Top chefs cook up something divine for 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 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.
Divine is also joining forces with 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 the occasion.
Further Divine experiences include tastings at Wholefoods Market in London’s High Street Kensington 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 due to work with cookery schools My Chocolate in London and Slattery’s in Manchester to offer chocolate gourmands a chance to learn some fabulous and unusual recipes using Divine chocolate.
In association with Chocolate Week, Divine will also be joining other chocolatiers at the Spirit of Christmas Fair at Kensington Olympia (5th-9th November). A host of other chocolatey goings-on across the UK are in the pipeline and a full programme of Divine events will be up on the website soon: divinechocolate.com.
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, Hotel Chocolat, Harrods and William Curley. Keep up to date with developments at chocolate-week.co.uk and see divinechocolate.com for updates on Divine’s programme of events.
