxury end of the market, which has shown notable growth potential.
According to Hotel Chocolat, its latest series includes two grades – a malty, floral 50% and 70% with almond and cherry notes. Available only at the company’s store and its online presence, the six new products are 50% Batons, 50% Drinking Chocolate, 50% Slab, 70% Batons, 70% Drinking Chocolate and 70% Slab.
As the business noted, the cocoa beans used in the operation have used ‘gentle farming’ concept that is considered positive for nature and positive for farmers, helping both to thrive. Once farmed in St Lucia, the beans are then placed through the roast & conch, recognising and setting the specific temperatures required for each respective product in its latest series that make the most of the region’s particular flavours.
roasting temperature and time required for that particular harvest to bring out the very best of its flavour.
These single-origin chocolate products allow you to achieve flavour profiles that’s would usually be achieved by adding flavours, this is due to the distinctive flavour profile of the bean.
Yiotis Panagiotou, speciality cocoa chocolatier at Hotel Chocolate expressed his optimism at the new series, which he believed would be particularly appreciated for its distinctiveness.
He said: “The launch of the Saint Lucian Island Growers range is an exciting launch for all those involved. By using beans from Saint Lucia, and being a single-origin chocolate, we have been able unlock different flavours, that cannot be achieved in house grade chocolate, making the launch of our Saint Lucian Island Growers range, distinctively different to any before.
“We have worked with the farmers in Saint Lucia over the years and refined the process to ensure the crop has improved and have now created two grades, our 50% milk single-origin chocolate, and 70% dark single-origin chocolate. Working closely with the farmers in Saint Lucia has allowed us to implement our ‘gentle farming’ initiative to ensure we are making both people, and nature, happy through chocolate.
“We wanted to put Saint Lucian chocolate at the heart of Hotel Chocolat, for both us, and our farmers, to benefit so we created the ‘Island Growers Programme.’ This programme means we buy their beans wet and do the fermenting and drying ourselves on our Rabot Estate Farm, in Saint Lucia. The beans are then bought to the UK and go through the Roast and Conch process in Hotel Chocolat’s Cambridgeshire Factory, when the fermented, dried cacao beans are roasted, the shell of the bean is removed to leave just a nib, refine the nibs into a flake, mill the flake into a chocolate and finally, conched.”
