07 September 2009
Divine Chocolate has hooked up with top chefs, hip hotels and leading restaurants, to make this the best Chocolate Week yet.
Chocolate Week (12-18 October) is going from strength to strength, and Divine Chocolate, the company co-owned by cocoa farmers, is once again delighted to be co-sponsoring this nationwide celebration of fine chocolate. Top chocolatiers and chocolate companies are creating a programme of total chocolate indulgence, and Divine, along with a host of lovely partners, has some really special experiences lined up and exclusive new recipes to share. For news of Divine’s new products out this autumn, and a continually updated list of Chocolate Week events and promotions visit Divine Chocolate Week.
Divine Chocolate has sponsored national Chocolate Week since it began six years ago when it was launched in collaboration with the Academy of Chocolate. For the full Chocolate Week programme visit Chocolate Week.
This year Divine has asked celebrities, top chefs and restaurateurs to come up with their perfect Divine chocolate pudding recipe exclusively for Chocolate Week. The list so far includes two-Michelin star chef Michael Caines; TV chef Alan Coxon who recently presented the BBC2 series Ever Wondered About Food; Ireland’s best known chef and food writer Clodagh McKenna; renowned baking & chocolate expert Linda Collister; young chef Sam Stern who’s fifth cookery book for students is due out early next year; Michelin-starred chef Rob Rees MBE; and bestselling children’s author Anne Fine.
With cupcakes being the hippest treat this year, we’re planning a bit of a chocolate cupcake fest. Couture cake-maker to the stars (everyone from Madonna to David Beckham to the Queen) Mich Turner, of Little Venice Cake Company, will be among the experts creating their tribute to this little baked chocolate icon.
Divine is joining forces with longstanding partner The Pudding Club in the Cotswolds. Made famous through Rick Stein’s BBC series Food Heroes, The Pudding Club at Three Ways House Hotel was set up to celebrate traditional British puddings like Spotted Dick and Jam Roly Poly!
• Divine’s resident chocolatier will be heading down to Gloucestershire to host Divine chocolate masterclasses for the Pudding Club’s Chocoholics Weekend on 17-18th October.
• An exclusive Divine Chocolate à la carte and set menu will be on offer to guests staying at the hotel throughout Chocolate Week, with chocolate featuring in every course. With lasts years menu featuring Pan seared scallops with white chocolate risotto; Partridge with bok choi, roasted walnuts & dark chocolate sauce; and White chocolate & vanilla cheesecake, guests are in store for some seriously decadent spoiling.
• Guests and non-guests alike can also visit the hotel each day during Chocolate Week for a Divine Guilty Pleasure Afternoon Tea featuring delights such as Chocolate & banana cake and Luxurious hot chocolate with cream & chocolate flakes.
• Free Divine chocolate bars will also be supplied in the hotel’s 48 rooms and guests will receive a free jute bag with chocolate shortbread, a bar of Divine chocolate and a chocolate pudding made on site making their stay a trip to remember.
• Please visit www.thepuddingclub.com or contact Jill at The Pudding Club on 01386 438429 for further information.
Restaurants across the country are teaming up with Divine to offer Divine-themed Chocolate Week menus – these include winner of the Observer Food Award’s Best Vegetarian Restaurant 2008 Terre à Terre in Brighton, Urban Angel in Edinburgh, and Fusion Brasserie in Worcester. Divine tasting sessions will be taking place at cafés, bookshops and stores across the country, including London’s most prestigious department store Liberty; the Eden Project in Cornwall, and at the launch of the John Lewis Foodhall at Bluewater in Kent with opportunities to sample Divine’s two brand new flavours: Dark Chocolate with Raspberries and Butterscotch Milk Chocolate. Divine will be hosting a tasting workshop for families at Eco Age, the chic ethical shop owned by Colin Firth’s wife in London, on Saturday 17th October. The exclusive Divniitini cocktail inspired by and using Divine will be on offer at the chic Sanderson Hotel in London’s West End.
Divine will also be hosting a chocolate debate on 15th October which will see some of the industry’s leading experts discuss the history, sociology and politics of the chocolate trade.
In association with Chocolate Week, Divine and other chocolate companies will again also be exhibiting at the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Kensington Olympia in London. Running from 4-8 November, the show is held in association with House & Garden Magazine and attracts in excess of 33,000 visitors.
Contact Rosanna Mayhew for more details: Rosanna@divinechocolate.com or 0207 378 6550
For more information about Chocolate Week contact Kate Johns at kate@nudgepr.co.uk
Ends
Editor’s notes
• Divine Chocolate has sponsored Chocolate Week since it was established in 2003. Divine’s 10 flavours of chocolate bar and its range of chocolate gifts are made using the high quality cocoa beans and cocoa butter and use entirely natural flavourings (Fairtrade where available).
• Divine has won critical acclaim which includes:
o Sara Jayne-Stanes, chocolate expert and founder member of the Academy of Chocolate says of Divine’s 70% bar, “a mouthful of intense, very smooth, delectable chocolate … Divine is in a league of its own”.
o Charles Campion, Food Critic for the The Independent says: “…for a really good balance between price and performance look out for Divine’s Fairtrade 70% dark chocolate – very fruity, with a good texture and a long finish”.
• Divine Chocolate Ltd is the only Fairtrade chocolate company that is also co-owned by cocoa farmers. Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, benefit not only from the Fairtrade premium on the sale of their beans, but also receive a 45% share of Divine’s distributable profits giving the farmers more economic stability, as well as the increased influence in the cocoa industry company-ownership brings
• For more details about the Divine range of Fairtrade chocolate and the story of Divine and Kuapa Kokoo visit www.divinechocolate.com
• For sales and stockist enquiries contact alistair@divinechocolate.com or find more details on www.divinechocolate.com
• 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 and The Observer Best Ethical Business 2008.
• The UK chocolate market alone is worth approximately £3.6 billion a year: if Fairtrade products can capture even a small proportion of that market, producers in developing countries gain real benefits.