01 October 2008
Divine Chocolate Week
From gorgeous chocolatey puds by celebrity-chef Michael Caines, to sublime chocolate-infused cocktails and fabulous opportunities to sample the entire Divine range, discover Divine Chocolate at leading hotels, restaurants and cookery schools during Chocolate Week.
Divine Chocolate, the leading Fairtrade brand co-owned by cocoa farmers, is co-sponsoring national Chocolate Week 2008 (13th-19th October). Launched in collaboration with the Academy of Chocolate and now in its fifth year, Chocolate Week is all about unadulterated chocolate indulgence, and because Divine is celebrating its 10th birthday, this year’s line up is set to be the best yet!
Divine treats in store this year include collaboration with the pioneering Acorn House, London’s first truly eco-friendly restaurant. Chef Patron Arthur Potts Dawson says, “Acorn House is proud to be using Divine in its recipes during Chocolate Week. Not only is their chocolate Fairtrade and co-owned by the Ghanaian cocoa farmers, but it’s a fantastic chocolate too”. Acorn House will be offering Divine dishes throughout the week - and with last year’s offerings featuring a Divine Flourless Peppered Chocolate Cake with Ginger Ice Cream and Crushed Toffee, guests this year are in store for some seriously decadent spoiling.
Divine is also partnering with two-Michelin star chef Michael Caines, competitor in the BBC series Great British Menu. Michael Caines is an avid supporter of Divine Fairtrade chocolate and he and the chefs at each of his hotels and restaurants across Britain are developing entirely new dishes using Divine chocolate to showcase during Chocolate Week. Michael says, “I love working with and supporting Divine Chocolate as they are a farmer-owned Fairtrade company and all their products use natural flavourings which are perfect for making great tasting recipes”.
Divine has also teamed up with other eminent chefs who will be spreading the Divine message during Chocolate Week as well as participating in a Divine celebrity-chef cook-off. Joining Michael Caines and Arthur Potts Dawson are Linda Collister who used to be the Queen Mother’s private chef, TV chef Alan Coxon who recently presented BBC2 series Ever Wondered About Food, and 18-year old Sam Stern who already has four cookery books under his belt. These five top chefs have each designed and submitted their best chocolate cake recipe using Divine chocolate. Full recipes will be available online so we’re encouraging chocolate lovers (and dedicated chocolate bakers) to test out these recipes at home and then discuss and rate them in a dedicated forum at www.divinechocolate.com/chocolateweek.
Further culinary delights are on offer at Divine’s longstanding partner The Pudding Club in Gloucestershire. Featured in Rick Stein’s BBC series Food Heroes, The Pudding Club was set up to prevent the demise of the great British Pudding! An exclusive Divine Chocolate pudding menu is being concocted in honour of Chocolate Week.
Further Divine experiences include tastings at Wholefoods Market in London’s High Street Kensington and Liberty of London, and promotion of a range of cocktails incorporating Divine chocolate which have been designed exclusively at the Sanderson Hotel in the West End. Divine is joining forces with cookery schools Mosimann’s Academy and My Chocolate in London, Slattery’s in Manchester, Le Salon du Chocolat in Hampshire, and Temper Temper in Kent to offer chocolate enthusiasts a chance to learn some fabulous and unusual recipes using Divine chocolate.
Restaurants up and down the country are teaming up with Divine to offer Divine-themed menus – these include Urban Angel in Edinburgh, Fusion Brasserie in Worcester, and winner of the Observer Food Award’s Best Vegetarian Restaurant 2008 Terre a Terre in Brighton. A full list of partners and programme of Divine events will go up on the website on 1st October: www.divinechocolate.com/chocolateweek.
In association with Chocolate Week, Divine and other chocolate companies will again be exhibiting at the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Kensington Olympia. Running from 5th-9th November, the show is held in association with House & Garden and attracts in excess of 33,000 visitors annually.
Divine Chocolate has been taking part in Chocolate Week since it was established and this year is extra special because Divine is celebrating its 10th birthday! That’s ten years of providing chocolate fans with delicious chocolate made using only the finest cocoa beans and cocoa butter from smallholders in Ghana combined with a heavenly range of entirely natural flavours. The Divine range of nine bars, bakery goods and seasonal products all come with a Fairtrade assurance which guarantees a fair deal for the 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana who belong to the Kuapa Kokoo farmers’ co-operative. Divine’s ethical credentials go one step further than this because the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative also co-owns Divine, meaning the farmers share in Divine’s profits too.
“It’s always great to have this excuse (as if we needed one) to offer a week of indulgence and the opportunity to collaborate with a wide range of partners all enthused about doing something Divine,” says Head of Communications at Divine, Charlotte Borger. “Our aim is to put together a diverse and exciting programme of Divine happenings all over the country, giving as many people as possible the chance to sample great chocolate and hear about the farmers who share the profits from it”.
Some of the country’s finest chocolatiers and chocolate shops are taking part in Chocolate Week 2008, offering demonstrations and tastings and much more. These include Paul A Young, Demarquette Fine Chocolates, Hotel Chocolat, Harrods and William Curley.
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For further details on Divine’s nationwide programme of activities please contact Rosanna Mayhew on 0207 378 6550..
For information on Chocolate Week please contact Kate at Nudge PR.
Editors Notes:
· For more details about the Divine range of Fairtrade chocolate and the story of Divine and Kuapa Kokoo visit www.divinechocolate.com
· Divine Chocolate Ltd is co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana who grow the Fairtrade beans for Divine and Dubble, and who share in the profits.
· All Divine products carry the Fairtrade Mark, the independent guarantee certified by the Fairtrade Foundation that the ingredients are sourced under internationally agreed fair trade terms and conditions. These include a guaranteed, secure minimum price, an extra social premium payment for the farmers to invest in their own community programmes, long term trading contracts, decent health and safety conditions – all aimed at empowering farmers to make their own improvements to living standards and prospects for the future.
· Divine Chocolate has won a number of prestigious awards. These include Good Housekeeping’s Favourite Fairtrade Product 2008 and Best Food Brand in the SHE magazine Ethical Awards 2007. Divine Chocolate Ltd was awarded Best Social Enterprise 2007 at the Enterprising Solutions awards run by the Office of the Third Sector. Divine recently won Best Ethical Business at The Observer Ethical Awards 2008.
· The UK chocolate market alone is worth approximately £3.4 billion a year: if Fairtrade products can capture even a small proportion of that market, producers in developing countries gain real benefits.