Winners of this year’s International Cocoa Awards (ICA), a joint initiative of Salon du Chocolat, CIRAD (French agricultural research centre) and Bioversity International, were announced in Paris on October 30 at the city’s annual chocolate festival.
The ICAs reward cocoa excellence in different regions, recognizing the work of cocoa famers and the diversity and excellence of high-quality cocoa.
Winners this year by region/country are as follows:
Africa: Madagascar (Coopérative de planteurs de cacao du Sambirano), Ghana (Amos Kwaku), Togo (WALLA MATCHA Balouki), Côte d’Ivoire (CNRA and Jean-Jacques Djagbre Gbaka)
Central America/Caribbean: Dominican Republic (Finca La Esmeralda – Denominacion de Origen/Los Bejucos), Honduras (Xoco Fine Cocoa Company), Costa Rica (Finca La Dorada – Elkin Mejia), Trinidad and Tobago (La Reunion Estate, Ministry of Food Production of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago)
Asia-Pacific: Malaysia (Hj Ahmad Bin Sapari and Janda AK Jelian), Vietnam (Puratos Grand-Place Vietnam)
South America: Bolivia (Mario Guari Cartagena, Asociacion de Productores Agroforestales de la Region Amazonica de Bolivia), Venezuela (Hacienda San José C.A.), Peru (Asociacion Regional De Productores de Cacao – Tumbes – ARPROCAT)
The judges for the 2013 edition had to make their selection from among 24 participating countries and 114 cocoa samples.
The liquors of all the cocoa samples were analysed by a panel of experts. The top 50 samples were then processed into chocolate and presented to a jury of more than 30 chocolate professionals and cocoa experts.
For more information, visit the Cocoa of Excellence website.
Copyright © www.chocoparis.com. All Rights Reserved.