27 May 2009
Divine Chocolate, the leading Fairtrade brand co-owned by cocoa farmers, has been granted Kosher certification. The Kosher mark – or hescher - (a K in a triangle) is now carried on all nine flavours of Divine chocolate bar.
Divine Chocolate aims to bring delicious Fairtrade chocolate to as many people as possible and is delighted to be able to announce this now includes all those who wish to observe Kosher certification for the products they buy.
Sophi Tranchell, Managing Director of Divine Chocolate, says:”We are delighted to have been given Kosher certification as this will enable thousands more chocolate lovers to discover Divine. Faith groups have always been very important to Divine as they are amongst those who most actively campaign for fairer trade, and it is good to be able to support them in return.”
The British Jewish community has embraced the Fairtrade movement with its principals of justice and fairness for all in the trading supply chain. British Jews have been particularly active in building support for Fairtrade, which last year saw sales of over £700m in the UK. Pioneering Fairtrade firm Divine has a long-standing relationship with the Jewish community, announcing its commitment to gain Kashrut status back in 2005. Divine looks forward to widening its involvement with the community, continuing to co-ordinate with bodies such as the overseas development and educational charity Tzedek and The Jewish Community Centre for London
Divine will be contributing to a Q&A panel at a performance of ‘Elijah:First Action Hero’ by Marcus Freed, hosted by The Jewish Community Centre for London at New End Theatre in Hampstead on 1st June.
Divine is the choice for chocolate lovers who are looking for high quality products and ethical credentials they can really trust. All Divine’s chocolate bars and gifts are Fairtrade certified, grown by a collective of 45,000 farmers in Ghana who belong to the Kuapa Kokoo co-operative. And because the co-operative owns 45% of the company, the farmers share in Divine profits, so you can rest assured that Divine truly is the chocolate that makes everybody feel good.
The smallholder farmers who grow the cocoa for Divine take particular care in growing, harvesting, fermenting, and drying the beans. Only the real cocoa butter from the cocoa crop is used to make the chocolate – you won’t see any vegetable fats substituted for cocoa butter from Divine! Entirely natural ingredients (and also Fairtrade where available) are used to flavour the chocolate, giving a truly heavenly chocolate experience. As revered chocolate expert and founder member of the Academy of Chocolate Sara Jayne-Stanes says, “a mouthful of intense, very smooth, delectable chocolate … Divine is in a league of its own”.
The following Divine products now carry the K mark:
• Entire 100g bar range (RRP £1.49 for all bars except White with Strawberries (£1.59), selected range available from all supermarkets, full range at Oxfam)
• 70% Dark Chocolate (Parev)
• Dark & Mint Crisp Chocolate (Parev)
• Dark Fruit & Nut Chocolate (Parev)
• Milk Chocolate (Dairy)
• Orange Milk Chocolate (Dairy)
• Coffee Milk Chocolate (Dairy)
• Milk Chocolate with Hazelnuts (Dairy)
• White Chocolate (Dairy)
• White Chocolate with Strawberries (Dairy)
• Entire snack-size range: 70% Dark Chocolate (Parev), Milk Chocolate (Dairy), Orange Milk Chocolate (Dairy), White Chocolate (Dairy). (45g, RRP 75p, available from Oxfam, AMT Coffee, Virgin Trains, Ambassadors Theatres)
• Milk Chocolate Gold Coins. These make perfect counters for playing Gelt in the run up to Hanukkah. (Dairy, 80g, RRP£1.69 from Lakeland, Oxfam)
In addition – the Divine Delights range – Dark Chocolate covered apricots, mangoes and Brazil Nuts and Divine mini eggs, thought not carrying the Kosher mark, have been included in The Really Jewish Food Guide 2009.
You can also buy all these products, as well as some delightful gift combinations that you won’t find anywhere else, online at the Divine Chocolate Shop:
A Divine product is easy to spot on the shop shelf because, in celebration of the company’s Ghanaian ownership, it comes beautifully packaged in traditional West African motifs called Adinkra symbols.
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Please contact Rosanna Mayhew on 0207 378 6550 for images and more information.
Editors Notes:
• For more details about the Divine range of Fairtrade chocolate and the story of Divine and Kuapa Kokoo visit www.divinechocolate.com
• Sign up to the Divine newsletter so you don’t miss out on Divine news. You can also read our blog and follow us on Twitter
• For sales and stockist enquiries contact Alistair
• 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. "If you can't hear the farmer's voice in everything you do, then what you are doing is wrong" (Dame Anita Roddick, Founder of The Body Shop and Human Rights Activist)
• All Divine products carry the Fairtrade Mark. This is an 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.